Rogue's Passion(22)

At Asher’s direction, she drove the car around the side of a large, nondescript metal building. Several nice motorcycles—Harleys, she thought—were parked near the back entrance next to a tricked-out black muscle car, an old Honda sedan, and a dented Dodge Charger. At the loading dock on the far end, a forklift was unloading a pallet of boxes from a large container truck. She could hear the beep beep beep through the rolled-up windows.
They must do a lot of business to have a night crew, she thought, yawning.
Given that it was after three in the morning, the events of the day had finally caught up to her. She couldn’t wait to tumble into bed, but that was another hour away still. Asher was going to see if one of the guys here could take her to a nearby motel. It’d be much simpler if she healed him the rest of the way, then he could take her himself. She tried telling him that using her Talent on him earlier had taken much less out of her than normal, but he wouldn’t have it.
“This place must do a lot of business to run a twenty-four-hour shop.”
Asher nodded. “Yeah, Rand does pretty well.”
A man came through the unmarked steel door with a bag of trash. He stared at them, an unwelcoming scowl plastered to his face, as he tossed the bag into the green Dumpster. Without an acknowledgement, he turned and re-entered the building.
“Is that him?” she asked warily.
“Who?”
“Rand.”
Asher shook his head. “No, that’s his cousin James.”
“Is he the one you think will give me a ride?” She certainly hoped not—she hated grumpy people—but she wanted to know now in order to get into the right frame of mind. If so, she’d listen to music and tune him out completely.
“Him?” His laugh was harsh and humorless. “I wouldn’t let him near you.”
Let him? A little thrill ran unbidden down her spine. As a rule, she didn’t like domineering and controlling men. And yet, although she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, she liked the idea that Asher was looking out for her.
“You wouldn’t? Why not?”
“Hell, no. He’s a scary sonofabitch.”
That piqued her interest. It wasn’t that she was necessarily curious about James, but she wanted to know why Asher felt that way about the guy. One’s weaknesses and fears often told you more about a person than their strengths.
“The army fucked with his head. I don’t trust him around you.”
There was that protectiveness again. She exhaled slowly to keep this man from getting a hold on her.
“What did they do to him?” Had Vince been screwed up like this, too? Could that be why they hadn’t heard from him? No. She quickly shut down that glimmer of home. They hadn’t heard from him because he was most likely dead.
Asher pressed his lips into a hard line. “Won’t talk about it and we don’t ask. Just stay clear of him.” He groaned as he reached for the door handle.
“Here,” she said, climbing out of the car, “let me help you with that.” She jogged around to the passenger side. Half expecting him to decline any aid, she was pleasantly surprised when he let her help him. She could easily push some of her healing energy into him right now, but since he’d refused earlier, she didn’t want to force it on him without his permission.#p#分页标题#e#
“Holy Fates,” he grumbled. “Is every muscle tied to my ribs?”
“Not every muscle.” The moment the words left her mouth, she realized how suggestive that sounded, and her cheeks heated. She tried her best to cover up the gaffe. “Remember that old song?” She hummed a few bars, then glanced up to get his reaction. He had a strange, almost confused expression. “What? I take it you’ve never heard it before.”
“Can’t say that I have.” He shut the car door behind him.
“The point is that everything in our bodies is connected. Broken ribs are really painful, but if you’d let me heal you further—”
“No,” he growled.
“Why not? Back in the city you were going to force me to heal you. Why have you suddenly changed your mind?”
With his good hand, he reached out and lifted her chin, and whatever she was going to say slipped from her mind.
Her heart raced, her breath caught in her throat, and her vision narrowed until it was only the two of them in the entire world. She was ready to throw out her self-imposed moratorium on bad boys and let him kiss the hell out of her.
But instead of a smoldering expression, heavy with promise, Asher just looked pissed. Almost dangerous. Eyes blazing with anger, nostrils slightly flared, he glared at her. “I don’t want this, Olivia.”