Page 22 of One Merciful Moment

She rested her cheek against his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. They stayed there at the edge of the woods, wrapped in each other, the garden behind them and the veil judging them.

Ashley had no idea what came next, but she knew one thing.

Boone needed her. She needed him.

PART TWO

Chapter 13

Boone

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Ashley, surrounded by Kallie and Jillian, laughed. Boone couldn't stop himself from watching her.

The rich, pleasant sound carried across the garden, brighter and warmer than the late afternoon sun. She stood with dirt streaked across her cheek and one knee of her jeans damp from the soil. Her head tipped back as she laughed, completely unaware of how beautiful she was.

Finn and Moe's conversation buzzed in his head. He no longer paid attention.

He crossed his arms and watched her.

Every afternoon, he put the lawnmower away and came to the edge of the garden to wait for her to finish. It wasn't because he didn't trust her around the others. Between Copper, Finn, and Moe, the men stayed away from the women now. Everstill had become a safer place than when she arrived.

They frequently used the cell inside the old police station whenever someone pushed boundaries. The others were learning to stay away from the women. That didn't mean Boone trusted anyone with Ashley.

That was the difference between him and her. Ashley could take care of herself. She stood her ground. She looked straight into the ugly parts of life without pretending they weren't there.

That's what drew him to her.

And maybe what frightened him most.

He had spent his life learning to recognize danger, anticipate it before it arrived, and stay prepared for whatever came next. He knew how to read a room, how to read a man's posture, and how to hear the difference between harmless silence and the kind that preceded trouble. He knew how to survive.

For him, reality was too real. He used to try anything to escape that survival mode.

Ashley seemed to know how to live.

She laughed again, and he glanced over despite himself. Sunlight caught the side of her face, turning the loose strands around her cheeks almost ginger. Her open, eager expression tightened his chest.

He wondered what it would take to make him laugh like that.

The thought made him scoff. That wasn't him. It had never been him. He wasn't built for easy happiness.

Too much had happened in his life. Surviving his father's murder-suicide as the only survivor in his family. Becoming one of Portland's biggest drug dealers while battling his own addiction. Hell, he'd done what he needed to do to keep himself drugged up and numbed.

Everstill unburdened him. He wasn't carefree, but living here had untangled him from the weight of everything he'd been.

But now he remembered.

Ashley glanced in his direction. He met her gaze. For a moment, Boone forgot all his current problems.

She smiled at him. It wasn't the wide, relaxed smile she'd given the others. This one was quieter, softer, more private. His pulse gave a hard, irritating kick against his throat, and he looked away.

Ashley was too good for him.

She left the others and approached him. "Are you okay?"

"Fine."