Chapter 13 #3
“That would be wonderful!” Patty said. “I can come tomorrow morning…around ten? I’ll bring my photographer with me.
Good pictures for the website sell houses faster, and since the furniture is still there, I’ll do a little tweaking for staging, get the photos, and sign the contract.
I’ll bring comps for the area, and help you decide on a good sale price. ”
“That would be great. I’ll see you then,” and the moment Nora disconnected, she felt even more of her burden lifting. One last thing to mark off her to-do list and she’d be leaving.
But leaving Asher up to his neck with bad guys, and Jacob still in the hospital, felt like an act of abandonment. All she could do was hope the sheriff and the media would cooperate with him, and the Brandts would take the bait.
But now that this was happening, she needed to pack up the last of her keepsakes so they’d be out of sight when Patty came tomorrow, and then make one last sweep through the rooms to make sure all the family pictures either had been taken down or were already boxed up for her to take with her.
The business of living began with a birth certificate, kind of like a proof-of-purchase receipt.
Death was far more complicated. Letting the world know you were gone required the distribution of multiple death certificates, cancelling policies, ending memberships, and paying taxes even after the last breath had been taken, and Nora was weary of it all.
* * *
Asher Kingston didn’t thrive in disorder.
He needed to know what was happening, what his part in it was, and what needed to happen next, and he hadn’t had one solid day of order since the phone call from his dad, telling him about Nora.
At that moment, every carefully planned aspect of his life blew up in his face.
It was Brenda’s fault. She’d disrupted all of their lives when she ended hers. But it was also the wakeup call that he’d needed, and now he couldn’t imagine any aspect of his life without Nora in it.
Finding out about her stalker had been a shock. Learning how she’d saved herself, then found a retreat in her ivory tower that gave her the safety and space to continue her work without giving up what she loved, turned on every protective instinct he had.
He knew she wasn’t helpless. Far from it, but he wanted to be there for her when she needed it. To make that happen, they first had to put the Brandt brothers in prison, and that was uppermost in his mind as he came out of Belker’s with a bouquet of flowers.
Three minutes later, he was pulling up into Nora’s driveway.
He loved her. He wanted her. Every part of him ached to take her to bed. He was saying it with flowers, but if she was slow to get the message, he was willing to strip naked and let her see it for herself.
He traded his Stetson for the flowers and left it in the front seat. Then he was out the door and running up the steps with the wind at his back.
He knocked, waiting for the sound of her footsteps, then all of sudden, the door swung inward and there she stood. A vision in pink wearing fuzzy socks and slippers. The smile on her face was all it took to pull him over the threshold. He shut the door and laid the flowers in her arms.
“Asher! I love them. I never get flowers. They’re beautiful.”
“Like you,” he said. “Go put them in water so I can kiss you.”
She laughed. “Come help. I’m still making messes with this one,” she said, waving the hand with the stitches.
He shed his coat on the sofa and followed, got a vase from the etagere, filled it half full of water for her, then watched her put them in the water and arrange them.
“The fall colors in this are just perfect. I love them, and they’ll make a nice focal point on the dining table. I’m signing a contract with a realtor tomorrow and she’s using the existing furniture for staging.”
As soon as she finished the arrangement, he carried it to the dining table for her, and as he turned, he caught a wistful expression on her face.
“Are you sad, darlin’… About selling the house, I mean?”
She shrugged. “A little, but realistic about it, too. It’s not the same with them gone, you know? I keep thinking about the us we resurrected. That’s where my hopes are. They’re already with you.”
The look in her eyes. The words she’d just said. Like turning a cog and watching it fall into place. With her there was no discord, only peace. He brushed a kiss across her lips, then cupped her face, feeling the softness of her skin against his palms.
“You are my touchstone. You always were. You always will be. I will always love and protect you.”
“My darling, Ash. Through no fault of your own, you are the one who was left in charge, but you’re also the one who needs to be cared for, and tended to, and loved harder…
loved more. Let me be that person for you, too.
I know you still have to clear the deck for your dad, but spare me enough time for this.
Come to bed with me. It’s going to take the rest of our lives to catch up with what we lost. Now is as good a time as any to start refilling the well.
Make love now. Make babies with me later. ”
Then she was in his arms, moving through the shadowed halls, and once again, into her bedroom.
Inhibitions came off with their clothes.
They were as frantic for the joining as they had been when they were young and crazy wild for each other, but old enough now to savor the sweet heat of building a slow fire. One that engulfed, instead of flashed.
Asher was stretched out beside her, tracing the shape of her cheek, to the shallow beneath her throat, to the weight of her breasts in his hand.
Watching her eyelids flutter as he rolled her nipple between his fingers.
Hearing the catch in her breath when he slid his hands between her legs, then leaving a trail of kisses from her chin to her belly button.
Nora’s heart was racing as he moved over her, then in her. It was the beginning, and she already wanted more.
She knew what turned him on. It was her.
Sex between them had always been magic. A quickening of souls as well as bodies, and this time as he began, she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him deeper.
It was ecstasy, and a kind of agony as he began to move.
One minute, then another and another, and she could feel it building—wanting it to go on forever, then suddenly desperate for a release.
It came without warning. Shattering focus and concentration as the blood rush hit. They lay in each other’s arms until there was nothing left of the ride but the intermittent ripple of aftershocks.
Asher buried his face in the thick fall of her hair, groaning softly at the thought of having to move.
“God, Nora, you destroy me.”
Nora looked up into his face, at the high cheekbones and stubborn chin. A mouth for laughter, and kissing. And the clear-blue color of his eyes.
“I will lose sleep thinking about this, and doing without you…without this wild madness you turn on inside me, but you are so very worth the wait. I love you. And I also know you haven’t finished what you came to do.”
He rolled over, taking her with him, and pulled her close as she pillowed her head upon his chest. “Yes, we do, and there’s still work to do.
Reddick agreed to the press conference. Once it airs, we go on lockdown.
The Tumbleweed will appear to be vacant, and we’ll be on stakeout inside.
If they come, it will be at night. There will be no lights, and only Dad’s truck parked out back like always.
We don’t know how long it will take, but we’re hoping for no longer than a day or two, and I have a request. Will it be okay if I park the rental car in front of your house during that time? ”
“Park it in the driveway, Ash. It’s wide enough for two cars and it will keep it off the street,” she said.
“Thank you, honey. If they air the press conference tomorrow, I’ll bring the car up before dark, and then go home through the alley like I used to,” he said.
He kissed her one last time, and then got up, grabbing his clothes as he headed for the bathroom, leaving Nora free to eye his beautiful body as he was walking away.
“Mine, all mine,” she sighed, then picked up her clothes and headed across the hall to the en suite in her parents’ room.
All too soon, they were at the door and saying goodbye.
“Asher, please don’t get yourself killed. You’re all I have left to love in this world.”
He hugged her. “We’re going to be fine. You go about your days and nights like normal. You already know more about what’s happening than it’s safe for you to know. Can’t have you becoming someone else’s target, understood?”
“Understood,” Nora said.
“Good luck tomorrow with your realtor. Love you.” Then he walked out into the cold and drove away.
* * *
Asher ordered food to go from Pearl’s, then made one more trip through Belker’s before stopping at the Rose to pick it up. He was in and out within minutes, and headed home.
Dylan came out to meet him and carried in the groceries, while Asher brought the food from Pearl’s.
“Anyone know when trash is picked up here?” Asher asked.
“Tuesday and Friday for businesses. Tomorrow is Tuesday,” Gunner said.
“Then after we eat, we need to get all of our refuse into the dumpster out front so that it gets hauled off before all this goes down. Considering how long Dad’s been in the hospital, extra bags of trash might give us away,” Asher added.
They got the groceries put away, then sat down at the table as Ash began distributing the to-go meals he’d picked up.
“What are we having tonight?” Gunner asked.
“Meatloaf with two sides, biscuits and peach cobbler. It was the daily special,” Asher said.
He was about to remove the lid from his order when his cell signaled a text.
“Sheriff’s office,” he said, and scanned the text.
“Good news. Reddick scheduled his press conference for tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. They’ll air it live as a news bulletin, then air the taped version again on the evening news.
” He sent a thumbs-up emoji back, and disconnected.
“This is it, my brothers. Let’s hope it works and we close the case. ”
“Amen to that,” Dylan said.
Gunner nodded. He was already fork deep in meatloaf and gravy. “What’s going on with our secret weapon?”
Asher looked up. “You mean Nora? She has a realtor coming tomorrow. She’s decided to sell the house. I asked if we could park the SUV in her driveway when we go on lockdown. That way the only vehicle left on the property is dad’s truck, which would be expected, and she said yes.”
“I hope the weather holds,” Dylan said. “Cold is one thing, but snow is another. No way for a thief to hide footprints in the snow.”
“It’s going to work out because Brandt’s sons aren’t any smarter than he was. The only thing in their heads is that untraceable money. They tried to kill for it once. They’re not done.”