Maeve’s POV.
Awkward had a sound.
It was the scrape of boots outside my door that didn’t leave, not pacing, not leaving either. Just there.
It was the silence that came after words that should’ve come easy and didn’t.
It was the way a man too important to be standing on my land stood like he didn’t know what to do with his hands, or his power, or the space between us.
Aaron Merrick stayed.
Not inside. Not close. But close enough that I felt him every time I moved, every time I breathed, every time I pretended he wasn’t there.
Hours passed after I told him to stay outside.
I worked anyway.
I cleaned what I could. Dragged broken pieces into piles. Reset a fence that didn’t want to sit straight anymore. Checked the cattle twice even though they were already settling, their nerves ea
