“Maddie is an amazing girl,” Jake went on, his voice gruff. “Why would you ever let her get away?”
“How am I getting love advice from the two most commitment-phobic dudes on the planet?” he grumbled. “You, Jake, spend all your time crawling through jungles with a bunch of sweaty men, and you—” he hooked a thumb at Austin, “—haven’t had a date in years.”
“I am serving my country,” his twin answered stiffly. “Settling down is something I’ll do later.”
“And I am shedding light on the injustices of the world with my camera,” Austin said smugly. “And I’ll have you know, I went out with a really sexy reporter when I was in South Africa.”
“And I’m just a lowly construction worker, right?” he said bitterly, though in all honesty, he wasn’t really angry with his brothers. They were right—the two of them had busy lives, and who was he to judge them if they were too caught up in their wanderlust to settle down? At least they had things they were passionate about. What did he have? A construction business he enjoyed, sure, but what else? The only other thing he cared about was leaving town.
So don’t let her.
The irritated voice in his head was like a slap in the face.
Don’t let her.
It was so damn simple, but then again, why shouldn’t it be? He didn’t want Maddie to go. Fuck, just the thought of never seeing her again made his chest clench with pain.
He missed her. He missed having her by his side at work every day. Missed arguing with her. Missed running his hands over her amazing body and kissing her soft, welcoming lips. It was funny—normally when he ended things with a woman, he moved on within days, hours sometimes. He had no trouble finding a warm, willing female to spend time with, but he’d been alone this entire week, with zero interest in hooking up with someone new.
That had to mean something, didn’t it? He could have moved on, could have slept with someone else, but he hadn’t.
Because he only wanted Maddie. She was infuriating and annoying and did insane things like dive off cliffs—and he was going to miss her if she left.
Because he loved her.
With a sudden burst of clarity, Owen practically hurled his body out of the booth, just as the waitress approached with his food order. “You’re leaving?” she said, looking confused.
He was already pulling out his wallet. Dropping a few bills on the table, he shot his brothers a grin and said, “Feel free to split the sandwich. I’ve got somewhere else to be.”
Squaring his shoulders, he strode out of the diner, feeling his brothers’ amused gazes on his back as he marched out the door.
So many empty boxes. Maddie stared at the mess that was her living room, not even sure where to begin. She supposed she could start with the DVDs—she owned far too many action movies, she realized in distress—or maybe she should tackle the kitchen first. She absolutely hated packing, especially since she happened to be a hoarder and therefore possessed way more things than she actually needed. She’d already packed up her bedroom, which was the easy part. Doing the rest of the apartment was much too daunting.
Sighing, she finally walked over to the DVD cabinet and started pulling out the cases. They were organized in alphabetical order and she wanted to store them that way so she wouldn’t have to do any work when she organized her new apartment. Well, when she got a new apartment. Moving to Denver had seemed like her best option, since she could stay with Josh until she found a place of her own. Her older brother had sounded confused when she’d told him about her plans, and she didn’t blame him. More than anyone else in her family, Maddie had always loved Paradise. Both Josh and Luke had stayed in the city after they’d finished college, but she’d come home at the first chance.
God, she was going to miss this place.
“No other choice,” she murmured to herself, her voice firm.
Right, she had to go. She couldn’t stay here, not anymore. She couldn’t keep working for Owen after the way things had ended, and even the thought of staying in town, of possibly running into him on Main Street, made her edgy and nervous. If she lived in the same town as Owen, she would never be able to move on. She’d realized that three days ago, when she’d come up with the plan to move to Denver.