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understands what it’s like to have curls. Did she get them from you or her mother?”
    “Me, but you wouldn’t know it, and I wouldn’t know what to do with hair any longer than mine.”
    “Well, Paige’s is beautiful. I can’t wait to see her new style; she promised she’d come over and show it off.”
    “She’s at a friend’s house now, but if she promised, I’m sure she will.”
    Silence slipped between them, sudden but soft. He tried not to be obvious about watching Lucia’s hair shimmer dark brown and honey gold in the evening light.
    “What about you?” she asked. “Any plans for the evening?”
    “None.” He’d finished his shift; what little of the day he had left was a blank slate that stretched between now and night.
    “Would you like to come in for coffee? I’ve got cookies, too.”
    “I didn’t know you baked.”
    Her lips quirked in a half-smile. “I don’t. At least, not very often. Your mother made them for me. If she keeps this up, a few years in this neighborhood and I’ll slip into a sugar coma. Do you think she’s trying to literally kill me with kindness?”
    “It’s what she does.”
    It was only half a lie. His mother was generous to a fault. And she loved to spoil people with food. But Lucia was the only person in the neighborhood – besides him and Paige – who was being showered with baked goods so regularly.
    Meredith was treating Lucia like family, and as crazy as it was, he knew exactly why she was doing it.
    He just had to make sure Lucia didn’t find out. If she did, the embarrassment might kill him.
    She stepped aside, making way for him to come in.
    He could’ve told her she didn’t owe him anything, that there was no need to reciprocate for the other evening.
    But the way she smiled – the way daylight reflected in her eyes, even though the day was fading – made her invitation seem genuine.
    He stepped inside, drawn over the threshold by the allure of her smile and an uncharacteristic sense of why the hell not?

CHAPTER 5
     
    Jeremy didn’t usually do things just for the pleasure of doing them, but Paige wasn’t home and he had nothing else to do. And if Lucia wanted to have coffee with him, why would he turn down something so undeniably appealing?
    “I’m still getting situated,” she said as he entered her home.
    There was a stack of deconstructed moving boxes in one corner of the living room, but other than that, everything appeared neat and in its place.
    “Looks good to me.”
    There was a single couch in the living room, a TV and a bookshelf laden with novels. A coffeemaker and toaster had been assigned spaces on the kitchen counter, which he could see from where he stood. The house was a home, albeit an unusually clean and orderly one.
    But then, she lived alone. Didn’t have anyone else to clean up after. Was she feeling a little lonely in her new neighborhood, despite the sugar avalanche his mother had unleashed on her as a welcome?
    That’d explain why she’d invited him in.
    “I’ll start the coffee.” Her hips swayed when she walked, each mesmerizing step marked by the soft sound of her feet against the kitchen floor.
    “The other day you said you moved here from Wilmington. You grow up there?” He followed her to the edge of the linoleum, standing by a small yellow table with four matching chairs.
    “Yes,” she said, opening a bag of coffee grounds.
    He could smell the richness of the crushed beans, even from two yards away.
    “So you’re a local.”
    “Uh-huh. Technically, Wilmington’s my hometown, but since I work at the Coastal Aquatic Center, Cypress is closer to work for me. Considering that it’s cheaper here too, it just makes sense to live here.”
    “The aquatic center.” Most of the lifeguards there were teenagers. She’d mentioned working there the other evening, but hadn’t specified what she did. “Do you work in management?”
    “I’m the aquatics program coordinator. Basically, I have my nose in just