“I didn’t tell her anything about you,” Rocky said. Fucking Felix.
Asher’s smile faltered. “Of course you didn’t.”
Marla held out her arms for Betty, and Asher carefully transferred the wiggling dog to her mama. “I don’t think you’re entirely blameless here, Big Guns. I’ve known Pretty Boy for nearly a year, and we’re just now meeting. Do better by my boy.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Marla’s loyalty soothed the panic rising inside Rocky but didn’t squelch it.
She smiled at Rocky. “Walk a lady out, won’t you?”
“You’re leaving so soon? I didn’t get a chance to tell you about my shitty day.” Marla’s presence was a much-needed buffer. Without it, he’d…Rocky wasn’t sure what the hell he was going to say or do.
“I have people to see and places to go, and I need to get Amos’s Cadillac back before he wakes up from his nap and sees it missing.” She faced Asher once again. “It was lovely meeting you. I hope to see you again real soon.”
“The pleasure is all mine, ma’am,” Asher said.
Marla looped her arm through Rocky’s, and together, they walked back inside the house. As soon as he shut the sliding glass door, she leaned into him and said, “I think the pleasure is about to be all yours. Lord, I bet he’s going to pound you like a cube steak. You’ll be just as tender afterward too.”
“Marla!”
“Listen to you, sounding like a virgin on their wedding day.”
Rocky laughed. “No one saves themselves for marriage anymore. Are you on a regency romance kick again?”
“Perhaps.” Marla batted her fake eyelashes at him. “At least tell Mama one thing.”
“Maybe,” Rocky replied noncommittally, earning a tsk and a playful slap on the arm.
“How’d the two of you meet?”
“Felix didn’t tell you that?”
“Only because his smart ass didn’t know,” she quipped.
Rocky grinned, despite his annoyance and frustration. No matter what happened, he’d never regret the night his eyes had landed on Asher Dunleavy for the first time. “A nineteen-year-old woman met a guy online and ran off with him. Her parents had been able to trace her as far as Vegas before her trail went cold. They hired me, and I found her within twenty-four hours.”
“Alive?” Marla asked nervously.
“Yes, but her new boyfriend was the worst kind of human being. I’m pretty sure he peddled everything from stolen laptops to humans. I had no doubt my client’s daughter would disappear for good once he grew tired of her.”
“Oh, that’s awful, baby. What did you do?”
“I knew I had to build a case to show the authorities, but unbeknownst to me, this loser was already on their radar. I ended up being near the scene when the FBI and the marshals executed their arrest warrants and liberated the girl in the process. I got so caught up in watching the scene play out through my binoculars that I’d somehow missed the mountain of a man approaching my car.”
“Mountain is right. Get to the good part.”
“Saving the girl was the good part.”
Marla rolled her eyes. “Get to the dirty part. Did you invite him into your back seat?”
Rocky chuckled. “All I saw at first was his torso. Then he leaned down to make eye contact, and I nearly swallowed my tongue. The red and blue flashing lights from the emergency vehicles accentuated his high cheekbones and square jaw.”
“Nearly came in your pants, didn’t you?”
“I was rendered speechless. All I could do was think about how badly I wanted the deputy marshal to take me home and pin me to the bed.” Rocky smiled at Marla. “You’ve seen those thighs, right?”
“Hard to miss.”
“Anyway, I recovered my ability to think and speak enough for Asher to interview me. I went home alone afterward.”
“Without getting his phone number?”
“Asher was very rigid and borderline hostile. I just assumed he was straight.”
“Until…”
“He showed up at my door a few hours later.” The memory had Rocky’s heart knocking against his rib cage.
Marla laughed. “He wasn’t there to ask you follow-up questions, was he?”
“Nope.” Rocky grinned. “Apparently, I’d spoken my initial thoughts out loud. Asher showed up to pin me to the bed.” Boy, had he ever.
“I’m dying to know more, but a deal is a deal.” She leaned forward and kissed Rocky’s cheek. “Come on, Miss Thing. We’re going to stop at the grocery store because I have a sudden craving for Swiss steak.” She blew Rocky an air kiss, then headed out the door. “I love you, Pretty Boy.”
“Love you too.”
He waved as she drove away and cringed when she nearly sideswiped a parked car. Once back inside his house, he leaned against the closed door for a moment to pull himself together. As beautiful as Marla looked and as vivacious as she seemed, there was a frailness about her, reminding Rocky that their time together was limited.
Tears welled behind his closed eyelids, and he willed them away. He promised not to mourn her while she was still living, and it was a vow he planned to keep.
Vow. The sobering thought reminded Rocky of the gorgeous hulk of a man on his deck. He could get in his car and drive away, but Rocky wasn’t the type to live off the grid. Asher would easily track him down. And besides, he loved the life he was rebuilding in Savannah. Running wasn’t an option, and he couldn’t hide in the house forever, so Rocky squared his shoulders and headed outside.
Maybe the therapy stuff was starting to kick in.
Asher wasn’t where Rocky had left him, but his giant duffel bag marked the spot where he should’ve been. He saw Asher standing at the fence, chatting with Cal, who’d decided to take a break from mowing. Rocky softly groaned when Cal looked over at him and waved excitedly.
“I never knew you had a husband,” the elderly man yelled out. “Why didn’t you say so? You’ve known me all your life. Did you think I’m one of those bigots?” Before Rocky could answer, Cal looked back at Asher. “Where the hell have you been all this time?”
“We’re getting divorced,” Rocky announced as he joined the two men at the fence.
“Ah, that explains all the men parading in and out of his house lately.” Cal might not be a bigot, but he sure as hell was a blabbermouth.
Asher looked over at him with a quirked brow, and Rocky rolled his eyes.
“Those are just my friends, Cal, and there haven’t been a ton.”
Cal’s wife poked her head out the back door. “Dinner’s ready, Cal.” She spotted Asher, then said, “Oh, hello.”
“Hi, I’m Asher.”
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Elaine.”
“Did you know Rocky was married?” Cal asked his wife.
“No, but I mind my own business, dear. Come on in and eat while the food is still hot.” She popped back inside the house and shut the door.
“Well, I best get going. It’s meatloaf night.”
Asher chuckled. “It was nice meeting you, Cal.”