Between Hello and Goodbye(19)

Or you could, I don’t know, respect his privacy? mused a voice that sounded like Silas.

I grabbed an icepack from the freezer, smiling to myself. If Viv was the devil on my shoulder, Silas was the angel. I set my foot on the coffee table and balanced the ice pack when there came a knock on the door. It opened a second later and Asher strode in, his chiseled features stony and serious.

“You should lock your door,” he said and set a grocery bag on the counter, along with a tray of two coffees.

“Good morning to you, too. And haven’t we already covered the door situation?”

But either he’d forgotten that little bit of flirtation from last night or had changed his mind. His expression remained hard, brows furrowed.

“It’s not safe.”

“Fear not. I unlocked it this morning specifically so you could barge in.”

That drew a reluctant smirk out of him, and he crouched on his heels in front of my foot to inspect my ankle. Immediately, I was inundated with the heady, masculine scents wafting from Asher—expensive cologne over no-nonsense soap and shampoo. His dark hair was still damp, and his jaw freshly shaved. Firefighters weren’t allowed beards, I supposed.

“Diagnosis?”

“I’ve seen worse.”

“How encouraging. Your bedside manner still needs work,” I said, frowning as Asher returned to the kitchen to unpack the mystery bag on the counter. “What’s all that?”

“Lunch and breakfast,” he said, putting bottles of iced tea in the fridge, along with sandwiches wrapped in plastic, and a bunch of bananas in a bowl on the counter. I took a moment to appreciate the way the muscles in his back and his broad shoulders moved under a tight, dark blue T-shirt before I came to my senses.

“I didn’t know shopping for me was part of the deal but thank you. What do I owe you?”

He ignored that and dumped a handful of creamers and sugar packets on the table. “I didn’t know how you took your coffee.”

“Directly into my veins,” I said, taking a cup. “You’re a saint.”

He grunted and set down two beautiful açaí bowls on the coffee table. Sliced bananas and strawberries sprinkled with bee pollen were arranged in perfect spirals on top of cold, puréed açaí berries.

He’s staying for breakfast.

My greedy smile must’ve been obvious because Asher’s face stiffened the way it did when he remembered he was supposed to be grouchy and remote.

“I can’t stay,” he said shortly, digging into his bowl.

“I’ll take what I can get,” I teased. “And it is really nice of you to do this for me, Asher. Even though it’s exactly the opposite of what I came here for.”

“The fact that you’re sticking it out means something,” he said and graciously bestowed upon me his first, fleeting smile of the day. “Maybe your initial step toward personal growth is you cut yourself some slack.”

“That’s sweet of you to say, but you just summed up my life in a nutshell. All I do is cut myself slack. I could stand to be a little hard on myself.”

“If you say so.”

“I do. I have some work to do in the adulting department. I didn’t even tell a good friend where I was going. I skipped town without so much as a text. She busted me this morning.”

“Why didn’t you tell her?”

“Because if I told her I was leaving she’d have tried to convince me to stay or invite herself to come with. Which she did.”

“Did you tell her what you wanted out of this?”

“Yes, but she didn’t believe me. Then again, I’ve given her no reason to expect anything different.” I spooned a honey-drizzled strawberry into my mouth. “Me being here is sort of like going to rehab. I had to remove myself from all temptations and cut myself off from the vices that get me in trouble in the first place.” I leveled the spoon at Asher. “Which makes having you in my apartment even more ironic. You, firefighter, are a hulking, manly mass of vice.”

Asher smirked. “It’s not exactly usual for me to hang out with women and not…”

“Have naked relations? Me too. I’m not surprised Viv didn’t believe me. I don’t believe in me.”

“Maybe you should get some new friends.”

“I have Silas.”

Asher grimaced. “The billionaire jackpot you were telling me about?”

“That’s the one. It was all very dramatic but not at all what you’re thinking. I didn’t prostitute myself or anything. Silas is gay and his dad’s a bigoted prick. He wasn’t about to turn the business over to his son unless he changed his lifestyle.” I rolled my eyes. “So I pretended to be his fiancée.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. But when Silas fell in love with one of his dad’s caregivers, the jig was up. My services were no longer required, but I made sure I was adequately compensated.”

“Compensated how?”

I took a sip of coffee. “With a condo.”

“He bought you a condo?”

“When you say it like that…” My smile faded. “Terrible, isn’t it? But I came out of the deal with a best friend and that’s better than anything.”