Page 37 of Hidden
It beeped again and, after glancing at his watch, he had an idea what it might be. “Ellie? Honey?”
“Hmm,” she said, tightening her grip on his hand.
“What time is Harry supposed to be here?”
“Hmm? What?” she mumbled.
“Harry. What time is he supposed to be here?”
Her body stiffened against him. “Um, half past eight,” she said, her voice clear as she grasped the situation.
“It’s eight twenty-five. I think he just came through the gate.”
She didn’t bolt out of his arms as he thought she might. But she did let out a very dissatisfied groan that made him smile.
“Ugh,” she said, sounding very put-upon. “I was so comfortable.You’reso comfortable,” she grumbled.
He chuckled then dropped a kiss on her neck before letting go of her hand and rolling away. “I appreciate that and feel the same. But unless you want to send Harry into new heights of ecstasy by finding you in my bed—as innocent as it was—you may want to hustle that fine ass of yours into your own room.”
She grumbled something indecipherable then threw the blankets off. “I’ll just hop in the shower. Would you mind greeting him? Ricardo will be with him and will need to know what we want for breakfast.”
“Happy to,” he said, rummaging in his bag for a sweatshirt.
“Asher?” He looked up to find her standing in the door, one hand on the frame and looking over her shoulder at him.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you. Again. I don’t know what triggered me last night, but that was the first time it’s started then stopped. I wish this wasn’t a part of…our relationship. But it is. For now. And just, well, thank you.”
He dropped the shirt he held in his hand and started to walk toward her. But he stopped when he heard the door open and Harry call out. Instead of taking her in his arms as he wanted, he offered a rueful smile. “No thanks are necessary. I assure you.”
Her eyes searched his, then she nodded and slipped from his room. His gaze lingered on the empty door before Harry’s voice brought him back to the task at hand.
“Hellllloooo? Anybody here?”
“Of course they’re here, babe,” Ricardo said. “You parked next to Ellie’s car.”
“I know that,” Harry replied on a huff as Asher tugged his sweatshirt on. “I just want to give them a heads-up that we’re here. You know…in case we’re interrupting something.”
“You’re not interrupting anything,” Asher said, walking into the kitchen where the two men stood.
“Am I allowed to say that I’m disappointed?” Harry asked as Asher walked toward the coffee maker.
“Let me get that,” Ricardo said, shooing Asher out of the kitchen and around to the other side of the island. “Let me guess, you prefer black coffee?”
“Where’s Ellie?” Harry interrupted.
“In the shower,” Asher answered Harry first then turned to Ricardo. “I’m the least picky coffee drinker you will ever encounter. Especially if I’m not making it. So any way you want to give it to me is fine.”
“Don’t say a word,” Ricardo barked as he spun and faced his husband. Harry froze with his mouth open and a mischievous shine in his eye.
Asher sighed. “I feel like I’m sitting here with Cody and Tia.” In truth, all his cousins and his brother would have been happy to rib him about his unintentional double entendre. Cody was just usually the fastest. And the most puerile.
His comment had Harry beaming. “Are you saying I can be an honorary Warwick?”
“Oh, now you’ve done it,” Ricardo muttered, turning back to the coffee machine. Asher eyed Harry. With his dark blond hair, pale blue eyes, and petite frame, he was about as far from a Warwick as a person could get. But looks weren’t everything.
Asher shrugged and threw a wink at Ricardo, who sighed in preemptive dread of whatever Asher intended to say. “Come up and visit sometime. If you can hold your own, you’re in.”
