Authors: Cindy Stark
Chapter One
Zoe Cassidy glanced down each aisle of Randall’s Western Outfitters as she walked the country store, searching for packing tape. Mr. Randall had an odd way of categorizing items. Power tools hung next to women’s socks, and apparently, adhesives and toilet plungers belonged together. The citizens of Aspen often joked about his system, but Zoe was sure it was Mr. Randall’s way of keeping people in the store longer, hoping they’d buy more stuff.
“Ha,” Zoe muttered when she spied the adhesives and turned her cart in that direction. If the day went according to plan, she’d have everything except her big furniture moved into her new, turn of the century house by evening. Finally, a place she could call home, a luxury she’d never enjoyed until now.
She was halfway down the aisle when Asher Campbell entered from the opposite way, and she screeched to a halt.
Why
?
She asked the same question each time she had the unfortunate experience of running into him. In a town as small as Aspen, she should probably consider herself lucky that she didn’t bump into him more often. But every time she did…
ugh
.
She might have gotten over past hurts and her damned attraction to him if he’d gone bald or gained a gut during the ten years since high school, but he hadn’t. If anything, he looked better. Ripped jeans showcased powerful thighs. Dark hair peeked from beneath a dusty ball cap. His broad shoulders could certainly carry the weight of the world if he wanted.
And those eyes. Those stormy gray eyes that peeked from beneath his lashes when he’d watched her. Probably dreaming up the next awful remark he’d say to her.
Didn’t matter.
He
didn’t matter. She was beyond that era of her life. She’d get her tape and leave. No need to speak a word to the obnoxious man.
The moment she moved faster down the aisle, he glanced up.
She quickly shifted her gaze as though she hadn’t noticed him and focused on her targeted supplies, but out of the corner of her eye, she caught him striding purposefully toward her.
Why couldn’t he leave her alone?
Their carts nearly collided as they both stopped in front of the packing tape. “Afternoon, Zoe. Long time, no see.” Even his voice was sexy with deep resonating sounds that affected her more than she cared to admit. She truly hated him.
With a quick glance in his direction, she acknowledged his presence. She couldn’t find anything nice to say, so she said nothing at all. Instead, she snatched two rolls of tape and dropped them in her cart.
“Are you finally moving out of Olga’s basement?” Asher asked when she didn’t answer. “What a dump. I don’t know how you stood to live there that long.”
She frowned as his insult bored deep into her soul. It wasn’t like she’d
enjoyed
living in a dark hole with a crazy lady as a landlord, but a single girl whose mother had taken off to God-knows-where many years ago couldn’t afford to be too choosy. Emotional words clawed their way up her throat, and this time she opened her mouth.
“Do you always have to be such a jerk?”
He widened his beautiful eyes as though surprised by her remark. “I didn’t mean it like that, Zoe.”
That’s what he always said after insulting her in whatever fashion suited him at the moment. It was like some weird bait and switch routine he used on her. Insult her and then deny it. Not this time.
She tossed her invisible shield between them and curved her lips into a chilled smile. “Have a nice day, Asher.” She turned and walked away.
Dammit
. She’d sworn the last time she’d encountered him that she wouldn’t allow him to push her buttons again. Even so, he’d managed it so easily. Why?
What was it about him that gave him power over her, that allowed him to cut her so easily with careless words?
She shook off her annoyance and focused on the day ahead. She needed to get to her new home and start cleaning. Old Man Jenkins hadn’t left it in the best state, and she had work to do before she could move in. Still, if she put her frustrations into her work, she’d be too busy and too tired to think of anything or anyone else.
First, she had one more stop to make before she headed home.
Home. Her home.
Yes
.
****
“Dammit.” Asher watched the one woman who stirred his blood like no other walk away.
Why
?
Zoe’s loose blond curls swayed as she walked with a grace that contradicted her backwoods, redneck upbringing. Even in their younger years when she’d been all knees and elbows, she’d exuded a natural beauty that he hadn’t been able to ignore.
Unfortunate that she’d turned out to be full of piss and vinegar instead of sugar and spice and everything nice. Not that he could blame her, but…
“I see you’re still charming the ladies,” Seth Moore said as he approached.
“Whatever.” Asher fired a glare at him before he pulled a roll of packing tape from the shelf.
Thank God, he’d finally found somewhere to live. Luckily, he wouldn’t need to pack much. Most of his stuff was still in boxes from months ago when his ex-wife had kicked him out of their home. She’d needed to make room for the new man in her life, and Asher had been in the way.
He still couldn’t quite stomach that.
“You’re the only guy I know who’s managed to piss off a woman just by existing,” Seth said with a chuckle.
“Right?” He turned to his long-time friend and recent business partner. Together, they’d started their own business and had currently built nearly a third of the new houses in town that year. “What the hell is up with that? She’s hated me for years, and what did I ever do to her?”
Seth shrugged as he readjusted his ball cap, giving Asher a glimpse of flattened blond hair. “Women. Who can figure them out?”
He opened his hands in a show of frustration. “Not me. That’s for damn sure.”
His friend tested the weight of the hammer he carried. “Honestly, I’m not sure why you care. If she can’t be nice, who needs her?”
Asher stared at his friend, letting his words drill home. “You’re right. I’ve tried to be friendly. If she can’t do the same, something’s wrong with her.” Even as he said it, he regretted it. He’d known of her struggles through childhood and had admired the strength she’d shown when others had made fun of her because her clothes were outdated or when she was late because her mom had been too wasted to drive her to school. She’d let the teasing roll right off her back and get on with whatever she’d been doing.
He scrubbed the short whiskers on his chin, remembering the many times he’d fought hard to gain enough courage to talk to the elusive, quiet blond beauty, to tell her what he thought of her. But his tongue had always tripped him up and he’d say some stupid shit like he had just now, and she’d leave him standing like a lone fool.
Different variations of the scenarios played through his head, all with the same outcome. Maybe he’d never understand women. That was evidenced by his recent divorce. Really, what the hell did he care about any of them?
“What time do you want me to show up tomorrow?” Seth asked.
Asher had been camping in Milo’s spare room for the past few months, but he’d grown tired of intruding on him, his wife and their new baby. When an old friend of his mom’s mentioned he’d thought of selling his place, Asher had been all over that. Quiet, on the outskirts of town. Perfect to mend a broken heart. “Around nine?”
“You got it, buddy.” Seth lifted his chin in a decisive nod. “By the way, I saw Dana the other day. She wanted me to ask you to back off on making her pay you for your share of the equity in the house.”
Anger scratched at him like a bare tree branch in a windstorm, constant and annoying. “What did you say?”
“I told her it wasn’t my business, and I wouldn’t get involved.”
Asher paused and then nodded. “Thanks, man.” The thought of his ex-wife and their messy divorce was still a potent source of pain for him, and any mention was a cattle prod in an open wound.
He’d aired the dirty trash left over from his marriage to Seth and Milo many times over too many beers. They’d supported him like brothers.
Then he’d realized he could bitch about it all he wanted, but it wouldn’t change anything. What was done was done. Continuing to talk about and dwell on how badly Dana had treated him only served to bleed his pain and prevent his heart from healing.
Seth clapped him on the shoulder. “Hang in there. Having your own place will make it better. You can sit around in your boxers all day and drink beer, and no one will say a word.”
A semblance of a smile hit his lips. “Yeah.” There was that to look forward to.
Click
HERE
to purchase I’M WITH YOU.
Aspen Series:
Wounded
(Prequel)
Relentless
(#1)
Lawless
(#2)
Come Back To Me
(#4)
Surrender
(#5)
Love Me Again (Pinecone Valley)
Whispers (An Argent Springs Novel)
Retribution Novels:
Branded
(#1)
Hunted
(#2)
Witches of Port Townsend:
Cindy Stark lives with her family and a sweet Border Collie in a small town shadowed by the Rocky Mountains. She writes emotional romantic suspense and sexy contemporary romance, and sizzling paranormal romance. She loves to hear from readers!
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