Page 31 of Burning For You

He left his beer where it was and made his way closer.

Why not?

It was like he had a death wish to get his balls shoved down his throat again.

“Hey, Skye.”

She turned quickly from where she was looking at business cards tacked on the wall. Not surprised she was in tune to those things.

“Ash,” she said. “Having a beer?”

“Waiting on my takeout. So yeah, order, have a drink and a chat, then go home and eat alone. You?”

“Food, no beer,” she said, her eyes going to the bar where he’d left his glass.

“Will said he saw you here last week.”

“Will?”

“The owner. He’s tending bar. He keeps a close eye on who is in here all the time. Said you came in with a regular.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “He’s a regular? I’m not surprised.”

Ash bit back the questions sitting on his tongue. Who? When? How often?

Yeah, best to keep his curiosity, and his balls, right where they were.

“I talked to Corbin the other day. I didn’t know you were back. Or my mother mentioned she’d known for a while.”

She smiled. Her light blue eyes full of humor, with a mixture of something else he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“I bet that drove you nuts you didn’t know. If I remember correctly, you liked to know all that was going on around you.”

He laughed. At least she wasn’t shooting down a quick chat. “That was then. This is now. Now I’m working way too much to pay attention to those things.”

“Corbin told me. That you’re at the firehouse, then working with him and with your brother also. Sounds like a busy man to me.”

He leaned in closer, got a tiny whiff of some fruity scent on her. “Sounds as if you were asking about me.”

Her face flushed some. Just a tiny bit, but he caught it and he was thrilled. “Your name came up. I mean, you’ve been a staple in the family for years. Long before me.”

He liked how she referred to the Lancasters as her family. He didn’t think she ever felt like she belonged and wondered if that was why she’d taken off after graduation.

Or maybe it was more about the fact that she had nothing keeping her around.

“I have been. Not that I go around seeing Carrie much anymore, but I see Jim a lot.”

“You mean you don’t see Carrie in the office?”

Carrie Lancaster owned half of the construction business, running the office along with running the family.

The woman could do it all.

Just like his mother.

And maybe that was why he felt such a connection to the Lancasters. Because, at the root of it, they were a lot like his parents.

They were even friends. Not the type of friends who hung out for a drink or a chat. His parents didn’t do that with anyone. They kept to themselves after dealing with the public daily.