THE NEXT TIME she woke up, she was alone and a little befuddled. The sun was trying to burn her eyelids. Sitting up, she looked at her clock. Dawn had come and gone—three hours ago. She was alone, vaguely remembering Cam pressing a kiss to a bare shoulder, saying something about needing to get to the marina to help his dad because they were busy on Sundays.

She’d gone back to sleep.

She never went back to sleep.

She got up, wrapped herself in a blanket, and felt like a zombie as she staggered to the kitchen toward the scent of coffee. This meant going through the living room, where she jolted to a halt at the sight of Gavin letting a man out the front door.

Ry.

She nearly fell over trying to back up out of sight, but her inadvertent “oh shit” had both men turning toward her.

Gavin’s brows went up.

Her ex took a slow sweep of her and said, “About time.”

This from the guy who’d once claimed to love her, but had also said she was emotionally deficient. And for a long time Piper had believed him.

Until maybe right now.

Because she was beginning to realize she wasn’t emotionally deficient, at least not with the right guy. She had no idea why she hadn’t been able to let Ry in. He was charismatic, fun to be with, charming as hell . . . But something about his easy availability—and in turn, the ease with which he’d walked away when she’d broken up with him—had closed her off.

With Cam, she’d shockingly had no problem being vulnerable and open. But that didn’t mean he was the right guy for her, because he wasn’t. He was temporary, a bed of her own making, and so she shook her head at Ry.

“I mean it,” he said quietly, his voice free of any cynicism. “It’s about time you looked happy. You deserve that, Piper.”

And then he was gone.

She looked at Gavin. “What the hell?”

“Just hear me out, okay? I’m trying to step up in a way I haven’t before. You deserve that. Ryland’s sister works at town hall. Through Ry, she got me all the information we need to turn this place into a B and B. And even better, because this house is so old, it’s considered a historical building, which we can use in our flyers and brochures and on the website.”

Piper just stared at him. “We still don’t have any of those things.”

“Yes, we do. Or we have mock-ups. That’s what I was showing Ryland, because you know he was a marketing major before becoming a firefighter.”