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“You sure?”
I can tell he’s not ready to stop drinking yet, and I may be naïve but I’m smart enough to know the two girls at the bar are just waiting for me to take off so that they can make their move on him. The last thing I want to do is cock block him. “Positive,” I tell him, leaning in for a hug. “Thanks for the drinks.”
“Anytime.” He returns my hug, but still looks concerned. “You sure you’re okay to get to your room?”
I take a couple steps away from him, just to test. I’m pretty steady on my feet and the room stays in focus. “Yeah. I’m good.” I nod subtly to the girls at the bar. “Have fun,” I tell him.
“I will.” He grins. “You get some sleep. Things always look better in the morning.”
“That’s what I’m counting on.” I wave a little, then turn and make my way through the nearly empty restaurant while Luc heads for the bar.
I concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other, on controlling the fuzziness in my head instead of letting it control me.
I’m almost to the elevator when I glance through one of the glass doors that lead to the side patio that catches overflow from the outdoor bar during peak hours. It’s empty now, dark, and if I hadn’t been looking at that exact second, I would have missed it. The suggestion of movement from deep in the shadows. The dark shirt that flutters in the wind.
The shirt looks familiar—as does the body wearing it—and I stop in my tracks. Look closer. Shit. That’s Ash out there on the patio, all alone. Ash, standing there looking like one stiff breeze, one sharp move, would break him into pieces so tiny and irreparable that no one would ever be able to put them back together.
It’s a sobering thought, a terrifying one, and before I even realize what I’m doing, I go to the door. Open it. And walk straight over to Ash.
He’s so lost I don’t think he even hears me coming.
Chapter 13
Ash
“You okay?”
I start to snap at the inquiry—I came out here because I need a couple minutes alone, a couples minutes to just get my head on straight—when it registers who the voice belongs to. Not a stranger trying to pick me up, but Tansy.
Tansy who got me into this mess in the first place.
Tansy who I can’t stop imagining naked.
Tansy who really needs to be somewhere else right now, at least until I can rebuild my walls.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I tell her after running a hand over my face in an attempt to wipe away all the shit in my head. “Just needed a few minutes by myself. What’s up?”
“Nothing much.” Instead of getting the hint, she comes in closer, leans against the railing right next to where I’m standing. I deliberately don’t look at her, though it’s harder than it should be. She smells really great. “Good view,” she says after a minute.
I stare out over the dimly lit grounds of the resort. Snow-covered hills, twinkling lights on tree branches, the ominous shadow of the Andes in the background. “Yeah, I guess.”
I know I’m being rude, but I don’t actually give a fuck right now. All the shit that happened this morning is catching up to me and I just really need a few minutes to get it sorted in my head. A few minutes to come to terms with how close I came to dying, to leaving Logan all alone. It’s why I’m down here, after all. Why I crept out of our hotel room like a criminal after my brother fell asleep.
“Logan settled?” she asks.
“Yeah.”
“Good. He seemed to be having a really nice time tonight.”
“Yep.”
She clears her throat. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine. Why?” She shifts a little closer and I start breathing through my mouth. Goddamnit. No girl should smell as good as she does. Like vanilla and sugar. Like swe
etness. Like warm cookies fresh out of the oven, only a million times sexier.
“I just thought … I don’t know. I thought maybe you’d want to talk about it? About what happened today?”
