When she got back to the guesthouse, Colt andJenna were gone, and she found Ash waiting for her on the porch swing, beside which she’d rested her guitar.
He patted the spot next to him, and Willow was relieved to see no evidence of violence having ensued between him and her brother. She lowered herself beside him and felt her pulse quicken not only at his nearness but also at what she recognized was her fight-or-flight instinct kicking in.
They rocked back and forth for several seconds in silence. Finally, Willow broke the ice.
“I’m terrified,” she admitted.
Ash slid an arm behind her and pulled her to him, and she rested her head on his shoulder.
“I know,” he replied. Then he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, lingering to inhale with his nose buried in her hair.
The realization sent a shiver down the back of Willow’s neck all the way to her toes.
“Your brother wanted to hit me, you know,” Ash added with a laugh. “You want to know how I changed his mind?”
She tilted her head to look at him and nodded.
“Same thing I told you, except I put it in writing.” He pulled a folded-up napkin out of his pocket and handed it to her. In his smeared, left-handed scrawl, the words on the napkin read:
I, Ashton Murphy, hereby certify that from this day forward, the day I broke Willow Morgan’sheart, I am retiring from the music industry as a singer, songwriter, performer, and any other entity whereby I profit from being a musician. Additionally, the witness to this contract is permitted to enact Article A should the former come to pass.
It was signed both by Ash and by her brother as a witness.
“All we have to do is take it to the library in the morning and get it notarized. Then it’ll be official,” he added.
“Ash…” she started, shaking her head. “I would never ask that of you. To say it is one thing. But you can’t put your career on the line to get me to trust you.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t. I put my career on the line to get your brother to trust me.” He flipped the napkin over and handed it back to her. “Article A was his idea.”
Willow gasped.
Should the former come to pass, the witness and promisor will face each other in the firehouse ring, gloves off.
“Absolutely not!” she exclaimed. “Honestly, what is the matter with men? Violence solvesnothing.”
“Says the woman who knocked me out on first greeting.”
Willow groaned. “How long are you going to keep throwing that in my face whenI thought someone had broken into my house and bedroom?”
Ash laughed. “Okay! Okay! Last mention. I promise. But this?” He waved the napkin between them. “I need the people who matter to know that I am prepared to put my money—and your brother’s fists—where my mouth is.”
Willow hated the contract. She really did. But she couldn’t help the way it forced a crack into the armor she was still wearing.
“What if I put somethingelsewhere your mouth is?” she teased. Because even if the prospect of love terrified her, the prospect of want was something else entirely.
He hooked a finger under her chin and tilted her head toward his. Willow closed her eyes and skimmed her teeth over her bottom lip, waiting for Ash to take her up on her offer.
“Willow Morgan, there is nothing I want more than to scoop you up off this swing and take you straight to bed. But I have something else I want to do first.”
He spoke so close to her mouth that she could feel the vibration of his words in his breath. But he didn’t kiss her. When she opened her eyes, ready to protest, he was grinning at her with the kind of mischief she would never trust on another man’s face, but she decided if they were going to give this thinga real chance, she had to start somewhere.
“This better be good, Murphy.”
“Oh, it will be,” he assured her with his patented Ash Murphy wink. And then he hopped off the swing and held his hand out for Willow to take. “Follow me.”
***
“Riding?” she asked after Ash directed her to put on boots suitable for riding and walking and pack a few overnight essentials. Then he led her to the barn. “I basically throw myself at you, and you want to go riding?” He already had Midnight tacked and ready to go with more substantial gear than Willow had shown up with. “Why do I get the feeling we aren’t heading out to the clearing?”
