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“That’s it.” Asher moved into the kitchen and began checking the windows there. “Tomorrow I’ll know more and can hopefully give you some answers.” He finished up with the final lock and then stepped back. “All right, you’re good.”
She smiled. “So, it’s safe for me to sleep in my own house?”
He glanced over his shoulder, his eyes suddenly dark with desire. “How do you know I’m not making sure that you can’t get out and you’re stuck with me?”
Heat flooded through her, causing goose bumps to prickle across her flesh. She’d given up on fighting the intensity burning between them in the alleyway. That touch, that body, once it all got close, she couldn’t help herself. All she needed to do was keep her head on straight and make sure her heart wasn’t on the table. Besides, her heart was currently too beaten down to even be at risk. She’d always done the right thing. Been the good girl and wanted forever. Now she wasn’t thinking of Mr. Forever. She wanted Mr. Right Now, and Asher fit into that category at the moment. “Oh, locking me in, huh? Should I be scared?” she asked, hearing the answering need in her own voice.
Asher’s mouth quirked and he approached in his slow easy stride, his gaze taking his fill of her. When he stopped in front of her the air thickened. “Scared…” He tucked a finger under her chin, lifting her mouth. “Never be scared of me, Remy.” Then he began to slowly bring those kissable lips closer to his.
She backed away and placed a finger on his lips. “No kisses goodbye.”
Asher arched an eyebrow. “I just kissed the hell out of you an hour ago.”
“But those were sex kisses, not goodbye kisses,” she pointed out. There had to be boundaries there or she couldn’t do this with Asher, and she really wanted to do this with Asher. “What we’re doing here is casual, remember? No dates. No romantic stuff. Just fun, because all this feels good right now.” Because without boundaries, there was too much emotion, and emotion was a dangerous thing when it came to Asher Sullivan. No matter how much growing Asher had done over the years, she couldn’t forget what happened. He’d left her completely shattered and never came back, never called, never checked in on her, when her life totally fell apart. “We need to rewrite our story and I need to learn how to trust you again. We sucked at love, so let’s keep doing the exact opposite. So, no kisses goodbye, no cuddling, nothing like that.”
She didn’t want to ever again be the woman he left behind. Now she controlled when and what they did. That had to be a better way than how she’d been living. And somehow, a part of her thought that if she could heal her heart from what Asher did and truly forgive him, maybe she’d move on with her life and make better choices.
“All right,” he finally said after a long moment. “I can deal with that.”
“Excellent.” She strode forward toward the door, feeling like for once she was running her life. Saying it like it was. Demanding what she wanted. Hell, yeah, that felt good. When she met the door, she asked, “Will you call and fill me on whatever you learn?”
“That’s up to you,” he said. “Do you want me to?”
She didn’t even have to think about it. “I want to know everything that’s going on and why he’s here. Don’t protect me, Asher. Keep me involved in this every step of the way.” Hell yes, she was totally nailing getting back on her feet.
“I can do that.” He uncrossed his arms to grab his keys from his pockets and began walking toward her. “The most important thing right now is that you’re safe. If you feel uneasy about anything, you’ll tell me, right?”
“Of course.” She watched him for a moment, seeing that maybe she wasn’t the only one changing. The Asher she knew before wouldn’t have let her get anywhere near any of this. He’d want her safe. He’d get the guy out of town in any way possible. It occurred to her now that he had this new confidence about him that she’d never seen before. And it almost felt like he was there to support her instead of taking charge of everything, making all the decisions. And after he made the decision to leave that ultimately broke her heart, this was a nice change.
For the first time ever, she realized that being apart let them both grow into better versions of themselves. She didn’t give too much. He didn’t take too much either.
His gaze finally lifted to hers again. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the grand opening, then?”
She nodded. “You will.” When he took a step out the door, her heart suddenly pounded. “Asher?” she called.
He turned back. “You’ve changed your mind and you want to come back to my house?”
She laughed softly and shook her head. “Thank you. You know, for keeping me safe, for being there for me…for everything.”
Something dark and haunted crossed his expression. “I should have always been here for you like this. Sleep tight, Remy.”
Unsure how to answer that, she stayed silent, smiled at him, and then locked the door and hurried into her kitchen. Asher had his way of protecting her. She had hers. Remy grabbed Nana’s book of spells out of the old antique cabinet and she flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for: PROTECTION BREW. The ingredients were written in Nana’s handwriting. Rue, rosemary, vetivert, and hyssop sprig of mistletoe.
Right as she began adding the ingredients into the big cast-iron pot she always kept on the stove, Salem sauntered in and meowed. “Oh, don’t give me that attitude,” Remy said, waving the wooden spoon at him. “I’m sorry for waking you up, but we’ve got a spell to make.”
Salem blinked, then meowed again, sitting at her feet.
By the time she was done with the brew, he looked further annoyed. She used a ladle to scoop out the brew into a small bowl, and then Salem began to follow her as she went exactly where Asher had traveled. She anointed every window and door in her loft, finishing up with the four corners to prevent negative energy to enter.
“There,” she said, turning back to Salem.
If a cat could have rolled his eyes, she was sure he would have done so. He flicked his tail and sauntered back upstairs to the bedroom.
“You’ll be thanking me when no one breaks in,” she ca
lled to Salem.
He didn’t look back.
