A Lot Like Home

Aria Nixon has long accepted her role as the “plain” sister and really, she has no use for a man who only sees her looks anyway. So when her Aunt Serenity’s love prediction mentions the word “makeover," it’s game on to prove she can get noticed without one. Who better to help her get the inside track on how a man thinks than… a man? Isaiah specifically, who has his own prediction to sidestep.

But in a mystical place like Superstition Springs, nothing ever goes as expected. It turns out Isaiah and Aria have a lot in common, and what’s with the attraction between them? Not supposed to happen. She can’t fall for Isaiah. He’s too perfect, too much what she wasn’t looking for and too likely to break her heart when he leaves. And Isaiah isn’t about to admit he’s got feelings for the woman he’s supposed to be helping attract an entirely different guy—his teammate. They should stay friends. Right?

No one had mentioned anything about springs, which in retrospect might have just been a miss on Isaiah's part given the name of the town. But he hadn’t had any reason to care about sorting that out. Until now. Aria’s face had taken on this glow as she’d spoken that might have been left over from running three quarters of a mile in the May heat. But he didn’t think so. And now he had to know more about what had lit her up.

“Springs? As in the Superstition ones?” he asked.

She tilted her head to the left. “It’s not far from here. A little over a mile. Other end of town though, by the river.”

Springs and a river? He should get out more. His downtime consisted of rooftop stargazing. Alone. Which just sounded… lonely all at once. He had a very odd urge to invite Aria to join him in his makeshift tree fort sometime. They both lived at the hotel, so it would be convenient, though she often worked late at the diner. Maybe after her shift? Or was that presumptuous?

He shook his head. Hard. No women. Even unassuming ones who had never so much as tripped his radar that way. Which was a shame because he really liked Aria.

“I’m a fan of peace,” he said instead. “Sounds like a place I might like. Seems like there would be a lot of spots like that around here though since there’s not much else?”

“There are a lot of places to be by yourself, that’s for sure,” she acknowledged wryly. “Especially when people don’t seem to stick around long.”

“That’s the spiel I keep hearing from Caleb. There isn’t much to anchor folks here. I think the schoolhouse will help, don’t you?” Or at least that was the party line. They had to get some basic stuff in place before the town could really function as a tourist draw. This barn renovation was step one of about a million.

“Sure, that’s why I volunteered. Well, one of the reasons.” She broke off and he had the distinct impression she’d said something she regretted. “Actually, that was a good segue into what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Talk to me about?” That’s why she’d hightailed it over here from the diner when she’d realized he was alone? His intrigue meter shot into the red.

“Yeah. I need your help.”

The long pause did not seem to fix her hesitation. Surely she wasn’t uncomfortable around him. He’d always worked hard to make sure people felt at ease. Clearly he was falling down on that job too. “I’m a helpful guy. This is the part where you tell me what it is.”

She huffed out a breathy laugh that seemed to release some of her tension. “It’s just kind of silly now that I’m actually contemplating saying this out loud. But here it goes. I need you to promise that what I’m about to tell you stays between us. It’s a secret.”

This just got better and better. “Like a pinky swear?”

She scowled, which only made her look cute instead of annoyed. Aria didn’t have an ounce of meanness in her whole body, which kind of ruined the expression. “I’m being serious. I have a proposition for you.”

Uh… if it had been anyone other than Aria, he might have been concerned that whatever she had on her mind might be of the illicit variety, but he couldn’t even imagine something of that nature coming out of her mouth. Intrigued didn’t even begin to cover it at this point. “I’m listening.”

“Here’s the thing. You can’t laugh. I made a bet with Havana and Ember that I could get Tristan to ask me out on a date. I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen unless I stack the deck.”

She paused, eyeing him meaningfully and he caught a clue pretty fast. Decoy, fake boyfriend, make Tristan jealous. Take your pick. “You want me to help you.”

A Lot Like Perfect