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Piers chafed his hands over her arms. “This is The Boot Knockers Ranch, Peachy. Haven’t you learned yet that anything goes?”
A small smile tinged her lips, fading too quickly. “I have seen a lot of things I’d never see back in Washington.”
There it was. Ash had been waiting for her to bring up the place where she lived. After talking to her client, her mind must surely be on that location.
“Do you miss Washington?”
Shifting her gaze to Ash, she contemplated his question for a moment. “No. It’s wonderful up here. The air is so clean and fresh. The world is so bright and raw. There’s no comparing the views either—Alaska beats the high-rises hands-down.”
“You’ve been awful quiet since your call, Peachy. Can I ask what it was about?”
She stirred in her reclining position. “A divorce settlement. The parties aren’t coming to terms easily.”
“And it upsets you.”
She drew her lips in against her teeth, a gesture he hadn’t seen since their youth. It threw him back in time and amped up that old protectiveness that had doubled since seeing her again.
“A little, I guess,” she admitted. “It really brings back all the pain and trauma. It made me think…” She broke off, gnawing at her full bottom lip.
Their gazes locked.
“Do you miss Charlie?”
She blinked. “No. I don’t.”
Ash flicked his gaze up to Piers’s. He was staring at him, a question in his dark eyes.
“You think that my call with my client makes me miss being married to Charlie?” Her volume pitched lower, almost swallowed by the crackle of logs on the fire.
He was still standing, and he moved to take a seat in the lawn chair across from her and Piers. Bracing his elbows on his knees, he lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “It was only a thought, Peachy.”
“Actually…it made me wonder if I really want to practice this kind of law anymore.”
Silence rolled on for several heartbeats. At last, Piers leaned his head to the side to see her face. “Hey, things are getting awful heavy around here. I think we should get out on the ranch.”
“More barn chores?” she asked.
“I was thinking dinner and dancing at the lodge. What do ya say?”
Ash smiled at the idea of spinning her between both of them. Grinding against her toned body. “It’ll give you a reason to put that blue dress back on.”
The spark in her eyes was all the answer Ash needed. He pushed to his feet and held out a hand for Sylvee. She took it, and he tugged her off the chair.
Getting cleaned up for dinner and a night of dancing dispersed the cloud that had been hanging over them. By the time they walked to the lodge, they were laughing and joking like they did in days past. It was as if those years separating them—and Charlie winning the girl, then losing her—never happened.
Except back then, they never did more than hug or high-five. In the past few days, they’d bridged the divide, and the intimacy between them ran deep. Hell, Ash even felt closer to Piers, and he’d always considered him one of the few people in the world closest to him.
The soft strains of music grew louder as they neared the lodge. There was typically live music and the guys took advantage of a chance to show off their skills. Most of them could move to a beat, and some were damn good performers that got the ladies stampeding the dance floor.
When they reached the doors, Piers held one open. Ash guided Sylvee in with a hand on the small of her back. The open space boasted high ceilings with pale wood and beams. The walls were paneled in the same wood, providing a backdrop to the view visible through many tall windows. The mountains and sky seemed to be indoors with them.
Piers led the way through the space.
“Oooh, there’s a bar.” Sylvee began to detour toward it, but Ash grasped her by the elbow and swung her back to him. Her eyes widened in surprise. “You don’t want me to drink?”
“I don’t want you to drink on an empty stomach. Let’s get some food first.”
Taking her by the hand, he drew her across the room, bouncing to the beat as he did. The upbeat song about a man coming home to his girlfriend after being in the military struck a deeper chord inside Ash because of the feelings it evoked. Glancing back at Sylvee, he saw her smile stretch as she watched him bebop over to the buffet.
