The Heartbreaker of Echo Pass - Maisey Yates Page 0,15

more food than he’d had in recent memory. But the prospect of eating everything she just said made his stomach growl.

It was weird.

How suddenly his hunger had been awoken. How something he hadn’t felt in a long time had reared its head when he was reminded how good things could taste. He had forced himself to eat all this time. It had been all he could do to choke food down. And now there was this. Now there was her.

And that first taste of chocolate chip cookie had reminded him of how different it could be.

“How about I check back in with you tomorrow? You know, since I won’t quite have everything with the bakery up and running yet.”

“Sounds good. And that key will be on its way to you.”

“Right. My address.”

She reached into the car, and the loose skirt she was wearing blew up against her legs, outlining them. They were longer than they looked, considering she was so small. The thin fabric was tight against her bottom, and he couldn’t help but notice the round, pert shape.

He blinked, feeling like he was in a haze. Feeling like he just had an out-of-body experience.

She grabbed a small pad with sticky notes on it, scribbled the address and held it out to him, stuck to her finger. He took it, without touching her skin. “Thanks,” he said.

“You’re welcome.”

She regarded him for a moment, and looked like she might say something else. But then didn’t. “See you tomorrow,” she said.

Then she got back into the car, put it in Reverse and drove away. He stared down at the address stuck to his finger.

And he watched as her car faded into the distance. He went back into the cabin, and grabbed his cell phone. Then he went to the trail just behind the house, past the stables that were just behind the cabin, and in much better shape than his own dwelling. Where he found the rock. That stuck up just a little bit higher than everything else and put him at just the right angle to make a call.

As soon as he got there, his phone vibrated, four voice mails showing up.

He bit back a curse.

He didn’t listen to any of them, instead he just called Lucinda. “I need you to mail keys to my new tenant,” he said. He didn’t bother to ask how she was, say how he was or give any kind of introduction. Then he explained the situation, and how he was bartering with Iris for rent.

“Are you insane?” Lucinda asked.

He looked around, at the stern silence of the towering pine trees all around him, the narrow wedge of blue sky and the needle covered dirt down below. His dirty, weathered boots on the boulder he was standing on. Doing a balancing act while he made a phone call to his business manager.

“Hell yes,” he said. “But that’s not a recent development.”

“That is prime real estate. It’s why you gave me permission to invest your money in it. And I don’t want it turning into an albatross. For you or for me.”

“I don’t care. She made a case for it. I think the business will do well. Plus, she cooks for me.”

There was a long silence. “She cooks for you?”

“As part of the trade,” he said.

“Right,” she said.

“Anyway. It’s my building. You might manage things, but you’re not the boss.”

“I’ve basically been the boss for five years, Griffin.”

“But you still aren’t,” he said.

“Fair enough. Do what you want. Give me the address and I’ll mail the keys.”

He rattled it off, and then quickly ended the phone call. Then he stared down at the voice mails. He hesitated for a moment, then started to play the first one. It was Iris. Asking about the property.

The next was just Lucinda, calling to tell him that there’d been an inquiry about the property, and asking what he wanted to do about it. It was over a week old now. Well, those problems had been self solving.

Then there was another one, two weeks old. He grimaced. And played it.

Griffin, it’s Mallory. I’m just calling to make sure you’re still alive. I really wish that you would keep in touch better. Mom and Dad want to make sure you’re doing okay. But they don’t want to pressure you. I think you could do with a little pressuring. He clicked the voice mail that had come a week before it.

Griffin, it’s Mallory. I was just calling to wish you happy birthday. And tell