Page 32 of Mystery in the Mountains

When he turned to look at her, the sincerity in her eyes called to him. He wanted to kiss her, but it almost felt like their first one all over again—he just wasn’t quite ready yet.

She turned and limped to the table.

“Do you have any crutches? I know with your history, there’s got to be some around here.”

“I was thinking about that yesterday,” she said as she sat at the old Formica kitchen table. “They might be in the basement, but I haven’t made it down there yet. This house was in rough shape. You know how my dad was before I left. Add on sitting abandoned for a while.”

Nodding, he swallowed a lump of guilt in his throat.

He did know how bad it had been before she’d left. Somewhere along the lines, madness had set in, and Asher could understand that.

Her father would not accept that they swerved off the road to keep from hitting a deer.

Even if things weren’t quite right between him and Sunny, he would burn the world down if anything happened to her.

“It’s looking better,” he said as he flipped the eggs.

“Yeah,” Sunny said on a sigh as she took it in. “I focused on a few rooms, but the rest of the house is untouched. I haven’t done anything with his office or bedroom . . . or my mom’s parlor.”

He nodded, plated the eggs, and brought them along with a cup of coffee to her. He turned to get his own plate before joining Sunny at the table. “I’ll go look for the crutches after we eat.”

“Ummm . . . Asher. You’re still naked. You might want to go home and get some clothes before you go down there.”

He looked at the quilt wrapped around him. “That’s probably wise. I’m sorry for showing up drunk late last night.”

“Hey,” she said as she set her fork down, then reaching over and putting her hand over his. “I’m just glad you came. I meant everything I said last night.”

“I did, too, Sunny. I’m ready to try and put it behind us.”

That smile as her breath seemed to catch in her throat pulled at his heart. As the anger dissipated, he could feel just how much he had missed her.

Too much time had passed for him to hold this against her forever. She was his mate. No matter what happened, nothing would change that. He had always thought of himself as beyond lucky for having a mate as amazing as Sunny. The look in her eyes told him he still felt that way, even after being abandoned.

He was pulled from that moment by her ringing phone.

“It’s a busy morning,” he said as she unhooked the phone off the wall.

“Hello . . . Hi, Abe . . . Yeah, he’s here. Hold on.” She handed him the phone, careful not to let the coiled cord drag through the yolk on her plate.

“Hello.”

“Hey, man, I was just wondering if you were going to do the delivery today?”

“Oh, damn, I forgot about it.”

“Don’t worry, I can manage this one on my own, but can you pick Ruby up from school?”

“Yeah, not a problem.”

“So . . . you stayed the night with Sunny, huh?”

“Bye.” He passed the phone back to Sunny to hang up.

It was too early to deal with his brother’s gloating.

Dropping the blanket, he got up to clear the plates.

He would be lying if the flush coloring her cheeks didn’t make him smile.

---