Small Town Pretender by Brighton Walsh

If someone had told Nat a year ago that she'd be spending her Saturday nights at The Willow Tree with her sisters and their husbands—okay, and one not-quite-husband-but-might-as-well-be—after having just dropped off the two kids she was now responsible for at her parents’, she’d have thought they were high. But her life had changed in inexplicable ways over the past year—ways she wouldn’t alter for the world.

This had become their routine of sorts, as sporadic as it was, which she guessed was a routine for her all the same. If they were in town when Asher finished writing a song, they swung by The Willow Tree so he could test it out on a crowd. Havenbrook’s local bar wasn't exactly Bluebird territory, but it helped him get a feel for how people would react to it nonetheless. Finn, Drew, and Nola were all too happy to allow him to play whenever he wanted, as it usually brought in a full house.

She, Asher, and the kids had arrived back from their adventure along Route 66 a couple months ago, and while the trip had been challenging in wholly new-to-her ways, it had also been the most fun she'd had in as long as she could remember. So much so, they already had their next trip planned—this time to British Columbia in a couple months.

Despite how much Nat loved Asher, June, and Owen, she couldn’t deny there’d been a part of her that’d been worried about staying tethered to them—and to Havenbrook. But she should’ve known better. She’d been tied to Asher nearly her whole life—whether they were in the same city or not—and that hadn’t changed. The only difference now was that she wore his ring, and he wore hers.

That full-bodied warmth she got while he played hadn’t waned at all in the time they’d been together. No matter how often she’d witnessed it, she was still snared by his gaze every single time. And, just like it had at Will and Finn’s wedding, it felt like he was singing only to her. Thank God her parents had taken the kids for the night because Nat was certain she and Asher wouldn’t make it two steps in their front door before she had her hand down his pants.

She shifted in her seat, forcing herself to quell those thoughts as she leaned into Asher's side. No sense in getting worked up with her sisters surrounding her and still an hour or more before she and Asher could be alone.

“Are you nervous?” she asked.

He turned his face toward her, tipping his head down, and brushed his smiling lips across her temple, his thumb whispering over the curve of her shoulder as he rested his arm against the back of her chair. “Nah.”

“No pukin’ back stage?”

“First of all, you’re lookin’ at back stage.” He patted his guitar case that sat propped against the table. “And second, every time I play here, it's like playin’ Will and Finn's wedding.”

“What do you mean?”

He lifted a shoulder, his gaze pinning her in place and shooting heat to all her good parts. “I just play to you.”

Nat wasn't a swooner. She didn't gush. That was Will’s area—which her sister had proven all night as she’d watched, complete with a dopey smile on her face, her husband hold their five-month-old daughter, Lily, snuggled up against his chest. But still, Nat couldn’t deny Asher had a way of bringing out her heart eyes. Heart eyes she’d never known existed until he came along.

“You’re just sayin’ that in hopes of gettin’ lucky tonight,” she said.

“Correction…” He leaned forward and nipped her bottom lip before sucking it into his mouth. “I’m sayin’ that even though I know I’m gonna get lucky tonight.”

She had to force herself not to lean into him. To throw an arm around him and tug him even closer so she could get lost in his taste and his sounds. “Awfully sure of yourself, aren't you?” she said on a breath. “Maybe I won't feel like it.”

Without restraint, he threw his head back and laughed, severing their connection, and she had to fight her own lips from tugging up at the corners in response. When he met her gaze again, his eyes were dancing with amusement. “Literally every other time I've played publicly says otherwise.”

“Quit doin’ your teasing-banter-pre-sex ritual,” Mac said with an eye roll, snapping Nat out of her Asher-induced haze. Her sister sat across the table next to Hudson, their positions mirroring Nat and Asher's.

“Fuck off. We do not do that,” Nat said, attempting to put as much force in her tone as possible, because…yeah. Hadn’t she just been worried about showing too much of that around her sisters?

Rory huffed out a laugh and shook her head. “Don't pee in my rose bushes and tell me it's rainin’, Nat.”

Brow pinching, Nat shook her head as she stared at her eldest sister. “What the hell does that even mean?”

“It means y’all have a sex routine,” Nash, her former best friend, said.

“Excuse me?”

Nash lifted one shoulder, a grin curving his lips. “I thought that was kinda obvious. Y’all aren't exactly hidin’ it.”

“Oh, well then, please enlighten me.” She made a continue on gesture.

“I don't think that’s such a great idea,” Asher said into his beer before taking a sip.

“No, no. I wanna know how they think we’re…what? Engagin’ in foreplay out here?”

“Now you’re gettin’ it,” Nash said with a wink.

“That’s so not true!”

“You’re deludin’ yourself if you think you don't spend the entirety of the time Asher plays lookin’ at him like you're ready to rip off his clothes,” Mac said.

“I look at him like that all the time. Hello? Have you seen him?” She flung out a hand and gestured to her husband’s hotness. How she’d gone two decades prior to them hooking up without the desperate need to climb on and take him for a ride, she had no idea. Because God knew the urge was there every damn day now.

Asher huffed out a laugh and scrubbed a hand down his face. “You're only makin’ this worse, wifey.”

“Listen to your husband,” Mac said. “He’s clearly the brains in your little operation.”

“Fuck off,” Nat said, but her laughter diluted any heat the words conjured.

“Why do you think I’ve only let Ava and Ella here once to listen to Asher play?” Rory asked.

“I don't know…’cause you’re a mean mom?”

Rory shot her a glare. “No. Because I don't wanna scar them with seein’ their aunt’s sex eyes. Ava’s already a ball of hormones. I don’t need you encouragin’ her.”

“Y'all’re a bunch of liars, just tryin’ to get me riled up ’cause you love seein’ how much y’all can piss me off.”

“Don't believe us? Ask Will,” Rory said, tipping her chin up toward where Will was strolling back to their table, having left Finn behind the bar with Lily.

“Ask Will what?” she asked without looking up as she packed the diaper bag.

“They say I make sex eyes at Asher while he’s playin’.”

Will shrugged, still distracted as she searched the table for who knew what. “You do. That was in question?”

Everyone else at the table didn’t even try to hide their laughter, grinning into their beers as Nat leaned back and obstinately crossed her arms over her chest. “I hate y’all.”

“Hey, I didn’t even say anything,” Hudson said, holding up his hands.

“If you want any of that action tonight, you'll get on my side real quick,” Mac said.

Hudson dropped his hands immediately. “Your sister’s right. You do make sex eyes at Asher.”

“For the record, I’m not complainin’,” Asher said. “Like…at all. I just wanna make sure that’s clear.”

“I’m pretty sure none of our men would complain about us doin’ it,” Will said as she glanced over her shoulder toward where Finn stood behind the bar next to his twin, Drew, Lily cradled in Finn’s arms.

The two tall, built, tattooed men were gazing down at her, smiles on their faces as they ignored everything else around them, both of them very clearly wrapped around her tiny little fingers. And from the looks Drew was getting from the female patrons sidled up to the bar, his niece was proving to be quite the chick-magnet. Nat would bet money on him raking in double the numbers if he showed up to work wearing a baby carrier.

“I swear…” Will continued on a sigh, “I might’ve just had Lily a few months ago, but watchin’ him with her makes me ready to have another one.”

Mac lifted a shoulder. “I feel the same way every time I see Hudson fly off in a helicopter or lead a group hikin’ tour, all competent and in charge…”

“Same goes,” Hudson murmured, his eyes focused on his wife—and, yeah, they were definitely the sex eyes everyone had been accusing her of having.

“Yep.” Nash leaned back in his chair, resting it on two legs. “Every time a client gets mouthy and Rory puts ’em in their place without them havin’ a clue what's happenin’… Well, let's just say quittin’ time is usually a little earlier on those days.”

“Not if those days are you building or demoing,” Rory said, clearly having already finished two glasses of wine, her lips a little looser than she’d normally allow.

“I think it's really weird y’all just told me what makes you wanna bone your partners,” Nat said.

The group laughed, and Mac shook her head. “We were just tryin’ to make you feel like less of a pervert.”

Nat dropped her mouth open in a huff. “Are you kiddin’ me? Y’all’re the ones who’ve been cataloguing my sex eyes. If anyone’s a pervert here, it sure as hell isn’t me.”

Before anyone could retort, Finn strolled up to the table with Lily, and all the attention was suddenly on the newest addition to the Haven family—another female to continue the streak. By the grace of God, their daddy had managed to keep his mouth shut when he’d found out he’d be having yet another granddaughter, but Nat had been sitting right next to him and witnessed the red, blotchy mess of his face. She guessed it said something about how he’d grown as a person that he’d managed to bite his tongue and keep the words that were no doubt screaming in his mind at bay. Despite Lily not being the boy Richard Haven had clearly hoped for, she’d been showered with a plethora of love from the day she’d been born. She was still a tiny button of a thing, sweet as pie with a headful of dark brown hair that was disproportionate to the rest of her.

“Gimme her,” Rory said, holding her arms out toward Finn and flapping her hands as if unable to wait another second to snuggle their niece.

But Finn just turned away, cradling Lily against his chest, and narrowed his eyes on his sister-in-law. “Nice try, drunkie. If you wanna hold your niece, stay sober next time.”

“Oh, please, I’m perfectly fine!” Rory said, except as she gestured to show just how fine she was, she knocked a straw out of one of the water glasses, causing everyone to roar with laughter.

Finn simply raised an eyebrow. “Like I said.”

“I’m with my husband on this one, Rory,” Will said unapologetically.

“See if I offer to babysit next time y’all want a night out.” Rory sniffed, her mouth set in a firm line, but it melted mere seconds later. “I’m just kiddin’. I still get first dibs.”

“As long as you lay off the sauce…” Finn said. “But you can’t have first dibs. Between you and your sisters, your parents, my brother, and my momma, Lily’s got people fightin’ for her left and right.”

“As they should,” Will said in a baby voice before pressing a kiss on Lily’s forehead.

They were great parents—the two of them attentive and caring without being smothering. Nat had anticipated it from her sister, but not so much from her brother-in-law, the former bad boy. But he’d slipped effortlessly into fatherhood like Asher had. Like Nash had, too, for all intents and purposes. It was strange to see these bigger-than-life men fall under the spell of the kids they loved. Strange but entirely swoonworthy.

“You ready, Willowtree?” Finn asked, settling Lily into her car seat before buckling her in.

“Yeah.” Will smiled and zipped up the over-stuffed diaper bag. “It’s almost bedtime for her. Plus, we should get her out of here before Asher starts.”

Though Asher only ever played acoustic so the music wasn’t too loud, the crowd could get a little obnoxious on these nights. Especially when it seemed as if all of Havenbrook popped in for the show.

“Y’all headin’ out?” Nola, Finn’s close friend and the third partner of the bar, strolled up to their table, resting her hands on the back of Mac’s chair.

“As long as y’all’re okay for the night?” Finn glanced around at the crowded space, his gaze snagging on Drew who darted around behind the bar, filling orders as he laughed and talked with the patrons.

Nola rolled her eyes and pointed toward the door. “Leave. Drew and I can handle it. Plus we can always bribe Mac to hop behind the bar again, for old time’s sake.”

Mac shrugged. “If there are free drinks in it for me, I’m all yours.”

“All right then.” Finn hefted the car seat off the table before grabbing the diaper bag from Will’s hands and shouldering it with ease. Then he snapped his fingers and turned back to Nola. “Oh, hey, did that guy find you tonight?”

“What guy?” Nola asked with a pinched brow.

Finn shrugged. “No one from around here. Came in wearin’ a suit. Didn’t leave a name, but he knew yours.”

“Everyone knows my name.”

“Yeah, but the ones who live around here know not to use it.”

Ah, he must’ve meant her full legal name and not the nickname she’d gone by the entirety of the time Nat had known her. Nola was a lot like her in that way—if someone used something other than her nickname, they better have a damn good reason for it.

Nola furrowed her brow and shook her head. “I’m not expectin’ anyone. If it’s important, they’ll come back. And not use my full name if they know what’s good for ’em.”

Finn’s lips tipped up at the corners. “If he comes back, I sure as hell hope I’m here to watch you hand him his ass for usin’ it. Hopefully not tonight, ’cause we’re outta here.” He placed his hand on the small of Will’s back and guided them toward the exit.

“See y’all later,” Will said with a wave over her shoulder before focusing her attention solely on her husband and baby girl as they left.

“Well, now that the baby’s gone, guess that means I’m up,” Asher said, removing his arm from around Nat’s chair and reaching for his guitar. He leaned toward her, his lips a breath away from hers. “Think you can hold out till we get home, pervert?”

Nat narrowed her eyes, fighting the waging war inside her over desperately wanting to close the distance between them just to get a taste and wanting to teach him a lesson about teasing her. “Watch me hold out till next week.” Nat crossed her arms over her chest and tried valiantly not to melt into the kiss Asher pressed against her lips. The smile she felt curving his mouth told her she failed.

“We’ll see about that…” he murmured. “I bet you next week’s dirty diapers that you’ll be beggin’ for it within five minutes of us bein’ home.”

Without hesitation, she said, “Deal.”

Now, it didn’t matter how much she wanted him or how hot he got her while singing. Proving a point—not to mention getting out of diaper duty for a whole week—was worth more than just a night of sex.

Okay, so it was never just sex with Asher—it hadn’t ever been, and she doubted it ever would be—but she could still hold strong. Right?

* * *

Asher knewwhen he’d made the bet with Nat that he’d come out the winner. Which meant his night was pretty much made. Not only would he be out of diaper duty for the next week, but he was going to get laid tonight. And while any night he got to spend between his wife's legs was nothing short of amazing, the evenings following him playing took things to a whole new level.

Post-show, she was always ravenous for him. There wasn't any other word he could use to describe it. They usually barely got in their front door before she was on him. Hell, half the time, they didn't even make it out of the car. Which was why it was so amusing to watch her try to resist this tug she very clearly felt.

He hadn't intentionally provoked her while he'd been singing, but he also hadn't tried very hard to stop his usual inclination of seeking her out in the crowd and locking eyes with her as he poured out his heart in lyrics that were usually written about her. He didn't know if that was what got her so worked up—the fact that she knew the songs he sang were about her—or if something else had clicked on in her brain when they'd become married. Because God knew she'd seen enough of his shows in the years before that, and she certainly hadn't responded like she'd become accustomed to over the course of the past year.

He shot her a look out of the corner of his eye as he drove them home, a smirk playing on his lips. She sat in her seat, ramrod straight, her knee bouncing in a rhythm far too fast for the song currently playing on the radio. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips parted, chest rising and falling quickly with her harsh intakes of breath. And her nipples… Well, he sure as hell hadn’t missed them greeting him as soon as he’d strode back to their table at The Willow Tree. And the two little gumdrops hadn't stopped screaming hello to him for even a moment in the time since.

Reaching over, he rested his hand on her bouncing knee, and she startled, snapping her head toward him. “You all right, wifey?”

“Fine!” she said in a voice that was far too high and too loud for the confined space.

As they passed under a streetlamp, he could make out that her gaze wasn't focused on the road, or his hand, or even his eyes. She was staring directly at his mouth…fantasizing about what he could do to her with it if only she gave in? Or, maybe, remembering exactly what he'd done that morning before the kids had demanded their attention.

Just for shits and giggles, he licked his lips and watched as her breathing grew shallower. He couldn’t stop a smirk from emerging as he returned his attention back to the road. “Glad to hear it,” he said. “What’d you think of the new song?”

A new song where he'd crooned on about getting lost in the dips and curves of a woman. About swallowing her moans and finding nothing but heaven in all her secret, hidden places. So yeah, maybe he hadn't played fair with that bet, knowing full well what song he planned to debut tonight. But he couldn’t say he regretted it. He only hoped this wasn't going to bite him in the ass. Because as much as Nat got turned on during these nights, he wasn't sure her need for him could rival her stubbornness.

He pulled into their driveway, and Nat had opened her door and stepped out before he'd even managed to put the car in park. He chuckled lowly under his breath as he watched her hustle up the front walk, as if her entering the house before him would somehow make her immune to this electric charge between them.

After grabbing his guitar from the backseat, he strolled toward the front door, shaking his head when he stepped into a completely silent house. She hadn't even turned on a light before she'd made a beeline inside somewhere. And he'd place money on the fact that she was currently rushing through her bedtime routine so she could dive-bomb into their bed and feign sleep just to win by default.

He set his guitar just inside the door and locked up before he made his way farther into the house. The bathroom door was open a crack, the light spilling out into the hallway, and Asher's lips curved up at the corners. That tiny little opening was enough to tell him all he needed to know. He walked toward the bathroom and leaned against the door jamb, slowly pushing the door open with two fingers.

Nat had just finished brushing her teeth, and she immediately lifted her eyes, their gazes automatically connecting in the mirror.

He stepped up behind her and slid an arm around her waist, his hand palming her stomach while the tips of his fingers slipped into the waistband of her jeans. “Figured you’d already have these off,” he said, his face tucked into her neck as he inhaled deeply and took her scent into him.

She huffed out a forced laugh and shook her head. “Nice try. Why would I have my pants off?”

He shrugged a single shoulder. “I assumed they must be on fire with how you hauled ass out of the car. Unless you’re runnin’ from something…”

Asher had to stifle a laugh as he watched the war play out inside her. Nat didn’t run from anything, and she hated being challenged. She also hated losing. Which meant she was now stuck between a rock and a hard place—quite literally as his hardening cock was tucked up against her ass, pressing her into the vanity at her front. But at least one of those options had her coming before the end of the night, probably more than once.

He knew the moment she came to the same conclusion as he just had, because she clenched her jaw, slammed her toothbrush down on the counter, and spun around to face him.

“I hate you,” she said without any heat.

He gripped her by the hips and lifted her up on the counter before stepping in between her spread legs, guiding his hands along the outside of her thighs. “I don't believe that.”

“Well, you should. It’s the truth.”

“Sorry, wifey. Not buyin’ it. Especially when just this morning, you chanted over and over again how much you love me.”

“That doesn’t count. You had your dick in me when I did that. I'll say just about anything when that particular appendage is involved.”

“Is that right?” He stepped even closer into the cradle of her thighs, until there was no space between them, and pressed his aching erection against the seam of her jeans. “And how about now? I promise the appendage in question will be involved. So, what do you say?”

A beat of silence passed. Then two…three. And finally, she gripped his T-shirt in her fists and yanked him toward her until their lips touched. “Fine. Yes. Fuck me already.”

She didn't let him respond before she fused their mouths together, her tongue sweeping inside to slide against his. He groaned into the kiss as he palmed her ass, tugging her harder against his cock, desperate to feel every inch of her even though it’d been mere hours since he last had. That didn’t matter when it came to Nat. From the very first time they’d slept together, he’d become insatiable for her.

She wrapped her legs around his hips and hooked her ankles at the small of his back, using the leverage to rock against him and drive him out of his damn mind. He could feel the heat of her pussy even through her jeans, and he somehow grew impossibly harder at the knowledge of how aroused she was. Him singing may turn Nat on, but her reaction to it, seeing her like this—completely and utterly ravenous for him—absolutely turned him inside out.

While Nat’s sex drive was always pretty high, she became wild with need on nights like this. He was all too pleased to assist in any way he could. Plus, knowing that there was no need for any sort of discretion since the kids were staying over at her parents’ tonight only cranked him even higher.

Nat slipped her hands under his T-shirt, her nails scraping the clenched muscles of his abs, and pushed it up over his chest. She pulled back only enough to say, “Off.”

He chuckled under his breath but reached back and grabbed the neck of his shirt to remove it and toss it aside. He did the same for hers, immediately unhooking her bra as soon as the barrier of her top was no longer in the way. And then he descended on those tight little buds that had been taunting him all night, sucking one deeply into his mouth and reveling in her reaction.

Nat threaded her fingers through his hair as she tossed her head back on a moan. “God, Asher,” she said, rocking her pussy against the ridge of his cock and making him lose his goddamn mind. “I need you inside me.”

He groaned around her flesh, working the button of her jeans while he focused on getting her as hot as possible with just his mouth on her tits. “Not yet. Gotta make sure you're ready, so I can slide nice and deep.”

She breathed out a laugh and pushed him away just far enough so she could slide off the counter and shimmy out of her jeans. It wasn't even two seconds later before she hopped back up, her legs spread as all that pink glistened for him. “I'm ready.”

With fervor, she fumbled with the fly of his jeans as he slid his fingers along the inside of her thigh, groaning when his flesh met her wetness. “Fuck me, your pussy’s soaked.”

“Told you.”

“Did me singin’ get you this hot? Listenin’ and knowin’ every single word’s about you?”

“You know it does.” She shoved the front of his boxer briefs down until his cock sprang free, and she wrapped her fingers around it, gripping firmly. “You didn't play fair, knowin’ damn well what that song was gonna do to me.”

His lips kicked up on one side. “I'd tell you I'm sorry, but when this is the outcome, I can't say I have very much remorse.”

Their groans mixed in the space between them as Nat held his cock in her palm and swiped the head through her slit, flicking it back and forth against her swollen clit.

“Fuck,” he breathed, staring into the space between them as she slid his length lower and tilted her hips enough to take an inch of him inside. A growl rumbled from somewhere deep in Asher's chest as he fought the urge to plow forward. Thrust into her without restraint and fuck her until he came deep inside. But he needed to get ahold of himself. She already had him so worked up that if he didn't put a leash on his control, this was going to be over barely before it even began.

With a groan and more willpower than he thought he possessed, he pulled his hips back, slid out from inside her, and dropped to his knees, bringing his face level with her pussy.

“No,” she said, the single syllable stretched out into more like three. “I want you inside me now.”

“Shut up and let me enjoy my favorite meal.” He turned his head toward her leg, sinking his teeth into the soft flesh of her inner thigh and smiling when she yelped in response.

Then she moaned as he swiped his tongue through her slit, her hesitation and desire to have him driving deep gone in a blink. She gripped his hair, her hips lifting off the counter to rock against his face as she sought her release. He's suctioned his mouth over her, reveling in her taste and the evidence of her arousal for him. The proof that she was as desperate for him as he always was for her.

He wrapped one arm around her hips, tugging her as close to the edge of the counter as he could, while he worked two fingers of his other hand into her pussy and groaned at the ease with which they slipped inside. He flicked his tongue rapidly against her clit, knowing it wouldn’t take long until she came—not when she was this worked up.

Christ. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. Because as she squeezed her thighs tight against his ears, her back bowed, tight nipples pointed to the ceiling as she breathed, “Oh fuck, I'm comin’ already,” it only shoved him that much closer to the edge, as well. Everything in her body went taught before she broke, her pussy spasming around his fingers as she rode out her orgasm against his mouth.

She hadn't even caught her breath before he stood, pulled her off the counter, and spun her around. He curved his chest along her back as he bent her over the counter, their eyes connected in the mirror. “Love when you come in my mouth,” he said against her ear, dragging the head of his erection through her slit. “Almost as much as I love feelin’ you come on my cock. How about you gimme both tonight?”

And then he slammed into her in one fluid thrust, sinking deep all the way to the root. Nat’s mouth dropped open on a silent scream, her eyes growing hazy as she reached behind her, gripping any part of him she could while he drove them both out of their minds.

“Ash,” she breathed, her lips parted on panting breaths.

He didn't know where to look. Couldn't decide which he loved most—her upturned ass, pink pussy lips stretching around his cock as he disappeared inside her over and over again, her tits as they bounced with each thrust, or her feral eyes as she claimed him with a look that screamed mine.

In the end, it was her whispered groan, “Love you. God, I love you,” that did him in. With one hand banded around her front, he gripped one of her breasts and slid his other hand down between her thighs, strumming his calloused fingertips over the tight bud of her clit. He covered her body with his while he pumped into her, holding her back to his front as their eyes stayed locked in the mirror.

“Gimme your mouth,” he ordered, desperate to be connected to her as much as possible.

Without hesitation, she turned her head toward his, their lips meeting in a clash of teeth and tongues, of panting moans and gasps and pleas for more. His muscles were tight, his ass clenched as he tried to stave off the orgasm that was breathing down his neck, knowing she was close to detonating. He doubled his efforts against her clit, strumming even faster as he pinched her nipple between his thumb and forefinger and tugged hard enough to sting.

A choked sob fell from her lips at the same time her pussy clenched around his cock, and he finally allowed himself to let go. He thrust into her at lightning speed until he settled deep, clutching her as close to him as possible while he spilled himself inside her.

He didn’t know how long they stood there like that, bent over the bathroom vanity, their breaths ragged and bodies sticky with sweat, before Nat huffed out a laugh and dropped her forehead to rest against her wrist on the counter.

“I know, technically, I lost this bet, but it sure as hell didn’t feel like it.”

He smiled and brushed his lips over her shoulder. “I don’t know. I kind of feel like the winner here. My wife just let me fuck her over the bathroom counter in front of a mirror.”

“Well, for the record, you’ve got a green light anytime. Add it to the free rein list.”

“Noted.” He brushed her hair aside, noting the damp strands at the base of her neck as he pressed a kiss there. “You got us all sweaty.”

“Oh, I got us all sweaty, huh?” she said on a laugh.

He lifted a single shoulder. “Doesn’t matter who, just that we are.”

“And what do you propose we do about that?” she asked.

He slipped out of her body, both of them groaning at the loss, and shucked his jeans the rest of the way off. “How about a bath?”

She turned around to face him and leaned back against the vanity, one brow raised. “Are you just tryin’ to fuck me in the tub again?”

“Me?” He shook his head as he turned on the faucet, got the temperature boiling hot just like she preferred, and started filling it. “Never.”

But the look she shot him, all amusement and love, said she had his ticket and knew exactly what was going through his mind.

Never wasn’t a word they used when it came to each other.

Today. Tomorrow. Always. Those suited them better.

* * *

Thank you for reading Nat and Asher’s story! If you loved Small Town Pretender and have already read the rest of the Havenbrook series, you’ll love the Reluctant Hearts series full of more strong willed heroines and the heroes who fall head over heels for them. One-click Caged in Winter now!

* * *

Winter Jacobson has foughthard to escape the life she was born in to. She's only seventy-six days away from college graduation—and the future she's dreamed of for so long. She just has to stick to her rules: Don't lose focus. Trust no one. Hookups only—she doesn't want or need a man ruining her plans.

But then Cade Maxwell, aspiring chef and Prince Charming in-training, comes swooping in to her life. All brash exterior and marshmallow center, Cade strips away her walls as easily as he strips away her clothes. One of the best in his class, he's on the fast-track to his dream job—as long as he keeps his eye on the prize.

This close to graduation, neither of them can afford a distraction. Despite their explosive chemistry, nothing serious can develop between them. Thankfully, Winter's rules are keeping them safe.

Except Cade's not playing by her rules anymore.

One-click Caged in Winternow!

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