“You said for one thing. What was the other thing?”
“Oh.” He cleared his throat and shook his head, glancing quickly at the TV before returning his gaze to mine. “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,” I 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—” I gasped and flew upright, my 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—” I bit back my words, but I could tell they’d hit Asher all the same.
His eyes shuttered in sadness, and I had the strongest urge to rest my hand over his heart, as if I could heal it somehow. As if I could take away his pain.
It was something I would’ve done without hesitation before. Before this weird tension had developed between us. Before we’d almost kissed. Before I’d started getting turned on by hisvoice.
Well, I could ignore things with the best of them, so I pulled my feet from his lap and snuggled to his side.
I rested my 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 my side, his large hand cupping the curve of my 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.” I leaned my head back and glanced up at Asher, 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 I’d repeated to myself while I’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 I lay there, tucked into his side, his heartbeat thrumming under my ear and his hand cupping my hip almost possessively, I wasn’t so surethiswasn’t exactly the kind of normal I might grow to love.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
NAT
“You can’t avoidit forever, you know,” Asher said as we pulled up in front of the antique store in Parkersville, shooting me a sidelong glance.
I unbuckled my 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. I was ready to cut off my 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 me. The move made his scent wash over me, and I had to bite back the urge to inhale deeply.
Used to be, I’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 I’d react to his most assuredly non-teenage-boy scent—the one that seemed to cling to me, even hours after I’d gotten out of the bed we 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 claustrophobicby now? Havenbrook’s small enough, but it’s not as small as Aubrey’s house.”
“I’ve been out plenty.”
