Awakened (Steel Brothers Saga 16)

I walk into the house. “Hello? Dee? Anyone?”

Talon and Brianna are in the orchard today. I remember that from breakfast. I don’t even have a clue what time it is. I pull out my phone. Damn. Eleven. We were gone that long? How long were we…?

I sigh. Doesn’t matter. I wanted Dale, and I got him. Now I have to pay the price.

I have to leave.

Darla bustles out of the kitchen. “Miss Ashley, you’re back already? We all thought Mr. Dale would keep you busy all day.”

He kept me busy all right.

“I guess we’re done. Is Diana around?”

“She’s in her room, packing.”

“Thanks.”

I head to Dee’s room and knock on the door. “It’s me.”

“Come on in, Ash.”

I enter. Diana is folding clothes into a large suitcase.

I sit down on the edge of her bed. “Hey.”

“Darla said you were working with Dale today.”

“We’re done. I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Your brother is…”

She waits a few seconds. “Yeah?”

I sigh. “I’ve never met anyone like him.”

“He’s one in a million. Both my brothers are.”

She doesn’t have a clue what I’m saying. “I’m sure.”

“I know he’s hard to take at first, but you’ll learn a ton from him.”

I already have learned quite a bit, but my lessons are over. “I’m afraid I won’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not staying, Dee.”

She stops folding a blouse. “What the hell are you talking about? We went through all this last night. Of course you’re staying. My internship doesn’t mean the end of yours.”

“It doesn’t. I just can’t stay for other reasons.”

“What other reasons?”

I made a deal with your brother, the devil.

Nope. Can’t say that.

“Personal reasons.”

“Hey.” She reaches out and touches my forearm. “You can tell me anything.”

“We haven’t known each other that long.”

Her mouth drops into a slight frown. “I suppose you’re right. But Ash, I invited you to my home. To stay with my family.”

She’s right. I should tell her. Except I can’t. Dale is her brother. She adores him.

Bigger problem?

I adore him. He’s a jerk eighty percent of the time. But that other twenty percent? He’s amazing. Thought-provoking. Brilliant. And he eats pussy like a champ.

Leaving him will kill me. Never mind that I met the man a mere twenty-four hours ago. He’s touched something inside me that I didn’t even know existed.

“You haven’t even begun,” Diana says. “Give this a chance. A week. If it’s too much to handle after a week, leave then.”

“I can’t.”

Finally, she sighs. “What did he do?”

“Who?”

“You know very well who. My brother.”

“He didn’t do anything.” Except make me feel like I entered paradise.

“I’m not an idiot, Ash. I know my brother. I know he’s a little…harsh sometimes.”

Harsh? Try asshole extraordinaire. Then try world’s best pussy eater.

So not going there.

“He’s fine.” No lie there. Fine is an understatement, but not what I actually mean to convey to Diana.

She lets out a long breath. “Tell me what to do. How can I get you to stay?”

I glide my fingers over the hard shell of Diana’s suitcase. “You can’t get me to stay. Only one person can, and he has to ask me.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Dale

I’m getting into my truck to head into town for those groceries when Hurricane Diana storms toward me.

Already I know I’m in for it. Bree is kind of a hurricane all the time, but when Diana gets going, something’s really bugging her.

And I have a sneaking suspicion what it is.

Ashley told her.

She fucking told her. I’m not sure who I’m angrier with—Ashley or myself.

I crossed a line this morning—a line I had no right to cross.

“We need to talk,” my sister says, hands firmly on hips.

“Actually, we don’t. I’m heading into town for groceries. I don’t have anything in my house for lunch.”

“Fine.” She steps into the passenger side of the truck. “I’ll go with you. We can talk on the way.”

I’m not getting out of this, clearly. I hop into the driver’s side and start the engine. I don’t speak.

If I know Diana, she won’t be able to take my silence for long. She’ll start yammering. I glance at the clock on the dash. Eleven forty-five.

“What the hell did you do to Ashley?”

Still eleven forty-five. “Less than a minute. A record even for you, Sis.”

“Don’t start, Dale. I get that you’re not a people person. We all accept you for who you are. That doesn’t give you the right to treat others like shit.”

Hmm. Maybe Ashley didn’t spill the beans after all. I’m impressed. Why did I expect her to tattle to my little sister about me?

Why do I always expect the worst out of new people?

“Exactly what did she tell you?” I ask.

“Nothing. She told me a big fat load of nothing. Except that she’s leaving.”

Leaving? After our incredible morning? It won’t happen again, of course, but—

“Oh.” The words she spoke before we… She said she’d give up the internship if I…

“Oh? That’s all you have to say? Oh?”