Chapter 4

Violet couldn’t imagine where Ash wanted to take her at one thirty in the morning that wasn’t to his place. When she said that she trusted him, her boring, logical side yelled, You don’t know him! Go home! You’re crazy!

And yet...her intuition told her she could trust him. She trusted that when he said he wanted to have “good, clean, wholesome fun,” he meant it. At least, as much as Ash Younger could do anything wholesome.

She followed Ash down the street and out of the small downtown area. Tipping her head back, she could make out a few stars, and she felt like they were the only two people in the entire world. The town was so quiet. The only sounds were a dog barking and a single car driving by.

When they arrived at the playground, Violet let out a startled laugh. “This is what you had in mind?”

“What, do you have something against swings?” Ash sat down in one of the swings that was so low to the ground—especially considering that he had to be over six feet tall—that Violet started giggling so hard that her stomach hurt.

She sat down next to him in a swing and started pumping her legs. At five-ten, she had to bend her legs until her heels touched her butt just to avoid scraping her feet against the sand below.

Ash swung next to her. When she glanced over at him, he sent her a brilliant smile. She shook her head.

“I can’t imagine you went to a bar to pick up a woman just to take her to a playground.”

“I like to think I’m not as obvious as you’d like to think,” he countered.

Violet pumped her legs until she swung high into the air. She let out a deep sigh as she caught sight of the houses that sat in the hills overlooking Fair Haven. Lights twinkled from a few windows. She didn’t mind that it was chilly outside or that her hands were freezing from the metal chains.

“Once when I was in first grade,” said Ash as they swung higher and higher, “I tried to get into one of those baby swings. You know, the ones that look like a rubber diaper?”

Violet’s lips twitched. “And?”

“Well, I was already big for my age, and hardly baby-sized. I managed to somehow get my legs into the leg holes and tried to swing, but soon realized that I’d made a very, very bad decision.”

“Got a little bruised?”

He laughed. “My balls were sore for a week. When I tried to get out, I couldn’t. I was stuck in a baby swing. My teacher had to call the fire department to cut me out.”

Violet started laughing so hard that she lost her momentum. Gasping for breath, she wiped her eyes and was almost finished laughing before another bout of giggles burst from her.

“I’m glad you think my pain and anguish are so funny.” Ash kept swinging next to her.

Suddenly emboldened, Violet began swinging again until they were neck and neck. “Whoever jumps the furthest wins a prize,” she said.

“What, a broken arm?”

“Chicken.”

He snorted. “Fine, it’s a deal. What do you want?”

She considered. “If I win, you have to ride that dragon thing over there,” she said as she pointed to the plastic dragon on a spring. “And I get to record it.”

“Kinky.” Ash swung down and then up again. “If I win,” he said, his voice like dark velvet, “I get to kiss you.”

Laughing breathlessly, she began to count down. On three, they jumped from their respective swings and landed on the sand below. Violet felt the air whoosh from her lungs, and Ash grunted as he landed with a loud thump.

Both gasping for air, Violet turned toward Ash, only to see him smiling like the cat that had caught the canary. His right arm stretched above his head, and when Violet did the same, she realized he’d technically jumped the furthest.

“No fair,” she muttered, “your arms are longer than mine.”

“All’s fair in love and war.”

He cupped her cheek, and everything else faded away as he brushed his mouth against hers. Violet’s heart fluttered like a caught butterfly. He kissed her softly, playing with her bottom lip, his touch gentle. Violet melted against him, his body warm and solid. When she wrapped her arms around his neck, he growled and deepened the kiss until she saw stars under her eyelids.

She didn’t care that it was the middle of the night, or that they were lying in the sand on a playground. She didn’t care that she barely knew this man who kissed like the devil but who had the smile of an angel. Pressing closer to him, she tangled her tongue with his, loving the way he shuddered under her hands.

The kiss transformed into a conflagration, and before Violet knew it, she was under Ash as his hands roved all along her torso. She arched under his touch with abandon. Her inhibitions melted away with every stroke of his tongue and every caress of his hands.

“God, you’re sweet,” he muttered as he kissed down her throat, laving her collarbone. “I want you.”

She knew he wanted her—she could feel his erection against her hip. And just as suddenly as the conflagration had begun, her rational mind emerged to ask her, What are you doing?

What was she doing? This wasn’t her. She didn’t do one-night stands. She didn’t kiss strange men in parks.

Have you forgotten me already? William’s voice resounded in her mind.

“I—no. Wait. Please stop.” Her voice was shaky. “Stop.”

Ash stopped, his forehead creased with concern. “What is it?”

Violet pushed at his arm, and he moved away enough that she could sit up. She took a deep breath.

“Sorry, it was just—a lot.”

“Don’t apologize. I let it get out of hand.” He stood up and offered her a hand. “Do you want me to take you home?”

For some reason, she didn’t want to go home because then this magical night—even with its random bumps and awkwardness—would end. Violet would have to return to being boring Violet Fielding, widow, failing entrepreneur, and a woman who was apparently too terrified to enjoy life or kiss a man in the park.

“No, I want to keep having fun.” She pulled on his hand. “Let’s go down the slide.”

Ash seemed surprised, but he didn’t comment on her strange behavior. He probably thought she was a bit of a loon. One minute she was cold, then hot, then cold. She couldn’t understand her own behavior, either. So for the moment, she decided not to think about it.

Violet was good at a lot of things, but she excelled at denying what she didn’t want to see.

That was the funny thing about denial: you could always deny that it even existed.

Ash had thought of going to the playground totally by chance. When he’d said that he’d wanted to show Violet something, he’d honestly had no idea what he’d even meant. What was open in the middle of the night that wasn’t just another bar?

That random idea had turned into one of the best nights of his life—regardless of his skinned palm and newly bruised elbow.

“Ready?” He clambered onto the slide behind Violet and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Go!”

She squealed as they went down the slide before falling into a heap at the bottom. He laughed as she laughed, and all he wanted to do was kiss her again.

The streetlights surrounding the park provided enough illumination that he could make out her expression. She seemed relaxed for the first time that evening. Who would’ve thought he’d just needed to take her to the playground?

Getting up, he groaned a little. “I’m way too old for this,” he muttered. He limped behind Violet to make her laugh again.

“Aren’t I the old one here? Come on. You still haven’t ridden that dragon thing.”

“I distinctly remember something about you losing that bet.”

“I’ll ride one, too.”

She looked at him over her shoulder, her hair blowing in the night breeze, and it took every ounce of his self-control not to kiss her a second time.

That kiss, though. It had rocked his world. He’d had his fair share of amazing kisses, but that one had been something different. He almost didn’t want to think too much about why that was.

As they sat on their respective springy animals, Ash didn’t try to force past the silence that had fallen between them. He watched Violet instead: the way she pushed her hair over her shoulder, or how she tilted her head back to look up at the stars. In profile, she was somehow more beautiful, her nose a lovely angle that led to her pillowy lips, her right ear a whorl like a pale seashell.

“How long have you lived here?” she asked him.

“All my life, except for when I went to college. What about you?”

“I grew up in Yakima, went to UW. I was living in Bothell up until two weeks ago.”

“So that’s why I haven’t seen you around here before.”

“My mother-in-law needed help. She’d never admit it, but I knew she did.”

He blinked in surprise. Weren’t mothers-in-law always the type of people you stayed far away from? He’d never had one of his own, but considering how Trent’s mother-in-law terrified all she knew, it hadn’t seemed so much a stereotype as something that was true.

“You left everything behind for your mother-in-law?” He whistled. “I’m impressed. That’s very nice of you.”

“Martha has been like a mother to me since I first met her. She was always so lovely to me, and especially after I married her son. I got lucky.”

“What about your own mom?”

“She’s busy traveling the country with my dad in their fancy new RV.”

He laughed while at the same time envy stung him. He’d never had any kind of a mother—or father—figure in his life. His own mother had committed suicide when he’d been just a kid, and his father had died without any of his kids mourning his loss. Edward Younger had been mean, selfish, and a giant pain in the ass until his very last breath. He couldn’t imagine moving to some tiny town like Fair Haven for someone not even his blood relative.

“How did you get into accounting?” she asked.

“I didn’t know what else to major in.” At her laughter, he shrugged. “It’s true. I was always good at math, but science bored me. I needed to do something practical. I’m not a theater guy or musician or anything like that. I got my degree, messed around doing nothing for a bit until my brother hired me to do his books. My brother is annoying, but he’s a good boss.”

“You never had some dream job you wanted to do as a kid?”

His mouth twisted. “Not really. When you grow up poor and with shitty parents, your dream is mostly to get out of there as fast as you can. It’s pretty much a miracle I got into college at all.”

At her sad expression, he wanted to slap himself. Nothing like a pity party to get a woman into your bed. Good job, dumbass.

“I’m tired of talking, though.” Getting up from his dragon ride, he held out his hand to Violet. She took it this time without hesitation. “Dance with me.”

Violet bit back a smile as he led her into the grass surrounding the playground. Placing his hand on her trim waist, he allowed himself a moment of weakness to inhale her sweet scent, to feel her body against his own. They moved slowly, no music to be heard except the pounding of their hearts. When he twirled her around, she laughed breathlessly.

“Ash,” she murmured, gazing up at him. “About that kiss earlier—”

“I won’t kiss you again. Don’t worry.”

“No, I mean, don’t apologize. I’m not sorry it happened. I just haven’t done this in a long time. Not since before I met William.”

Hearing her dead husband’s name made him pull her closer, like he could keep her all to himself. What kind of person got jealous of a dead man? Apparently Ash did.

“Tonight has been lovely. I never thought I could have fun like that again,” she admitted.

“I’m glad.”

They danced in silence for a few moments longer until they stopped. Ash didn’t let her go, and to his relief, she didn’t back away. He watched her chest rise and fall, her breath puffing white in the cold air. If he were a gentleman, he’d take her home out of the cold.

But Ash had never been a gentleman, and he wasn’t about to start now.

“Violet,” he whispered. He touched her cheek. “I lied earlier.”

She blinked. “What?”

“I lied about saying I wouldn’t kiss you again. I want to kiss you again, right now, but I won’t, unless you want me to.”

She didn’t reply for so long he thought he’d messed everything up again. Then, she curled her hand around the back of his neck and brought his mouth down to hers.

The second their lips touched, it was like a match lit. The first kiss had been about discovery; this kiss was all about fanning the flames of this passion that had come out of nowhere.

He kissed her hard, wrapping her in his arms, fireworks bursting in his skull. His cock hardened again, and when he rubbed against her, she gasped into his mouth.

“Come home with me,” he said. He knew it sounded like a plea, but he didn’t care. He needed her; he wanted her so badly it was like he’d die if she didn’t say yes. “Come home with me. I’ll make it so good for you.”

Violet looked into his eyes. She caressed his jaw, and he felt that soft touch all the way to his toes.

“Come home with me,” he said one last time.

She nodded. Then, “Yes.”

It was a whisper, barely heard, but that was all he needed.