Page 106 of You, As You Are

Sounding more amused, Sienna said, “You know I’ll just tell you to do what I’d do and go back in there to?—”

The call cut off.

“No,” Maisie whined, though maybe it wasn’t necessary to – maybe she should be glad her friend hadn’t been able to tell her to go back to the cabin, stroll in like she was the world’s hottest woman, throw off her clothes, and sashay her way over to Iain. She didn’t need that kind of anxiety in her mind.

She looked at the icons in the top corner of the screen; she was out of range for the Wi-Fi of the camp, and she had zero bars for phone service.

“Damn it.” Maisie shoved the phone into her pocket right aspitpattersof rain lightly landed on the canopy of leaves above her.

Ted barked, and her eyes whipped up to his wiry form bolting down the winding trail.

“Ted!” Her boots kicked up stones as she did her version of jogging to try and catch up to him, yelling, “Ted! Come here.”

His scurrying paws darted further and further from her, his barks getting quieter through the trees. Maisie couldn’t even see him anymore, and as she stumbled into long grass and thorny undergrowth, her heartbeat raced at the same speed Ted had taken off at.

Raindrops landed on her cheek as she panted.

The trail had disappeared. She spun in circles but found the same exact view of trees and the shadows between them at every angle she faced.

“Shit—”

Iain was going to kill her; she’d lost his dog.

And slightly less importantly:shewas lost.

CHAPTER THIRTY

IAIN

The last fifteenminutes had given him whiplash – as was common now when in the presence of Maisie Moss. This whole damn trip had been puzzling. First for how he’d been the victim of yet another meddling scheme, and second for the fact that continuous proximity in an enclosed space to the woman who simultaneously drove him up the wall and made him feel like he could scale mountains had made him confront feelings he’d never expected to be dealing with again.

Last night had been as close to magic as he’d ever believed in. Between the stars and how pretty Maisie had looked beneath them, to how her clean, strawberry scent still clung to his coat, he’d accepted that he didn’t want to be her friend.

When she’d helped him text that photographer couple, he didn’t want to be her friend.

When she’d confessed to him her vulnerable truth, he didn’t want to be her friend.

When she’d made him feel like he had a scrap of worth, as their heads laid on their pillows and their eyes had held in darkness, he didn’t want to be her friend.

He’d thought that there had been a –momentwasn’t strong enough of a word. There’d been a connection last night, a threadthat had weaved between them when she’d said that he hadn’t ever disappointed her. Waking up with her cheek on his chest and her leg slung over his was the straw that broke his back in terms of accepting that his plan to keep her at arm’s length wasn’t going to work anymore.

He’d taken Ted out to stretch his legs and work some energy out of both their systems, accidentally finding himself circling the same trail twice before he’d come back to the cabin to find everything in order, yet Maisie had gone.

He’d showered to take the edge off it all.Continuous movementto distract from his thoughts.He just didn’t anticipate Maisie coming back one minute after he’d stepped into the steaming cubicle.

He wasn’t bothered that she’d seen him half naked; he’d worked damn hard in the fields and rugby pitches to get this body, and he’d never shied away from taking off his clothes; what bothered him was that she’d run away, because what the hell was that reaction supposed to mean?

God knows he had no shred of vanity to assume he was any woman’s type, but none had ever run off as though they’d been repelled by the mere sight of him.

She’d stolen his bloody dog, too.

Iain found the breakfast Maisie must have initially gone to get and made up two plates, leaving her toast uncooked for whenever she decided to come back, then waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

By ten-thirty, he’d gotten concerned.

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