Page 77 of Lost Trust

And I think maybe she’s right.

Maybe we landed here for a reason.

Royce

I’m halfway under the bottom bunk when Cabe drops a handful of screws onto the floor beside my head.

“Pretty sure those are important.”

I slide out from underneath the bed frame and glare at him. “I double-checked. I don’t see anywhere that’s not secured.”

I look at Micah, who’s studying the sheet in his hands. “Anything in the instructions?”

He shrugs. “Maybe they’re extras.”

Cabe snorts. “Should have let Jovie’s dad put the damn thing together. It wouldn’t have taken him three hours.”

I shake my head and go back to tightening a bolt.

Ryder’s room is coming together.

The bunk beds sit against one wall, freshly assembled and waiting for mattresses. There’s a wooden dresser beneath the window, a low bookshelf ready to be filled, and a couple of cowboy-themed quilts to be unpackaged.

It looks like a kid’s room. Not some temporary place Ryder is staying. His room.

I like the thought of Marina and her kid calling this place home.

I tighten the bolt another turn.

“Damn,” Micah says.

He’s standing in the doorway, staring down the hall.

“What?”

He jerks his chin toward the hallway. “Marina.”

I glance past him just as she walks by.

She’s wearing a pair of cutoff denim shorts that hug her ass and a fitted tank top, her dark hair pulled up in a messy knot, leaving a few strands falling around her face. Bare feet slap quietly against the floor as she carries an armful of neatly folded towels against her chest.

Micah watches her disappear around the corner. “Holy hell,” he mutters.

Cabe lets out a low whistle. “She is smoking hot.”

My wrench stops moving.

“Stop ogling her, jackasses.”

Cabe grins. “I’m just saying, Bryce might’ve made a tactical error in hiring her.”

I look at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“She’s going to be a distraction.”

“You don’t even work at the academy,” I snap.

“I mean, for the teenage bull riders,” he says. “Half those kids are already walking around like they’re God’s gift to women. Put Marina in the arena, teaching, and they’re going to forget which end of the horse goes forward.”