Page 47 of Taming Her Temptations

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Ruby

I pull my dad’s yellow 1970s Volkswagen Bug into our driveway. Yes, this is the banana peel I angrily pulled away as everyone likely watched. I’ve never really understood the term insult to injury as deep in my soul as I do now.

I slam the old door with the force it requires and jump when I see Asher standing at our front door. He’s dressed casually in jeans and a dark grey henley and his new septum ring shines in the sunlight. I was right. It does look hot on him. It draws attention to his plush lips and the pink on the ring makes his blue eyes look even more vivid. I normally would be happy to see him here. Especially since I haven’t gotten much time with them since our big night out.

But based on the trajectory of my current day, I’m not anticipating him being here for anything positive.

“If you’re here to get tips on how to woo some heiress, I’m not in the mood,” I say flatly as I walk in front of him and cross my arms.

“What?” His eyebrows furrow. “No.”

“Okay, well if you’re here to fire me, it really would have been great if you chose another day.”

“Not that either. Wha-”

“If you’re here to tell me-”

“Ruby! I’m not here for you.”

“Oh. Well, that tracks too, actually.” I slump toward the door.

“No offense.” He takes a step toward me. “I mean, I can stay and hang out with you. But I’m here to clean your dad’s gutters.”

“You want to do what to my dad?”

“Clean his gutters.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

He points up with a smirk. “They haven’t been maintained in a while. I used to do it all the time for my grandpa.”

I blink at him, wondering if this is some kind of prank that I don’t understand. But he only looks back at me earnestly.

“Asher, you have more Grammys than I have pairs of shoes. Why would you be spending your time doing this?”

He shrugs. “Your dad would never let me send over our maintenance staff, and it needs to be done.”

“I can just ask Ryan to do it.”

“Does he know how?”

I don’t answer because, obviously, Ryan doesn’t know how. Ryan once sold his bike because he didn’t want to bother trying to figure out how to fix a loose brake cable, so he just bought a whole new bike.

“Ruby, it’s not a big deal. Especially this place. It will take me no time.”

“Because this place is so small?” I shoot back. I have no idea why I’m fighting this man. Asher is kind and thoughtful and he wants to clean my dad’s gutters. Why won’t I just let him?

“Well, yeah.”

I roll my eyes and dig into my purse to get the keys. “Well, my dad is at Ryan’s. So-”

He grabs my arm and swings me to face him.

“I love your house.” He says as he pulls me into him. My shoulders release some of their tension at his low voice and his tender touch. “I grew up in a house even smaller.” He continues. “But nowhere near as cool.” He pulls me in even tighter and bends down, whispering in my ear. “Now are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?”

I think about confiding in him. What would I even tell him? How when walking away from my ex-husband and Dean, somehow I felt more upset about Dean? But that would be like jumping out of a brakeless car straight into oncoming traffic. If it had been Asher in that coffee shop, I would have felt just as crappy about the situation. And I have no right to feel this way.

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