Page 44 of Ash

With a shake of her head, she tried to shut the door on that memory.

There were so many things that she wanted to put behind her.

That was definitely one.

"Ash?"

She heard a soft, aching groan from him and then he moved his hands, gently tucking her hair behind her ears.

"I know one thing that's going to be there when I wake up in the morning."

His brows raised at that. "Hmm? What is that?"

She lifted her hands and touched his face the way he'd touched hers. His beard under her hands was surprisingly soft and she moved her palms over it as she met his gaze with her own. She smiled as she realized that he was almost petting the sides of his face as she looked deep into his eyes.

"How thankful I am for the time you spent with me today. There have been years and years in my life where I was achingly alone." She blinked back tears and realized how tired she was. "Today, I met a man who looks at me and sees someone beautiful. A man who gave me his time and attention, helping me before I even had to ask." She rose up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "If nothing else happens between us, I want you to know how amazing this day has been."

Before either of them moved, he put his hands on her waist and smiled down at her. "Today was only the beginning for us, Suzannah."

She closed her eyes gently and enjoyed the feeling of his hands on her.

It was an intimate sensation for her even though she was fully clothed.

There was just something about the way that Ash touched her that made her feel precious and protected.

"I hope," his voice rumbled in the air between them, which wasn't much at all, "that you hear what I'm saying. As you get to know people in town, they'll tell you that I'm a man of few words, but what I say, I mean."

She nodded and rose up on the balls of her feet, bring her lips within a breath of his.

He looked down into her face and even with the soft cast of twilight around them, he smiled.

That smile did things to her in her heart and other places that she wouldn't dare talk about.

"It... It's time for me to go."

She heard his words and felt like clinging onto his shirt to keep him there, but she had no energy left, even to talk to him for a few minutes.

She would be lucky if she had enough energy to get herself inside before she fell asleep.

"Would it be too much... for me to ask for a kiss?"

A kiss?

Suzannah heard the warm tones of voice in her head and could now recognize it as the sound of Ash's bear.

What are you waiting for, human?

Ash groaned and she recognized the sound as frustration.

She was experiencing the sensation herself.

He leaned in closer and Suzannah tilted her chin up, hoping for her first real kiss.

So help me, human. Ash's bear grumbled in her mind. If you don't kiss her soon, I'm going to come out and do it my-

Suzannah would never know if his bear finished the word.

She certainly couldn't hear it over the rush of blood pounding through her veins the very moment that Ash Thomas kissed her.

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