Page 76 of The Huckleberry Bookshop

Not hearing from him after that stung more than she wanted to admit. A lot more. She’d expected him to at least try, to be relentless.

Instead, it was as if he’d simply moved on, and as though the easy laughter and flirtation while cooking shoulder to shoulder in her videos hadn’t been special to him.

She hated cooking now. Well, not quite, but filming videos with other NHLers wasn’t in the same galaxy as having Chadwick Mullens behind her counter.

Balancing the tarts, she rounded the short hall that junctioned the living room, bedrooms and kitchen. She stopped short.

A tall man with wonderfully broad shoulders was washing his hands at the kitchen sink. She knew that frame. Knew the way the broad torso narrowed at the hips. The way his dark hair needed a trim.

That hunk was the reason for her broken heart.

Why was she such a hopeless fool when it came to men like Chad? She’d known. Known. And she’d gone ahead and fallen, anyway.

“Hey, Athena,” Meddy said, taking the platter from her. “Thanks for bringing these.”

“What’s he doing here?” She dragged her sister to the kitchen doorway. Meddy, who had been setting the tarts on the island counter, stumbled and flailed as Athena manhandled her into the living room before Chad could turn around to check out the clattering behind him.

“He made the ramps and worked on the screen door,” Meddy whispered, her eyes wide.

“He’s not a contractor.”

“Even better, because he didn’t charge. And you should see Mom. She’s grinning like crazy.”

“You asked him?”

Meddy smiled, but before Athena could get upset with her sister, Chad appeared in the living room doorway.

“What do you know about construction?” Athena demanded, hands on her hips.

His Adam’s apple bobbed. “A bit, I guess.” He shot Meddy an apologetic grimace. “ I should head out.”

“Were you helping out at Maverick’s?” Athena asked, needing to know how he’d ended up here, in her town, working on her family’s home. Had he driven out with other Dragons to work on the team captain’s farmhouse? Or were he and Meddy in cahoots?

“He gave me some scrap bits of plywood for the ramps, but I’m not really part of the gang over there.”

“Then what part are you?”

He shrugged, looking like the loner kid on the playground. Damn, but that pulled on her heartstrings.

His perfect wool sweater had sawdust clinging to it, suggesting he’d been roped into this somehow, that he hadn’t come prepared to work construction on the Gavras home.

“Mav would say yes if you asked,” Athena said, giving in a little.

“Yeah, but I may never get out of there again,” Chad joked.

“True.” The house, from what she’d heard, was an endless pit of renovations.

Her parents came down the hallway from their bedroom, Darianna in the lead. Her face lit up as she spun her wheelchair their way. “Did somebody call me? I felt my ears burning.”

“Hey, Mom,” Athena said, bending to kiss her on the cheek.

“I should go,” Chad said again, hesitantly enough that it was clear he was hoping someone would stop him.

“Excuse me, Chad, but this has already been discussed.” Darianna was using her Mom tone and Athena cringed. “You’re staying for supper.”

“I have a pretty strict diet.” His eyes cut to Athena.

“This is one of Athena’s recipes, so you should be fine.”

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