She heard the door open and close a few times while she finished washing the dishes. Deciding to just let him do his thing, she took the dogs out back, enjoying the not-quite-cool breeze. But, hey, at least there was a breeze.

  Linc came outside and sat in the chair next to hers. “Great backyard.”

  “Isn’t it? The pool is amazing. The dogs love it. And before you ask, I always sweep out any dog hair in the pool and the filter basket.”

  “Noted. Though I wasn’t going to ask.”

  “I also vacuum the floors every day. Or the robot does. And I pick up the poop out here every day so the neighbors don’t complain.”

  “You’re very conscientious.”

  “I try to be. Not everyone loves dogs.” She studied him. “How do you feel about dogs?”

  “I like them just fine. I had two Labs growing up.”

  She judged people harshly who didn’t like animals, so she was relieved to hear that Linc wasn’t one of those. “I love Labradors. I placed a beautiful chocolate Lab mix with the best family about six months back. They have two kids under ten who adore him. And he’s just so happy now. They send me pictures all the time.”

  “Sounds like it was a good fit.”

  “It was.”

  Lilith came over and sniffed at Linc’s tennis shoe, raised her head, gave him a growl, and sauntered away.

  “That’s Lilith. She’s queen of the pack and she doesn’t warm up to people easily. Especially men. I think some dude might have been mean to her before.”

  “She’s so tiny. How could someone be mean to her?”

  “Nothing surprises me about humans and how or why some of them mistreat their fur babies.”

  “Is that why you became a foster?”

  “Yes. Someone has to love and care for them and make sure they end up with the right people.”

  He looked at her for the longest time, as if he was judging her. Or maybe that was her imagination. All she knew was that he had a beautiful face, and it had been a long time since a man had looked at her like . . . that. She eventually looked across the yard to see what the dogs were doing, except it was dark and she really couldn’t see. Besides, if they were in trouble, there’d be yelping or growling, and she heard nothing.

  “So, about your salary,” he finally said.

  “Oh, right.” She’d thrown that out there, figuring he’d say no and she’d eventually capitulate, because just having a roof over her head and food to eat was enough for now. But if she was actually going to get paid? While not having to buy food or pay rent? She could start saving some money and eventually get back on her feet again. The knot in her stomach lessened for the first time in months.

  This wasn’t exactly the solution to her problems, but it was a start.

  Linc leaned back and crossed his arms. “Let’s start negotiating terms.”

  For the first time in . . . hell, further back than she could remember, Hazel felt the stirrings of something she’d long ago lost.

  Empowerment.

  CHAPTER THREE

  It had taken a full week for Linc to get organized, to get the layout and design in his head, and to have blueprints created for the new project. Then he’d had to order and buy all the supplies he was going to need.

  That was all the drudge work. Now he was ready to dig in and get started.

  True to her word, Hazel and the dogs had mostly stayed out of his way, though he’d assured her that she didn’t have to leave a room whenever he was in one. The only thing she’d asked for were his food likes and dislikes. He had told her he didn’t have any dislikes, and she’d smiled at that.

  And, oh, man, did she have an incredible smile. It lit up her whole face and made her blue eyes shine like sapphires. It made him want to know a lot more about this mysterious woman who he was now kind of sort of living with. Though technically she was now living in the guesthouse and he was in the main house, which she’d insisted on so she could stay out of the way of his renovations, even though he’d insisted the only work he’d be doing on the extra bedrooms upstairs was paint. But maybe she wanted the distance, and he couldn’t blame her for that. He was just some stranger, and a man at that, and many women would be uncomfortable sharing a house with some guy they didn’t know at all.

  He’d rented some basic furniture, because he sure as hell wasn’t sleeping on the floor, and neither should she. She’d balked at first, and explained that her air mattress was perfectly fine.

  He’d taken a look at the air mattress. It was thin and tiny and didn’t look fine or comfortable. So when he’d placed his order with the furniture rental place, he’d ordered her a queen-size bed with a comfortable mattress, which would fit just fine in the bedroom in the guesthouse. Then he’d ordered some decent linens for the bed and some nice towels for her bathroom. When they were delivered she got out her phone, made some notes, then thanked him.

  Why he was doing all that for her, he didn’t know, especially since his initial reaction that first night was to throw her out on the street. Maybe it was the sadness and look of defeat on her face. And the fact he sure as hell could afford to give someone a break, and Hazel needed one.

  Turned out, he’d been the lucky one, because he was eating great food now. So why not at least get her a decent bed and some good linens?

  He’d also gotten a big-screen TV and put it in his bedroom. A guy needed his comforts during downtime.

  He’d also checked out the cooking situation in the guesthouse. It wasn’t ideal, but Hazel didn’t seem to mind it. He liked the guesthouse for two reasons—one, it didn’t need renovations, which was a plus. Two, it had its own bedroom and a kitchen, which did have a stove and a fridge. And they had the grill out on the patio, so he supposed it would do for Hazel, cooking-wise. He’d also asked her to make a list of cooking supplies she’d need. At first she balked, saying the cast-iron skillet and saucepan would be fine, since that’s what she carried around with her. But he’d insisted, so she made a list, and he ordered everything on it plus a few extra items. Her eyes had widened when it had all showed up. She made some notes on her phone as she looked over the inventory.

  “This is too much,” she’d said, but he saw the delight in her eyes, and for some weird reason that had made him happy. And, hey, she was making him food, so that had made him happy.

  She had started fixing meals the first day. Coffee and juice and a spinach and ham omelet for breakfast, followed by an amazing turkey, apple, and cheddar sandwich along with a salad for lunch, and then Southwest grilled chicken for dinner along with the most incredible green beans he’d ever tasted. Food would just appear while he was working, and she’d silently disappear.

  During the day he’d see her occasionally, out at the pool with the dogs. He was slowly learning their names, though they were still a little leery of him so they mostly kept their distance. All of them, including Hazel. She was good at being invisible, even with her entourage of canines.

  Today she’d brought him a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch that tasted nothing like any grilled cheese he’d ever had. It certainly wasn’t plain cheese. And there was a pickle and some fruit salad, along with iced tea. He had just started to tape off the kitchen from the rest of the house, because once he started demo there’d be a lot of dust.

  Now it was time to wreck the kitchen—always his favorite part.

  The kitchen was a decent size, it just had older cabinets that had seen better days, countertops and a backsplash that needed upgrading, and the most hideous tile Linc had ever seen. He couldn’t wait to make it all go away.

  He hefted his sledgehammer and got to work.

  * * *

  • • •

  Hazel winced as the sounds of battering rams continued from the main house. That was some serious noise, and it had been going on for the past few hours. She hoped Linc had apologized in advance to the neighbors.

  At least it was a corner lot, so maybe fewer people would be annoyed.

  She had thought about going outside to take the dogs to the pool, but on second thought decided to wait until the sounds of a war zone ended.

  If it ended. For all she knew, Linc might decide to do this into the night. She might have to dig into her backpack for her earplugs.

  Instead, she got out her menu list for the day and started prepping dinner. If Linc was going to work late, he’d be hungry. And it was her job to see that he was fed.

  While she was prepping ingredients, her phone buzzed. She glanced over, wrinkled her nose, and went back to working. Until her phone buzzed again. And then again. She washed and dried her hands and made the call.

  “That took a while. Where are you?”

  She rolled her eyes at the judgmental voice of her sister, Natalie. “I was preparing dinner for a . . . client.”

  “Oh, new job?”

  “Sort of. What’s up?”

  “I haven’t heard from you in two weeks. I hate when you disappear like that.”

  “I didn’t disappear, Nat. You text me every day. I answer.”

  “It’s not the same when we don’t talk. I can tell from the tone of your voice something’s wrong. And with you, something’s always wrong.”

  Count to ten, Hazel. One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . .

  “Nothing’s wrong. Things are actually going well. I’ve got a job, a place to stay, good food to eat. It’s all great.”

  “Hmm.”

  Hazel’s big sister was notorious for her profound lack of belief in her. When she had gotten engaged to Andrew, neither her mother nor her sister approved of him and both warned her that he was going to break her heart.

  Okay, so they’d been right about that part.

  “Seriously, Nat. Everything’s great. But I’ve gotta go so I can get this dinner out on time.”

  “But where—”

  “We’ll talk soon, okay? Love you, bye.”

  She clicked off before her sister kept her on the phone for an hour grilling her about . . . well, everything.

  When her phone rang ten minutes later and she saw it was her mom, she ignored it, knowing that as soon as Nat had gotten off the phone with her, she’d called their mother to gossip about her. So instead, she put the stuff in the fridge and decided she’d risk the noise and took the dogs outside.

  Fortunately, the uproar had ceased, at least for the time being, so she could relax and take Gordon for his swim, and the dogs could enjoy some outside time. After she removed Gordon from the pool, she climbed onto one of the rafts and just . . . floated. The sunshine and the pool felt amazing, and that tight coil of tension in her shoulders dissolved.

  Until a giant tsunami of a wave washed over her, upending her into the water. She came up and dragged her hair out of her eyes to see Linc’s grinning face in front of her.

  “What the hell was that?” she asked.

  “Cannonball, obviously. This water feels amazing.” He pushed off and then he was under the water. Where he had gone, she had no idea, but he was under there for a while. Even Penelope got curious, peering over the side of the pool. Penelope was always concerned when people were in the water. Not that she’d rescue anyone, of course. But she was good at being concerned.

  When he came up, shaking his head, Penelope took several cautious steps back and barked.

  “Aww, I’m sorry, baby,” he said, pulling himself out of the water. “Did I scare you?”

  Penelope came over, sniffed him, then parked herself next to him and licked his arm.

  He obviously had passed the Penelope test. Then again she’d always been the first one to make friends with strangers.

  Okay, wow. She hadn’t paid much attention to Linc over the past week because he’d been in jeans and a T-shirt and she’d just been grateful to still have a roof over her head, so she’d kept her focus on feeding him and staying scarce so he wouldn’t change his mind about her being at the house. But now? He wore board shorts and no shirt and there was tan and muscle and wet skin.

  Linc was hot. She did not want to think about Linc being hot. She had a lot of questions about said hotness and tanness.

  But she shouldn’t engage with him.

  “You’re very—tan. Do you spend a lot of time outside?” she asked, immediately regretting opening her mouth.

  Now he’s going to know you were ogling his body. Good move, Hazel.

  “I took some time off from my last project and did some fishing. Gotta unwind a little, you know?”

  She would not know anything about unwinding. “Sure.”

  “And you obviously like the pool,” he said.

  “I do, but mostly because Gordon has arthritis and it’s excellent therapy for him.”

  “I noticed you also bring a stroller for him when you take the dogs for a walk. That’s very considerate of you.”

  She wasn’t used to being complimented. “You notice a lot.”

  “Is that bad?”

  “I guess not. I just assumed you were too busy wrecking the inside of the house to notice what I was doing.”

  “I see plenty. By the way, thanks for all the amazing food.”

  Her lips curved. “You’ve thanked me for every meal. It’s what you’re paying me for.” Which she definitely appreciated. They’d negotiated what she thought to be an extremely generous salary, considering she was also getting to stay for free at the house and he was also paying for the food. Which meant she could bank the salary he was paying her. It would go a long way toward giving her money to put a deposit down on a rental whenever he was finished here and ready to put the house on the market.

  “How long is this project supposed to last?”

  He shrugged. “Six weeks to two months, give or take. And that’s only if nothing major comes up or we don’t have delays getting materials.”

  “Are there often delays?”

  He laughed. “All the time. But I like to be hopeful.”

  Okay. She’d put some numbers together and figure out if the salary he was paying her would be enough for a down payment on a rental. If not, she could pick up some shifts at one of the restaurants she’d worked at before.

  “How’s that going, by the way?” she asked.

  “The demo? Good. I’ve got the kitchen taken down and everything cleared away. You know you can come check it out if you’d like.”

  She had been curious, especially considering all the noise, but she’d tried not to bother him. “I would like to see it.”

  He hopped up and held his hand out for her. “Let’s go.”

  “I’m all wet.”

  He laughed. “There’s nothing in there right now, so you can’t hurt anything. Though you might want to put some shoes on. I vacuumed the floors after I cleared the debris, but I’d hate for you to step on a nail or a piece of wood I might have missed.”

  She grabbed a towel and dried herself off, then slipped her cover-up on over her suit, slid into her sandals, and followed him. She held her hand palm up when the dogs started to follow, so they all immediately stayed put, though none of them seemed happy about it.

  She didn’t blame them. After having free run of a big house, being cramped up in a one-bedroom guesthouse wasn’t exactly roomy for either her or the dogs. But she was still so grateful to have a place to stay, she wasn’t complaining.

  She stepped inside, shocked at how different it all looked. The kitchen had been completely removed down to the floors, and all that was left now were walls. Actually, there was a wall missing, too. One that had separated the kitchen from the living area.

  “Wow. You’ve done a lot. This couldn’t have been easy doing it all yourself.”

  “It wasn’t too bad. Plus some of the members of one of the local churches came by and picked up the appliances since they were still in working order, so all that was left was taking down the cabinets and counters, and pulling up the floors. Now that that’s done, I can start rebuilding.”

  He made it sound easy when she imagined it was anything but.

  “And you have it all planned out.”

  He nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Will the layout be the same?”

  “No. I’m changing things up. Now that the wall is down between the kitchen and living room, I can expand the space.”

  “Really. That’s a great idea. Are you putting in an island?”

  “Of course.”

  “That’ll be so much better than the peninsula that was here before. What will you put on the island? A cooktop? Sink? Or will it be bare? And if so, where will everything else go?”

  He grinned. “Would you like to see the blueprints?”

  “I’d love to.”

  He grabbed a rolled-up stack. “Come on. We’ll spread them out on the table on the patio.”

  She followed him outside where all the dogs surrounded them, sniffing them as if they’d just arrived from some secret location they’d never been, even though they’d just come from inside the house where the dogs had been so many times before. But dogs had to be sure.

  Linc spread the blueprints out and leaned over the table, his triceps bulging as he did. Not that she noticed those kinds of things. Except how could she not? Instead, she studied the blueprints, checking out the layout for the new kitchen.

  “Lots of counter space, which is so helpful. The island is huge, and I like that you’re not putting a stove top or sink there, which will give someone a lot of room for meal prep and serving.” Her eyes widened. “Double ovens? Be still my heart.”

  “I’m adding a good-sized pantry over here, too,” he said, moving closer to her so he could point it out.

  “Great idea. There was a definite lack of storage in the former kitchen, though you’ve added more cabinetry, too, including in the island. There can never be enough drawers and cabinets in my opinion. And with an extended island, the parties here will be killer.”