Page 15 of Stunner (Whiskey Dolls 3)

“Mom, stop it,” Asher hissed, elbowing her mother out of the way, literally. Looking frazzled, she wiped the back of her hand at the thin beading of sweat at the base of her hairline, smudgingsomething that looked a lot like soot across her forehead. “Owen, hey. Hello.”

Christ, she was cute when she was flustered. “Hey,” I replied, one corner of my mouth curving up slightly in a smirk as I let my eyes travel down the front of her. From her smooth, dewy skin and tamed hair, it was obvious she’d showered the day before off her, but she was still dressed in the tee and shorts I’d loaned her, meaning she’d put thembackon once she’d cleaned up. For reasons solely male and possessive as hell, I really fucking liked that. “Nice duds.”

Her eyes shot down to take in the clothes she was wearing, and she quickly crossed her arms over her ample chest, like that would do her any good. “Uh, what—” She stopped to clear her throat as she fidgeted from foot to foot. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to help you move your shit out of here.” I looked from her to the house, my brow furrowing. “Didn’t expect to see so many first responders when I pulled up.”

“I really appreciate that, but we don’t—”

Her friend Sloane shouldered her out of the way, extending her hand for me to shake. I’d met the woman a few times when Jackson and Asher had hosted a backyard barbecue or game night, and she’d always struck me as a firecracker. “Isn’t that sweet of you, coming to help move our girl. We’ll for sure take your help, just as soon as we deal with this little... um, hiccup.”

I arched a single brow, trying my hardest not to show the amusement I was feeling just then. “Hiccup? I heard something about a fireball and scorched eyebrows.” My gaze danced between the three women. “Someone want to tell me what’s going on?”

“It was a cleansing ceremony,” Gloria noted.

At my bewildered expression, Asher let out a heavy sigh and threw her arms up in the air. “We took my wedding dress outin the backyard and set it on fire.” She cast an accusatory look at the other women standing near her. “And it would have been fine if these two had listened to me when I said the material was already extremely flammable and wedidn’tneed five gallons of gasoline.”

Gloria shrugged like she didn’t have a care in the world. “It’s what the ceremony called for. I don’t make the rules.”

A single thought worked through my head just then:What the hell have I gotten myself into?

Asher

“What about this? Yours or his?”

At Sloane’s question, I turned from my task of packing up the kitchen—which, subsequently wasallmine since Jackson didn’t know shit about cooking and couldn’t be bothered—to see she was holding up a gaudy bookend. It was a ceramic eyesore in the shape of a pair of breasts, complete with erect nipples, and Ihatedit.

“His,” I answered with a disgusted curl of my lips. “Do you really think I’d own something that ugly?”

With an evil smile, she spread her hands wide and let the “piece of art”, as Jackson had called it, fall through her fingers onto the floor. “Oops. It slipped.”

We’d only been packing for an hour, and already I’d lost count of the number of Jackson’s things that had met a gruesome end thanks to my friend’s butter fingers.

A deep, warm chuckle pulled my attention to Owen who had been by my side since the police and fire departments let us backinto the house—with orders to stay away from all open flames, of course—and left.

“Sorry,” I mumbled as I wrapped my another piece of the pretty teal dish ware I’d gotten for a steal at a yard sale in a sheet of bubble wrap before tucking it into one of the many boxes Owen had provided, along with tape and said bubble wrap and anything else a person could possibly need in order to move. “I’d say she’s not always like this, but that would be a lie.”

“Nothing to apologize for. She’s just looking out for her friend.”

The wrap in my hand crinkled loudly, several of the bubbles popping when I balled my fist and propped it on my hip. “Yeah. About that, why are you helping me right now when Jackson’s the one you’re friends with?”

“My friendship with Jackson is... complicated,” he said as he went back to packing the wooden utensils with intense determination, giving the impression he was doing it to avoid eye contact.

“You mean because you guys grew up together?”

“Yeah. Something like that.”

“Something like that?” I asked, my lips quirking up in a teasing grin as I waited for more. That smirk fell when it became obvious that was all I’d be getting out of him. “That’s all you have to say?”

“Didn’t realize more was required,” he said plainly as he boxed up my toaster and pointed at the espresso machine. “What about this? Staying or going?”

I let out a pained sigh as I looked longingly at the piece of machinery. “Staying, unfortunately.”

“Why do you look like someone just held you down and made you watch as they kicked an entire litter of puppies?”

“Because it kind of feels that way,” I answered as I rubbed my chest right over my heart. “That’s Jackson’s, but I love it like it’s my very own.”

He let out a sound between a huff and a snort before unplugging it from the wall and placing it in a box all of its own, surrounded with bubble paper to keep my Precious safe. “Jackson gives you any shit, let me know. I’ll take the blame, tell him I broke it or something while helping you pack.”

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