Small Town Pretender by Brighton Walsh

“If this is an attempted kidnappin’, your methods need a little work. I’m not even tied up,” Nat said from the passenger’s seat as Asher drove them to a destination unknown.

That morning, he’d greeted her with a kiss, an orgasm, and the news that they were playing hooky from all their responsibilities today. Which meant, thanks to Rory, they were child-free for the first time in weeks. Maybe she owed her sister something a little more than a verbal beatdown…

Responsibilities were something altogether new to Nat. Of course, she paid her bills, and when she had a scheduled shoot, she made sure her ass was there on time. But that was pretty much the extent of them. Or had been since she’d run from this town.

While her little taste of Havenbrook showed that it may not have been as bad as she remembered, it was still suffocating in this town. Mostly because being here came with certain expectations. Ones her daddy had etched in stone for her from the time she was born. Havens don’t behave that way. Havens can’t be seen doing that. Dammit, Nat, why can’t you be more like your sisters?

She’d fled, not just for adventure, but to escape the expectations of being born into the family she hadn’t had a choice about. Probably why she’d made her own family with Asher and Nash. Had made her own way, too. She’d never fit in a box, and certainly not the one her daddy had made for her. She’d always been a rule breaker. Always marched to the beat of her own drum. And Richard Haven had never accepted it. Though that wasn’t exactly a surprise, since he was as pigheaded as they came.

What was surprising was that he’d come to accept her sisters just fine. Even despite Will marrying a man he’d always hated, Rory bucking all convention and rejecting his money and assistance while forging her own way with a man seven years her junior, and Mac taking his job from him. Though that hadn’t been her sister’s intent, it certainly had to sting all the same.

But still, her sisters went and had Sunday supper every week with the family, and her daddy supported them, even if it was in the twisted way he had. But her? She didn’t even get the twisted version, though she did get the promise of a more respectable job, thanks to the family connections.

“Believe me,” Asher said, “if I were gonna tie you up, we wouldn’t be leavin’ the bedroom.”

Nat’s brows flew up toward her hairline as she stared at him. Images of him doing just that bombarded her, and she shifted in her seat, her pussy tingling at the mere thought. “Sounds like a fun, childless day to me. So, why aren’t we doin’ that again?”

“Damn, wifey, are you always this insatiable?” He glanced over at her with a smile. “I think we’ve proven we don’t need Rory to take the kids for me to fuck you. I didn’t wanna waste our free day wrapped up in bed.”

“Wow,” she said, dragging out the word. “I must be doin’ something wrong, if that’s the case.”

He huffed out a humorless laugh and shook his head. “Believe me, if you do anything any more right, you wouldn’t be able to drag me out of bed in the first place.”

Nat bit her bottom lip and glanced down, hiding the grin that had crept across her mouth. A grin that shouldn’t even be there in the first place. She didn’t smile at sweet words from a man, and she certainly didn’t get giddy from them. Who was she? And what the hell was this thing that was happening between them?

It was something she’d been asking herself since the wedding, but she hadn’t come up with anything yet. And though it was scary wading through whatever this was without answers, that was how she did everything in life. Leaped without looking, consequences be damned.

“What’d Will want this mornin’ when she called?” she asked.

He reached over, interlacing their fingers, and rested their joined hands on her leg. “She was hopin’ I’d play at her wedding next weekend.”

“Yeah? You gonna do it?”

“Of course.” He glanced over at her before returning his attention back to the road, the trees whipping past on either side as he drove them to their destination. “Might play this new song I’ve been workin’ on.”

“That why you’ve been scribbling in your notebook so much and hummin’ under your breath?”

“Maybe.”

“Yeah?” she asked. “You plannin’ on lettin’ your wife hear that anytime soon?”

He flashed her a grin—one that shot straight through her insides. “If you’re lucky.”

She hummed and leaned over, scraping her teeth against the sharp cut of his jaw. “Maybe I’ll get lucky a couple times tonight, then.”

Pressing her lips to his neck, she trailed kisses along his skin, her body on fire for him even though it’d only been hours since he’d been inside her. Hours since he’d groaned her name against her ear as he’d fucked her from behind. Hours since the sound of it had sent shock waves through her.

She was half a second away from telling him to pull over, destination be damned, when recognition dawned as she registered their whereabouts. “Wait a minute.” She sat back in her seat. “We goin’ where I think we are?”

Asher slid her a glance out of the corner of his eyes, a smile tipping his lips. “Well, I couldn’t exactly get us tickets to Bora Bora. But I figured you deserved a little adventure, even if we couldn’t leave Havenbrook to find it.”

Nat grinned as the car came to a stop, her stomach flip-flopping over…everything. That he would set this up for her. For them. Plan a day that she’d love just because. One he knew, without question, she’d enjoy. But more than that, it filled up her heart that he knew she needed this day even before she knew it herself.

She unbuckled her seat belt and stared out the windshield to the banks of trees lining Havenbrook Creek. A rock ridge they used to jump off soared straight out of the swimming hole that had been practically a second home to them. Back when they were nothing but troublemaking teens, they’d come out here dozens of times, bringing their dumb asses down to the creek with none of their parents any the wiser. And one time had nearly been her last.

“You ever think about what would’ve changed if we just hadn’t come out here that day?” he asked. “Our lives might’ve turned out completely different. Hell, you might not even be here with me now.”

The mere idea of not having had this man by her side her whole life—as well as this past month—pierced her chest. SOS signal or not, they stood by each other, and no amount of rewriting history would change that.

“You know even without that promise, I’d be here for you. It’s just a word, Ash. And our friendship is held together by a hell of a lot more than that.”

He was quiet for long moments, staring at her in the silence, his gaze tracking all of her features as if he were trying to commit them to memory. “Friendship, huh?”

She cracked a grin. “Still feels weird to call it a marriage.”

“And how about last night? Did it feel weird then?”

Last night, when he’d snuck up on her while she was putting laundry in, bent her over the washing machine, and fucked her right then and there. “Are you gettin’ fresh with me?”

He hummed low in his throat, his fingers squeezing hers. “Thinkin’ about it.”

“Yeah? What else are you thinkin’ about?”

He tipped his head toward the water. “In the mood to get in a little trouble with me?”

“Always,” she answered without hesitation.

Nat wondered if the exhilaration of surviving that day here in the flash storm had sparked something in her that caused her to seek the life she’d lived, full of thrilling adventures. She’d rappelled in the Sierras de Tejeda Natural Park. Had skydived a dozen times, gone whitewater rafting, and BASE jumped a couple times, all to feel a little bit more alive.

But the funny thing was, she’d felt more alive these past few weeks with Asher and the kids than she ever had getting an adrenaline rush halfway around the world. And just what the hell did that say about her life choices?

She opened her door, not yet making a move to step out. “You didn’t think this through much ’cause I certainly don’t have a suit with me.”

Asher leaned back against the headrest, his posture lazy and relaxed. He eyed her up and down, and then a small smile curved just one side of his lips. “Who says we need swimsuits?”

Nat gasped, feigning shock, and rested her elbow on the center console, leaning closer to him. “Asher McCoy. Are you suggesting goin’ skinny-dippin’ with me? Don’t you think that’s a little forward?”

He mirrored her position, his arm brushing against hers, his breath a whisper across her lips. “I’m suggesting my wife get her cute, naked ass in the swimmin’ hole so we can have some fun. Unless you’re chicken.”

She nipped his bottom lip. “You’ve known me a long time, so you know the one surefire way to get me to do anything is to dare me to or call me a chicken. And I don’t think that’s a very fair use of your knowledge.”

“Who said I’m interested in fair? My main goal today is for you to have an adventure. And hopefully, that includes a little bit of naked time.”

“Well, I’ve only got one thing to say about that…”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

She licked a path along his lower lip, smiling as he let out a soft groan and closed his eyes. Perfect. Exactly where she wanted him.

“Beat you up there,” she said before flying out of the car and straight toward the path she remembered.

One minute, it was quiet, the area around her silent except for the thud of her feet on the dirt and her steady breaths in and out. And then, suddenly, Asher was there, directly behind her, his stride catching up far too quickly. But before she could react, before she could speed up or dodge him, she was airborne, hefted over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold as he smacked her ass hard.

“Nice try,” he said, trekking up the hill with her flopping over his shoulder. “Don’t you know your short little legs have no chance of beatin’ me in a race, wifey?”

“I hate you.” Damn if that shortness he taunted her about wasn’t her downfall now, because all she wanted to do was bite his ass hard for that comment. Since she couldn’t reach, she did the next best thing and smacked it instead. And when he still didn’t respond to that, she pinched both cheeks.

“You mind flappin’ your hands around a little bit back there? Feels like there might be a fly swarmin’ around or something. The little nuisance is buggin’ me.”

Nat huffed out an incredulous breath. “I know where you sleep, Ash. You really wanna go there with me?”

He finally set her on her feet, his hands cupping her hips to steady her as he rose to his full height before tugging off his shirt. Maintaining eye contact, he gripped the hem of hers, sliding it up and off and tossing it to the side. He traced a finger down her neck, across her collarbone, down the valley between her breasts, his gaze heavy with something she couldn’t quite name. Something that warmed her insides, an ember expanding within.

He kissed her jaw, the space just below her ear, and then lifted her up with two handfuls of her ass. Allowing her to feel exactly how much he wanted her. Reassuring her it most definitely wasn’t one-sided. “You should know by now I’d go anywhere with you.”