He struts through my bedroom with the confidence of someone who has been in it hundreds of times before. When he drops onto my bed, the comforter billows around his body.
He props himself up on one arm, and my eyes fix on the veins that run thick down his forearm.Shit.I drag my gaze away before he notices me staring.
“I'm here for a year. Turns out, my friend wants to cash in on a favor I owe him from when I promised not to blow the whistle on his candy heist.”
His jokes fly right over my head. Is this guy serious? I can't tell. Never in my life have I come across someone so…
So…
Words fail me.
“Why would you need to stay here.” I blink. “In this house.”Please no.“For an entire year?”
He tilts his head, drawing my attention to the sharp angles of his jaw.
“You really have no idea who I am, do you?” He says, as if I’d been pretending.
“Okay.” I swipe my handbag from the dresser, because I don’t have time for whatever he’s doing. “I've got to go.”
“How?” His antagonistic smirk would be enough to send anyone over the edge. But I’m not anyone.
“What do you mean, how?” I realize what he's implying halfway through the sentence.Dammit.Since Parker and I were freshly married, not even twenty-four hours in, I hadn't recited the usual script. On one hand, it's shady, but it's worked so far because the people I tell it to are too stupid to question it.
“Don't worry, girl. I got you.” He switches a bag of Cheetos to his other hand. Where the fuck did the Cheetos come from? Am I going insane? He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a set of keys.
They fly through the air. I catch them.
His lips close around his finger as he slowly sucks the orange dust from the tip. “Take mine.”
A black emblem sits in my palm. “Aston Martin?”
The dimple in his cheek deepens. “Mm-hmm. Consider it yours for the day. Until you, you know, find your own ride.”
“And you're letting me use your car?” I clear my throat. “A total stranger?”
He dusts his hands off on his jeans and swings to his feet, towering over me. The closer he gets, the less I can breathe. Some might say lust, I prefer allergic reaction.
”Well, shit, I sure hope you're not a thief. I'd hate to tell my buddy how bad his radar has gotten in his old age.”
I choke on my laugh. “Jesus, Asher.” I shouldn’t be laughing at a joke made at my new husband’s expense.
Whoopsie.
I can’t remember the last time anyone made me laugh that isn’t outside my close circle.
I swipe the tears from my face, and the image I have of Asher and Parker having that exact conversation. When I blink back up at Asher, he’s staring at me.
“What?”
He shrugs, shaking his head. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
The blare of horns is cut off when the café door slams shut. Jord's bright blond head bobs around the corner, his skin a shade paler than his usual olive tone.
He massages his temples as he collapses into the chair beside me, opposite Lucinda. “This is a hangover from hell. What did I take last night?” He shakes himself off, before settling back on me. “How was the bus ride?”
I slide the keys onto the table.
Jord rolls his eyes. “So Luce cheated and gave you her car? No fair.”
