Page 92 of Outside The Wire

“Actually, I was thinking I would be too distracted by the smell of you on me all day, and I might end up getting killed by dropping a car on myself.”

She wrinkled her nose at that. “Then yeah, you should probably take a shower.”

“Probably.”

I kissed her again and reluctantly pulled out of her. She was quickly becoming my favorite spot to be, and if I wasn’t careful, I might never leave her bed again. But I got dressed and headed out to my truck for another day of work. And when I powered on my phone, there were only three missed calls from Chase.

Sighing, I tossed my phone on the seat. It didn’t matter what he wanted to talk about. I couldn’t go back there. Not for anything. Our time together was over, and after what happened last time, I knew talking to him wasn’t a good thing. I had to cut all ties.

“No, I want it delivered tonight,”I repeated, getting frustrated with the guy on the other line. I paid extra for the rush delivery and now he was busting my balls, trying to squeeze extra money out of me.

“Look, I wish we could get it to you sooner, but?—”

“But nothing. I paid for this to be delivered by tonight. I don’t care what you have to do. Get it on the truck and have it delivered by seven o’clock tonight or you can refund my money.”

“Sir, that’s not?—”

“That’s exactly how this works,” I snapped. “Or do I need to talk to your boss and tell him about the scam you’re running?”

Silence greeted me, but I could have sworn I heard him swallow hard on the other end of the line. “I’ll make sure it’s delivered tonight.”

“Thank you.”

I hung up and pocketed my phone, irritated that I had to take so much fucking time out of my day to deal with that shit.

“Got problems?” Wyatt asked, strolling into the break room and grabbing another mug of coffee.

“Just dealing with a delivery issue.”

“For here?”

I shook my head, shoving back my chair to grab another cup for myself. It was too early to deal with this shit, and much too late at the same time. I glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed. It was already pushing three o’clock and we still had a lot of work to do.

“For Holly.”

His comical grin only made me smile in return. There was a time that I would have punched someone for giving me a hard time about being this obsessed over a woman. But that was the old me. The new me didn’t give a shit what anyone else thought.

“So, you’re already delivering shit to her place. Things must be getting intense. Meeting the parents, now deliveries…It’s like you’re already living together.”

“We would be if I had anything to say about it,” I answered, leaning against the counter.

He choked on his coffee, nearly spitting it on the floor. “I’m sorry, what?”

“It’s not that hard to believe, is it?” I asked, taking a sip of my coffee.

“No, but…Asher, aren’t you moving things a little fast? I mean, you met this woman in February, and now it’s March.”

“Your point?”

His eyes slid to my left hand, but my ring hadn’t been on my finger since I started dating Holly. “Look, I’ve never asked, and I’m not asking now?—”

“Yes, I was married.”

He nodded, but didn’t push.

“She died.”

“I figured. That’s why I’m questioning how fast you’re moving.”

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