Page 76 of Shared By the Mountain Men

“That’s the thing,” I said. “You aren’t nice to anyone. Especially strangers.”

“Yeah, I know.” He stared off at nothing.

“Something on your mind?”

He shrugged one shoulder.

“I can see the wheels spinning,” I prodded. Sometimes we could coax an answer out of Ash, sometimes not.

This time it seemed to work. “When you first took her out, you said it was just a fling.”

“It is.”

“You don’t do flings.”

“I’ve had the occasional emotionless fling.”

Ash turned his head and stared at me. Jesus, that gaze was intimidating, even as a friend of his.

“Yeah, fine,” I said. “I like her a little.”

Ash continued staring.

“Okay, I like her alot.” I glanced down to make sure she was still asleep.

“I’ve never seen you like this,” Ash said. “Jack agrees.”

I gave a start. “You’ve been talking to Jack about me?”

“We’ve talked abouther,” he replied.

What does that even mean?

“Jack’s just jealous I asked her out first,” I said.

“Jack seems annoyed by her.”

“Exactly,” I said. “That’s how you know he likes her.”

Ash snorted, which was as close to conceding that point as I would get from him.

“It’s fine,” I said. “Nothing wrong with catching some feels.”

Ash let out a long sigh. “Yeah, there’s something wrong with it.”

I frowned. “You don’t know—”

“I know,” he interrupted, “because I like her too.”

I recoiled in surprise. “You do?”

Begrudgingly, he nodded once.

I almost laughed. Since getting out of prison, Ash hadn’t dated anyone. He’d had his fair share of hookups, but that was it. Nothing serious. In fact, he’d only dated someone once, and he called that off after three dates because he was afraid that he liked her. He didn’t want to get too close to anyone, to allow himself to trust a woman that way again.

Yet here he was, throwing himself head-first into Melissa.

“You knew you were catching feels for this girl,” I said slowly, “and you still agreed to try this? To have a threesome with her? Why would you do that when she’s leaving town in the next week?”

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