Page 75 of Scars Run Deep

“It’s nice being out here, huh?” Jonah spoke, looking out at the patio area, the pool. “Late Fall and we can eat out here without freezing our cocks off.”

“Made possible by the big-ass heaters we made Asher agree to put in,” Killian said. “Good call, right?” he asked, eyeing Asher.

“It will be if we start spending more time out here. This is the first time since the Blowout.”

“We should,” I said.

“What about that house of yours?” Asher asked.

The sudden question out of the blue had me jolting, my hand slipping from Killian’s hair.

Wow, he really did have that effect sometimes of jarring everybody out of their reveries and comfort zones.

“What about it?”

“Why do you still need it when you’re living here now?”

Blunt as ever.

“Yeah, we can move all your stuff in here,” Jonah offered.

“I can help you to sort it. Believe me, you don’t want the other two doing that,” Killian said.

“He’s right there,” Jonah agreed.

As the two of them talked back and forth about it, whether to hire a moving truck, or just use a combination of our vehicles, Asher continued staring at me intently.

Silently pushing and pushing.

“It’s an escape hatch,” he accused.

“Asher, don’t.”

But, of course, he went on undeterred, “Is it a failsafe in case things go south here in the form of an argument, us pissing you off, and the house giving you somewhere to retreat to if that happened? Or, is it there because you’re planning to head back there after our mission?” He leaned across the table, his urgency building and that dangerous intensity too. I was acutely aware that dead silence had fallen, with Killian and Jonah having stopped their conversation and zeroed in on Asher’s words. “Are you just making the best of things with us in the here and now so we’re all allied for the mission?”

“That’s not—”

“I told you, Aurora. I told you not to leave.”

I sucked in a breath. So that was what he’d meant that night after I’d ridden him. He hadn’t just meant for that night. It had been much more than that.

A way deeper commitment.

“Ash—” Killian started.

“Stand down,” Asher snapped, holding up his hand. “I know you want the answer too, so don’t let your insane level of chivalry when it comes to her deter you from getting it.”

Asher glared at me. “I’d rather you just answer without me having to force it out of you.”

I pushed partway out of my chair and leaned across the table until we were right up close, our faces just a couple of inches from one another, so close that our breath was intermingling and I could smell his delicious sandalwood scent.

His eye was twitching like crazy.

Shit. This was really bothering him.

Hurting him, even.

Him asking this was much more than just an act of dominance, of wanting to control everything within his domain. It was more than even ensuring his soldiers were rallied and tightly contained, ready for battle at a moment’s notice.

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