Page 3 of Ash

“Baby girl,” I warned, “if you don’t drop this subject, I have many creative ways to shut you up.” A wicked smile curved my mouth. “Although, I promise you’ll enjoy every one of them.”

She gasped. “That’s—that’s—how dare you. You—you—you presumptuous dingus!”

My eyebrows hit my hairline, and a laugh burst from my chest. “You’re adorable, baby girl,” I told her, surprised when she frowned.

Then her back straightened, and she stood before looking down her nose at me. “For your information, Mr.…Mr.…”

“Ash,” I inserted for her.

“Mr.…Ash. No woman wants to be described as ‘adorable,’” she said with a haughty sniff.

“Okay. How about cute?”

“No. Not that either.”

“I see. Going more for something like gorgeous? Sexy? Fuckable? Because you’re all of those, baby girl.”

A deep blush stained her cheeks, and she tried to look stern, but her blue eyes sparked with pleasure.

“Perhaps. But not by a stranger who is too dumb to accept that he should go to the freaking hospital.”

Echo moaned, clearly coming around, and Nora glanced in his direction.

Her partner was already beside him, but she called his name, and he looked up.

“Can you check this guy’s vitals? He seems fine, but I’d like a second opinion. I’ll handle the other one.”

He glanced at Echo, then back at her with confusion, then shrugged. “Sure.”

She faced me and gave me a brittle smile. “I hope you don’t die, Mr.…um, Ash. Have a nice day.” She pivoted just as her partner arrived.

He tried to keep his voice down, but I heard him tease, “Pawning the difficult one off to me, Stoll?”

She paused and leaned in to whisper, “He asked me out.”

“Another one?” her partner asked, his face screwing up in annoyance.

Another one? How many guys have asked her out on the job?I was gonna find them all and beat the shit out of them.

Nora nodded, and I completely ignored her partner, watching her kneel beside Echo as he blinked. She pulled a flashlight from her pocket and shined it in his eyes.

“Shit! Stop shining that thing before I go blind,” he muttered as he sucked in lungfuls of air.

“You fainted, man,” I told him before bursting into laughter.

Nora sighed and shot me a disgruntled frown. “He didn’t faint, you butthead. His brain shut off from a lack of oxygen. There’s a difference.”

“Not when I tell the story,” I choked out through my chortling.

“Sir?” Nora said more quietly. “Can you sit up and open your eyes? I just want to make sure you don’t have a concussion from the fall.”

She checked his pupils, then gave him a soft smile.

I hated it. I wanted all her smiles to be for me.

“Doesn’t look like a concussion,” she decided. “That was a hard hit you took to the chest. How’s your breathing?”

He nodded. “I’m sore, but nothing seems to be obstructing my flow of oxygen.”

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