Adrian’s mouth eased into a smile as he tilted his chin toward the bedroom door. “You could go now. Probably take the rental about an hour to warm up, but you’re welcome to it. I’ve been meaning to do a post on the tourist shuttle to Slingshot Mountain anyway. I’ll walk over to the store afterward and collect my keys.”
I turned on my side to face him, grateful that he hadn’t pressed me on the nightmares. There was something about him pulling back, choosing to lighten the mood and give me an out—literal and figurative—that made me want to do the opposite.
“Stress dreams, you know?” I began. “I’ve, ah… I’ve been stressed about work. About the store. It’s part of the reason I took this job.”
His smile faded. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“It’s just hard trying to keep it all going on my own while trying to make it look like it’s not that bad. I’m worried Maya will stay here instead of going off to school. That she won’t have a choice financially or that she’ll feel like she needs to stay and help. It burns me up inside. I don’t want that for her.”
What was it about the early morning or the middle of the night that made people confess shit they should keep to themselves?
Adrian reached over and ran his fingers through my hair again. My eyes drifted closed at the comforting touch.
“You want to give her a chance to escape because you couldn’t?”
My eyes flashed open. “What? No! I love Legacy. I never wanted to leave.”
“Oh,” he said, shifting a little closer and moving his hand down to my shoulder and then further along my arm until his fingers twined with mine. “But you think she does?”
I blew out a breath. “I don’t know. She doesn’t have anything to compare Legacy to. I want her to have a chance to see what it’s like to live just for herself. Not have to worry about me or the shop or anyone else.”
Adrian toyed with my fingers as he gazed at me. His eyes were soft and understanding in a way that got under my skin. “What if she felt that way about you? What if she wanted you to leave? To, let’s say, go to a fancy film school and leave Legacy behind for a while?”
The documentary workshop in Denver.
Adrian’s lips quirked up in a knowing grin. “Ah ha! Hoist on his own petard.”
“You don’t strike me as the Shakespeare type,” I muttered. I couldn’t help but grin back.
“I’m not. But I dated a guy once who used that expression all the time.” He pulled my hand up and kissed the back of it. “Maya may have mentioned the workshop you wanted to take.”
I gritted my teeth, causing Adrian to huff out a laugh. “Relax. She only mentioned it in case there was any sponsorship bonus orother opportunities for you from Nordique. She specifically said you’d be too stubborn to ask but that she wished she could give you the workshop for Christmas.”
Now it was my turn to scoff. “It’s five grand. Hardly Christmas present money.”
Adrian opened his mouth to speak, but I could tell he was getting ready to offer help again. Before he could, I clapped a hand over his mouth. “Don’t.”
His eyes widened. But then they narrowed.
I withdrew my hand and muttered an apology.
“What the fuck is your problem?” he asked, his voice lower and more gentle than I deserved. “All I’d have to do to earn you an extra five grand is post another video of the two of us kissing. Fully clothed. Only this time, it would have to be…”
My heart thundered, and my stomach clenched. I was almost afraid to ask. “Have to be…?”
His jaw ticked. “Never mind. I know you won’t do it. And even if you did, you’d spend the money on the store.”
He was right about both. I couldn’t afford to have my friends and neighbors think I’d lost my heart to an outsider. That I’d once again allowed someone to love me and leave me. And even if I had the guts to accept what he was offering, the store had crushing debt that would take the money before it even hit my account.
Adrian pulled away, sat up, and put his feet on the ground until all I could see was the bare skin of his back in the shadows. “Maybe you should go, Maddox. You’re due at the store in a couple hours anyway.”
I wanted to reach for him. Put my hand firmly between his shoulder blades and feel the warm strength of him against my palm. But I didn’t dare. The last time I’d reached for someone when I was vulnerable…
“After the accident,” I started, the words scraping my throatraw. “When Maya was barely eating and the life insurance paperwork felt impossible and every breath had been a struggle…”
Adrian turned to look at me over his shoulder. “Go on.”
I sucked in a breath. Fuck, this was hard. “I was dating someone. Guy named Michael. It was serious. At least, I thought it was. But then…”
