Chapter 19

They worked on the patio for several hours when Dean suddenly said, “Are you going to feed me?”

Asher laughed. “Are we dating now?”

“Hell no. You couldn’t get all of this if you tried. I’m starving man.”

“You’ll have to call for take-out. I don’t have any food.”

“The only place in town that delivers is the Bar and Grill.”

“I know. It’s not like Mia will deliver it herself, right?” Dean shrugged, but he got down off the ladder he was on and called to order the food. He stepped inside and yelled out to ask Asher what he wanted. He told him and when he finished what he was doing, he went inside to wash up.

He was just coming out of the bathroom when the doorbell rang. He opened it, expecting food. He really didn’t expect Mia. She was standing on the doorstep with two bags of food in hand. “Hey. Why are you delivering food?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you disappointed to see me?”

He felt his skin flush. He stared at her intently. “Never,” he said, “Come in.”

When Mia walked in, Asher couldn’t help but notice the exchange of looks between her and Dean. She held a bag out to Dean, he grinned and took it. Looking at Asher he said, “Call me tomorrow and we’ll get some more work done.” Before he could leave the doorbell rang again. Asher looked at Dean and asked, “Anything else you ordered?”

Dean grinned. He knew he was caught. “Nope, just some sandwiches and Mia.”

Asher rolled his eyes and shook his head. He pulled open the door and three men stood on his doorstep. He heard Mia’s sharp intake of breath behind him and he heard Dean put down his food. “Can I help you?”

The guy standing in front who seemed to be in charge, stuck out his hand and said, “James Proctor. Are you Asher?”

Asher looked at his hand and back up at his face. “What can I do for you?” he asked. He saw the flicker of annoyance in James’s eyes, but he recovered quickly.

“My father would like to meet you,” James said.

“I met him at my father’s funeral.”

“He wants to meet with you. He wants to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“Can we come in?”

“I don’t think so,” Asher said.

James looked around him and his eyes fell on Mia. He smiled broadly. “Well, hello there beautiful.”

Asher took a step forward, crowding him out of the doorway. “You’ve got about two seconds to tell me what it is that you want.”

“I told you, my father wants to meet with you. When you leave town.”

“I’m not leaving town.”

“Surely you don’t plan on trying to run your father’s business? I think maybe it’s a little beyond your scope.”

“Really. You have no fucking idea what my ‘scope’ is. As a matter of fact, if I were you, I would pray you never find out.”

James smiled. “That goes both ways. If I were you, I’d sell this shit your parents have been hanging onto for so many years and go back to wherever you came from.”

“Thanks for the advice, but I don’t normally take advice from piss ants.”

That pushed a button. James stepped even closer so that he and Asher were face to face. “You don’t know who you’re fucking with, Fury.”

“Neither do you,” Asher growled, “Don’t come back here. Leave me and my friends alone.”

James smiled again. “This is my town Fury…” before he could get another word out, Asher grabbed him by the throat and shoved him up against the front door in one fluid motion.

“Listen carefully piss ant. This is your one and only warning. Do not fuck with me or mine again. If you do, I will show you my full ‘scope,’ and it may be the last fucking thing you ever see.”

He let go of him and James was gasping for breath. Asher left him and his goons standing there and closed the front door their faces. When he turned around, Dean looked pissed and Mia looked frightened. He hoped that it wasn’t his behaviour that scared her. “They will be back,” Dean said.

Asher’s eyes were on Mia as he said, “If they’re that stupid, then they deserve what they’ll get if they do. Let’s eat.” Dean picked up his bag and said, “I’m going to take mine to go. Thanks, Mia. I’ll see you tomorrow, Bro.”

Asher watched him go, shaking his head again. When he was gone, he looked at Mia and asked, “What did he tell you?”

“Just that you and I really needed to talk.”

Asher walked over and sat down at the dining room table. He took a deep breath and said, “It’s about your son. Is he mine?”

“Yes.” Mia whispered sitting at the table and watched as Asher paced the room. For at least fifteen minutes he paced back and forth without saying a word. She didn’t say anything either. She was waiting for his next question. When it finally came she felt a rush of anger.

“When were you going to tell me?”

She stood up and couldn’t hide the sarcasm in her voice as she said, “Oh, I don’t fucking know, maybe the next time you decided to come home. It’s been 17 years Asher!”

He rubbed a hand through his hair and over his face. She could see that he was trying to calm himself down. She was pissed. He had no right to act so accusingly with her. He was the one who had left. When he finally spoke this time, it was with a softer tone. “I understand why you would be angry. I also know that for seventeen years I gave you no choice. You had no idea how to find me. It’s just such a shock, to have a nearly grown son that I didn’t even know existed. Jesus. Does he know who I am?”

“Yes, he knows you’re his father. He and your dad were close. Greg was a good grandfather to him.”

Somehow that seemed to make Asher feel better. Mia wondered if it was knowing Greg hadn’t been alone at the end. “He’s angry,” Asher said. It was a statement, not a question.

“How do you know?”

“I saw him today at the hardware store. I could see it in his eyes.” His tone softened and he smiled as he said, “Your eyes. He has your eyes.”

“He doesn’t understand, Asher. I’ve never been able to give him an explanation as to why you left.”

“He knows I never knew about him though, right? He knows I didn’t abandon him?”

Mia felt that surge of anger again. “Yeah, he knows that it was only his mother you abandoned.”

“Fuck!” he was pacing again, “Mia. Jesus.”

“Don’t Asher! You’re not the one that get’s to be pissed off! Tell me why?! Why did you leave?” She felt the sting of hot tears in the corners of her eyes. She had been waiting seventeen years for an answer. She needed him to tell her why.

He just stood there looking at her with that intense gaze. She couldn’t stand it. She moved closer to him and looked up into those intense green eyes. So much emotion swirling around. As she did, she pressed her hands onto his chest. “Do you have any idea how much you hurt me? I was devastated over Travis and then you left me and then I found out I was pregnant.” She was sobbing and suddenly Asher’s arms were around her. She was against his wide, sculpted chest and the masculine scent of him made everything feminine in her go crazy. The throbbing heat of his body and the pounding of his heart against her chest were matched in intensity only by the sounds of his ragged breaths. She was hurt and angry that he wouldn’t explain to her why he had left but she had dreamt of this very moment for seventeen years and her body was responding in a way that only Asher could make it respond.

His lips were suddenly on hers and she didn’t fight it. She had wanted this so badly, for so long. He slid his hand from her hair down to her shoulders and wrapped a strong arm around them, pulling her back against his taut chest. His lips glided against hers and she breathed in his scent. She had missed him nearly every minute of every day. He ran his tongue along her lips and she parted them and invited him in. As his warm tongue slipped past her lips, fireworks exploded in her head. She brought her arms up and slid them around his neck, pulling him into the kiss, deeper. The room around them disappeared. Nothing mattered except for this kiss. Their tongues danced against each other and the pain of the past was forgotten, for the moment. Asher held onto her tightly. He felt so different than he used to. He had always muscular but now, he was all hard lines and she loved the way his mature body rippled against hers. Their mouths continued attacking each other even as their breathing became more ragged. She remember his kiss and she never wanted it to end. She felt him bring one hand up and gently caress the side of her face. The kiss went on and on, and the first thought she had when he finally broke it, was, ‘I want to do it again.’

He stood staring down at her with desire in his eyes and his chest heaving up and down and he said, “You should go.” Mia wasn’t going to be put off that easy this time.

“Why?”

“Because Mia, if you stay I will do something to hurt you again. You’ve been hurt enough. I hurt everyone who gets close to me.”

“Pushing me away hurts me. You hurt me once by walking away from what we had. I’ve been hurt and angry. I’ve been sad and hopeless. But, I never stopped loving you, Asher. My heart ached for you every day for seventeen years. Please don’t push me away again. Please. I can’t survive that again. I can’t watch you walk out of my life again.” She felt tears filling her eyes. His looked like his emotions were battling against each other. She still saw the desire there, but she also saw pain and something else she couldn’t describe. “Do you still have feelings for me, Asher?”