I stood outside the door of my own house with my forehead pressed against the cool wood, taking deep breaths as I counted to ten. It was a calming technique my mother had taught me many years before, and I still used it when I was stressed. I felt the motion of the inhale until my lungs were full, and then visualized myself blowing all the bad feelings out of my body.

Suddenly, the door flew open and I stumbled into the living room.

“How long were you going to stand there breathing heavily?” Ash asked.

She stood in front of me with one hand on her cocked hip. Her top half was in a t-shirt that reminded me more of a fish net, and I could see her bra through it. Her jeans were cut so short that I could see the curves of her ass when she walked back toward the kitchen.

Hell, beggars couldn’t be choosers. At least she’d showered. I could still smell Lynn’s shampoo in the wake Ash left behind, and my heart clenched. Lynn was gone, and I’d been left with this poor, mouthy, and sometimes downright evil substitute.

The bad thing was that when it came to Ash, you never could guess what was going to happen next. One minute, she was sweet as pie. The next, she could have you by the balls. And right now, she had me by mine.

“Why don’t you go change? You’re too…” She stopped and tapped her chin while she thought of an appropriately cutting word. “Stiff,” she finally let burst from her lips. “And while that might be a good thing if we were talking about your dick, it is not cool to bring your stiffness home when I’m here. You know I don’t subscribe to the go-to-work-in-a-suit model.” Ash didn’t do nine-to-five. She never had. And she abhorred people who conformed, as she called it. “Your polyester is making me itch.” She pretended to scratch her arms.

I turned toward my bedroom—the bedroom I shared with Lynn—and walked inside. I stopped in the doorway when I saw that Ash had dumped her backpack on my bed. I looked through the few things she’d had in there, nudging paper to the side. There was nothing that might give me a clue as to who the owner was. The only thing of importance that was in her pack was a picture of me and Lynn at our wedding. We’d smiled at the camera. Lynn held a bouquet of flowers and I held Lynn. I picked up the picture and stormed back into the other room where Ash waited.

“Why do you have this?” I demanded.

She looked over her shoulder at me. “Have what?”

“This picture. Why do you have it?”

She shrugged. “She looked so happy. I wanted to remember it.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Why does it bother you that I have it?”

It was our day, that was why. Mine and Lynn’s. No one else’s. “Never mind.” The last thing I wanted to do was hurt Ash. If I did, she’d refuse to help me. Then I’d never find Lynn.

“Put it back with my stuff, will you?” she called to my retreating back.

I changed out of my suit and put on a pair of track pants and a t-shirt. Then I went back out to the living room.

“When was the last time you heard from her?” I asked quickly.

She raised a brow at me. “Really, dickhead? You can’t just spend a few minutes with me before you start asking stupid questions?”

“Do you know where she is?” Please tell me you know where she is.

“No, but Shelly might. She contacted me today. I didn’t get to talk to her, and I’m trying to track her down.”

“What did Shelly say?”

She shrugged. “She didn’t say anything. I just said I didn’t get to talk to her, didn’t I? God, Mason. For a shrink, you’re a terrible fucking listener.”

I was a great listener. I just didn’t want to listen right now. I wanted to find Lynn.

Shelly was a subject I’d hoped to avoid. She was sophisticated and perfect and she wore pink ribbons in her hair. She never left the house when she wasn’t wearing pretty, feminine high heels and a strand of pearls around her neck. To be honest, she intimidated the hell out of me.

“Will you keep trying?”

“I can’t get hold of her right now. I just tried. I’ll keep trying.”

“I want you to stay here until Lynn comes back. Can you do that for me?” If she didn’t agree, I might have to spend every waking second with her, just so I could be sure she was safe. Lynn would want me to be sure Ash was safe while she was in town.

“I’ll stay as long as I can,” she said quietly.

I sat down on the other end of the couch from Ash. She pulled her feet up and turned to face me. “Will you tell me a story?” she asked. She placed her hands together like she was praying. “You know how much I love stories about you and Lynn. Tell me about the day you met.” She bounced on the seat. “Tell me about the day you knew it would be her forever. Always. Tell me that story. I love that one.”

For all of Ash’s gruff exterior, she was a marshmallow on the inside. The streets had made her tough, but her heart…her heart made her soft and lovable. You just had to dig past the makeup and shove the bad attitude to the side so you could get to the soft, smooshy part.

“I met her on my sixteenth birthday,” I said.

Ash clapped and let out a squeal. “Keep going. I want to hear every fucking thing.”