“I tried to find you. I went to the police station so many times, but they wouldn’t tell me anything.”
“I know. They told me. They were unable to release any information about me, even after my cover was blown, for fear of retaliation from both the crime family that I’d infiltrated and also the rival gang whose leader was killed during the robbery.”
“Oh, right.” She nodded. “That makes sense. I’m so glad that you’re alive. I just...I can’t believe you’re here. In Hope Falls.”
“I moved here because my daughter was getting into trouble so my ex-wife suggested that she come live with me. There was no way I could raise a teenager and work the hours I did in New York. So, I came here to have a more regular schedule.” Asher heard the explanation coming out of his mouth, but he couldn’t believe what he was revealing.
He never spoke about his life. Everyone in his life was on a need-to-know basis, and most people didn’t need to know shit. Why was he giving this woman his life story?
“Blake!” She pointed at him. “Blake is your daughter.”
This was a small town so it didn’t surprise him that she knew his daughter’s name. “That’s right. Blake.”
Her eyes widened as she nodded her head. “She’s a smart girl. Really smart.”
The way she was describing her made him think that she hadn’t just learned her name through the gossip train. “Do you know her?”
“I’m um…” She licked her lips nervously and Asher found himself staring at her tongue as it slid along the seam of her mouth. That bottom lip of hers called to him like a siren in the sea. It was so plump, so kissable. He felt his own lips tingle as he fought an overwhelming desire to lean down and press his mouth to hers. “I work at the camp. I’m a therapist.”
Her statement snapped Asher out of his inappropriate thoughts. She worked at the camp and Blake had mentioned that she liked the “shrink.” The statement had stuck out to him because when she’d gone to therapy back home, she hadn’t liked it at all.
Oh shit. Blake. She hated the woman that he’d risked his life for. And that woman was her shrink. His daughter had been doing so well in this new environment and he was scared if she found out it could cause her to backslide into bad behavior again.
“Um, speaking of Blake, I think it’s best if we don’t tell her about our…shared history.”
She blinked up at him and looked like he’d just slapped her in the face. “Oh, okay.”
He started to explain why, and that it was nothing personal, when his phone buzzed and he looked down to see that it was a message from the chief. Some information had come in on the perp from JT’s. He needed to get to back to the station asap.
Shit. He really didn’t want to end this interaction. Especially not on this note.
Disappointment and frustration battled for top billing as he looked back up at her. “I have to go. It’s work.”
“Oh, okay, um, well... it was nice seeing you, er, um, meeting you...” She let out a small laugh that spread through him like a shot of whiskey, warm tingles infused his entire body. “I don’t know what your name is.”
“Asher. Asher Ford.” He had no clue why he’d gone with a James Bond introduction. This woman had him feeling all sorts of on edge.
From the moment she’d bumped into him, he felt an electricity rushing through him. Like every cell in his body was standing at attention and reporting for duty. In less than a second, she’d managed to simultaneously stimulate him on every sensory level.
Her body felt so soft plastered against him. Visually, she was breathtakingly beautiful, like a priceless work of art captured by a master painter that he could stare at and study every minute of every hour for the rest of his life and still be captivated by it. She smelled like the first day of spring after a long winter. Refreshing, light, and floral. When she spoke her voice was soft, and melodic. It calmed and drew him to her like a magnet.
It was all too much for him. He’d never experienced attraction on this level before. It felt primal and primitive. For the first time in his life, he completely understood cavemen throwing women over their shoulder and taking them to their caves.
He’d honestly believed that he’d been born without the Cro-Magnon gene but apparently it had just been dormant waiting for this woman to activate it.
“I’m Ava Wells.”
She held out her hand and the moment her palm touched his and he wrapped his fingers around her soft hand he was shocked by the strong current of awareness that ran up his arm and down his body. He’d never felt anything like it before.
Her lips parted and she sucked in an audible intake of breath. He wondered if she felt it too.
His phone beeped again with a text alert and she pulled her hand away. “Well, um, I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
She walked around him and he instantly felt her absence in a tangible way. It was like a cloud was blocking the sun. There was less light, less warmth, less life.
He was still trying to process all of the emotions and physical sensations that the interaction had drawn from him when he glanced down and saw a book lying on the ground.
“Ava,” he said as he bent down to retrieve it. “Is this yours?”
When he turned around, he saw her eyes widen and she quickly walked back the few steps to him holding out her arm. “Um, yes, it is.”
He reached out to hand it to her and noticed the cover was a bare man’s chest with the title His Wildest Desire in bold letters. He recognized the book as Logan’s wife’s newest release. He’d seen stacks of them in his house the night he’d got to town and he and Blake had gone over for dinner.
“Thanks!” There was a faint blush on her cheeks as she took the book and hurried away.
As Asher watched her, he couldn’t help but wonder about her reading the adult themed romance. Asher hadn’t read any of his colleague’s wife’s books but he knew that they had some pretty steamy scenes in them.
He’d never imagined that he’d meet the woman from the robbery. And he sure as hell would have never predicted that if, by some stroke of luck, they did run into each other again the interaction would be even more life-altering and impactful than the first day he’d seen her.
But he had a feeling that it was.
