Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry about it, because Nat was there and she’d agreed to stay. For now, anyway.
* * *
After a low-key afternoon and evening—thanksto June’s impromptu barf-fest—both kids were tucked in early and already snoozing, so Nat settled in next to Asher on the couch, dropping her feet in his lap without hesitation. Or, at least initially without hesitation. It was something she’d done hundreds of times before, but it felt different now. For one thing, she was, apparently, going to be his wife.
Hiswife. A designation she honestly thought she’d never give herself regarding anyone.
For another thing, there’d been that moment in the kitchen when they’d been standing so close together. He’d looked at her like he’d never looked at her before, his breath a whisper across her lips and a hunger in his eyes she’d been on the receiving end of plenty of times from other men, but never from Asher. She was certain if June hadn’t walked in at that very moment and puked her guts out, Asher would have kissed her.
Worse, Nat would have let him.
Asher rested one of his hands on Nat’s ankle, his thumb brushing a mindless path along the arch of her foot, as he searched through Netflix for something to watch. “Thanks for tag-teamin’ with me today.” He glanced over at her before returning his attention back to the screen and the list of trending shows.
Nat shrugged. “Kind of what I agreed to, right? But you can’t go back on your promise—I don’t have to deal with puke, ever.”
“Technically, I never actually agreed to that. You just bossed me around like you usually do and assumed I wouldn’t object.”
“Well, I’m gonna tell you one thing—if youdoobject, I don’t care how fake this marriage is, the rock I wear better be one-hundred-percent real.”
Asher laughed, a low, throaty sound that shot straight to Nat’s belly…and then lower still. What thehellwas going on?
“For one thing, you wouldn’t even want a huge rock,” he said. “I’m pretty sure you’d just as soon wear a rubber band tied around your finger as you would a two-carat diamond on a platinum band.”
“Oh, shut up. You don’t know my life.”
This time, Asher’s laugh was louder, and she kicked him lightly while shushing him. “If you wake them up with your obnoxious guffaws, you’re on your own with kid duty, regardless if both of them are up. Meanwhile, I’ll lounge out here, bingein’Supernaturaland droolin’ over the gorgeous and mysterious Winchester brothers while you drown in cries.”
“You’d do that to me?”
“In a heartbeat,” Nat said, without hesitation.
He dug his thumb into the arch of her foot, no doubt an attempt at retaliation, but the move only made her groan in pleasure-pain as she tipped her head back and closed her eyes. “If you’re tryin’ to punish me, you’re goin’ about it all wrong,” she murmured, slipping her other foot over to get some attention, too.
Eventually, after long moments of silence, Nat lifted her head, only to find his gaze already locked on her, his eyes a darker shade than usual, now more like aged whiskey.
She bit her lip. “What was the other thing?”
“What?” Asher asked, his voice throaty and low, a sound that shot straight between her thighs.
GoodLord, had it really been that long since she’d had sex? Apparently.
“You said for one thing. What was the other thing?”
“Oh.” Asher cleared his throat and shook his head, glancing quickly at the TV before returning his gaze to hers. “Speakin’ of the ring, we need to shop for those tomorrow since we don’t have a lot of time.”
“Great, let’s do it,” Nat said. “But I hate to tell you, ring shopping, even with two little kids, is the least of our worries.”
“I kind of figured our worries more revolved around me lyin’ to a judge and us gettin’ fake-married.”
“Yeah, about that… I hope you’re prepared to get the third degree from my parents and Gran. I swore my sisters to secrecy besides all of their significant others—” Nat gasped and flew upright, her eyes wide. “Oh my God, I forgot to tell you! Apparently one of those significant others is now ahusband.”
“What? Will and Finn decided to elope instead? Isn’t their wedding in just a couple weeks?”
“It is, but no, that’s not who. Guess again.”
“If that fucker Nash got married and didn’t tell me when he was just here, I’m gonna kill him.”
“Wrong again. It’s Mac and Hudson! Do you believe that? They snuck off to Parkersville and got married at the courthouse last week. She was worried about steppin’ on Will’s toes and everything else that—” Nat bit back her words, but she could tell they’d hit Asher all the same.
