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And then she was crying and he was pulling her into his lap to console her. “I don’t want you to worry. It’s all going to be okay. I’m going to try to get involved and talk to the inspector, but my captain knows we’re dating so I’m not sure how much they’ll let me know.”
That just made her cry harder.
Shit.
“Ash, sweetheart, I’m sorry. I…I hated that I had to tell you this—especially after you got such good news— but I didn’t want anyone coming into the coffee shop and dropping that kind of a bombshell on you.”
He held her close, kissing her cheek and murmuring words of encouragement, but he felt like the world’s biggest villain. He’d ruined her big day and he hated himself for it.
“Do you want me to call someone? Your sisters? Your brother? Just tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it.”
“I don’t even know,” she said tearfully. “I don’t even know what to think right now. I just…can you just…just hold me. Don’t leave me. Just…I just want to stay right here.”
He nodded. “I’m not going anywhere, Ashlynn. I’ll be right here with you for as long as you need me. I promise.”
“Thank you.”
He held her and gently rocked her until the apartment got dark. His leg was falling asleep and his arm was cramped but there was no way he was going to let her go.
After some time, she finally lifted her head and looked around sleepily. She sniffled and wiped at her face before crawling off of his lap so she could turn on some lights. The pure devastation on her face was almost more than he could bear.
“Ash, I…”
But she held up a hand to stop him. “Thank you for not pushing me to talk and giving me time to just think.” She let out a small breath. “The thing is, I know I didn’t do anything. I had nothing to do with that fire and the inspector is going to discover that too. I haven’t been in the salon in over a week, and there are plenty of people who will vouch for me.” With another sniffle, she walked to the kitchen and came back with two bottles of water, handing him one.
“I hate that this is happening,” he told her.
“Oh, believe me, I do too. But I refuse to let this get me down. I have no idea what caused that fire and that’s all there is to it.”
Her voice got stronger with each word and he could see that she was starting to feel better. Relief washed over him, even though he knew this was far from over, for both of them. If Becky was looking to start a war with Ashlynn, she had succeeded and he greatly doubted she was going to give up easily.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.” When he hesitated, she reached over and rested her hand on his bicep. “The last thing I want is for you to treat me like I’m too fragile or to handle me with kid gloves, Reid. I’m going to need you to help me figure this whole mess out so if there’s something you need to know, then you can’t be afraid to ask.”
He knew she meant that in theory, but he had a feeling the reality was going to be a little trickier to navigate.
“Okay, the biggest question is…why? Why would Becky tell anyone that you’re responsible for the fire?”
“If I had to take a guess it would be to shift the blame off of herself,” Ashlynn told him calmly.
“Now that opens a whole other can of worms, Ash! You’re saying that she burned her own business down? Why?”
“Because she’s a psycho, Reid! How the hell should I know? It seems obvious to me that if this were really a freak accident, why say anything at all? Insurance would cover it! But if her initial reaction was to start pointing fingers, I’d sure as hell be curious to know why and not just take her word for it.”
“No one’s taking her word for it,” he said slowly. “But they do have to investigate it.”
“Good,” she said defiantly. “Then they’ll see that she lied and then I’ll sue her for slander!” When she stormed out of the room, he hung his head.
This is going to get messy…
He waited for a solid five minutes. When she didn’t come back out to the living room, he went to the bedroom to try to calm her down.
And froze in the doorway.
She was naked except for a thong and was bent over pulling some other article of clothing out of her dresser.
It was wrong to be turned on, but…Ashlynn had a spectacular ass, and right now, he needed to touch her.
