His eyes shuttered in sadness, and she had the strongest urge to rest her hand over his heart, as if she could heal it somehow. As if she could take away his pain. It was something she would’ve done without hesitation before. Before this weird tension had developed between them. Before they’d almost kissed. Before she’d started getting turned on by hisvoice.
Well, she could ignore things with the best of them, so she pulled her feet from his lap and snuggled to his side. She rested her head on his chest and stole the remote from him. “You got me in the mood forSupernatural.”
He chuckled low and rested his arm along her side, his large hand cupping the curve of her hip. “How’d I do that? With my gorgeous mysteriousness?”
“Nah, because I was just thinkin’ again about how at least one person in my family will wanna kill you at one point, and no one does killin’ better than the Winchester boys.”
“Aw, c’mon. It’s not gonna be that bad. Your momma and gran love me. Pretty sure your daddy doesn’t love anyone, though. Not sure how that’ll go.”
“It’ll be a challenge, just like everything is with Dick.” She leaned her head back and glanced up at him, the blue light from the TV sharpening his features, making him look even more handsome than any one man had a right to. “Before we let the cat out of the bag, are you sure it’s me you want? You must have the numbers for a few groupies in your phone…”
“There’s no one else I’d rather irritate for the rest of my life than you.”
“You mean until custody is final…”
It’d been the single mantra she’d repeated to herself while she’d made this decision. This wouldn’t be forever. It’d only be until June and Owen were officially placed with Asher, and then everything would go back to normal.
Except that while she lay there, tucked into Asher’s side, his heartbeat thrumming under her ear and his hand cupping her hip almost possessively, she wasn’t so surethiswasn’t exactly the kind of normal she might grow to love.
“You can’t avoid it forever, you know,” Asher said as they pulled up in front of the antique store in Parkersville, shooting Nat a sidelong glance.
She unbuckled her seat belt and turned to face him, tuning out June’s near constant rendition of the baby shark song—the same rendition she’d been singing theentirecar ride. Nat was ready to cut off her ears.
“I assure you I can avoid anything for any length of time, but I’m not quite sure what it is exactly you’re referrin’ to now.”
He shut off the engine and rested his arm on the center console, leaning closer to her. The move made his scent wash over her, and she had to bite back the urge to inhale deeply. Used to be, she’d avoid doing that so as not to be accosted by his and Nash’s teenage-boy stink. Now, though, it had more to do with how she’d react to his most assuredly non-teenage-boy scent—the one that seemed to cling to her, even hours after she’d gotten out of the bed they shared. Platonically, of course.
“I mean Havenbrook,” he said. “You haven’t been out once. You’ve even skipped weekly lunch dates with your sisters, momma, and gran. Aren’t you gettin’ a little claustrophobic by now? Havenbrook’s small enough, but it’s not as small as Aubrey’s house.”
“I’ve been out plenty.”
“Your parents’ or any of your sisters’ houses don’t count.”
“I’m tellin’ them you said that,” she said, stepping out of the car before he could respond. She shut the door on his laughter, and her lips twitched at the sound, though she tamped down her reaction. Truthfully, she’d been tamping down a hell of a lot of her reactions lately when it came to Asher.
She opened up June’s door and helped the little girl get unbuckled from her car seat and climb down. “C’mon, Junie B. Uncle Asher’s got your brother.”
“How come you call me that?” June asked, her head tilted to the side.
“What? Junie B?”
“Yeah. Is it for Junebug, like Uncle Asher calls me?”
Nat ruffled June’s hair. “You’re a smart one, aren’t you? Pickin’ up that bug starts with B. But no. It was my favorite book series when I was little. Junie B. Jones. Have you heard of it?”
June’s eyes lit up as she stared at Nat. “Oh yeah! Momma got me one of those. Can we read it?”
Nat glanced over at Asher, whose face had gone tight with sadness, and she swallowed down her own. She had absolutely no experience with kids, which meant she had even less experience with kids dealing with grief. But even with her complete lack thereof, she knew enough that she was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
June had taken her parents’ deaths surprisingly well. Though Nat assumed that was because the little girl didn’t quite understand the permanence of it all. Owen most certainly didn’t. But every day at each mention of Aubrey or Nathan, Nat waited for it to finally sink in for June. Truthfully, she had no idea how they’d manage that when the time came.
Nat cleared her throat and nodded, squeezing June’s hand. “Sure, we can. We’ll start tonight. As long as you don’t plan on pukin’ up your entire weight in cupcakes again.”
June grinned widely and bounced at Nat’s side, tugging on her arm as she did so. “Can we get some?Can we?”
Asher, carrying a sleepy Owen, strolled up to the two of them, shaking his head as he reached for the door and held it open for them to walk in ahead. “Junebug, you’re the only human I know who gets sick off a food and still wants it.” He leaned forward as Nat passed, his breath a whisper against her ear. “And you’re in the doghouse for even mentionin’ them.”
She locked down her muscles in an effort to keep her shiver under wraps, because she didn’t do things like shivering, thanks to her best friend whispering some nonsense in her ear. In fact, it was rare she did shivers, even while she was naked and her bed partner for the evening was working diligently to elicit them. But she wasn’t going to think about things like that now. Not while they were pretending to be a happy—and in love—couple. Not while they were ring shopping for their upcoming wedding. And not while—
