“Coffee?” Asher asks, giving me a squeeze.

“Yes, please. Can I, um, make breakfast?” I ask, unsure if that might cross a line.

“If you want.” He shrugs his shoulders.

“Okay,” I say and go about getting everything ready for French toast. Once it’s done, I slide some on a plate of Sven, Asher and myself. I find syrup and butter and put them out on the counter in front of the guys then grab the coffee pot and fill their cups. Everything has gone silent so I look up and both of them are staring at me like I'm crazy. “Um…”

“You gonna eat, baby?” I nod my head. “Come here, November.” I walk towards him even though I want to run and hide in the bathroom. Once I'm in front of him, he pulls me onto his lap and pulls my plate toward us so mine and his are next to each other then he hands me my fork.

“I can sit on the other stool,” I say quietly.

I feel his lips under my ear. “I want you close.” He kisses my neck and goes about eating and talking to Sven. “I'm taking November to Mom and Dad’s to go four wheeling. I'll call the boys and see if they want to meet there. You wanna go?” he asks Sven. Sven just looks at me.

“You want to go four wheeling?” Sven asks with a look of shock written all over his handsome face.

“Yes! I'm so excited.” I squeal and clap, which makes him and Asher chuckle. “Hey, can I invite Liz?” I turn, looking over my shoulder at Asher.

“Who’s Liz?” he asks.

“I met her yesterday. She owns a store on the square with her mom. She’s really sweet. Some of your harem were there giving her a hard time.” I roll my eyes and I hear Sven chuckle.

“Harem?” Asher questions with his eyebrow raised.

“The girls from the bar that were all gathered around the pool table waiting to be chosen like a bad episode of the bachelor,” I say, giggling when Asher starts tickling my sides.

“Well, I chose you so I guess you get my pool stick.”

“Did you seriously just say that?” I ask, scrunching up my nose, laughing. I look at Sven who is also cracking up.

“Call your friend. Just have her meet us there. I’ll give you the address.” He smiles and kisses my neck.

“Cool,” I say, smiling back.

After breakfast, Asher and Sven leave to load up the four wheelers while I clean up the kitchen and jump in the shower. I’m standing in Asher’s bedroom, wrapped in a towel, when he walks into the room. I automatically feel like prey to a very large, very hungry predator.

“Jesus, I feel like I'm living a fucking nightmare.”

“What?” I whisper, feeling uncomfortable all of the sudden, wondering if I read his expression wrong.

“Having you wrapped around me all night, feeling you coming around my fingers, now wrapped in a towel and knowing what’s under that shit and not being able to do a damn thing about it is my worst fucking nightmare.”

Oh my God, my nipples go hard and my breath hitches at his words. I want him to do something about it and I am debating running across the room. When he lunges before I can make a move, I am in his arms with his mouth on mine. I go into an instant Asher fog. He breaks away, shoving his face in my neck.

“Tonight,” he growls, biting my neck then letting me go. He goes straight into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. I can hear the shower turn on. I run to my bag and pull out jeans, a plain red T-shirt and a red lace bra and matching lace cheeky panties. I dress fast and am braiding my hair when Asher comes out with a towel wrapped around his waist and water dripping down the contours of his body. I am completely lost and know what he was talking about when he said he was living a nightmare. Part of me wants nothing more than to throw myself at him but the other part of me is afraid that once we have sex, he will get bored and lose interest.

“I'm gonna get dressed, baby, so unless you want to watch, you should go wait in the kitchen.”

“I’ll be in the kitchen,” I squeak then walk quickly out of the room.

Chapter 5

I was lying on the ground, laughing so hard that I thought I might pee myself after calling Liz and asking her to come four wheeling. She was working at her shop and couldn’t make it so we made plans to meet up Monday after my meeting with the lawyer.

Asher drove us out to his parents’ house. Everyone was standing outside a huge, steel building when we arrived. They were gassing up the four wheelers and bikes.

I’ve never ridden before so Asher showed me what to do. I really only heard half of what he said because my excitement was taking over. We took off on the trails around his parents’ place and rode for a couple hours.

Eventually, the guys started racing so Sven said he would teach me how to ride his dirt bike while Asher was racing his dad. I was practicing my balance when Asher came around the corner and saw me on the dirt bike. I watched Asher walk over and shove Sven then he slung his hand out in my direction. I could see his mouth moving but I had a helmet on so I couldn’t hear what was being said.

I stopped the bike and Cash held it up while I got off. I walked towards Asher. His mom and dad were standing to the side while he yelled at his friend about how in the hell he let me get on his bike. Hearing what he was saying pissed me off. I wasn’t some helpless child who needed constant supervision.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. I looked around and noticed everyone was watching.

“What the hell are you thinking?” Asher glared at me. “That bike is too big for you. Do you realize you could be seriously hurt?”

“Are you serious?” I asked looking at him like he grew a third eye. I could hear the guys chuckling behind us.

“Deadly fucking serious.” He growled.

“You listen to me, Asher. You are not the boss of me. I'm going to learn how to ride a motorcycle and then I'm going to buy one so I can ride it whenever I want and there is not a damn thing you can do about it,” I said, poking him in the chest.

“Fuck, no, you’re not.”

“My dad’s teaching me on his next day off,” I said, smiling sweetly.

“Baby, I'm telling you right now, if you think that I'm going to let you ride, you’re crazy.”

“And, baby,” I said sarcastically. “I'm telling you that I don’t need your permission to do anything.”

“We’ll see.” He growled then pulled me into his chest and kissed me hard—with tongue—while everyone watched. When he broke the kiss, I was in such a fog that I didn’t even yell at him for kissing me in front of his parents. He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side. I looked around and everyone was smiling. I was wondering what the hell just happened. We were arguing then we weren’t…is that normal?

“Alright, kiddos. Let’s go eat,” Asher’s mom called loudly. I started giggling and Asher just looked down on me, smiling.

“What?” I shrugged my shoulders. “She makes me feel like I'm five years old.”

Asher’s mom made amazing BBQ pulled pork in her crockpot then toasted giant potatoes buns and loaded them with meat. She even made sweet potatoes fries and homemade coleslaw. It was delicious.

We sat around a large fire pit, drinking and eating, then she brought out marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate bars so we could make s’mores. It was perfect.

I was tucked close to Asher with my belly full and my favorite hard apple cider in my hand. Life couldn’t get any better than that. The guys started telling stories about tricks they played on each other when they were younger and other stupid things they did.

“So Asher and me used to skateboard when we were in high school,” Sven said starting his story. “One time we were out riding around when Asher fell while trying to do a trick off a set of stairs near the library. Well, he missed his landing and ended up doing the splits down the stairs, hurting his groin muscle. We went back to my house so he could put some ice on it. I was in the kitchen getting ice out for him when I heard him screaming from the bathroom like a damn girl. I ran towards the bathroom to figure out what happened. I bang on the door and he didn’t answer. All I could hear was moaning and crying. So, I say fuck it and walk in to a scene that, to this day, is still burned into the back of my eyelids. Your man,” he said, looking at me and laughing, “was laying on the floor in the bathroom with a jar of icy/hot. He decided to put that shit on his groin, thinking that would help. He got that shit on his balls and almost passed out from the pain.”

I was laughing so hard, I fell backwards off the log that we were sitting on. I hadn’t had this much fun ever and I was dirtier than I had ever been in my life. I had mud in my hair, on my face and all over my clothes. I'm sure I looked like a homeless person but everyone else was just as dirty. Even Asher’s mom was covered in dirt. I loved all of them and I loved Tennessee. The laid back lifestyle and the friendly people were so different from New Yorkers. I realized, lying on the ground in the dirt, that I was happy. Really, really happy for the first time in my life. Asher leaned over and helped me back up on the log. He put me back under his arm and kissed my nose, smiling.

“I'm stealing your girl,” Sven said deadpan.

“Fuck, no,” Asher said, smiling at him. The guys went back to talking about the job site and things they had to get done before the next inspection. Me and Susan were talking about our trip to Nashville tomorrow.

“So I’ll pick you up around nine,” she told me.

“Okay, sounds good.”

“Twelve, Mom. No earlier,” Asher said, breaking into our conversation.

“Nine,” his mom said, looking at him, daring him to disagree.

“Twelve. Tomorrow is Sunday and we’re sleeping in.”

“Ni—“

“Susan,” Mr. James said in a warning tone to his wife then he pulled her into his lap and whispered in her ear. She melted against him then looked over at me.

“I’ll be there at twelve.” I nodded my head in agreement then giggled when she laughed. Apparently, Asher took after his dad.

I crawled into Asher’s lap and cuddled into him while everyone sat around talking. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, I was being put into the front seat of Asher’s jeep.

“We’ll be home soon, baby,” he whispered and I felt his lips at my forehead. I was back asleep before he shut my door.

I felt the car come to a stop and I lifted my head from Asher’s shoulder where it had fallen.

“Hey, sleepy head,” he said, looking over at me.

“This was the best day ever,” I said, smiling. I grabbed his face and kissed him hard.

“Yeah,” he said with his eyes running over my face. He kissed my nose and opened his door and let Beast out on his side. I met him in front of the jeep and we walked into the house with me leaning into his side. I didn’t pull away until we were in the living room.

“I'm going to shower,” I told him and stumbled my way to the bathroom. I was standing in my clothes. I had already taken off my dirty shoes and socks and was waiting for the water to get hot before I undressed.