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There was something there. After a decade of being in this business—of working with many women to file restraining orders against spouses or families—I recognized a secret when I saw it. The thing was, I respected the privacy of the women who lived here; they already had to share so much during the application process about their health and lives that whatever parts of their past were left private, I honored.
At least, I had up until right now when my baser, protective instincts kicked up a notch, wanting to know what drove her to the brink of exhaustion.
It was more than recovering from a prescription pill addiction. More than starting over and not losing her entire life to the habit. I wanted to know so I could help her, but I tamped down the urge. I had to. She was a resident. Treating her any differently—treating her as anything more—was completely unacceptable.
“Okay, I just want to make sure you’re not overworking yourself.”
“You mean like you do?” Her hand slapped over her mouth as soon as the words were out.
One of my brows lifted. I hadn’t expected that.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean—I’m just exhausted, and that’s none of my business,” she rambled as she approached me and shoved the bag of peas against my chest. “Thank you for everything. My head is fine. Nothing some Tylenol won’t fix.”
I didn’t stop her from rushing around me and out of my office because I had no reason to.No good reason to. Plenty of bad ones, though.
I remained rooted in place, staring at my desk and all the work that needed to be done for long minutes before deciding to call it a night. There was no way I could be in this room right now and not think about her sitting there, the soft moans she made when I let down her hair, or the way she let herself look at me the way I had to stop myself from looking at her.
This was a hiccup. An awkward half hour that we’d both forget about come tomorrow morning when we both went back to the way our lives had been for the last six months.Like ships passing in the night, we weren’t meant to end up on the same shore.
CHAPTER3
KENZIE
“Hello, Callie?” I called, slowly pushing through the door into Zeke’s law office in town.
I’d passed by his building countless times, but I’d never been inside. I had no reason to, and now that I did, it almost felt forbidden. Or maybe it was because Zeke lived in the apartment upstairs. It was one thing to imagine what the gorgeous man who worked like the wizard behind the curtain at Blooms did every night when he finally went home… it was another to be steps away from where my imaginings happened.
Imaginings that shouldn’t exist in any capacity. Not only was Zeke Williams every kind of off-limits, but I had a goal I needed to stay focused on—a purpose for why I was here and everything I did. And I wouldn’t let anything—especially an unexpected attraction—distract me.
No matter how good his hands had felt when they touched me last week nor how safe his arms had felt when he held me.
Nothing was about me anymore.
The small bell dinged again as the door shut.
The desk to my right and the chairs in the small waiting room to my left were both white and modern. The large plant in the corner was the only burst of color in the front space, but I couldn’t tell if it was real or fake.
The door in front of me opened, and Callie’s blonde head poked through, her blue eyes lighting up with when she saw me.
“Kenzie? Hi.” She stepped through, a big smile welcoming me and settling a few of the butterflies swirling in my stomach.
You have to do this, Kenzie. For Jake.
“I think Zeke should already be at the house by now—”
“Oh, I’m not here to see him,” I said quickly,tugging my bag higher on my shoulder, the strap starting to dig under the weight of my cleaning supplies. I should’ve dropped them off at Roasters first, since that was where I was headed next to clean, but I didn’t want to risk her leaving for the day. I’d been so tied up at the house all day with my duties there that I’d left a little later than I wanted.
“Here.” She motioned for me to follow her. “Let’s chat in my office.”
“Oh.” My eyes flicked to the desk out front and then back to her. “Okay.”
“Sometimes I still sit out there during business hours or if I know a client is coming in, but I have an actual office to work out of,” she explained, leading me down the short hall to the first door on the left. “Come in. What’s going on? Is this about the yoga event at the Beach Bash in August? I know you volunteered, but I can help if you need.”
I smiled. “Thank you so much. I’ll let you know if I need any help, but that’s not why I’m here.”
Callie and I both took the same yoga class with Eve at the Yoga Garden; Eve was Zeke and Addy’s younger sister. She’d opened the studio a few years ago and offered free classes to all the Blooms residents. And every summer, the town of Carmel held a community event along the main stretch of beach. There were food trucks and beach volleyball, games for kids, and this year, Eve secured an event spot to host a massive group yoga session; I’d volunteered to teach the class because Eve was pregnant, and her due date was too close to the event for comfort.
“Oh, okay.” Callie blinked. “What’s going on?”
