Page 45 of Gifts

“Keelie.” He gives me a squeeze. “Say something.”

“What do you want me to say?” I ask. “You know everything about me. I just learned you used to be a contract killer and now you train others to do the same and you want to show my kids either how to be a man or be treated by one. You bring me cases of wine with promises of all kinds of fun wine activities and a barrel at the end with my name burned on it like a cherry on top. You want to say things that make me blush and I don’t like to blush. It makes me feel like a girl, but if anyone could do it, I bet it would be you. Oh yeah, you also want to help shovel goat and donkey shit. That’s a lot to take in.”

He has the nerve to grin. “I didn’t say I wanted to shovel shit, but I will if that’s what it takes.”

“That’s my life, Asa.”

“Then if this works out, it looks like I’ll be shoveling shit.”

I sigh and lean into him. “How did cornflake chicken turn into this?”

“I’m forty-three,” he states.

I shrug. “I’m thirty-five.”

“You really want me to hang around for months on end before we get this shit out? Because I have no desire to do that.”

I roll my eyes. He has a point.

“You know about me. I know about you. We can skip all that and move on. We’ll figure out if this works, but we can skip the hard getting to know you part and move onto the good stuff.”

“The good stuff?”

He scoots down in his chair, snaking a hand up my back and into my hair. “I know you like wine, but I don’t know what you eat for breakfast. If you eat eggs, I don’t know how you like them. I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait for you to get ready before we go out or what you like to watch on TV.”

“I don’t have time to watch TV,” I admit.

“We’ll have to fix that.” He brings my mouth to his and kisses me as his other hand glides up and down my leg.

I lift my head, but he doesn’t stop and kisses his way down my neck. “Asa?”

“Hmm?” His tongue traces my ear.

I run my fingers over his soft beard for the first time before pulling his face to me. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I’m messed up. I’m afraid you’ll want out when you learn the little things.”

He gives me a genuine expression telling me he’s not feeding me a line when he says, “That’s why they’re little. They don’t matter. It’s time to move on, Keelie. Don’t be afraid.”

And there in my backyard, with the cool of the early spring night biting at us, I give in.

I just hope Asa Hollingsworth doesn’t regret it.

Chapter 11

Adult Shit

Keelie

I hear nothing on the other end of the phone. Silencing my sister is a feat in and of itself.

It’s Friday, and the week has been so busy, I haven’t had a chance to fill her in on the Hollingsworths—in particular, their leader, Asa.

I just got done telling her how he broke up with me even though we weren’t even together, just for him to change his mind again, how he kissed me in my pantry, bought me a wine membership that comes with a barrel, is totally into his kids, and how he knows all about my past with David. And she knows what a tough subject that is for me.

“Oh, yeah.” I break the silence, assuming she’s still there to listen. “When they came over last night, he even got Saylor to sit and read. She didn’t even throw a fit.”

“How the hell did he do that?” I hear the shock in Stephie’s voice. No one is immune to Saylor Lockhart’s strong will.

“He came in with a huge bag of books for the kids. At first, I balked, but Knox was over the moon and even Saylor showed an interest. Asa noticed how Knox asked all kinds of questions about their trip to the Olympics, so he bought him these enormous books of facts and world records. Saylor ended up with a stack of first readers about farm animals— predominantly goats. But he also bought The Black Stallion and told Saylor if he read to her, she’d have to read to him. It just happened last night and even now, I can’t get over it.” Letting my head fall to my desk, my voice is muffled as I go on. “He wasn’t even sugary sweet with her. He was all matter of fact, like ‘I’ll read to you, but you have to read to me and you can’t do it cryin’ or mopin’. If so, deal’s off and I take ‘em all back.’” I do my best Asa impersonation.

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