And fuck him, but he loved her.
Asher rubbed his sternum again with a new understanding of the ache there. Damn, he was so alone in this, this awakening, this dawning of knowledge, and it was his own fucking fault.
His heart ached anew for the loss of his mum, and he vowed to hit up the fire station and talk to Finn and Idris when he got a chance. He’d avoided the older dragons for far too long, telling himself since they weren’t the same breed, they couldn’t help him. But that had been a crock of shit, hadn’t it? He’d felt the guilt of his mother’s sacrifice and been ashamed to ask for help or to receive any that had been offered. Maybe if he’d let Finn mentor him, he’d have known from the beginning what the fuck was up with this connection, this bond.
Hisanam cara.
Why the fuck had it taken a bear and a wolf to help him recognize the truth?
Well, he thought as he stepped into the lobby, thank God they had. If not for Maddox and Cade, he’s still be impotently pacing his house, wanting to bust out of his skin. Now, he felt the thrumming in his chest, in his bones. His treasure calling to him, like unto like. He followed the call, his blood heating as he made his way through the hotel. His life force strengthening as he closed in on his goal.
Approaching Duchess’s door, Asher’s nerves cut through the humming excitement at reconnecting. What if she didn’t want him?
Only one way to find out.
He knocked with his heart in his throat, smoothing his hair and clothes as he waited. God, he wished he’d worn something nicer, maybe brushed his hair with something besides his fingers today.
Asher frowned as the silence stretched. He knew his treasure was in that room. He felt it. And yet, no one answered the door. He tried again.
And again.
And one more time for good measure. And—
What the fuck?
The guy who answered the door didn’t belong there. Thickly muscled and wearing a suit, he had bodyguard written all over him. His face had a whole lot of fuck-off going on, but Asher wasn’t having anything to do with that.
What the hell? She’d already found another lover?
Oh fuck no.
Asher coldcocked the guy as he pressed his way into the room, fury infusing his veins at the sight of Duchess in nothing but a robe, looking up at another suit. He didn’t know which was worse, the fact that the guy practically had her pinned, or the at the fact she’d already moved on. But fuck, that’s what they’d agreed to, hadn’t they? Still,
“You’d think after what we shared, you’d have the decency to give it a few days,” he snarled.
“Asher—”
“Don’t give me some fucking platitudes.” God, this was a nightmare come true. She didn’t want him and what the fuck was he going to do?
The other guy started laughing, just clapping his hands and cracking up. The bastard.
“Oh,” The guy wiped his eyes. “Oh, this is too good to be true. Let me guess, you had the best sex of your entire life and she robs you blind, huh?” The suit focused on Duchess. “Your days are numbered, Cookie.”
Cookie? What the fuck?
Before Asher could speak his mind, the suit turned to him fully, extending his hand.
“Jeff Kluge. And I’d say this makes us allies.”
“Hardly.” Asher cast a glance at Duchess, leaving the suit’s hand hanging. With the full frontal, he recognized the guy. Big wig tech billionaire who’d been trying to buy up every private security firm west of the Continental Divide. “What the hell are you doing with him?”
“Asher,” Duchess held up her hands. “it’s not what you think. I—”
“That’s my watch.” He frowned, though the sight of it on her slender wrist did things to him he didn’t want to acknowledge right now. “And my bracelet.”
Damn, that black gold caressed her skin perfectly, those black diamonds glinting in the light as her hand went to her throat.
Asher tried to get his head back with the fucking program, but the column of her neck was just begging for his attention. Her creamy skin crying out to be—
