Scott awoke stiff, sore, and feeling slightly disoriented.

It was his couch, his house—he knew all of that instantly. But there was a woman in it. Singing.

And that had never happened before.

He pushed himself up to sitting, his leg protesting, though not as much as he would have expected.

He peered over the back of his couch where the sound was coming from.

And was treated to quite a sight. Peyton was bending over, in tight, hot-pink pants.

Damn, if that woman’s sweet ass was right in front of him every time he woke up, he could get used to that quick.

And her singing Miranda Lambert a cappella? That was almost as good as the view.

“Hey, Trouble,” he said, greeting her as he had at the hospital.

This time she didn’t gasp though. She turned with a bright smile that slammed into Scott’s chest.

“You’re awake.”

He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah.”

“You’ve been asleep for three hours.”

Yeah, he felt like it. He just wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. Then he took in the sight around her. She had all six of his kitchen chairs, the coffee table, and the rolling chair from his desk in the guest room gathered in a cluster. Each thing was draped with a number of articles of clothing. Mostly shirts and leggings. Very bright shirts and leggings. In fact, it took him a minute to even find something that was a solid color rather than a multicolored design of some kind. “What are you doing?”

“Photographing some of my new stuff for Facebook.” She held her phone up. “I was going to do it when I got home, but then I moved in here, so I had to bring it with me.”

Scott sat up farther and ran a hand over his jaw. It was scratchy from two days of no shaving. “I don’t understand what you just said.”

She laughed. “I sell this stuff online. Every time I get a shipment, I take pictures to post on Facebook, so people know what I’ve got.”

“Ah.”

Then he took a closer inventory of what she was wearing. It was better than the nurse’s uniform. Kind of. It was a very fitted pair of soft-looking leggings that had his palms itching to touch.

Of course, she could have been wearing a potato sack and he’d want to touch.

“You changed clothes.”

“You asked me to.”

“You never do what I ask you to do.”

She turned fully. “Not true. You told me to bend over earlier and I bent over.”

Okay, now he was fully awake.

And he needed to get out of this house.

Sexy nurse costumes and bending over without panties were a problem. But not, interestingly enough, as big of a problem as her making sandwiches and wearing normal clothes and doing normal things in his house as if she was perfectly comfortable here and ready to stay for the long haul. She’d been here for—he glanced at the clock—for less than six hours. She hadn’t even put in the equivalent of a full workday. And she’d already gotten an orgasm. Not that he minded giving that to her. At all. In fact…

Scott made himself focus. He had no problem touching her. Giving her pleasure. Enjoying the body that had been making him ache for far too long. But the next two weeks were about trying a real relationship. Sex and the other stuff. So far, she’d made him a sandwich and put on a pair of leggings. Normal, but that shouldn’t be enough to break down his walls. He wanted more and he needed to be strong.

And he needed to get out of the house tonight before he just said to hell with it and gave in to every one of her wishes.

“I, uh, am going to head to Kyle’s for the game.” He pushed himself up off the couch.

The couch—where neither of them were going to be sleeping, according to their agreement.

“Oh, yeah, that’s right,” she said. “You did mention that.”

“Yeah, he’s going to grill some burgers and we’ll just hang out.” Scott had no idea if Kyle would grill him a burger, but his friend would come pick him up and let him hang out at his place for a few hours. Scott might have to beg, and he’d certainly have to put up with some shit, but Kyle would do it.

“Great,” Peyton said, but she’d turned back to her leggings and shirt display.

“I mean, if that’s cool with you?” he felt compelled to say.

She glanced over. “Of course. Once you’re fed and medicated and you’re in between dressing changes and showers, I don’t really need to be here, right? It’s not like we’re just going to sit around and watch TV or something.”

Right. That would be too normal. “I guess. What are you going to do tonight?”

“I’ll stop by home and take care of some stuff. And then I’ll head into the bakery. I told Adrianne I could get some stuff started for tomorrow.”

He frowned. “You go into the bakery at night?”

She shrugged. “Sometimes. I’m kind of a night owl.” She said it with an eye roll that said Scott, of all people, should know that. “And so it works for me to go in late and get things prepped for the morning. That way she doesn’t have to get in so early.”

Adrianne was a wife and mom of three—two boys and a girl, all very close in age—whose husband, Mason, often traveled to Washington, D.C., and even internationally with his company, IAS. Scott had no doubt that Adrianne could use all the help and extra hours at home that she could get. And it didn’t surprise him at all that Peyton saw that and pitched in. She might be Trouble with a capital T, but she had a big heart and saw people and what they needed. Even if she would hate knowing that he’d noticed.

“Okay.” Scott hadn’t known that Peyton went in late at the bakery sometimes. Not that he should have known that. But it felt weird that he didn’t. “You’ll come back over later?”

She gave him one of her mischievous grins. “Can’t cuddle up with you from clear across town.”

She didn’t live “clear across town” from him, but that wasn’t the point. She was coming back tonight. That was really all he needed to know.

“Okay, then I’ll see you later.” He started for the kitchen.

“Wait! What are you doing?” She was around in front of him before he’d taken more than three steps.

“Going to the kitchen.”

“Why?”

“For water.”

“I’ll get it for you.”

“Peyton, I’m—” But she was already around the corner. A few seconds later she was handing him a glass of water. “Uh, thanks.”

What he really needed was to get into another room so he could text Kyle and tell him the plans for the evening. He already knew he’d be springing for some beer. And any groceries Kyle didn’t already have.

“Take it easy tonight, okay?” she asked, looking up at him.

“I will.”

“If you start to get tired or sore or anything, just call me.”

He wanted to grin at the idea of Peyton coming to pick him up for a change, but he fought it. “Okay.”

“And don’t forget your meds at eight. That’s the next time you can take them.”

Yeah, okay, this was a normal couple kind of thing, and he liked it. Her taking care of him. It was nice.

He went with his instinct and leaned in, giving her a soft kiss. “Thanks. I’ll see you later.”

She looked a little stunned as he turned and headed for the bedroom.

He liked that look on her.

Thirty minutes later, he was on Kyle’s couch, wondering why he was friends with the two guys sitting in the recliners in the living room with him.

“So you’re pushing the normal-couple-relationship thing and she’s pushing the sexy, let’s-play-nurse-and-patient stuff, and you’re pretty sure you’re losing?” Derek summarized.

“Yep.”

“That sounds about right,” Derek said with a nod, tipping back the can of beer he was holding.

“That she’s winning and I’m losing?”

“Yep. I mean, you’re offering something she doesn’t want. She’s offering something you both want. Of course you’re losing.”

Damn.

“So I have no hope.”

“Of tying Peyton Wells down in a relationship if she doesn’t want it?” Derek asked with a laugh.

“Remember, we talked about how to be supportive?” Kyle asked, throwing a French fry at Derek. He hadn’t agreed to grill, but he’d agreed to go pick up burgers from the Come Again.

“I just don’t get why everything has to be so official with him,” Derek said with a shrug. “I mean, she’s crazy about him. Everyone knows it. Why can’t he just be happy with that?”

“I’m a bad guy for wanting more than sex?” Scott asked. He was beginning to think that given one single, simple excuse to just take Peyton to bed and never let her out, he’d go for it. There was more to life than sex. But really, really, really good sex could make up for a lot.

“You’ve already got more than sex,” Derek said, rolling his eyes.

Scott scowled at him. “Really? Like what?”

“Let’s see,” Derek said dryly. “She hasn’t been with anyone else in a year. You’re always her first call, for everything. She can’t let you leave a room without talking to you. She rushed back here from Baltimore to be by your side. She’s living in your house. And she almost kicked Reed Walker’s ass earlier today because of you.”

Scott felt his eyebrows pulling tighter and tighter as he thought about Derek’s words.

She hadn’t been with anyone else in a year? He tried not to keep too many tabs on her and other guys. He knew she flirted, danced, when out with other guys. Sometimes. Though, yeah, it did seem like it had been a while. And not letting him leave a room without talking to him? Sure, that might seem true—okay, that was true—but it was usually to give him shit or tease him about something. It wasn’t like they talked. But he did like the way she always found him and made a point of coming up to him, even in a crowded, fun party at the Come Again or down at the river.

“She’s staying at my house to help me out while I heal,” he said.

Derek laughed. “Okay, sure. Because clearly you’re on death’s doorstep.”

Kyle laughed too. “And you have no one else who could have helped you out. No best friend with a medical degree or anything.”

Scott rolled his neck. He heard what they were saying. He wanted to believe that Peyton cared about him and wanted to be there. Okay, he knew she cared about him. They were…friends. At least.

“And when she called me on her way to the hospital, she was all over my ass,” Kyle said.

Scott frowned at him. “She called you?”

“Yeah. TJ picked her up from the airport so Heather would have her truck when she gets back from Baltimore. On the drive back, she called me for a report and to tell me that if I didn’t keep you alive, she’d marry me and make me miserable for the rest of my life.”

Scott couldn’t help the warmth that spread through his chest hearing that. “What’s this about Reed Walker?” he asked, thinking back to what Derek had said.

“She marched into Dottie’s this morning and chewed his ass for not having the gun locked up, and then lost it when she heard that Reed has only talked to his kid about it.”

Scott was torn between feeling damned good that she’d come to his defense and worried about what she’d said to Reed. Walker was a good guy, and Scott knew he had to feel like shit. “Did you see all of this?” he asked his friends.

“We were with you, remember?” Derek asked. “But I heard all about it when Mitch and I stopped in at the hardware store.”

Kyle nodded. “My front desk staff was talking about it when I got the clinic and I heard it from two patients.”

“So, the point is,” Derek said, pointing a French fry at Scott. “You’ve already got the girl. Why can’t you just be happy with how things are? Don’t get so hung up on what you’re calling it or whatever.”

“I agree,” Kyle said. “Peyton’s not really the caregiver type, you know? Her being there for you means something, I think.”

“It definitely means something,” Derek agreed. “But I’m not so sure she’s not the caregiver type.”

Scott looked over at his friend. Derek was definitely the more laid-back of Scott’s friends. Kyle was the perfectionist, the always-had-his-shit-together guy who had blown through high school and college, charged right into medical school, and then moved back to Sapphire Falls immediately. That had always been his plan. He’d put that plan on paper when he was about fifteen and had never veered from the course. Except for the fact that he was supposed to meet his high school love, Hannah, here to build their practice together, put their dream house on the land Kyle still owned outside of town, and make two or three beautiful, perfect babies. Hannah had screwed all of that up. But Kyle was still here, practicing, hell-bent on making everyone better and dying a very old, happy man in his beloved hometown.

“I mean, she’s not warm and fuzzy about it maybe,” Derek went on. “But if you mess with someone she loves, you’re going to have to deal with her.”

Derek, on the other hand, didn’t really have any plans beyond the next few hours. He was a whatever-feels-good-at-the-moment guy. He did a bunch of odd jobs around town—bartender, groundskeeper for the city, volunteer firefighter, EMT, and whatever else the town needed. His love for Sapphire Falls was as deep as Kyle’s, and he too would die a happy old man right here, but he found that happiness differently. And there were no great loves in his past. Derek had plenty of love, just not the forever—or even more than a couple of weekends—kind.

Scott scratched his neck, feeling a little befuddled. Not about what Derek was saying. He was right on about all of it. But Scott was surprised that Derek was saying it.

“And I know all about her messed-up home life,” Derek said. “But seems to me that if she didn’t worry about her parents, at least a little, and love this town and the people here, it sure would have been a lot easier to just get the hell out, you know? But she’s stuck around in spite of it all.”

Scott felt a tightness wrapping around his chest. Damn, Derek was good.

That was all true. Peyton was a tough girl on the outside, but when she loved, she loved big and hard and loud. And that was exactly what he wanted from her—all of her passion, her energy, her inability to hold back, directed at him. Not just him—he appreciated her love for her friends and the town. But definitely at him too.

“That’s what I love,” Scott said. Hell, if he couldn’t say this to these guys, who could he say it to? “In spite of how rough things were growing up and how easy it would be to just say ‘fuck it all’ and be cynical and hard and bitchy, she’s…so full of life. She loves to have fun, makes other people have fun. She just lives so big, you know? It’s like her go-to way of dealing with the shit is to be happy.”

Kyle and Derek looked at one another and then back at Scott. Okay, so maybe he just shouldn’t say that stuff to anyone. He frowned at them both. “What?”

Kyle shrugged. “It’s just that all of that is why you shouldn’t be so worried about sleeping with her.”

Scott felt his scowl deepen. “What does that mean? I’m not worried about it.”

Derek laughed and Kyle shook his head.

“Yeah, you are,” Kyle said. “She’s got a messed-up home life and that makes you all protective and makes you think of her as vulnerable, and because of the shit you did in Omaha, that gets to you.”

Kyle and Derek were the only people in Sapphire Falls who really knew all about Scott’s time with the sex trafficking task force. He didn’t really want people to know. He’d prefer to keep everyone he knew in the dark about…the darkness. The disturbing, horrible stuff that went on in other places. At the same time, he needed to talk about it sometimes. Especially after he’d been out on an assignment. He was grateful to have friends who would listen and supported the work. In fact, there were times when Scott had been sure that Kyle and Derek would have absolutely joined him on the job if they could have.

In fact, they’d been on his ass about getting back to it. He’d taken a much-needed break. But it had been nearly eight months now since he’d helped with an operation and both Kyle and Derek thought he needed to get back to that work. They understood why he needed Sapphire Falls too, but they knew that he needed to fight a bigger fight once in a while, to celebrate what he had here by trying to make the rest of the world a little better.

“But you gotta remember,” Derek continued, “Peyton isn’t one of those girls you’ve saved. Or,” he said, his voice gentling slightly and his gaze becoming more direct, “the girls you haven’t saved.”

Scott felt his chest tighten again. Yeah, okay, these guys knew him well. He thought about the girls he’d helped save. But he had nightmares about the ones he hadn’t.

“Peyton takes care of herself and other people,” Derek said. “She’d tell you, in no uncertain terms, if you did something to piss her off or scare her, and she’d kick your ass if you didn’t listen.”

And with that, Scott was 100% positive that his friends had discussed this—without him and possibly at length—before.

But they were right. Very right. He’d seen a lot of very vulnerable girls who had been victimized and taken advantage of. They didn’t all have bad home lives, of course, but that was not an uncommon denominator. And that didn’t even matter. The girls had been used, plain and simple. No matter where they came from, they’d been hurt—physically, emotionally, and mentally—in ways that would stick with them for the rest of their lives. He’d helped get them out, doing things that turned his stomach in some cases to do it, but he couldn’t totally help and heal them.

Which was definitely one of the reasons he was drawn to Peyton Wells. She’d been hurt emotionally, but she not only still found joy and fun in life, she spread it around like feel-good-party-girl confetti. And she knew herself. She knew what she wanted, what she needed, and she would ask for it. Physically, sexually, he didn’t have to worry about crossing any lines or pushing her too far. She’d let him know if that happened, and she’d enjoy the hell out of everything up to that point. He needed to be with someone like that, someone who owned her sexuality, and had no trouble telling him exactly where he stood.

He just worried about her emotional state sometimes. That was a little more vulnerable than she liked to let on.

“You been paying a lot of attention to Peyton,” Scott commented. He wasn’t the jealous type—well, he didn’t like being the jealous type. And he wasn’t, really. But it bugged him a little that Derek and Kyle had noticed these things about Peyton. Of course, one was a doctor. He was kind of trained to see people and notice subtle things. And the other was a bartender. Not trained, exactly, but certainly experienced in seeing people in various emotional states.

“Well, I see a lot of Peyton,” Derek said with a laugh.

Everyone knew that the Come Again was one of Peyton’s favorite places. She was a night owl, for one thing, and it was the only place in town open past six. She was also very social. And, being the only place open after six, the Come Again was where a lot of people ended up on any given night.

Or was it that she didn’t like being alone? That seemed more accurate, for whatever reason.

“And I’m not all wrapped up in trying not to sleep with her for a bunch of deep, psychologically complicated reasons,” Derek added, “so, I can see it all clearly.”

“You are definitely not psychologically complicated,” Kyle agreed.

“Not at all. Total straight-shooter. If that girl came at me in a naughty nurse’s costume, no way I’d be worried about a thing except if I have enough condoms to last the night.”

“Watch yourself, Wright,” Scott cautioned with a scowl. “It’s only my leg that’s not one hundred percent.” Not that he was concerned about Derek and Peyton.

Derek grinned. “You’d have to catch me first, old man.”

Scott was only a year older than Derek, but the younger guy loved to point it out whenever he had the chance. “My Taser would absolutely catch you.”

Derek pushed up out of the recliner and stretched. “Well, like I said, you’ve got the girl. I think you need to quit thinking so much and maybe just start doing.”

“You out of here?” Kyle asked, as Derek picked up his beer can and plate and headed for the kitchen.

“Yeah, told Bryan I’d close up and then Mitch is stopping by.”

“You guys really going to add on?” Scott asked. Derek had been playing with the idea of adding on to the Come Again. He had a grand scheme of adding a pizza kitchen and expanding the business. The Stop had pizza but it was…pizza. Nothing special. Derek seemed to think that Sapphire Falls was ready for something more.

Derek came back into the living room. “Yep, Bryan’s on board. Said we can do a partnership where I manage the pizza business and keep whatever profits come in as long as I also pay all the bills for it. He keeps the bar business.”

“And Mitch is going to do the work?” Kyle asked.

Derek nodded. “He said he and Andi will do it after hours and it won’t disrupt business.”

Mitch Dugan and Andrea Gallo were two of the best contractors and builders in the area. Both from Sapphire Falls, and best friends, they’d started their business about two years ago. They were getting busier, and doing something like the addition to the Come Again would get a lot of attention.

“Sounds great,” Kyle said. “And like I told you, if you need an investor, just let me know.”

Derek clapped his friend on the shoulder as he went by. “You’re a good guy, no matter what they say,” he told him. “And you,” he said to Scott. “Quit torturing Peyton.”

Scott laughed at that. He was torturing Peyton? Yeah.

He and Kyle both focused back on the baseball game on TV, but Scott couldn’t stop thinking about Peyton actually caring about him. Of course she did. He knew that.

His phone pinged with a text message. He looked down. And smiled. Peyton.

Did you take your pill?

She was checking up on him.

Before he could answer, Kyle’s phone pinged. He looked down where he had it resting on the arm of his chair. Being the only physician in Sapphire Falls, he was pretty much on call twenty-four-seven. He frowned and opened the message. Then he looked up at Scott with brows raised.

“Peyton wants to know if you’ve been drinking because you shouldn’t do that while taking pain pills.”

Scott snorted. “Good thing you’ve got her to remind you of that, Doc,” he said.

Kyle just rolled his eyes. “Seriously, man, just sleep with her.”

“You think I should?” Scott asked. Derek was one thing. He didn’t harbor any hopes for a deeper relationship. Scott had thought Kyle understood his side though.

“She’s texting me about your pain pills,” Kyle said, typing something into his phone. “I’ve got real stuff to worry about.”

“I can’t control her and who she texts.”

“But if you were home with her right now, letting her take care of you, she wouldn’t be texting me.” He set his phone back down and focused on the TV.

“Peyton’s not really the staying-home type,” Scott said.

“Maybe she just doesn’t have anything to stay home for,” Kyle said, eyes still on the TV.

Which was good, because then he couldn’t see Scott’s reaction to that. Maybe she just doesn’t have anything to stay home for. Bingo. With her family life, no doubt she’d been coming up with ways and reasons to be out of the house from a very young age. Maybe it was a habit to not be home.

“I want her to be happy,” he said.

Kyle glanced over. “I know, man.”

“So maybe I need to do things her way.”

Kyle cocked a brow. “Convenient that her way involves a lot of naked time.”

Yeah, well, perks. “I just realized that no one does things with Peyton’s happiness in mind. Everyone has another priority.”

“Hope’s there for her,” Kyle said. “And Heather and Tess and Lucy and Brooke.”

Scott nodded to all of that. “But Peyton isn’t their main priority. They all have their lives, work, other relationships. When they’re with her, she has a good time, of course. They all do. But she’s the one making the good time happen. Has anyone ever just showed up at her house with a pizza? Or called up and said, ‘I want to take you out for a drink because you’re always there for me’? Or planned a surprise party for her?”

The realizations were coming to him as he talked. And the answer to all of that was no. He knew that Peyton would show up on a friend’s doorstep with a bottle of tequila if the friend had had a crappy week at work. He knew she’d show up with ice cream if the friend had been dumped. She’d get people together at the river to celebrate someone’s birthday. She was always the first on the dance floor or up on the stage for karaoke at the Come Again. Peyton made the good times happen. People went along with it all, of course. They all loved being around her. But no one ever made a point of making a good time happen for her.

“Peyton is always the one planning things, calling people up, getting people together. She’s the party girl, right? So everyone expects her to initiate things. But wouldn’t it be nice for someone to show that they wanted to be with her enough to make the plans?”

“So Peyton is your main priority?” Kyle asked.

“Yep.” She was. From here on out. He was done resisting her and the urges to be with her all the time and to show her just exactly how much he wanted her.

“And that means you should sleep with her?”

“It means that I fully intend to show her that she is very wanted. I want her to be happy.”

Kyle chuckled. “Yep, very convenient that she’s happiest naked with you.”

Scott just grinned. Peyton Wells was going to be in his bed that night, and he couldn’t wait to tell her that he was lifting the pajamas-on-at-all-times rule.

* * *

It sucked that Heather was still in Baltimore. Peyton would prefer tequila right now.

Instead, she was stuck with sugar, flour, and eggs.

She sighed. Yeah, tequila would be better. She should not do this. This was ridiculous.

Still, she had the definite urge to bake something.

She’d already tossed the meatloaf she’d put together for dinner after finding out Scott was going to Kyle’s. She’d rushed into the kitchen to get rid of the evidence that she’d planned to cook for him. Thankfully she hadn’t put it in the oven yet or he would have smelled it.

But now she was contemplating making him cookies. With frosting Band-Aids and crutches and pill bottles filled with little red hots for the pills in them.

Baking was what she did when she didn’t know what else to do. She wasn’t so great at words or other displays of concern or affection. She didn’t say things like “I’m so happy you’re okay” or “I’m glad you were born” or “I wish there was something I could do” to people, so instead, she baked.

It was silly. She knew that. But making cookies and cakes and cupcakes and pies and bread made her feel good. There was something therapeutic about creating something that was, literally, sweet and colorful, and knowing that it would make someone smile no matter what they were going through. And fortunately, because everyone loved carbs, she didn’t have to feel self-conscious about it. People were too caught up in oh this is so cute! and oh my God this is so good! to think too much about the person behind it.

Hell, for all she knew, most of the people in Sapphire Falls thought Adrianne did all of the baking that made them all happy and feel good. Peyton didn’t care. She liked that she had a simple, straightforward way of putting some good out into the world that didn’t get any more complicated than getting just the right shade of icing for the occasion. And heck, even then, if it wasn’t right, she could scrape it off and start over.

That was really the beauty of baking. As long as you had enough ingredients, eventually you could get anything to turn out right. She wished more things in life were like that, frankly.

But she should not make Scott cookies. Because one, he’d definitely know they were from her, and two, she had the sneaking suspicion that he would think about what was behind them. They wouldn’t be a simple sugar rush for him. No, he’d have to make them mean something.

Peyton chewed on her lip. She knew Heather would be at the wedding reception in Baltimore by now. Heather and Seth had been having an amazing time—even outside of the expensive silk sheets inside the fancy hotel suite. Heather had texted her a photo of the dress she’d chosen—or rather, that Seth had chosen for her—and her friend’s smile had been huge.

But Heather would pick up if Peyton called, she was sure. She wouldn’t keep her long.

“Help me,” she said, when Heather answered.

Peyton could hear music and laughter in the background.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay? Is Scott okay?” Heather asked.

Peyton rubbed her forehead. “Yes, yes, sorry. Everything is fine. I’m sorry to call.”

“Don’t be silly. I just slipped out to go to the bathroom. It’s fine. What’s up?”

“Are you having fun?” Peyton asked first.

“Yes, so much.”

Peyton could hear the smile in her friend’s voice.

“Seth is amazing. This night has been amazing. I can’t wait to tell you all about it. But what do you need?”

Peyton’s heart warmed. She might not do a lot of things right, but she picked awesome friends. “I’m thinking about making Scott cookies. But I shouldn’t make him cookies if I don’t want to keep him, right?”

“Um.”

Peyton knew her friend didn’t totally get her adamant refusal to get involved with Scott. Heather knew about Peyton’s parents and everything, but she wasn’t from Sapphire Falls, so she didn’t really know the history like most of the town did.

Flat-out, Peyton hadn’t really had parents. She’d had two people who had given birth to her and let her live in their house until she was old enough to leave. And a dad who had come to pick her up at the police station when they called. Of course, it would sometimes take him hours to get there. Peyton’s crush on Scott had really started when she saw how angry that made him, and when he’d first pulled her dad aside and chewed his ass about it. She hadn’t heard what Scott had said to Dan, but she’d read the body language. Scott had been defending her.

“I’m afraid he’ll read too much into the cookies,” she said.

Like she wanted to take care of him, and even making him a sandwich that he’d liked had made her happy, and watching him sleep had been a moment of realization for her. She’d liked watching him sleep. That was stupid. And maybe a little creepy. The fact that she’d felt happy and relaxed in his house, working while he slept, moving things around in his living room, familiarizing herself with his kitchen, making herself at home, had made her admit that there were things about Scott she was drawn to that went beyond the physical.

“Yeah, okay, if you’re sure you don’t want to keep him, definitely don’t make the cookies,” Heather said. “Do something else. Do laundry or something. Something that needs to be done, so it doesn’t seem like anything too thoughtful or personal, but will still make you feel like you’re helping.”

“I don’t need to feel like I’m helping him,” Peyton said.

“Yes, you do. Him getting shot made you realize that you care about him more than you thought, and now you want to take care of him but you don’t want him to realize it because, in your words, you’re not sure you want to keep him.”

“I am sure,” Peyton protested. “I don’t want to keep him.” She was such a liar. She didn’t think she should keep him. That was different.

And Heather was wrong. About one thing, at least. Peyton had realized she cared about him more than she thought before he’d gotten shot.

“But you’re making him cookies.”

“I’m almost making him cookies. I’m calling my best friend to talk me out of it.”

“Well, I think you should make them,” Heather said. “But I also think you should keep him, so there’s that. Because if you give the guy a cookiegasm, you’ll never be rid of him.”

Peyton laughed in spite of herself. Heather always said she had cookiegasms after eating Peyton’s. She really was good at cookies. “So I definitely need to kill time somewhere other than the bakery.”

“Oh, you’re at the bakery. Well, that’s a little better than his house. If he walks into that smell, he’ll never let you leave. Though sex in cookie dough could, and should, totally be a thing.”

Peyton laughed again. “Stop. Thinking about cookies and sex together is not helping me.”

Heather laughed too. “Why are you killing time? You couldn’t just hang at Scott’s and watch TV?”

“I didn’t want him to think I was just sitting around, waiting for him to come home.” She’d come to the bakery to work, and she had. Everything was prepped for tomorrow. And then some. But it still wasn’t time to go back to Scott’s. Peyton and time on her hands were almost always a recipe for trouble.

Heather sighed. “Scott would kind of love to know you were just sitting around.”

“I know.” Peyton chewed on her bottom lip.

“Peyton,” Heather said gently, no longer laughing. “You can give in to Scott. He’ll take care of you. He’ll be there no matter what. He’s proven that over and over. You can trust him.”

Peyton felt tears stinging her eyes and she blinked several times. “I know,” she said. “That’s the problem. He’ll be just like my dad, and he’ll never leave, no matter how bad it gets or how horrible I am or how miserable he is.” Scott was completely the type to stick with something. Or someone.

“You’re not going to make him miserable,” Heather said firmly. “You’re amazing. You have to quit thinking that there’s some monster inside just waiting to bust out and terrorize everyone you know.”

But there might be. Not like her mom. Peyton had worried—still did from time to time—that she’d inherited some of Jo’s affliction, but so far she could only chalk up her emotional swings to being a little high-strung and having a short fuse. And sometimes Booze. But there was something about her mother with her dad that she absolutely saw in herself with Scott—she loved being the center of his attention.

Peyton pulled in a breath. “Leaning on Scott would be amazing,” she finally said. “Him being there for me over and over again has always felt so good. For a while there, I got into trouble just so he would come and get me.”

“I know,” Heather said softly.

“But I’m past that. I need to take care of myself. And I realized that that feeds into his issues.”

“Scott has issues?” Heather asked.

“He’s this big save-the-world hero and gets off on helping people, and the thing is, if I turn into this needy woman who wants him around all the time and calls him for every little thing and doesn’t want him to have his own life, then he’ll get sucked in. Part of him will love it. My dad does. But he deserves better than that. He deserves to be with someone who doesn’t just need him.”

Heather was quiet for a moment. Then she asked, “You really think you would turn into that woman?”

“I already feel it,” Peyton said, feeling her emotions welling up—panic, mostly, with a touch of self-loathing. “I’ve been staying with him for one day and I was already disappointed that he went to Kyle’s tonight. I’ve already texted him and Kyle, checking up on him.”

Heather laughed. “You texted his doctor to check up on him?”

“I did. I’m a mess.”

“You’re not a mess,” Heather said loyally. “And Scott really cares about you.”

Peyton knew that. It was part of the problem.

She heard the laughter on Heather’s end of the phone and then a deep voice asking if everything was okay.

“You need to go,” Peyton told her. “Call me when you get back to town.”

“Okay. Everything will be okay. Just don’t fall the rest of the way in love with him before I get back.”

Peyton laughed. “You’re coming home tomorrow.”

“Exactly,” Heather said. And she didn’t sound like she was laughing.

Peyton sobered up and nodded, even though her friend couldn’t see her. “Okay. Yeah.”

“And…probably don’t make the cookies.”

“Yeah.”