A Lot Like Perfect

Out of nowhere, Aria appeared, her red hair swinging in a rush of color as she practically skidded to a halt. She and Cassidy hadn’t been by to help for a couple of days since the exterior work required more brawn than brains. Frankly, the ladies’ absence had been a blessing. Marchande and Cassidy got crossways with each other twice an hour, mostly when she handed him his hat every time he tried to flirt with her. Isaiah had saved them all a lot of trouble by suggesting the ladies take a break from barn renovations.

Maybe his ability to guide people in the right direction wasn’t entirely broken, not when it came to saving his own sanity.

“In a rush?” he asked Aria with a genuine smile. She was an upgrade over Marchande any day and as long as Cassidy wasn’t with her, the fireworks would stay unlit. “This barn isn’t going anywhere.”

“I know,” she said, her voice a tad breathy, which did something nice to it. “But I’m on a break from the diner and I saw Tristan head into Voodoo Grocery from the window and I knew that meant you were probably here alone, so I ran—”

“Okay, easy.” She had his attention now. And she needed to stop talking so she could give her lungs a chance to catch up. He knew a thing or two about not being able to breathe. “You ran all the way from the diner? Impressive. That’s gotta be half a mile.”

She shrugged, matching his smile with one of her own that deepened the blue of her eyes. “Almost three quarters. Practically nothing. I don’t mind the distance. You have to learn to get around in a place like this if you want to do anything besides stay shut up inside.”

His estimation of her went up a notch. Yeah, he’d run his share of miles himself, usually at a ground eating pace with fifty pounds of gear strapped to his back. In the desert. Sometimes under a barrage of bullets. But he’d trained for brutal conditions and had the additional motivating factors of working with his team, plus trying not to die.

“You’re an outdoorsy type?”

“I guess.” She bit her lip, contemplating as if she wanted to be really sure she’d answered his question with as much honesty as she could muster. “I mean, I like to run, which has to be done outdoors around here. I never really thought much about it, but I do like being outside. Especially at the springs. It’s so peaceful.”

No one had mentioned anything about springs, which in retrospect might have just been a miss on his 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 to indicate the direction. “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, albeit on different floors, so it would be convenient to jet up the stairs. 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 enjoy. Though it seems like there would be a lot of quiet spots around here since there’s not much else?”

“There are a lot of places to be by yourself, that’s for sure,” she ackno

wledged wryly. “Especially when people don’t 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 infrastructure in place before the town could really function as a tourist draw—police department, fire department, tax office. This barn renovation was step one of about a million designed to get people entrenched in Superstition Springs.

And that reminder sat in his stomach like a stone. Not only was he one of the people without an anchor, Hardy expected Isaiah to be the one handing them out. When he got his mayor face on, there wasn’t a lot you could say to argue with the man, and when he flat out told you he needed help gluing people’s feet to the ground here, things got dicey.

“Sure, that’s why I volunteered to help with the renovations. 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 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 ask if it was of the illicit variety, but he couldn’t 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 Marchande jealous. Take your pick. “You want me to help you.”

Her relieved smile did something unexpected—it made him relax.