Page 108 of Wish You Were Mine

He chuckled. “Fair enough. But kids? You’ve never really said.”

“I’d like children,” I said slowly. “But they’re not make or break for me, and if I do have them, I want to keep my job.”

He looked at me like I was crazy. “You own half a business. I wouldn’t expect you to just give that up to be a full time mum, unless that was what you wanted.”

I scooped beans and meat onto a corn chip and dunked it in sour cream. “Some guys would. I know it’s old-fashioned, but small towns tend to attract people with those values.”

His jaw firmed. “I’m open to children too, and if I had them, I’d want their mother to live life exactly how she pleased. We could work out the details.”

“Good.” I watched him load salsa onto a chip and crunch into it. “We have plenty of time anyway.”

He licked his fingers clean. “What about pets? Are they something you want? I’ve often wondered because people expect vets to have a house full of them, but you don’t.”

I reached for my beer, realized it was empty, and set it back down. “I love animals, but it didn’t seem fair to have a pet when I work a lot. Especially when… Well, honestly, I wasn’t sure how long I would stay in Destiny Falls.”

His spoon clinked loudly against his plate as he dropped it. “What? Why would you leave?”

My heart raced. “I don’t plan to anymore.” I debated whether to put my cutlery down too, but decided against it. With my luck, my trembling hands would break something. “I just…”

“What?” he urged.

I squeezed my eyes shut. “There were days when I thought I might need to get away from here. I didn’t know how I’d be able to find love when you were always around for me to compare men to.”

His breath caught. He was silent for a long moment.

I forced my eyes to open. “Ash?”

His face had crumpled. “I’m sorry, Summer. I’m sorry for hurting you, and for taking so long to see what was right in front of me.”

I bit the inside of my cheek and tried to steady my breathing. “Everything happened the way it was meant to. Yeah, it hurt, but I was too young. This is how it was supposed to be.”

He ran the backs of his fingers along my cheek, whisper soft. “You’re amazing. I love the way your mind works.”

“You’d better.” I tried to make my tone more cheerful. I needed to change the subject. “Because I’m going to use this brilliant mind to figure out who’s been after you. No one hurts my man.”

“No.” His hand dropped from my cheek. “It’s too dangerous. Just let the police deal with it.”

“The police are understaffed and under-resourced. We can do this.”

“No, Summer.” His tone was firm. “I won’t risk it.”

I lifted my chin. “Fortunately, you don’t get to tell me what to do.”

50

ASHER

I approached Susan Warner’s body, only this time, her head turned toward me as I drew near. Her sightless eyes fixed on me and her mouth formed words I couldn’t understand.

I jerked away from her, only to find myself face-to-face with Lionel Lowry. His mangled leg hung uselessly, and he was supporting himself with a cane. Blood dripped from his wounds as he limped forward.

I stumbled.

“This is your fault, Asher,” he growled.

“Asher.”

“Asher!”

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