Page 34 of Chasing Sparks

“Me, neither. Did I ever tell you I considered buying this place?”

“Seriously?” Zane asks.

“I even mentioned it to Kiki, but she told me it had sold only a few weeks before at auction.”

Zane claps me around the shoulder. “And now, our friend owns it. Talk about a small world. I’m bugging her to throw a party once it’s restored. It will be sick.”

Seems we’ve beaten Ori here. Might as well take advantage of the free time and poke around the house.

It doesn’t take long to complete a quick once-over, but I can see why this project is intimidating to a layperson.

All Ori sees is peeling paint, broken windows, and overgrown shrubbery.

I see potential, and tons of it.

Plus, despite the cosmetic damage, there doesn’t seem to be any real structural issues with the house. She’ll have to upgrade the electrical and plumbing to meet code, but that’s normal in this type of restoration.

She got lucky with this purchase. Now it’s time to convince her of that fact.

Ori’s truck sits parked outside the carriage house as we round the corner from the front of the estate. Looks like the little lady is finally here.

“Ori, where are you?” I call out, my boots crunching across the gravel path.

“In here,” she replies from inside the carriage house. “Sorry I’m late. There was a huge line at the deli. I picked up breakfast and coffee. Help yourself.”

I find her in the main room of the carriage house, perched precariously on a rickety ladder, her face a mix of fierce determination and barely contained terror.

Braden and Zane make a beeline for the food, but I have a different destination: getting Ori off the damn ladder.

“Are you kidding? You hate heights. What are you doing up there?”

She clutches the ladder with one hand and points toward a few books on the top shelf of the bookcase. “I think they’re first editions.”

“I don’t care if they’re the original printing of the bible. Nothing is worth you getting hurt.” I grab her around the waist, pulling her to safety.

“Thanks for the save, cowboy.” Ori giggles, reaching up to stroke my jaw, but I freeze at the term of endearment.

It’s not because I dislike her use of nicknames, but because Lucille used theexactsame term with me.

I step back from Ori, cracking my knuckles as I realize my five-minute chat with my ex-girlfriend the other day has done more damage than I care to admit.

It’s triggered an avalanche of memories I spent years trying to forget.

Memories of when I still believed in love and happily ever after.

I force a smile as I struggle to regain my emotional center.

Braden is right. I need to stay as far away from Lucille as possible.

It’s not just my heart on the line, it’s my sanity.

Ori picks up on the shift in my disposition.

“Ash? Are you okay?”

“Actually, I’m not.”

She clears her throat, the smile falling from her face. “Uh-oh. Did I do something?”

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