Chapter 15
Claire
The alarm went off at four in the morning and I nearly jumped out of my skin. For a split second I didn’t know where I was. Then I felt the warmth beside me. The heavy comforter. The faint scent of cedar and soap. Asher. My heart skipped as reality hit.
“OMG,” I whispered, sitting upright. “What time is it?”
“Three,” Asher mumbled, reaching to silence the alarm.
“Three?” I hissed. “Why is it three?”
“Because we start work at four,” he said, pushing himself up on one elbow.
Panic flooded me. “What if someone sees me leaving your cabin?”
He blinked at me, still half asleep. “They will.”
“That’s not funny.”
He rubbed a hand over his face, then looked at me properly. His gaze softened slightly when he took in my expression.
“I set it early,” he said. “I’m going to the main house to grab the spare key. You can get dressed in the clothes I gave you since yours are probably still wet.”
He sat up fully now, the sheet sliding down his chest. I forced myself not to stare.
“You’re spiraling,” he said.
“I’m not spiraling,” I insisted.
“You’re definitely spiraling.”
I crossed my arms over my bare chest. “They’re going to think I slept with you.”
“They’re going to think two adults spent the night together,” he countered. “And it’s really no one’s business. But I get how it is around here. We’re all friends, not just coworkers.”
Asher leaned in suddenly and kissed me. I froze for half a second before kissing him back. When he pulled away, I blinked at him.
“I’ll be back soon, beautiful,” he said and that melted something inside me. “The longer it takes me, the more chances we have that someone will see you leaving my place.”
“Very true,” I replied.
He got out of bed, and I took in his toned backside. I watched him put on a pair of boxers, and my mouth watered as I took in his abs. I was staring, so I got out of bed and put on the sweatshirt and sweatpants he loaned me.
“They’re huge on you,” he laughed.
“You’re a big guy,” I stated the obvious.
He went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. When he got out, he told me there were new toothbrushes under the sink in the cabinet.
That comment reminded me of who I was dealing with. The kind of guy who hadn’t planned on settling down.
“Thanks.”
He watched me for a beat, and I went into the bathroom.
I did what I had to do, and I heard him call out from the other room that he was heading over to the main house.
I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was messy, my lips were swollen.
I had never given a guy a blow job before.
I hoped I’d done it right. He seemed to have enjoyed himself.
A guy like him had a lot of experience. I was out of my element.
I brushed my teeth and wet my hair, then I used his brush to comb through it.
By the time I was done, he returned with the key.
“Mission accomplished,” he said, setting it on the counter. He turned on the kettle.
“You’re making coffee?” I asked.
“I always make coffee,” he replied. “Can’t start the day without caffeine.”
I sat at the small table, tugging at the sleeves of his sweatshirt. “I’m not ready to walk out that door.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
I glared at him. He leaned against the counter, clearly enjoying my discomfort. “Think of it as a walk of fame.”
I laughed, “More like a walk of shame.”
He laughed too. “Soleil and Jonah hook up constantly.”
“That’s different,” I noted.
“Elise has a guy from town who sneaks in half the week,” he continued.
“That doesn’t make me feel better,” I pouted.
He stepped closer and tilted my chin up gently. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I hooked up with my boss,” I stated guiltily.
“We already established this wasn’t a regular hookup. There were extenuating circumstances,” he said.
We both watched each other silently.
“You mean that we couldn’t keep our hands to ourselves,” I said.
He grinned, “It is what it is. There was an ember burning between us since the moment we met.”
His candidness surprised me, although he wasn’t wrong.
“And now we got it out of our system,” I said.
“Exactly,” he agreed.
Our gazes locked again, followed by more beats of silence. We were liars. I wanted to rip his clothes off again. He wasn’t out of my system, and I doubted I was out of his.
I stood. “Okay, I can do this.” I walked toward the door. “Thanks for last night,” I said, turning back to him before walking out of his cabin with my key and yesterday’s clothes in my hand.
I saw him wave awkwardly as I closed the door. I didn’t know what the etiquette was in such a scenario, and Asher was my boss. The air was humid after the storm as I walked down the short path to my cabin. My luck, I nearly collided with Soleil.
She froze.
Her eyes dropped to the oversized sweatshirt. The jogging pants. My bare feet in borrowed slides. Her gaze slowly lifted to my face.
“Well,” she said slowly. “Well, would you look at that. The sheep finally ran wild.”
Heat flooded my cheeks. “It’s not what it looks like,” I assured.
Her eyebrow arched.
“I lost my key in the storm,” I rushed. “There wasn’t a spare.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“It’s true,” I feigned.
She leaned closer. “Claire. I saw the way he looked at you the night of the fight. Like he wanted to feast.”
My stomach flipped. Because he had. Last night he looked at me that way too.
“We just…” I stopped myself.
Soleil smirked knowingly. “Sure.”
She bumped my shoulder playfully. “Enjoy the bossman.”
I didn’t feel relieved. I felt exposed, and she saw it immediately.
“No big deal, Claire. Chill out. We’re all adults,” she said, but I didn’t like that she knew that very personal information.
We parted ways when she said she was going to the bakery. I used the spare key to get into my cabin, and I changed my clothes for a day of work. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and wore a baseball cap on my head since it was supposed to be a warm day today.
That morning, work felt different. Asher behaved like his usual self. Everyone did their jobs. He gave instructions and checked crates. He didn’t linger near me either. If someone didn’t know better, they wouldn’t guess anything happened.
By lunch, instead of heading to the barn like usual, I headed over to the bakery, needing to talk to Harmony, but one of the workers said she was working in town today.
I got the address from the lady and ordered a cheese Danish and an iced coffee since I hadn’t had breakfast. I took a seat at one of the tables they had set up for patrons.
I had to push any thoughts of Asher out of my head because my focus had to be on Sophie’s case.
That realization made me see how many things I had pushed aside in my life because of her disappearance.
I blew out a breath, feeling defeated. The vibe I got from Nico last night was that he knew something, but he didn’t want to share it.
There was no way I could get a guy like him to talk.
I hung out in the bakery until break was over.
And as I walked back to the orchard, I asked myself how much of my life would I spend looking for answers to Sophie’s disappearance?
I was twenty-four, and last night was the first time I had spent the night with a man.
Even if we hadn’t had sex. I enjoyed last night.
Asher was a good man, even if I knew that whatever we shared couldn’t happen again.
He was my boss. He didn’t do relationships.
He had more experience than me and he seemed so easygoing where I was ultra-focused.
We were opposites in the most obvious of ways.
On the way back to the orchard after lunch, I bumped into Asher.
“We missed you at lunch,” he said.
“I grabbed something from the bakery. I wanted to talk to Harmony about my meeting with Nico, but she’s at the bakery in town,” I explained.
“Yup, the one on Main Street.” He nodded.
We got back to work, but every time I accidentally checked Asher out, I caught him watching me.
I didn’t know what it meant. Was he regretting me?
Our chemistry was fire. I felt like I couldn’t regret him.
After my shift, I grabbed my car keys from my cabin and drove into town.
Harmony was behind the counter at the bakery when I walked in.
The smell of sugar and warm bread wrapped around me. She looked up and smiled faintly.
“You look like you didn’t sleep,” she said. I wondered if the news of me spending the night in Asher’s cabin was going around Maple Valley.
“That obvious?” I replied.
“You’re still beautiful,” she laughed. “What brings you to this part of town?”
I leaned against the counter. “I saw Nico last night.”
Her smile vanished. “And?”
I exhaled slowly. “He admitted they helped Sophie cross.”
Harmony went still.
“He said they usually didn’t take someone so young. Or Canadian. Said his boss had a soft spot for her mom because she was in an abusive relationship, and he wanted to help them.”
Harmony’s jaw tightened. “Did he say what happened to her?”
“He told me to stop looking,” I exhaled, feeling like my insides were deflating too. I kept hitting dead ends. I was spending my life chasing answers that didn’t exist.
Her eyes darkened. “That means you’re getting close.”
I swallowed. “I don’t think he killed her.”
Harmony studied me carefully. “Be careful of that instinct,” she said quietly. “Men like Nico survive because they know how to look human.”
I thought about the way his face changed when I told him about Sophie’s mom. The tension. The regret.
“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” I admitted.
Harmony reached across the counter and squeezed my hand. “Just make sure you’re not confusing empathy with innocence.”
That landed. Because I was studying criminology. I knew better. Didn’t I?
“Nico told me his dad was abusive. That he got into the business he was in to help his mom and sister financially,” I said.