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When Asher showed up to Travis’s place at just after eight, worn out and in desperate need of some company as a distraction, the driveway was full of cars.
Surprised, he got out of his Mustang and headed up the walkway to the front door. Given everything that had gone down today, he’d assumed things would be really quiet around here, since Whit and Jaia were both staying here too.
Whit was quieter than him. More introverted. The kind of guy who would want some privacy and downtime after all he’d been through. Whereas Asher craved having people around him.
He needed conversation. Movement. Action. Life. Because it was the only way to stop him from getting all up in his head about shit.
He ignored his phone when it buzzed in his pocket. Word must already have circulated back to some of the guys at the fire hall, because he’d been getting calls and texts all afternoon that he hadn’t yet answered. They were good guys, but none of them could ever understand what it had been like out there today. Right now, he only wanted to be around his PJ brothers.
He knocked on the front door once and turned the handle. Unlocked. He could hear voices coming from the back of the house. “It’s me,” he called out, quietly in case Whit and Jaia were upstairs trying to sleep.
“Hey, Groz. Back here,” Whit answered, sounding tired.
Leaving his boots inside the door, he carried the case of beer through the living room. Whit was in the kitchen, his hair damp as if he’d just showered. Going by the amount of clutter and dishes on the counters behind him, Travis and Kerrigan had a full house. “Hey, man. How you doing?” He looked beat.
“Okay. You?”
“Outstanding.” He glanced toward the open door to the back porch.
“You hear about Doug Lawrence?”
The CEO of the company that had formerly been known as Graystone. “No, what happened?”
“The Coast Guard picked him up just off the eastern coast of Florida. He was trying to do a runner by boat.”
“Asshole,” he snarled.
Whit nodded. “At least now the truth will come out. Lawrence and Giesbrecht will both spill their guts to try and save themselves with a plea bargain.”
Asher would have preferred that they both die, but this way at least Whit and Jaia should get some answers and a sense of closure.
Someone laughed from out on the back porch. He nodded toward the open door. “You guys got a party going on, or what?”
Whit cracked a grin, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “A few people stopping by to check on us.”
“Where’s Jaia?”
“Upstairs showering.” He nodded toward the open door. “Go on out and hang for a while, I’m heading up for the night.”
To be with Jaia. Asher didn’t blame him one bit. From what he’d seen today, Whit and Jaia were definitely together—at least for now. And good for them. They deserved whatever time they could squeeze in together.
“Okay, man. Talk to you later.” He stepped outside. Kerrigan was curled up in Travis’s lap.
She popped up, limping over to hug him. “Asher. Good to see you.”
He wrapped an arm around her, glad for the hug. He was worn out, and sure as hell hadn’t expected to wind up in a firefight against armed killers when he’d woken up this morning. “Hey, Miss Kerrigan.”
“You finished with the Feds?” Travis asked.
“Wrapped everything up about twenty minutes ago.” That kind of shit was exhausting, way more so than everything else he’d gone through today. “Only stopped to pick this up on my way through town,” he held up the beer, “and headed straight over.”
He let his gaze continue down the length of the porch. Sheriff Buchanan and Major Hadleigh were here as well, both in uniform. Asher nodded at them and addressed his CO with a nod. “Sir.”
“Groz. Good to see you.”
“You too, sir.” But his gaze cut straight past his commanding officer to the end of the porch, where Kerrigan’s friend Mia was stretched out on a chaise with a blanket tucked around her.
She gave him a polite, brief smile of acknowledgement before dismissing him and resuming her conversation with Buchanan and Hadleigh.
With effort he pulled his attention back to Travis. “Callum and your dad didn’t stop by?” His soon-to-be roomie was awesome, and Boyd was now one of Asher’s favorite people. Still recovering from a bullet wound, he’d saved their asses out there initially with those slick maneuvers on the water, even with a piece of shit engine. Super stud. “That man’s a legend, by the way.”
Travis snorted. “Cal just left a few minutes ago. As for my dad, he’s holed up tight back at his place now, probably won’t leave his property for the next month.”
“He’s probably still trying to smooth things over with Ember after she found out the kind of danger he put himself in again,” Kerrigan said, giving him an arch look as she sipped at her wine.
Groz winced. “Ooh, yeah. Glad it’s him and not me.” He mock-shuddered and offered Travis a beer.
Hadleigh got up and walked up to them. “Gotta head back to Portland now. Call me if you guys need anything, but if not, I’ll see you next weekend. Except maybe Whit, depending on whether he’s up to it.” He clapped Asher’s shoulder on the way by.
The next drill weekend at base. He could just imagine the other guys crowding around to hear what had happened today. “Looking forward to it, sir.”
Mia was now sitting all on her own at the end of the verandah, and the seat next to her was empty. He didn’t want her to get lonely.
He strolled down the length of the covered porch and lowered himself into the empty seat next to her with a smile. “Hi again.”
“Hi.” Her expression was guarded. She shook her head when he offered her a beer.
He cracked one open, took a long pull, and sighed as the cold beer slid down his throat, leaning back in the chair with a groan. “Man, what a day.” Crazy shit, and it was a hundred times as nuts because it had happened here at home, not overseas. They were all lucky to be alive, much less wandering around without any holes in their hides.
“Yeah, I heard.” Mia shifted to face him, her pretty golden-brown eyes twice as vivid because of the thick, dark lashes outlining them. She had the most fascinating features. Her build was slender, yet she oozed confidence and a steely inner strength. “You guys really like to live on the edge, huh.”
One side of his mouth lifted at her deadpan delivery. “We do, but this was pretty out of the ordinary, and totally unexpected.” That chase across the water and ensuing shootout in the dunes and woods had been totally insane. At least he’d disabled one of the assholes permanently. Fucker. “How was your day?”
Her lips quirked. “Much less exciting than that, thankfully.”
That quick smile was like a flash of sunlight through the darkness. Drawing him in. “Good, but what happened. Tell me about it.”
She raised a dark eyebrow in surprise. “Why?”
“Because I’m interested.” And not merely in the usual ways either. He wanted to know more about her as a person.
She huffed out a soft laugh and broke eye contact. “Got up. Showered. Did laundry. Had coffee. Went to work. Saw nine patients. Got Child Protective Services involved in one case. Got a call from Kerrigan about what was going on, then cancelled my afternoon and raced down here.”
“You’re a good friend.”
Her gaze slid back to his. “Kerrigan’s my girl. She loves Travis, and Brandon’s her brother, so if any of them need me, I’m there. And I’ll also kick the ass of anyone who hurts them.”
Outstanding. That fierce show of loyalty made her even hotter. He smiled, more captivated by the minute. “What do you like to do for fun?”
“I’m a climber.”
“Really.” He gave her an impressed look. “Indoor?”
“I prefer outdoor, but I train at an indoor climbing gym. What about you?”
He shrugged. “I climb sometimes with my unit, or on a mission.”
“No, I meant, what do you do for fun?”
If she were any another woman, he would have made some smartass comment loaded with innuendo, and probably received a blush and a giggle in response. Something stopped him. Maybe because what he’d been doing for fun all these years had stopped being fun a long time ago. And the sudden rush of embarrassment that slid through him took him completely off guard.
“All kinds of things,” he answered instead, trying to get out of his head. It must have something to do with what happened today. He wasn’t a navel-gazing kind of guy, and he hadn’t enjoyed that little glimpse into himself. At all. “But I could go for some climbing gym action if you want to go together sometime.”
Her expression shifted. Shut down. She stood and he did too, wondering what he’d said wrong. She was tall. Her high heels put them nearly at eye level, something he didn’t experience often with a woman. And there was something else even more surprising.
She stared right at him, her gaze direct. Containing not a hint of shyness or flirtatiousness that he usually experienced when he flirted with someone.
No, Mia’s gaze was unflinching. And almost...knowing. Like she thought she’d already figured out what made him tick and knew all his guilty secrets. Giving him the unsettling feeling that she saw straight through his bullshit to the parts he hid from himself as much as he did the rest of the world.
Unnerving as it was, the palpable sense of confidence she exuded as she stared at him was sexy as fuck.
“Look, Groz.” She leaned a little closer, making him breathe in a little deeper as her scent teased him. “I know what you did today, so I’m sure you’re a really good guy,” she murmured, dragging his attention to her shiny pink lips as she spoke. “Therefore, I feel it’s only fair that I tell you right up front—I’m just not interested.”
With that parting shot, she sauntered past him. Damn, he was obviously way off his game.
Mia had a sharp tongue, and an even sharper mind. In the few minutes he’d spent with her, it was clear she didn’t take any BS. He liked that. Liked her loyalty to Kerrigan and Travis, and that she wasn’t afraid to say exactly what was on her mind.
He also couldn’t remember the last time a woman had turned him down—or snared his attention so completely.
Mia walked into the house. Asher finally moved to the other end of the porch to be with the others.
“Asher, what did you say to her?” Kerrigan admonished.
He blinked at her. “Nothing. I asked her if she wanted to go climbing sometime.” He glanced through the kitchen window. Mia was talking to Noah beside the island.
“Oh, God, I can’t believe you asked her out.”
He looked back at Kerrigan. “What’s wrong with that?”
She shook her head, amusement glimmering in her blue eyes. “She turned you down, right?”
“Yeah.” He was definitely losing his touch.
“That’s a good thing, because honestly, I’m not sure which of you I would worry about more. Trust me, Mia’s not your type.”
“I wasn’t aware that I had a type.”
Her look was knowing. “Well, Mia does, and believe me, you’re not it. Sorry,” she added quickly when he blinked at her bluntness. “You’re awesome, but she’s...looking for something you can’t give her.”
“What couldn’t I give her?” he asked, unsure whether to be insulted or not.
Kerrigan snickered. “Asher. She’s not even the least bit interested in playing around. Probably a blessing, because she’d chew you up and spit you out.”
His eyebrows went up and a shocked laugh burst from him. Spit him out? He slung an arm around her shoulders and hugged her into his side. “It’s sweet of you to worry about me, but I can handle myself.”
“I realize that, but I also know you like playing with fire—”
“It’s literally my job.”
She smirked. “Uh huh. Just remember what I said.” She pulled free with a telling look and walked through into the kitchen.
He stood alone on the porch, watching Mia through the window while he finished his beer. As if sensing his stare, she glanced over. Their gazes met for a long, charged moment, then she turned her back and walked away.
But not before he felt the sharp, electric current that arced between them through the glass.
He watched her go, more intrigued than ever, especially after Kerrigan’s warning. He hoped he would be seeing sexy Mia again very soon. Because he suddenly wanted to get to know her a lot better.
