Page 57 of Snowed In with the Rancher

But that hadn’t happened.

He let his grief, his trauma and his pain cloud his reasoning and he responded rashly, ordering her to go, blaming her for the smoke detector and burned food.

It had been both their faults, she knew that.

She forgot she had something under the broiler and he had distracted her.

How was Hannah going to react to all of this? Would she tear off several strips from Asher, until she hit bone? Flay him with her words for breaking her best friend’s heart?

Probably.

Because as much as Triss didn’t want to admit it, given how fast it’d all happened, she’d fallen hard for the troubled rancher and her heart was broken. Probably even more than it had been when she arrived on his doorstep a week ago after Lorne dumped her, ending their three-year relationship.

She chuckled painfully through the tears. She was more upset and heartbroken over a six-day tryst than she was a three-year relationship where she and Lorne lived together, owned a couch together and shared a Netflix account.

Triss already knew that water was thicker than blood in this case and Hannah would side with Triss over Asher. Not that she truly needed to pick a side, but Hannah was all about the hoes before bros.

She was a lot like Rayma. Neither woman had very in-tact filters. They tended to just say what they wanted, fuck the consequences.

In some ways, Triss admired them for that, but in other ways it made her cringe. But what she loved most about both of them was just how hard they loved.

Both Rayma and Hannah were amazing people with the strongest sense of loyalty Triss had ever encountered. And even though their big mouths and lack of filters tended to get them into hot water once in a while, it was their enormous hearts that got them out of that hot water and made Triss grateful to have them in her life.

She was grateful to have Asher in her life, too.

Even though his exterior was tough, weathered and nearly impenetrable, he’d let her see that softer center. Let her experience that gentle heart and goodness that he harbored beneath his armor for the horses and what she already knew to be very few people.

He was a Kintsugi bowl. They both were. Cracked, but not broken. Not enough to be tossed away. Not helpless. Not hopeless.

And she’d regret it for the rest of her life if she didn’t fight for what she was sure they had. Not just a fling, not just a tryst, but something real and raw and that could go the distance if they just put in a little work. And maybe a sprinkle of gold dust.

Leaning forward in her seat, she wiped her tears from her cheeks. “I’m really sorry, but could you turn around?”

“Did you forget something?” the driver asked.

She nodded. “I did. And I don’t expect you to drive me back to Denver. I actually don’t think I’m going to make my flight.” She beamed as he slowed the cab down and turned around.

Dusk was starting to settle in, so hopefully that meant Asher was in the house and after a few words and promises they could tumble into bed where she could demand he apologize for being so stupid as to send her away.

The man was very good at apologizing.

Hauling her suitcase back up the front steps of the house, she waved the cab driver off and watched him drive away.

She didn’t even bother to knock and just opened the front door and stepped in. “Asher!”

Several heartbeats and tension-filled moments passed, but she already knew he wasn’t in the house. She couldn’t feel his large presence.

Was he still in the shed?

Has he fallen asleep out there?

Not bothering to remove her boots, she left her suitcase in the foyer and ran through the house, throwing open the door from the laundry room and running through the snow and the falling flakes to the shed. God, if he’d fallen asleep in the cold he could catch hypothermia and die.

She flung open the door and heaved a sigh of relief when he wasn’t there still sitting on the bucket.

Was he in the barn?

She didn’t bother to go back through the house, since she’d closed all the doors and took the side gate to get to the front yard. From there, she ran across the snow-covered gravel to the barn. “Asher?” She called out. “Asher?”

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