Oh, he was going to pay for that.
“Why don’t we start by going through the questions Daniel will be asking? Get you comfortable with giving the answers on camera.”
Asher nodded. His mouth was drawn tight, and his face was pinched, giving him a severe and dangerous look. But right now, what she wanted was for him to relax.
“Take a deep breath, Ash. It’s just the two of us in here. No pressure.”
“That’s n-not entirely true, is it?” His forehead crinkled right between the slashing lines of his eyebrows. “If I can’t get this right, I’m going to screw up everything for this documentary. For you and Trident. Not to mention Jackson and Knox who are depending on me to pull this off. Trust me, there’s pressure.”
Kennedy shook her head. It was hard not to notice the way Asher’s body tensed whenever his mouth mangled a word. It bothered her, how he seemed to brace for some backlash.
It made her want to wrap her arms around him and hold on tight...a very dangerous inclination considering Asher most likely wouldn’t appreciate it. In fact, he’d probably see the gesture as some indication that she thought him weak.
Men and their fragile egos. His fear and stutter didn’t make him weak. It made him human.
She liked him even more because of the imperfection.
“By the way, you were amazing with John. I don’t think he’d have had a chance if you weren’t there.”
“That’s not true. I didn’t do much, just got him to the surface.”
“Faster than anyone else could have. Were you even aware that it took the rest of us a good fifteen more minutes?”
His hands curled tighter around the edge of the desk. “No.”
“Like I said, frogman, you saved his life.”
This time, Asher simply shrugged, again trying to deflect her praise, almost as if he didn’t trust it.
Slowly, Kennedy walked across the room. He watched her, his eyes tracking her every movement. Stopping in front of him, Kennedy tipped her head back and stared into him.
“You’re a hero, Ash. You and I might not always get along, but that doesn’t mean I don’t recognize the truth.”
His only answer was a deepening frown.
This close, she could feel the heat of him, seeping straight through her skin and into her bloodstream, like some potent drug. His scent filled her lungs, adding to her intoxication.
“So, let’s talk about this stutter.”
His face pinched tight. She could see the swirl of emotions there that he really didn’t want to share—anxiety, apprehension, determination and frustration.
“What about it?”
“Have you always had it?”
His eyes flashed with a pain that was so deep and stark it nearly took her breath away, and she wasn’t even the one feeling it. She almost regretted asking the question. Almost. Because something told her whatever was behind that emotion, he needed to share and someone needed to listen.
She was happy to be that someone. Especially if it helped keep her project on track.
“No. It developed after my dad died and my mother left.”
Asher’s words lanced straight through Kennedy’s chest. They were so cool and bland. But no one experienced that kind of thing without having emotional scars left behind.
And his stutter was proof of that.
“That must have been rough.”
“The stuttering? Yeah, it was difficult not to be able to communicate with the kids at school. To panic at even the thought of being called on in class. To have the words in your brain, on your tongue, and not be able to force them out is...frightening.”
“I can imagine,” Kennedy murmured. “But I meant losing both of your parents so suddenly.”
Asher just stared at her out of those deep green eyes. If she hadn’t seen the pounding pulse just beneath his jaw or the way his fingers gripped the desk so tightly that his knuckles were turning white, she might have believed the placid exterior he was trying to present.
Even a week ago she might have bought the act. But not today.
“It sounds like your grandmother really cared about you. Wanted to help you.”
“She loved me unconditionally. The only person in my life I can really say that about.”
A lump formed in Kennedy’s throat. Nope, she wasn’t going to give in to the emotion welling inside her chest. It wasn’t helpful and would only serve to push Asher away...and she was probably close enough to that happening as it was.
“It’s obvious you don’t suffer from the stutter as much as you used to.”
“No, back then it happened almost every time I opened my mouth. Now the stutter rarely surfaces, unless I’m under extreme stress.”
“What changed?”
He shrugged, his stiff shoulders lifting and dropping. Last night he’d soothed her own tense muscles. Kennedy wished he’d let her return the kindness now, but knew he wouldn’t.
“I grew up.”
“You stopped worrying that your world was going to go spinning off its axis again?”
The corner of his mouth twisted up. “Maybe. Probably. I made the baseball team my freshman year of high school and found a group of kids I could identify with.”
No doubt he’d found people who accepted him for who he was, stutter and all. The anxiety lessened so the stutter lessened.
Which was precisely what they needed to do now.
Kennedy let a smile bloom across her face. She watched an answering one twitch at the corners of his lips. It was a start. Walking backward, she didn’t stop until she was standing right next to the camera again.
“So, why don’t we start with some background on how Trident discovered the Chimera?”
Asher’s gaze flickered to the camera at her right. She didn’t bother telling him it wasn’t turned on. She wanted him to think that it was, but she didn’t actually need the footage—definitely didn’t need any more to tempt her.
He took a deep breath, filling his already wide chest with air and holding it for several seconds before letting go.
“When I m-mentioned to Jackson and Knox that I was thinking about retiring, they both protested.”
“Why?”
The question really had nothing to do with the point of the exercise, because she didn’t imagine Daniel would really care about the answer. But she did. She’d always wondered. None of the guys talked about their time with the SEALs much. Over the years she’d tried to press Jackson for details, but had quickly learned it wasn’t a subject he liked to discuss, especially when he was home.
“Why?”
“Why was it time to move on to something else? From what Jackson and Knox have said, you were an amazing soldier.”
Asher made a quick, jerky, dismissive movement with his hand. It took Kennedy a few moments to realize she’d embarrassed him.
“We’d gotten close over the years, were lucky to have worked together since Jackson and Knox joined the SEALs. But I’m a couple years older. My body was starting to feel the effects of such a physically demanding job, and it was time for me to move on to something else...before my weakness cost someone their life. The team is only as good as the weakest link, and I refused to become that link.”
Something tight squeezed her chest. Kennedy could imagine Asher’s struggle, pitting his love and dedication for his job, and the guys who’d become like family, against the fear that he was becoming a liability to those same men. He constantly put the needs of others above his own.
She wondered who put his needs first? And as much as she wanted to say Jackson and Knox, she wasn’t entirely certain that was true. By his own admission, Asher had gone into the business his two friends wanted instead of doing whatever he’d hoped to do.
“So you started Trident because you wanted to continue diving?”
“No, we started Trident because Jackson is a hell of a salesman.”
Kennedy chuckled. “Yeah, he is, isn’t he?” When her brother wanted something, he went after it and wouldn’t take no for an answer—from anyone.
He’d been tenacious, working tirelessly to secure clients for Trident when they’d first opened. He’d taken some shitty jobs—they all had—in order to build the business.
Luckily, fate had brought him together with Loralei’s father at Lancaster Diving and Salvage. Without Loralei, Trident never would have found the Chimera. And Jackson never would have met his future wife.
Kennedy loved her soon-to-be sister-in-law. She and Jackson were perfect together.
“He told us the story of the Chimera and how the legend of it had been handed down for generations in your family.” Asher gave her another shrug. “I didn’t have anything better to do.”
Such a ringing endorsement for a lifetime of commitment. And if she hadn’t seen Asher give one hundred and ten percent to Trident over the past two years she might wonder if he was truly dedicated to their success. But she had no doubt.
Even if he hadn’t been bound to the company, it was becoming obvious that Asher would have done absolutely anything for Jackson and Knox.
“I got so tired of hearing that as my bedtime story,” Kennedy mused. “Jackson didn’t mind the hidden treasure and high seas drama, but I wanted fairy-tale princesses.”
Asher laughed. “You’re such a girl.”
Just to taunt him, Kennedy ran her hands over her breasts, hips and along the curve of her ass, tossing him a wicked grin, “And don’t you forget it.”