Page 107 of Reckless Hope

“I didn’t expect anyone to be here. What are you doing in the office so early?”

She swallowed. “It’s my first day without Linda, so I wanted to get a jump on it.”

His brows slashed together. “Today’s supposed to be Linda’s last day.”

“I offered to start early, and she took me up on it.” When Kayden remained silent, Tilly lifted a shoulder. “I kind of gotthe feeling she was already one foot out the door since her retirement party.”

Maybe. Or maybe Linda didn’t want to have the “why’d you hire Matilda” conversation with him for the tenth time.

“I just came in to check my morning tour details. Would you prefer me to check on this computer or the one in the office?”

Her brows rose. “Whichever you usually use.”

He usually just asked Linda to pull up the details, and Linda would do so at whatever desk she was occupying at the time. But he wouldn’t be asking Tilly.

He dipped his head and was about to walk past her when she sidestepped, blocking his way. She only came to his shoulder, but she stood so close that he could see the array of freckles that dusted her nose.

“Wait. Before you go, I just want to say that I know you don’t trust me,” she rushed to get out, almost sounding out of breath. “Hell, you don’t even like me. But I’m good at my job. I plan to tidy a lot of stuff around here. Digitalize the center. Get more tourists in, maybe some school groups, and get the skywalk up and running efficiently.”

Kayden’s mind immediately flicked back years ago, to a conversation he’d overheard while home from a mission, between his father and Tilly’s.

“You can trust me with your money, Toby. You know me. You know I’m good at my job.”

A vein throbbed in his temple, and he took a step back. There was a flicker of hurt in her eyes, and it took a lot of restraint to not let that hurt affect him. “Regardless of whether I trust you or not, you’re here. Linda chose you for the job, and your job has little to do with me. I just do the tours and rescues.”

He tried to step around her, but Tilly touched his arm. For some goddamn reason, that touch was like a bolt of electricityrunning through his limbs. When he looked at her again, her big blue eyes were wide and boring into him, almost anxious.

“Working together doesn’t have to be hostile, Kayden.” The way she said his name, so smooth like silk, made something squeeze in his gut. “So many things have been hard for me in this town.” She looked away briefly, like it hurt to think about. “Sorry. You don’t care about that. What I’m saying is, wecanget along. Maybe even be friends.”

There was something about the desperation in her voice that made him want to agree.

When the woman looked at him the way she was right now, he wanted to give her anything she asked for.

But then he remembered his dad’s face the day he’d told them he’d lost his savings. He’d just received his cancer diagnosis, and on top of that devastating news, told them he’d had to re-mortgage the bar, sell the family home, and move into the apartment over the bar.

“I think a business relationship would be best.” The words came out harsher than he’d intended.

Her expression registered her disappointment, but to her credit, she didn’t break down. Instead, she straightened and nodded just once.

He forced himself to move. To step around her and into the office to check the details of his morning tour, ignoring every instinct that told him to go back out there and be the friend she obviously needed. A support person. Maybe even an ally.

He ignored it. Because the truth was, he wasn’t sure he was capable of any that…not with her.