4. Asher

CHAPTER 4

ASHER

You ever dosomething and know immediately your life is going to be changed forever? Well, that’s how I’m feeling right now, and I’m not sure I like it. I fought it. I fought it hard and tried every way to tell her that she won’t be happy here, but she didn’t want to listen.

After telling her I need to get to work, I just stand here staring at her.

She smiles at me, and that smile tells me that she knows what I’m thinking, but there’s no way. If she knew what was going on in my head right now, she wouldn’t be here smiling at me. But somehow I can’t stop wondering how it would feel to have her long legs wrapped around my waist.

“So, uh, I’m ready when you are.”

My heart starts to race, and my palms get sweaty.

“Asher,” she says. “You wanna give me the tour so we can get to work? Or you want to just point out my room, and I can get my things put away.”

I turn away from her, clench my eyes, and drag in a deep breath to try and get a hold of myself. Fuck, get yourself together, Wild. I point toward the stairs. “Upstairs are bedrooms. That’s where Beau’s and my rooms are.”

“Down here.” I start walking through the house. “This is the living room.” I keep walking and point to the office. “The office, dining room, kitchen.” I’m walking fast through the rooms and stop in the kitchen. “Beau and I eat at six in the morning. Everyone is sort of on their own for lunch and dinner. There’s always stuff to make sandwiches. Whoever cooks just makes extra, so there’s usually leftovers in the fridge if you don’t make dinner.” I point to the board on the wall. “If you need something added to the food order each week, just write it on the board.”

She’s nodding her head, taking it all in.

“You have any allergies?”

She shrugs her shoulders and scrunches her nose up. “Bees.”

I close my eyes and open them, shaking my head. “You’re allergic to bees and you’re going to work on a peach farm.”

She laughs. “It’s no big deal. I have an EpiPen.”

I could go on and on about how dangerous it is here. I see bees every day. Heck, I was stung just last week, but I know that no matter what I say, she’s going to want to stay. “If you go outside, carry the pen with you. We have a few bees around, and I’ll call the beekeeper to come in and move them.”

She is shaking her head. “No, don’t do that. That’s crazy. I’ll be fine.”

Ignoring her, I walk past the kitchen and stop at the door that leads to her suite. I wave for her to go in and follow behind her and stop right inside the door. It’s not that I don’t trust myself alone with her in a room with a bed, but there’s no reason to add to the temptation. “This is your room. There is a private bathroom through that door, and the other one is a walk-in closet.”

I look around the large room with the sitting area and the bay windows with a view of the orchard and do my best to avoid looking at the big bed in the room.

She looks around the room and then back at me. “This is beautiful, Asher. The whole house is.”

I nod. “I’ll grab your things so you can get settled.”

I walk out and go to grab her bags. I could easily get them on my own, but she’s following behind me, and we get it all in one trip. After setting the last bag on one of the chairs, I walk back to the door and don’t even look at her. “I’m going to work. I’ll see you later.”

I don’t stick around for her to say anything. I slam my way out the back door and stalk off toward the trees, determined to get my mind off Madelyn. I barely get past the gate before I start to pace. I should have looked into this further. I should have asked Chief Taylor more questions.

There’s no way this is going to work. She just got here, and already it feels like my world has turned upside down. I’ve been down this road before, and I don’t want to do it again. And even knowing that, I start dissecting the differences between Madelyn and my ex-wife, Janet. It’s crazy to even go there because most days I don’t even think about my ex, but of course today I would. On one level, the similarities are there. Beautiful, rich, happy, determined. They both thought they could make it on a peach farm. All I’m wondering is how long Madelyn will last. I let out a disgusted grunt. A week. I give her a week before she’s so fed up with all this she’ll be gone.

I pull my phone from my pocket and dial Chief Taylor’s number.

He answers on the first ring. “Hey, Asher. How’s your new hire doing? Delilah said she was starting today.”

I grit my teeth. “Yeah, she’s here.”

He pauses for a second. “Uh, well, don’t sound so happy about it.”

I snort out a frustrated laugh. “Right. You played me, Chief.”

He gasps. “Played you? What do you mean? Madelyn Weston is more than qualified to work at the Wild Peach.”

“She’s a child!” I exclaim into the phone.

“She’s twenty-eight. The same age as my Delilah. She’s not a child.”

“She’s… she’s… she’s…” I start to stutter because the thoughts in my head are going a mile a minute. But it seems I don’t have to say anything because Chief thinks he’s got it figured out.

“Smart. Beautiful. Capable.”

Fuck, everything he’s saying is right, but I refuse to agree with him. “She’s rich and drives a Bentley and is not going to fit in here. You should have given me some kind of heads-up—”

The sound of someone clearing their throat has me turning on my heel, and my mouth drops. Madelyn is standing not three feet from me, and by the look on her face, I know she’s heard it all. “Look, Chief. I gotta go.”

I hang up even though I hear Chief Taylor talking into the phone. Seeing the look on Madelyn’s face has me regretting everything I just said. “I’m sorry—” I start.