“How are you feeling about our surprise now that we’ve all lived through it?” he asked in a low voice.
She smiled, looking radiant in the moonlight that poured through the windshield. “I had the best time zip-lining. Thank you so much for setting it up, Nash. It was such a great surprise and such a treat. Something tells me it won’t be the last time Kevin and I do that course.”
Working to ignore the ache in his chest from the way she’d just said Kevin and I instead of the three of us, Nash told her, “I had a great day with you and Kevin, Ash. A really great day.”
She reached out to touch his hand, although she didn’t let her fingers linger over his, unfortunately. “You’ve been amazing these past few days. Actually, the whole time I’ve known you, you’ve been amazing.” But then she scowled. “If only I could say the same for my ex. I can’t believe he asked Kevin to gather dirt on me. Josh has no business whatsoever poking around my personal life.” She checked to make sure Kevin was still asleep, keeping her voice low as she added, “As soon as he comes back to town, I’m going to lay down some major new ground rules with him.”
Nash had plenty to say about her ex. None of it good. But he knew better than to weigh in. Or to fight her battles for her.
She could handle Kevin’s father just fine on her own. Of that he was certain.
Ashley dropped him off in Rory and Zara’s parking lot so that he could pick up his van and head to his rental cottage.
He wanted to kiss her. Wanted to hold her close. But since he couldn’t do any of those things when Kevin might wake up any second and see them together, he simply said, “Good night, Ash. I’ll see you guys tomorrow morning.”
She reached out and put her hand briefly over his again, squeezing it, filling him with warmth. “Thanks again for the zip-lining adventure. Sleep well, and we’ll see you in the morning.”
Nash had walked into countless empty hotel rooms. But he had never felt as lonely as he did walking into his rental cottage ten minutes later.
Soon, he would head off on a cross-country adventure. But what had once seemed like the perfect escape no longer sounded particularly good anymore. And if he was being totally honest with himself, had it ever really sounded that great?
All his life, remaining alone—even in a crowd—had been the safest way for him to live.
Alone meant he’d never be attached to anyone as full of bitterness and anger as his mom.
Alone meant keeping the risk to his heart as low as possible.
But until he’d met Ashley, he hadn’t realized that alone also meant his chances of finding love—real love—were nonexistent.
For the first time since he’d gotten off tour, Nash found himself reaching for his guitar. He hadn’t been planning to write any songs during this break. On the contrary, he’d been feeling burned out enough to let music go for a while.
But as he started strumming some basic chords, he was surprised when words started coming with the melody.
Words he’d never thought could come from him.
Words of love.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The next morning, Ashley dropped Kevin off with only a wave for Nash. Her supplier meetings at the café were to begin in ten minutes, and she told herself it was for the best that she couldn’t get close enough to Nash to breathe in his delicious scent, or to look into his beautiful eyes.
All night long, she’d dreamed of him. Breathtakingly sexy dreams that only made her want him more. If she’d had the time to get out of her car and say a proper hello, she wasn’t convinced she would have had the self-control to keep from kissing him.
For the next three hours, she did her level best to focus on the next quarter’s orders for the store. As soon as her meetings were concluded, she fired off a text to Josh, inviting him to have lunch at the café on the house. Having a meal with her ex was the last thing she wanted to do, but since she’d heard he was back in town, she didn’t want another day to go by without confronting him about his inexcusable behavior toward their son.
Josh arrived at noon on the button. Considering how unreliable he was with Kevin, it was funny how he managed to be perfectly punctual when it came to a free meal.
He started in on her before she could say a word. “If you’re going to give me hell about not being able to make it on the camping trip with Kevin—”
She held up her hand, cutting him off. “Why don’t we pick up our lunches from the kitchen and take them to the park? Annie has already put our usual orders in to-go boxes.”