AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She led the way to the kitchen, pulled a glass from the cabinet and grabbed the pitcher from the refrigerator. Did the fact that he was delaying his departure mean something? It wasn’t as if he could leave when she hadn’t given him the forms to sign or accepted his final payment.
She handed him the glass, careful not to let their fingers touch.
“This is great. Thanks.”
If he decided to keep Harper at the center, she would always have to take care around the child’s father. She couldn’t extend a polite handshake whenever he visited the center. Or stare at him too long during drop-off. And never could she allow herself to remember the scent of his skin, the taste of his lips or sensation of his touch on her skin.
She knew how tightly her hands were clasped hinted just how tough those rules would be to follow. When she forced herself to release her grip and looked up, she found Asher watching her. She braced herself for the words she should have wanted to hear but suddenly dreaded. It’s for the best.
“It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Her breath caught, and her pulse pounded in her temples.
“What do you mean?” she couldn’t help but ask when he didn’t immediately explain himself. “About the girls?”
He shook his head and chewed his lip, appearing nervous. It didn’t fit. This was Asher Colton, who usually exuded confidence through his pores.
“No,” he said finally. “Us.”
There was an “us”? Had something changed from the other day when he’d humiliated her more than she’d believed possible? If he made that same, sad proposal a third time, would she be able to bear the mortification?
“The two of us together, it didn’t mean anything, right?” Was she asking for more pain? Like an idiot in a bar, daring all the drunks to punch her in the gut as hard as they could?
“I tried to tell myself that.”
She swallowed. “What are you saying? Because if this is just another—”
“I want you,” he blurted and then shook his head.
The right and left slide of her chin had to mirror his. Though her body still craved him like a pitcher as part of a fountain, filling but never full, it still wasn’t enough. Anything less than all of him never would be.
“No, that’s not what I meant. I don’t want your body. Don’t get me wrong. Your body’s great. Fantastic. It’s just that...”
His struggle tore at her heart and pulled her lips up at the same time.
He cleared his throat and stared so deeply into her eyes that he must have been able to see straight to her soul.
“I...want—”
Then he stopped, his head jerking to stare at the closed door that hid the stairway to her apartment. You. The word ricocheted in her head, booming in its absence. Please say it, she wanted to beg. Just that one syllable and then three words more and everything would change for them. The impossible would become possible. A lie could be a foundation for truth.
“Do you smell smoke?”
Her gaze swept to that door. She shook her head, and then she stopped. Because she did smell it.
“Oh my God! Luna’s up there! My baby!”
She barreled for the door, but he gripped her shoulder from behind.
“I’ll go.”
“No! I have to get to her!”
“What you need to do is call 911 and let me do this.” He pressed his cell into her hand.
She shook her head and moved forward again.
“Please!”
