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N ick returned to The Trailhead the following evening. He had something he wanted to discuss with Celia. He’d prefer to do it somewhere besides The Trailhead, where Celia’s sister and brother-in-law, as well as her boss Hiram, would be watching them the whole time. But he knew Celia wasn’t ready to be alone with him.

Which made what he wanted to discuss… tricky.

But all he could do was put his idea on the table. So he walked into The Trailhead right before it was supposed to close. Bought a glass of the house red, then slid into the same booth he’d occupied the night before. He hoped Celia would glance toward the table before she sat down at the bar and remember sitting there with him. Hoped she’d walk over and slide into the booth across from him. But if she didn’t? He’d go up to the bar after she sat down and he’d buy another glass of wine. He hoped she’d be curious about why he was back at The Trailhead. Hoped that curiosity would lead her to follow him to his table.

No one at the bar -- not Hiram or Noah or even Anne -- had turned to look at him. He wanted to take that as a positive sign. Proof that they were all at least accepting his right to be here, even if they weren’t ready to accept a relationship between him and Celia. If, as he hoped, Celia was interested in that. Neither of them had said anything about a relationship.

And if Celia’s family members weren’t ready to accept a relationship between him and Celia, they sure as hell wouldn’t accept what he was going to propose to her.

But Celia was an adult. The decision would be hers.

And he was pretty sure she wouldn’t let anyone make that decision for her. He’d watched her carefully in the months she’d worked for his father, and he’d realized that Celia wasn’t a pushover. She didn’t let other people make decisions for her. Or take advantage of her.

He respected that, and he was pretty sure his father had respected it, as well. Nick’s mouth curled into a smile. He was pretty sure that if his father had tried to impose his will on her, Celia would have packed her bags and moved out. Probably gone back to the Amalfi family, who were a lot more easygoing than the Doyles. A lot nicer, as well.

He’d finished half his glass of wine before Celia emerged from the kitchen, a towel tossed over her shoulder. So she’d been cooking tonight.

Nick drew in a deep breath and began to push out of the booth. Then he saw Hiram jerk his chin in Nick’s direction. Celia froze, then said something to Hiram. He poured her a glass of wine, handed it to her, and Celia turned around and walked over to his table.

“What’re you doing here tonight, Doyle?”

God, he wished she’d call him Nick. “I have a proposal to put to you.”

Celia took a sip of wine. “What is it?”

Nick wiped his sweaty hands on his thighs. “I don’t think you’re going to like it,” he said. “But give me a chance to explain before you jump down my throat. Okay?”

Celia smiled. “I don’t recall that I’ve ever jumped down your throat.”

“No, you just walk away,” Nick said. “Please don’t do that tonight until you’ve heard me out.”

Holding his gaze, Celia took a sip of wine. Slid into the booth. “I’m listening.”

“I’d like you to move in with me,” Nick said, watching Celia’s eyes.

She set her wine down, hard enough that a splash of red landed on the table. Then she tilted her head and studied him. “ What did you just say? It sounded like you want me to move in with you. But I must have misunderstood what you said. We barely know each other. Why would I want to move in with you?”

“I don’t mean that the way it sounds,” Nick said, heat flashing over his face. “I have a three-bedroom apartment. I use the third bedroom for my office. That leaves a bedroom that no one uses.”

Celia frowned at him. “Just because you have an extra bedroom doesn’t mean I want to move in with you. I live in the apartment above The Trailhead. It’s small but perfect for me. And a very easy commute to work.”

“We need to get to know one another. So we trust each other a little. You know I won’t out you to the FBI, because Noah will be in the room when I talk to them. I don’t think you’d tell my father where I am, but how do I know you won’t? And for that matter, how do you know I won’t sneak out and talk to the FBI when Noah isn’t there?”

* * *

Celia leaned against the back of the booth, assessing him as she took another sip of wine. He wore what had to be a pricey shirt, because it was tailored to his chest, and his carefully styled hair was short and a little curly. She wanted to run her hands through those curls, feel their smoothness against her fingers. Her hand trembled a little when she put it on the table and spread her fingers against the wood. “So… what? I keep you honest and you keep me honest?”

Nick shook his head slowly. “No. You’d have plenty of chances to contact my father and tell him where I am. You’re at The Trailhead all day. I’m guessing you basically sleep in your apartment and that’s it.

“And I’d have plenty of chances to tell the FBI about what my father did to you,” Nick continued. “Once I meet the people who come to Helena to take my statement, I could call them at any time. Tell them about you.”

“Both of those are true,” Celia said slowly. “But you don’t know me well enough to have any idea about my honesty. And the same goes for you. I have no idea how honest you are.”

“Exactly,” Nick said. His gaze burned into hers, and it felt as though he’d slid his hands over her arms. “Which is why I thought of this idea. We’d get to know each other a little. Find out what the other person’s values are. What’s important to them. Then we’d both be in a better position to figure out if we’d betray each other.”

Celia flopped against the back of the booth. “Wow, Nick,” she said. “That’s a big ask.”

“For both of us,” he said immediately. He fiddled with the salt and pepper shakers on the table, moving them around with one hand. Tapping on the glass. “With the exception of the time I lived at my father’s house after Robert died, I’ve lived alone since I started college. I don’t want a roommate.”

“I don’t want a roommate, either,” Celia said immediately. “The last and only time I had one was in culinary school, and my roommate was Anne.”

“You never lived with a guy?” he asked, and Celia saw the shock on his face. He leaned closer. “You’re a beautiful, desirable woman, Celia. I’m guessing you dated a lot. And I’d have bet money that you’d lived with a guy at some point.”

“You’d lose that bet, Doyle,” she said, moving the now half-empty wine glass back and forth between her hands. “How about you?” She tilted her head to study him. “A good-looking, successful guy like you? I’d bet you’d have had women falling all over themselves to hook up with you.”

He stared into his wine. Then looked up at her with a shrug. “You forget how I was raised. I hated living with my brother Robert. He was a bully who delighted in tormenting me. He was a clone of my father, through and through. When my mother told me we were moving to the Chicago area, I was thrilled. Couldn’t wait to get away from Robert. I lived with my mom during high school, but once I went to college, I was on my own.”

His mouth curved into a smile. “My mom moved to Philadelphia with me, but she had her own apartment. I saw her pretty often, but otherwise, I had a typical college experience. Lived in the dorms my first two years, then got an apartment.”

“So you’ve never lived with anyone but your family?” Celia asked.

“That’s right.” Nick took a drink of wine, then spun the glass with his fingers.

“You have a girlfriend right now?” she asked.

“Nope,” he said, staring at his hands. “I dated some in college. After college. But nothing serious.” He grimaced. “Why would I want to bring a woman into my family drama?”

“So you’re going to live alone for the rest of your life?” Celia asked. It seemed like a lonely, solitary existence, and she had to beat back the wave of sympathy for Nick.

Nick shrugged. “Things change. If my father ends up in prison, without an heir to take over, the Doyle family will basically cease to exist. All the guys who work for my father now would find jobs with other families.”

“So neither of us has ever lived with a partner,” Celia said slowly. She picked up her glass of wine and realized she’d already finished it. “I don’t know, Nick,” Celia said slowly. “That would be a huge step for me.”

“For me, too, Celia.” He smiled, but it looked forced.

Celia swallowed. “I think it would be… weird to live with another person. Especially a guy I barely know.”

“We lived in the same house for almost six months,” he said.

“Yeah, and we never said a word to each other,” Celia shot back. “Not a lot of ‘getting to know you’ going on.”

“I didn’t say a word to you because I knew what would happen if I did,” he shot back. “You’d vanish. Completely disappear. My father would tell me you’d found a different job. And when I asked where it was, he’d say you hadn’t told him where you were working. And that would be it.” He shook his head. “I’d have my suspicions, but no proof of what had happened. And you’d be dead.”

He leaned closer. “That’s why I never spoke to you, Celia. Why I made it my business to never be alone with you. I was trying to protect you.”

Celia frowned. “Your father would have killed me because you talked to me?”

“Maybe not because I talked to you.” His jaw moved, as if he’d clenched his teeth. “Maybe because he wanted you for himself.”

Celia rolled her eyes. “That’s ridiculous. Just… gross. He has to be twenty-five, thirty years older than me. I had no interest in your father.”

His son Nick, on the other hand? Celia had spent lots of nights dreaming about Nick, knowing he was sleeping in the same house as she was.

“Robert hit on the young women working for my father all the time.” Nick said. “They always disappeared. When Robert would ask about them, my father would say that they’d gotten another job. But I’m pretty sure Robert never believed that. I didn’t believe it, either. Which was why I never talked to any young woman working for him.”

Celia stared at Nick, trying to process what he was saying. “Your father killed young women working for him if his sons talked to them?”

“Yes. I think so.”

“Why?” Celia asked.

He looked away, as if he were ashamed of what his father had done. Finally he said, “I always thought he wanted those women himself. Saw Robert and me as his rivals.” His jaw tightened. “My father’s fears were focused on his rivals. What they were after. What they wanted from him. What they could take from him.”

Celia reached across the table and curled her hand around his. His hand was warm. Incredibly soft. He clearly didn’t use those hands for anything besides typing on his computer.

“That’s not on you, Nick,” she said. “It’s not your fault or your responsibility. That’s on your father.”

She squeezed his hand once and let go and saw in Nick’s gaze the urge to take her hand again. But she slid her hands beneath the table. Touching Nick wasn’t a good idea. Especially now, since he’d proposed that they live together. To get to know one another. To make sure neither of them betrayed the other.

She slid to the end of the bench and stood up. Held out her hand to Nick, then almost immediately curled her fingers into her palm. “Come sit at the bar with me,” she said. “Get to know Noah and Anne and Hiram.”

Nick shook his head slowly. “Don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m pretty sure Noah and Hiram want nothing to do with me. And Anne? That would put her in an awkward position. Caught between her sister and her husband. I don’t want her to have to make that choice. You understand that, right?”

Celia drew in a deep breath. Blew it out. “Yeah, I do. But I’ll be…” She bit off her words and closed her mouth.

“You’ll be what, Celia?” he asked softly.

She stared at him for a long moment, wondering what she could say. Finally settled on, “I’ll miss talking to you.”

“I’m sure your sister, Noah and Hiram will pick up the conversational slack.”

She smiled, then stared down at her hands. “I’m sure they will. But I was enjoying talking to you . Getting to know you.”

He grinned at her, a sweet, happy smile she’d never seen in the months she’d lived at Bobby Doyle’s house. A frisson of pleasure moved through her.

“Move in with me and you can talk to me whenever you want. About whatever you want.”

“Yeah, like that’s going to change my mind.” She’d made it sound sarcastic, but she was afraid it was true.

He smiled at her as if he knew it was true, as well. “I’ve disrupted your after-work routine enough for one night. I’ll see you tomorrow night, Celia.”

“You coming back after the bar’s closed again?” she asked.

“Planning on it,” he said.

“Tomorrow, sit at the bar,” she said. “If we end up living together, you’re gonna have to get to know Hiram, Noah and Anne.”

“Think I know all I need to know about Hiram and Noah,” he said, splaying his hands on the table. “They don’t like me, they don’t trust me, and they’re not going to welcome me into the circle.”

Celia tilted her head. “You underestimate them. Keep showing up. Ignore Noah’s threats. Be your normal, likeable self. Sooner or later, they’ll accept you.”

“Likeable?” Nick raised one eyebrow. “I appreciate that. I always thought I was a likeable kind of guy, but Noah and Hiram aren’t buying it. So don’t waste your time trying to convince them. Okay? And don’t tell them what we talked about until you’ve made a decision. If it’s no?” He shrugged. “No need to say a thing.

“If it’s yes?” Nick grimaced. “Then you might want to take cover before you tell them you’re moving in with me.”

Celia laughed. “Don’t worry. Anne will protect me.”

“Don’t want you to get between your sister and her husband,” Nick said.

Celia grinned. “Really? I think that’ll be lots of fun.”

“Damn it, Celia. I meant my offer seriously.”

Celia’s smile fell away. “I’m taking it seriously, Nick. I’ll be mulling it over. Thinking things through. I’ll let you know when I’ve made a decision.”

“You want to walk home with me and see the apartment? See if it’d work for you?”

Celia shrugged one shoulder. “If it’s good enough for a rich hedge fund manager, I’m sure it’ll be good enough for a not-so-rich chef.”

“Maybe. But don’t you want to look at it before you make up your mind?”

Celia studied him for a long moment. “I suppose you’re right. How about I come over tomorrow. I’m cooking breakfast. I can come over after that.”

Nick shrugged. “Works for me. I’ll text you the address.”

“Okay. See you tomorrow.”

He slid out of the booth and walked to the door. Nodded at Hiram, Noah and Anne, then walked out the door.

After the door closed behind him, Celia returned to the bar and slid onto her stool. Noah leaned around Anne to study her. “You have a good conversation with Doyle?”

“I did, actually.” She bit her lip to keep from grinning. “He asked me to move in with him.”