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“I said it before. It’s got to be the world’s biggest coincidence her ass ends up here.”
“Once during a conversation, I mentioned working construction in Charleston before she changed the subject.”
“She uprooted her life and moved here for you?”
“She uprooted her life and moved to a city that had significant memories of childhood vacations with her family. I was just a man who did a construction job here in her mind.”
“Now I’m getting whiplash. This is complicated.”
“You have no idea. She hasn’t made things easy.”
He pours himself another drink, his mood going somber. “For someone who didn’t even know her proper name, things are going fast. You sure moving her in here is sensible?”
“That’s rich coming from you. I’m not sure you’re in a position to dole out advice.”
“Now who’s being a dick?”
“Tell me, if you didn’t have kids when Darby came back into your life, how many nights would you have slept alone?”
“You can’t compare my relationship with Darby to this. You’ve admitted that Ashlyn hasn’t come clean with you. There may be some dark skeletons in that closet.”
“You trying to tell me Darby’s skeletons weren’t dark? Her reasons for hauling ass out of this town and leaving everyone in the dust were simple and uncomplicated? You want to go there, Pierce?”
The darkening of his eyes is my answer.
“Didn’t think so.” I tilt my glass his way. “You’re about two seconds from being thrown out on your ass.”
“My history included a lot more than a few nights in a hotel—”
“I’d be very fucking careful how you plan to finish that thought. I wasn’t a virgin when I met Ashlyn, far from it. This isn’t about a weekend of available pussy. I’ve never had a problem getting laid. This is about the woman. You, of all people, should understand, considering you fell for the girl on the elliptical without a single conversation.”
His jaw ticks with the wheels spinning in his head. I may be pissed as hell, but not long ago I was on his ass for virtually the same reason. He’s worried.
“She made an impression, man, unlike any other woman I’d ever been with. When I saw her again, I wasn’t making the same mistake.”
I can see the questions still rolling through his mind. He’s not convinced.
“When I say I wasn’t making the same mistake, I mean I went old school. Sex isn’t currently on the table.”
This gets his attention. “What?”
“Thought about it, and four weeks ago, I’d have gladly fucked her that first night. But since I am determined to get a different result than last time, I went a different direction.”
He shakes his head in disbelief. “Well, shit, hell… ” he stumbles over his words. “That certainly changes things.”
“It’s amazing how much you can learn about people when sex isn’t involved.”
His face pops up. “How?”
“It hasn’t been easy and I’ve caved almost every day. It was the only way to get where we needed to be. She may not be ready to tell me the details of what happened, but I’m piecing it together. Her firm used and abused her. She has scars.”
Pierce may be here to question my choices, but he knows firsthand how delicate it is to deal with a woman with scars. Realization dawns in his eyes. He gets it. “This is it then?”
“Yep.”
“She know yet?”
“She’s in denial,” I steal his words from not long ago, “but she’s beginning to clue in.”
This earns me a cocky grin. “About fucking time, old man. I was beginning to wonder.”
“You can rest easy.”
“All right then, tell me the plan.”
•—•—•—•—•
Ashlyn hustles back and forth between rooms, mumbling to herself as she unpacks. I don’t have to hear what she’s saying to know she’s lost in her head.
To her credit, she held herself together a lot longer than I expected. She didn’t blink an eye when one of my guys came to pick up her bed. There was barely a reaction when her brothers and I broke apart her window seat and hauled the wood to the dumpster. She didn’t falter, walking around the house with her parents to get more pictures.
The only sign of her unease was when she clutched onto Janie during their goodbye. Her mom whispered something in her ear, peered over at me, and sent me a reassuring smile. I gently tugged Ashlyn to me, and we watched her family drive away with her leaning to my side.
When we got to my house, I grabbed her things, took her hand, and led her straight to the bedroom. She stood in the middle of the room in a daze, looking around like she was seeing it for the first time. My offer to help her unpack was rejected, so I left her alone.
That was almost an hour ago, and my patience has worn off. I find her in the bathroom crouched in front of the cabinet, lining her things to the side.
