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That crackled a line in her walls, and he could see the moment her lips twisted into the approximation of a smile, wan and tired, but all the better for having been hard-won.

“A quick ride,” she finally conceded. “And then I’m going home to look over the tapes myself.”

Ash didn’t respond. He just handed her his spare helmet.

I never hated you, Ash.

The words had been right there, on the tip of her tongue, but she knew that once they were given life there was no going back, and the tentative comfort between them was worth more to her at the moment than whatever might be buried beneath the dark memories of their past.

She needed Ash’s and Nicco’s help, that much was certain. But Hanna hadn’t realized until Tori had been stroking her hair and helping her force air into her lungs how much she had needed Ash’s strong presence, too. He was stability, when it seemed like everything in her life was falling to pieces, and she knew, without question or doubt, that she could lean on him until she was able to hold herself upright again.

And that might have been the most dangerous thing of all.

Because it was the same as it had been the day he’d arrived as an emergency placement with Sheriff Wil Van Rijn, a week from his seventeenth birthday and practically snapping like a feral dog. He’d been angry, impulsive and wild.

He’d been funny, comforting and kind.

And she’d been living in the darkness, drowning in three inches of water, clinging to him like her life had depended on it.

Ash had always had a way about him. Even big and powerful, covered in dark stories that stood out against his golden skin, he put people at ease.

He put her at ease.

Hanna tossed her hat into her nearby SUV then yanked on the helmet before climbing onto the back of Ash’s bike. Of course, if she had thought that getting closer to him, quite literally wrapping her arms around his waist, was the best way to clear her mind, she was certain someone had a bridge in Brooklyn to sell her.

A million years ago, she’d wrapped her arms around a boy and taken off for mountain trails, breaking speed limits and curfews. Now, as she adjusted her legs around his much stronger ones, it was all too clear that Ash had become a man. His muscles shifted under her touch, and a wild, unwelcome surge of heat raced through her body, leaving a sizzling trail of desire in its wake.

Which was completely unacceptable.

She barely remembered to eat a proper meal most days, and that was much higher on the table of needs than sex. Especially now. Especially with everything that was going on.

Her body, however, didn’t seem to agree. Instead, she held on tighter, pressing her suddenly heavy breasts against the back of his leather jacket, aware of a building, aching need in her lower belly that heightened her senses and made her…want.

Amazing, that less than an hour before she hadn’t been able to get her senses working long enough to prevent a complete nervous breakdown.

And now they wouldn’t shut up.

“You okay?” Ash’s voice crackled in Hanna’s ear, and for a second, she thought he was actually inside her head, until she realized that the spare helmet had a wireless comm system.

“I’m fine,” she choked out. “It’s been a while since I’ve been riding, is all.”

A while. Seventeen and a half years.

“In that case”—Ash’s voice was light—“think you could move your hands?”

Hanna realized with horror then that her hands had slipped low on Ash’s abdomen. So low that they were now a hairsbreadth away from pressing against the front of his jeans and…

She quickly readjusted, dragging her hands back up, all too aware of the burning heat of her cheeks. Everyone wanted natural red hair, but there wasn’t an emotion in the world a redhead could hide.

“And here I was hoping you’d move them in the other direction,” Ash teased.

Hanna resisted the urge to smack him. But only because he was driving. “I see your sense of humor hasn’t changed. You’re still a seventeen-year-old boy drawing dicks on bathroom walls.”

Ash shrugged, the movement pulling their bodies that much closer. “Why mess with perfection, I ask you. Now, hush that pretty little mouth and enjoy the ride.”

For the second time that day, Hanna was having a very difficult time breathing. This time had nothing to do with a panic attack, however, and everything to do with the way Ash’s light words still carried a firm edge, like he was telling her she would like doing as he commanded.

Commanded? Since when?