by Penny Wylder
I fall into bed and curse out loud. Now I’m thinking about him again. Who the hell am I kidding? I’ve barely been able to keep thoughts of him away. He was an amazing two-day stand. And that’s all he’ll ever be once our marriage is dissolved and behind me like it never existed.
That same pang of sadness from this morning fills my chest. It aches. Why the fuck do I care? Asher, for all that we’ve done together, is a total stranger. Why do I care about losing him?
The question echoes in my mind as I fall asleep, and I’m not entirely sure that I want to know the answer.
10
Asher
When my phone rings with a call from the insurance company the next day, I’m completely unsurprised. This is what I wanted.
“Asher Pearson.”
“Hi, Mr. Pearson. This is Ellen over at National Wilderness Insurance. You have a second to talk?”
I smile, doing my best to keep it out of my voice. “Of course. What can I do for you?”
She clears her throat. “Well, we’ve gotten a report that some of your safety procedures and equipment might not be up to our current standards, which would violate the policy that you have with us. I’m sorry to have to relay bad news.”
“Ah,” I said, making my tone understanding. “I’m assuming the report came from Gary Brandt?”
“Umm.” She sputters, clearly not expecting me to have as much information as she does. “Yes. That’s right.”
I sigh. “I’m sorry to tell you, Ellen, Mr. Brandt has been harassing me and my business partners for months trying to poach our services. I assure you that all our safety equipment is fine, and our procedures are extremely careful.”
“But—”
“I don’t expect you to take my word for it, of course. Please send someone out for an inspection and allow your informant to come along. I’m sure we’ll get this straightened out in no time.”
Ellen is quiet for a moment. “That’s what I called to tell you. They’re already on their way and will be there shortly.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it,” I say, glad that she can’t see my look of surprise. I’m ready, but I thought I’d have a little more time.
I end the call and drop my head into my hands. I’m fucking exhausted. Last night I didn’t sleep well, tossing and turning, unable to get comfortable. Until I realized that the bed felt too empty, and that the comfort that I was looking for was Rose.
It’s impossible. I can’t feel that way over sharing a bed with her for one night. But I’ve always slept alone. Even after the many one-night stands that I’ve had over the years, I always left and slept in my own bed.
But Rose? I never even considered barring her from my bed. It was just a given that when I married her and took her back to my house that she was going to stay there. Almost like she fit so well with me that my subconscious pulled her into my soul without asking. What the fuck does that mean?
I wanted to get back at her for tricking me. That’s why I’d married her in the first place. But last night has me wondering if there’s more to it than I had thought. Had I…had I recognized something so deep in Rose that I’d felt the need to claim her and make her mine?
Even if I wanted to dig into the possibility, I don’t have time right now. I dress, making sure that I look professional. By the time I’m done and finished checking the emails that I ignored while Rose was here, I hear the sound of tires on gravel.
Stepping outside, I wave to the car pulling up. Two men. One about my age. I vaguely recognize him from when we first signed our insurance paperwork. And the other one older. Graying hair and beard, short, and wearing a suit that is ill fitting and faded. I can see a little of Rose in him, but not much. She must take after her mother.
He has a smug look of victory on his face, and I can’t wait to see that completely disappear.
“Mr. Pearson,” the younger guy shakes my hand. “Jack Barrow.”
“We’ve met before, right?”
He nods. “Once.”
“I thought so. Good to see you again.” I turn to Rose’s father, and I don’t shake his hand. “Mr. Brandt. Let’s get this going, shall we?”
We head straight down the path that I took Rose on when we started her tour and start with the boat house. There’s small talk that I mostly tune out, my mind wondering what Rose is doing right now. Is she thinking about me? Is she worried about getting the proof? I should have given her what she wanted. I don’t want any part of her worrying. About anything.
“Here we are,” I say, gesturing into the boat house. I run down the details of our safety procedures that we go through with every client, and all the equipment that we have backs that up. “We also have all procedures written and codified so we can present them to the guests before they arrive, and a waiver, of course. You’re free to look at both.”
Jack nods. “We’ll do that at the end.”
Gary has the grace to look nervous, but I don’t think that it’s fully sunk in just how fucked he actually is.
I watch as Jack pokes around the boat house, takes some pictures and checks the list of what I should have against what I actually have, and I watch as he looks confused by the fact that everything is in order.
“Everything all right?”
“Yeah,” he says, bewildered. “So far.”
I nod. “Excellent. Should we move on?”
“Lead the way.”
Gary follows us nervously and I smile at him before I guide them toward the ropes course. And the archery range. Every part of the property that Jack wants to see, I take them to. The scene repeats itself over and over, until Jack is nearly rolling his eyes and I can feel the frustration rolling off Gary like a physical force.
“Well, Mr. Pearson,” Jack says as we walk back to the main building, “I’d like to take a look at your waiver and your safety documentation, but if they’re as meticulous as the rest of this place, I’m sure that everything will be in order.”
I chuckle. “It will be.”
Walking him into the office, I set him up to go over the documents before turning on Rose’s father. “Mr. Brandt, can I speak to you privately for a moment?”
He’s right to look terrified. I’d like to have a more physical conversation with him than I’ll be able to, and for more reasons than just his daughter. Following him into the main lobby, he stops, scalding me with a gaze. “What do you want?”
I stalk closer, invading his space, gratified with the terror I see in his eyes. “I want you to leave me and my business the fuck alone. We’ve told you God knows how many times to get out of our faces, and this is the last straw. You mess with us again, and I’ll make this public. I will press charges, and your precious business will slip down the drain. Got it?”
There’s so much hate when he looks at me, knowing that I’ve completely and thoroughly beaten him. “Got it.” His voice is filled with poison.
“One more thing,” I say.
“What?” He practically spits the word at me.
Sliding my hands into my pockets, I look down at him. “You’re going to pay for the last year of Rose’s tuition. Because you’re her fucking father, and you dragged her into this mess trying to help you commit a crime. End of story. You don’t do it? Same rules apply.”
He shakes his head slowly. “You think you’re so much better than me?”
“I’m not preying on legitimate businesses trying to blackmail them into using your services, and I’m not forcing my family members to be criminals. So, yeah.”
“All set,” Jack says, coming out of the office. “Everything is in order. I’m sorry this was necessary. Clearly the report we had was very wrong.”
I shake the man’s hand. “Not a problem at all. Have a nice afternoon.”
Gary stares me down for a long time before he turns and follows Jack for what’s probably going to be an incredibly awkward ride back to the city.
“Gary,” I call after him, and he looks at me with barely contained fury. “
This week. You make things right this week.”
I laugh when he slams the car door shut.
He doesn’t have a leg to stand on. He doesn’t want the court case this would bring. It wouldn’t even get that far. The minute charges are filed, any legitimate clients that he has will look further into his records, and it would be the end.
I’m smiling when the car pulls out of our lot.
11
Rose
The pounding sinks through my dreams, making the giant pink cake I’m about to consume shake. What is that?
Another round of pounding jerks me into alertness. What the hell? It’s afternoon, according to the clock. I’d taken a nap, still catching up on sleep after my adventures with Asher. Just one night of sleep wasn’t enough. But now someone is pounding on my door hard enough that it sounds like they’re intent on breaking it down.
“Hold on,” I call, dragging myself up and pulling a hoodie on over my sports bra. This had better be really fucking good.
I open the door and my father shoves past me into the house. “Hello to you too,” I say.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” he yells. “Setting me up like that.”
“I assume you were up at Blue Mountain then?”
His face is so red that he looks like he’s about to explode. “Yes, I was. And everything was perfect. I swear, Rose, you better not screw me over like this again. Why would you try to set me up when I’m trying to help you?”
Anger boils up under my skin. “Why would you force me into doing something illegal just to make sure that you actually had the money to help me? If you really wanted to help me, you could have just said yes. Or better yet, you could have been honest about the fact that you didn’t actually want to help me, and said no.”
“It’s not illegal, Rose. Taking pictures isn’t illegal.”
“Just like carrying drugs for someone else but not selling them myself isn’t illegal.” I roll my eyes. “You don’t think a court would definitely name me as an accessory? I feel like an idiot for not seeing it in the first place.”
Slowly, he nods. “You know, I had hopes that you weren’t like your mother. She was a stupid, unfaithful whore who couldn’t keep her legs shut. That’s why I left. I’m not even sure you actually are my daughter, but I decided to be kind. I decided to give you a chance to help me.
“But you’re just as ungrateful as she was. You’re not getting a cent from me and don’t bother calling me for shit. You’re no longer my daughter—if you ever were.”
He storms back past me, slamming the door hard enough to shake the walls.
The things he said were calculated to hurt me. But they missed the mark. Maybe they would have cut deeper if he’d ever actually been in my life. He abandoned me and my mother—I already knew the details of their split and if there was unfaithfulness, it was not on my mother’s side. And after asking for help with one thing, he’d tried to stab me in the back a second time.
I’m not going to miss him.
But that doesn’t stop the tears from pricking my eyes and building so that I’m crying in the middle of my kitchen. I know that the tears aren’t really for him. I’m exhausted and raw, all my emotions still at the surface waiting to ambush me.
I wish that I was back up the mountain with Asher. Even though it’s the middle of the afternoon, there’s a chance that I would be losing myself in his arms at this very moment. I wouldn’t have to think—just feel.
But it’s his fault that this even happened in the first place. If he hadn’t made me take new pictures, my father would have just been frustrated that he couldn’t find anything wrong and moved on to the next thing.
And yet, if I hadn’t given in and fucked him in the first place, he never would have discovered my identity. So maybe it is all my fault.
It doesn’t matter either way. Without the money, I’m done. I can’t work enough to make the kind of money that I’d need for the tuition, and no company in the world will give a loan to me with my credit. Not after everything that I spent to bury my mother. I’m still paying it off years later.
I get a glass of water to replace the hydration from my tears, which I can’t seem to stop. I’ll drop out in the morning. Take a leave of absence. There’s no way I have the energy for it right now and it’s too close to the end of the day anyway to make a difference.
No, tonight’s going to be an eat my feelings and watch sappy movies night.
I fulfilled my side of our deal. Asher will be expecting me to come back up to the lodge so we can agree to the annulment. But I can’t bring myself to care about the annulment anymore. I have enough to pay for a quickie divorce and save myself the heartache.
After what happened, I know the second I see him I’m not going to be able to resist him. The charm, his body, and the way he looks at me with tenderness even through all the bullshit. And that would hurt more than not seeing him again. We had a clean break and some amazing sex in the bargain. That would have to be enough.
So why are my tears coming down way harder than when my dad slammed the door in my face?
12
Asher
Rose doesn’t come back.
I didn’t exactly expect her to appear the next day. But maybe the day after. Hell, I expected to wake up to her breaking down my door to force me to give her the annulment that I promised.
But three days go by.
And then four.
Suddenly it’s been a week since she left and I’m going fucking crazy. Where is she? Why hasn’t she come back? Why can’t I seem to sleep through the night anymore because I keep waking up, reaching for her, and then finding myself alone?
The only thing we have on file for her is the fake name that she gave us, and a matching email address which is now bouncing back everything I send. I’m so desperate to hear from her that I actually consider calling Gary just to get her contact information. I even went as far as checking up on him. The bastard. He’s an idiot, and he’s going to get what’s coming for him. Especially if I find out that he’s reneging on our deal.
So I’ve been walking around for days with a black cloud over my head and in a foul mood. No one dares to come into the office when I’m there, and I can’t even argue with them. I’m not fit company right now.
It’s not exactly like I can explain the situation to my friends. They’d already gone to bed when our swift marriage happened. I know that I would sound like a crazy person if I told them that my wife walked away from me and I want her back. I’m not even supposed to have a wife, and I did the whole thing assuming that I’d be freely single within a few days.
Instead, I’m slowly devolving into madness. I can’t stop wondering where she is and what she’s doing. Missing the way she smells and the way she tastes. The moans that she made when she was underneath me.
I’m trying to focus on emails and keeping my tone civil with prospective guests when there’s a knock on the doorframe of the office.
Diana is standing there, a small smile on her face. “Hey.”
I sigh, “Hey, Di.”
It’s been long enough that I’ve gotten used to having Diana here. She’s great, and she makes Leo so happy that the whole place seems brighter. Unless I’m bringing it down the way that I am right now.
“How are you?”
I make a face. “If you have to ask me that, I’m guessing that you know I’m not doing well.”
She smiles sympathetically. “Want to talk about it?”
“I don’t really know how.”
“Try me.”
I shake my head and lean my elbows on the desk. “You want to give it a guess first?”
“Does it have something to do with a beautiful blonde that was here with you and laughing and is now no longer here?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She laughs. “Sure.”
“She was supposed to come back,” I say roughly. “She hasn’t.”
Diana makes a face. �
�Well, I don’t exactly have a leg to stand on as far as going into client records for info. That’s exactly what Leo did, and I’m glad that he did it.”
“I already tried. It’s fake information. Long story.”
Her eyebrows raise. “How do you know each other?”
“We…just met.”
Suddenly she’s beaming. “I know how that feels.” She and Leo had bonded after he’d saved her from the overflowing river, and that had been it for them. There were a few bumps along the way, but the way that Leo and Diana look at each other is something that I crave. It makes me ache in a way that I can’t explain.
I’m also grateful that my house isn’t the one next to theirs. Apparently they are…loud. Hudson’s complained more than once about the ‘New Hampshire screaming banshees’ next door. Diana blushes every time.
“Well,” she says. “I liked her. And I haven’t seen you smile like that in a long time.”
“I fucked up, Di. I really fucked up.”
I shouldn’t have blackmailed her. I was so angry that I hadn’t been able to see straight. And at the same time I had wanted her so deeply…and now I’m here. Alone.
“So fix it.”
“It’s not that easy.”
She smiles. “I don’t know. Maybe it is. I came to bring you this.” Diana comes in and hands me an envelope. “Came with the mail today.”
I have no idea what’s inside, but the return address…Rose Brandt. “Oh, fuck.”
“Good luck,” she smirks before heading out. Turning back at the last second, she hesitates. “Asher…It’s worth the risk. I promise.”
Then she’s gone and I’m left with the envelope that feels like it’s staring at me.
I tear the envelope open, and my stomach plummets. Divorce papers. She didn’t want the annulment, she chose this. This is why she didn’t come back. She didn’t want to see me.
