CHAPTER 10
Olivia
Iupchuck everything I drank tonight as I tell myself I’ll never touch alcohol again. Washing my face to remove every stitch of makeup makes me feel a bit better before I brush my teeth. Some small working part of my tipsy brain tells me I need water, so I make my way into the bedroom and pick up my reusable water bottle.
I’m expecting Asher to be gone when I come out into my living room in my fleece pajamas and cow slippers twenty minutes later. But he’s not. In fact, he’s sitting comfortably on my sofa, his long, thick legs relaxed as he types on his phone.
He doesn’t look up at my arrival. “Everything but the kitchen sink?”
“Yes,” I answer, heading to my fridge. “You didn’t have to wait around for me, you know.”
My balance is off and I don’t know the space well yet, so I walk right into the corner of my kitchen counter and stub my toe, hard.
“Son of a—!” I cry out. Pain radiates up my ankle to my calf as I pull off my slipper to investigate the damage. “Fuckingdemon cabinet.”
“Isn’t that what you wear those ten-pound cow slippers for? Protection?” Asher deadpans as he moves to help me to the sofa, slinging my arm up over his muscled shoulder as his hand grips my waist. My pajama top is cropped so his fingers brush my skin just below my ribs, sending another jolt of heat to my core.
“You’re like one of those people from that movie series. Certain injury and accidents follow you every fucking place you go,” he mutters as we walk.
“Final Destination?” I ask, trying to focus on anything but the way his fingers feel on my skin.
“Aye. The logs and the highway …” he adds as he helps me sink into the sofa, then sits across from me on the sturdy wooden coffee table.
He lifts my foot, his hand circling my calf as he brings it up and bends my second toe.
“Christ, this isn’t your cabinet’s fault. Your second toe is longer than your biggest. It was practically begging to be destroyed.”
My mouth falls open. “Are you making fun of my feet?”
“Fuck yes I am.” As if he can’t help himself, Asher smiles at me, a straight wide smile that is so genuine it both shocks and warms me.
“I’m glad my injured toe can help us prove you actually feel emotion,” I grunt out as I flex my foot in his hands. My toe throbs. “And screw you. People with longer second toes are more intelligent, you know,” I bite out, pulling my foot away. “I could make thousands selling pics of these feet, thank you very much!”
“Fuck … just what you need. Some foot-obsessed creeper wandering Laurel Creek looking for you,” he says sarcastically as he stands.
The throb in my toe subsides, but the need to kick himswells with the look on his smug face.
“Like you have perfect feet.”
“Fucking right I do.” He leans in “But this isn’t a ‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’ kinda night, Livi.” My mind wanders somewhere else completely at the thought of there being another night …Goddammit, Olivia.
“Be a good girl, lock your door after I leave.” His accent is thick as he assesses me. “And get some sleep.”
My eyes drop to the ink on his neck, gray and black vines intertwined around an ornate cross. I force my eyes to flick back up to his.
I hate how good he looks right now.
“Okay …” I swallow as his jaw tenses and he backs away. He makes it to the door before turning back to look at me over his shoulder, just as I was checking out his perfect ass in those jeans.
“What was your cat’s name?” he asks. If he caught me staring at him, he doesn’t say.
“Um … Biscuit,” I answer, swallowing down the pain of the loss again.
He nods. “Straight to bed, yeah?”
I can’t help myself as I stick out my tongue. “Yes,Daddy.”
A deep growl rumbles through him with words I can’t quite hear before he opens the door and exits into the dark night.
