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CHAPTER2
Mason
I leaned against the kitchen island and let all the air in my lungs rush out in a single whoosh. Today was move-in day. After a few hours of tense negotiation over the weekend, I’d offered enough money to make the sister and brother happy. I’d wired them the cash right away on the condition that I could move in immediately. Today, I had expected to uncover all the furniture and take stock of what I wanted to keep or get rid of. What I had not foreseen was finding a malnourished young woman sleeping in one of the beds upstairs.
I sighed and dragged my hand down my beard. I didn’t know what to do about her. A part of me wanted to help her. Her face looked gaunt. From what I’d seen, she was far too skinny and her eyes were full of more sadness than a girl should have inside them at the young age of nineteen.
A part of me just wanted to be rid of the potential headache her presence could cause me, but I really didn’t want to do that either.
Right now, I wasn’t even certain that she would come downstairs. Her eyes had been as big as saucers when I’d opened that door. If I had taken one step into that room, I was pretty sure it would have made her flee in an all-out panic.
I sighed, trying to mull over my options in my head. I’d already texted my personal assistant to go get the two of us something to eat for breakfast. I’d put in my order, which was far larger than usual, and he’d asked if I was hungry. I’d replied with ‘something like that.’
I pulled the sheet covering the kitchen table off of it, which was a gigantic mistake I regretted pretty much instantly. Dust flew up into the air as I let it fall to the floor. I coughed and rushed to open a window. That was by no means an easy feat either. It stuck fast from disuse. With a loud grunt and a whole lot of upper body strength, I finally got it to budge.
“If you open that door over there, you can get a nice cross breeze, which should help with all the dust,” a small voice said from behind me and for some crazy reason, I was relieved to hear it. She hadn’t run away after all.
“That’s a good idea. Want to open it for me while I try to clear out my lungs?” I said, coughing slightly as I did so.
“Sure thing,” she beamed. She gave me a wide berth, still clearly wary of me. I walked over to the sink, found a glass, and turned on the water. The faucet sputtered a few times, but eventually a clean stream of liquid splashed into the sink. I rinsed the glass several times before filling it up and taking several big gulps. When my throat was clear, I made my way back over to the table. I took a seat, leaned back, and watched her with curious interest.
“Breakfast should be here soon. You got ready faster than I thought you would,” I said with a gentle smile. I didn’t want to scare her away.
“I’m pretty low maintenance,” she replied nervously. Her cheeks pinkened just a little at my observation. She was really quite beautiful when she smiled like that.
She stepped a little bit closer, just catching the sunlight in a way that made her pretty sage-colored eyes sparkle. Her hair was long and thick, a gorgeous mane of mahogany that shone with life. I wondered if it was as soft as it looked. She was tentative as she walked over to the door and opened it wide. There was a screen in place. A cross breeze swept through the room, just like she’d said it would.
A bit less warily now, she made her way back and sat down in the chair across the table. It was also the one farthest away from me. She peered in my direction, not exactly bold enough to look me right in the face, but curious enough to try.
“You must be pretty rich to afford a place like this,” she ventured.
“I own a tech company. I design software for electric cars, robotics, etcetera. Boring stuff, but it pays really well when done right,” I said lightheartedly. She smiled.
“You’re moving here from California?” she asked.
“How did you know that?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I might have been hiding in my closet when you walked through the house the other day with your agent,” she blushed. She fidgeted in her chair, and I swallowed hard.
Naughty girl. She was really quite adorable when she blushed though. The longer I spent with her, the more curious I was becoming about who she was, why she was here, and where she would go if I turned her away…
“Were you now?” I raised an eyebrow and her cheeks reddened even more. My fingers twitched and I pressed them down on the table.
“Why move to New York?” she asked, very obviously trying to direct the conversation away from her. I decided to let her, at least for now.
“I’m from here originally. I own my company and much of what I do can be done remotely. I missed home and New York is that for me,” I answered.
“Did you come here alone?” she asked carefully.
“I did,” I replied. I didn’t explain fully, but I had plans to establish myself here and eventually run for office here in Hudson. I’d expected to buy a house, fix it up, bring more tourism here to upstate New York, and build a good life here. Maybe one day meet a woman and start a family, but I wasn’t in any rush for that. A homeless young woman was not in the plan, but here she was sitting at my table anyway.
“I want to know more about you, Cami,” I pushed. “How did you end up living here instead of your home?”
“I don’t have a home,” she muttered. She chewed her lip and took a deep breath, seemingly deciding to tell me her story in one full breath. “I’m an orphan. My parents died when I was little, and I had no other family, so I grew up in the foster care system. I ran away when I was eighteen. I’ve been making it on my own ever since,” she rushed.
She wasn’t exactly making it in my opinion. She was too skinny. She looked so tired. She needed help and the sudden urge to take care of her overcame me. I took a deep breath, ignoring that feeling as best I could.
“Are you still in high school? Starting college?” I asked.
