Page 65 of Mystery in the Mountains

She nodded, but the worry was still etched in the wrinkles on her forehead. Attempting to banish them, he kissed her forehead, and to his satisfaction, she did loosen up.

“Let’s get you home. What do you say?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

She locked up, and they made their way to Asher’s truck.

“You didn’t see anything?” she asked again.

The concern in her eyes was starting to ease, but he wished he could make it go away. Though when spooked by a vision, it would take her awhile to settle down.

If this was a vision . . .

Asher pushed away that idea because if he thought too much about someone watching him and Sunny, he would want to track them down.

He reached behind her, opened her car door, then brushed the hair out of her eyes before kissing her forehead. “I didn’t, but let’s get home just in case.”

Offering his hand, he helped her up into the truck and shut the door behind him. As he made his way over to the driver’s side, he kept his eyes on the forest line.

The rumble of the engine ripped through the silence as the headlights shined a light into the woods. He looked again for anything out of place or anyone suspicious . . . but nothing.

“Are you going to stay with me?” she asked quietly.

He turned, and her soft, scared eyes had the protector inside of him roaring to life. “Sunshine, I’ll never leave your side if you don’t want me to.” He brushed the blonde lock of hair from her forehead.

“I’m sure in the morning, I’ll tell you you’re being overprotective and silly, but for now, I’m so glad you were here.”

He leaned against his seatbelt far enough to drop a kiss on her lips before putting the truck into gear and taking Sunny home for the night.

Chapter

Twenty-One

SUNNY

The next morning, Sunny stretched in bed as the sun beams drenched her. She reached for Asher but found an empty spot.

While she had sworn she saw something outside of the bar, it was possible it was a vision. That was her least favorite thing about them—she wasn’t always able to tell whether they were real. While it made her feel crazy, Asher never questioned it or made her feel like she was being dramatic when it ended up being nothing. Whether it was all in her head, the emotions they stirred up were real.

With a stretch, she dragged herself out of bed and made her way to the kitchen. The smell of coffee and bacon was already drifting up the stairs. When she turned the corner, Asher was there, frying bacon in work jeans and a white T-shirt that let her see all his delicious tattoos.

“Hey, Sunshine, how’d you sleep?” he asked without even turning around.

“Good. Are you leaving?”

“I do have to go to get some painting done today, but I don’t want to leave you alone. Do you want to come with me?” He pulled the last strips of bacon off the griddle. “Scrambled?” He tipped his head toward the eggs.

She nodded. “You want me to go to the shop with you?”

“Yeah, Abe and I were just starting out when you left, but since you’ve been gone, we’ve managed to build quite a business. He finished up some rockers we are going to sell at Midsommer Fest. I need to paint them. You could help me?” he said, wagging his eyebrows.

“I would love to come with you,” she said as she walked over to him and slipped her arms around his waist. “Although I don’t know how much help I’ll be.”

“You can paint . . . Even if you can’t, I’ll be able to focus better with you there. I may not have seen anything last night, but something is off. I can feel it.”

Sunny snatched a piece of bacon from the plate as she went and poured herself a cup of coffee.

Relief of being believed took a little of the edge off. So many times, she would raise alarms, only to be told she was being dramatic. Eventually, she learned to stop and keep it to herself, but this felt different. This was more nefarious, and she wasn’t sure what to do about it.

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