Page 19 of Defender

Ashton Fitzgerald may be too shy to ask her out, but he cared enough about her and Chloe to stay out in his vehicle and make sure they were safe.

Summer opened the front door.She’d been an idiot enough tonight.Now was her chance to rectify that.

Her eyes met his as she crossed from the side to around the front of his truck.His didn’t widen, his expression didn’t change.He just watched her as she came around to stand next to the driver’s side door.

They stared at each other through the glass for a moment.There was more than just protectiveness in his eyes.The warmth she’d felt at his concern now grew hotter.A heat pooled inside her.

She opened the door to his truck.“Hi.”

“I just wanted to make sure you and Chloe were safe.”

She nodded.“It means a lot to me that you would do that.But come inside.It’s silly for you to be out here.”

He studied her for a moment and she thought he might refuse.But then he straightened the seat and got out, groaning a little as he did so.

Summer stepped closer.“Are you hurt?Did something happen when you were chasing that guy in the woods and you didn’t tell me?

“No.”Ashton closed the door behind him.“There was an accident while I was...working today.”

She noticed the slight pause but didn’t press it.“What sort of accident?”

They walked back to her house.

“Electrical.”

She opened the door and they went inside.“Great.I’ll bet the last thing you wanted to do was come here and deal with more power-company-related problems.”

“I never mind coming over here to help with anything.Truly.”

Now that she had him back in her house, she wasn’t sure exactly what to do with him.When she gestured toward the couch, he eased himself onto it as if standing was too much of an effort.

“Let me get you a pillow and blanket.”

He bobbed his head.“Thanks for coming out there to get me.”

She smiled, wishing she had the guts to lead him into her bedroom.

When she came back out with the bedding items, Ashton had slipped off his shoes and was lying all the way across the sofa.He was too big for it—one leg hung off the arm of the couch and the other was bent with his foot on the ground.He’d thrown one arm up over his face which had caused his T-shirt to slide up, exposing a brief measure of sexy abs and some sort of bandage.

“Ashton, how hurt are you?”

He slid his arm down slightly so she could see his eyes.

“I have a couple of electrical burns, one on my side, one on my shoulder.And I generally feel like somebody decided to use me as a punching bag.”

He sat back up as she crossed the room.

“You shouldn’t have gone off sprinting after my Peeping Tom.”

“Catching someone in the process of committing a crime like this is almost always easier than trying to determine the culprit from any evidence they leave at the scene.”

She sat down next to him.She couldn’t help it.He was conversing—even if the subject matter was a little strange—not stuttering and looking away from her like he normally did.On the contrary, he was looking at her the way a man looks at a woman he’s interested in.

God, how she’d missed this feeling.

She scooted just a little closer.“Oh yeah, do a lot of crime fighting on the side, do you?”

His brows pulled together quickly.“Um.Ha.Ha.Well, actually I—”

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