"Well, for one …" Quinn says. I turn to look back at him, bringing the hot coffee to my lips. "I own this." He puts his hands on his hips. You can tell from his eyes that he hasn’t slept yet.
When we were growing up, he always had this need to help and nurture, so it was no surprise when he decided to open his own equine therapy farm. I thought he would do well. What I wasn’t expecting was for him to open seven of them. When he opened the first one, he asked me to help him with the paperwork. It was supposed to be for a month until he got up and running. Once that month was over, he asked me to stay on for a couple of months. Needless to say, five years later, I’m still here, and I love every minute of it.
"Okay, so you own this place. It doesn’t mean you can’t take a day off," Willow says from beside him. "You didn’t even sleep." She looks up at him.
"I’ll sleep tonight," he tells her and kisses her lips. "There is work to do, and I’ll just go crazy sitting at home."
"How bad is it?" I ask. When I left my grandmother’s house at midnight, they were still out there.
"The fire is out," he says, huffing out. "But the barn is ashes. There is nothing left of it."
“That is crazy,” I say, shaking my head and taking another long gulp of coffee and feeling the burn all the way down. My mind spins now, and I want to ask about Asher, but the last thing I want anyone to think is that I have a thing for him. We work together, and even though we flirt, we always do it when no one is around.
"Whatever it is, we are going to make it better," Quinn says. "From now on, we have two other barns that are going to be the headquarters." I nod and look at him.
"I’m assuming Asher is taking the day off," I say. He just looks at me, and we hear the gravel outside crunch.
"I’m going to take that as a no." Willow shakes her head and turns to walk back into her horse's stall. My eyes go to the barn door, and I watch Asher walk in.
He walks with his head down, not expecting us to be here. He stops walking when he feels eyes on him. "Hey," he says softly. "I didn’t know anyone would be here so early." He’s wearing the same clothes as yesterday, and you can smell the smoke on him. I swallow down the lump starting to grow in my throat as I think of him alone all night long with no one to hold his hand.
"What are you doing here?" Quinn says, and Asher shrugs. "Did you even sleep?"
"Nah," he says, coming to the coffee machine. I move aside so he can get his coffee. "Need a refill?" he asks me softly with the coffee pot still in his hand. I shake my head, and he puts the pot back and takes a deep gulp of coffee. I look over at him as he leans back on the counter next to me. I would normally go to my office now, but the need to stay beside him is strong.
"I thought I heard my father tell you that if you came in today, you would be fired," Quinn says, and I laugh and roll my eyes. My uncle Casey has fired me at least once a week for working longer than I should.
"Well, I’ll make sure to stay clear of him," Asher says, and I throw my head back and laugh.
“You know he gets live videos from the farms, right?” Quinn tells him, and Asher just looks at him, not at all bothered by this news. “You haven’t even taken a shower,” Quinn points out to him.
"I can attest to that," I say, and Asher looks over at me and glares. His brown eyes look almost black. The redness of his eyes is also very apparent. "You stink."
"I have a bag of clothes," Quinn says, "that Willow packed for you. It’s in the office. Go to my house and take a shower."
"I’m not going to your house," Asher says, shaking his head. "I’m not going to intrude like that."
"Then take my keys," I say the words before I can stop them. "You can stay with me. I live alone and have two spare bedrooms." Fuck, fuck, fuck, my head thinks when I hear the words that have just come out of them. It’s one thing to be friendly and everything at work, but it’s another thing to have him under my roof. I mean, it’s not like I’m home often. Between here and the bar, I only go home to sleep.