Sassy Blonde (Three Chicks Brewery 1)

“Maisie.”

She whirled around at the familiar voice, her stomach somersaulting a little as she gazed into the sparkling blue eyes that had once won her over. Only, Seth had grown up in the few years it’d been since she’d seen him last. Gone was his baby face. In place, was a sculpted man, filled out with a toned body. “Seth, hi.”

He gave a crooked smile. “Hey.”

“I thought you moved to Boulder?” Or at least that’s the last thing she’d heard.

“Yeah, I did.” He gestured out at the party. “Got word of this. Wanted to come see it for myself.”

“Well, thanks for coming,” Maisie said, still reeling. She never expected to see Seth again. She quickly gestured at Clara next to her. “You remember my sister, Clara.”

“Yeah,” Seth said. “Hey.”

Clara gave him a quick smile. “Good to see you again.” To Maisie, she added, “I’ve got the night off and I’m determined to have some fun.” She lifted her beer. “But I need more of these before I’ll get out on that dance floor. Come find me if you need me.”

“I’m fine,” Maisie said, giving her a little shove toward Penelope. “Enjoy yourself.”

When Clara faded into the crowd, Seth said, “You look really good.”

Maisie turned back to Seth with a smile. “You too. You’ve gotten so…strong.”

His mouth twitched. “I work for the Boulder fire department now. I have some good training buddies there.” Those captivating eyes scanned over the crowd again. “I’ve got to admit, I wasn’t expecting you to end up at a brewery. What happened to your art?”

The question tugged at her heart. She felt like a totally different person than when she knew Seth. She had dreams of owning an art studio, selling her work, teaching others how to draw. Setting her own schedule. Making the rules. She never realized how much those dreams slipped away until she stared into Seth’s familiar eyes. She shrugged. “Life happened.” That was the simple answer.

“Ah,” he agreed with an understanding nod. “Life can do that.”

She watched him a minute, seeing why she liked Seth so much back in the day. He was hot, uncomplicated. But more importantly, she almost wished she could go back to that person she was when she with him. Laurel’s best friend, the free spirit, with all her dreams ahead of her.

She didn’t even know that person anymore. She was sleeping with Laurel’s husband. Her dreams of an art studio were gone. Her soul not as free as it once had been. More guarded, it occurred to her now.

Seth caught her watching him and gave her a sexy smile, gesturing at the dance floor and offering his hand. “Want to get out there? For old times’ sake.”

“Why not.” She smiled, sliding her hand into his familiar touch, reminded, if only for this moment, of the person she’d left behind.

A week had gone by since Maisie’s case had grown cold, and that time had ticked by slowly. Hayes’s father had Hayes drive along with a rookie on his first few days out as a new beat cop, but Hayes would return to the surveillance footage in his spare time. Frustratingly, nothing in the footage from the day he and Maisie had been at the amusement park showed more on his suspect. From what he’d learned through the investigation, there had been three other car thefts at the park. While Hayes knew the suspect was the same by that subtle limp in the footage, he couldn’t identify the prick, so he had no way to find and arrest him. He tried to follow the stolen cars through tolls and other security footage, but had no luck. He ate his dinner at his desk, stuck on finding the clue that would break the case wide open. He rolled his shoulders for the millionth time today, nearly crawling out of his skin for reasons that had nothing to do with this case. He should be at the brewery now. Maisie, no doubt, awaited him, but his head had been fucking with him all day. What she’d said to him a week ago at the creek slammed against his heart. She deserved answers to the questions she’d asked. Why the fuck couldn’t he give them to her?

His heart rate kicked up and he rubbed his face, reminding himself of what was important. First, find the bastard who burned her trailer. Then, deal with the rest.

The timestamp on the video he was currently watching was dated a week before they visited the amusement park, and not around any of the times the other cars were stolen. He was grasping at straws. Hayes reached for his coffee that was cool now and took a sip when his cell rang next to his keyboard. Warmth touched him when he saw the screen.

“Hi, Mom,” he said by way of greeting.

“Hi, honey, how are things?”

Mom’s voice held a sweet edge, beyond nurturing. Likely part of what made her an incredible nurse. “Good and interesting, I would say.”

His mother laughed softly. “I suppose that’s very much true, since I’ve heard you decided to go back to work with your father.”

Hayes restrained the roll of his eyes, glancing at his father’s office instead. Dad wasn’t in tonight, having called it a day a few hours ago. It came as no surprise to Hayes his mother had found out about him accepting the position with his father. Hayes’s parents texted each other. Before texting was a thing, they exchanged phone calls. He respected the hell out of them for that, the way they put their shit aside to be good co-parents. Though at thirty-one, he found their conversations near laughable. “Dad told you?”

A pause. “He just gave me the heads-up.”

In case Hayes needed more emotional support was what she left out. “No need for a heads-up. Everything’s fine.”

“Is it? Truly?”

“Yes.” He ran a hand through his hair, wishing he’d have left earlier to head home for a shower before going to see Maisie tonight. He felt like crawling out of his skin, and even then, he might not even feel clean. “I’m taking this one step at time. First step is finding out who stole Maisie’s trailer.”