Stud Muffin (Donner Bakery #2) - Jiffy Kate Page 0,38

at a local coffee shop, sneakily judge their muffin choices—deciding they’re nowhere near as good as mine—and enjoy a few more moments of the anonymity before heading back to Green Valley.

An hour later, as I turn down my street, a familiar truck in my driveway catches my eye and I nearly stop in the middle of the road. Creeping the rest of the way, I slowly turn in and feel my heart begin to race as I put the truck into park and turn off the ignition.

Asher is standing in the driveway, leaning against the side of his own truck. I haven’t seen my old truck since the day I drove it into the pond. I’m assuming he did as he said he was going to and sold it.

Deep breaths, Tempest.

You didn’t need that truck. It was just a mode of transportation. And you have another one to drive until you can buy your own… in your name… one no one can take back.

“Tempest,” Asher greets when I step out of the truck.

“Asher,” I reply, trying to keep my voice as even and calm as possible. I want to ask him what he’s doing here… and tell him to leave… and make some snide comment about his nuptials, but instead, I try something new and hold my tongue.

It’s strange, seeing him like this. The last time we were actually face-to-face, just the two of us, was the night before I walked in on him and Mindy. Since then, we’ve always had a window or a person between us… someone or something acting as a buffer. I’ll give it to him, this is actually a pretty ballsy move, something totally un-Asher-like. He’s normally a play-it-safe kind of guy… well, until he decided to have an affair.

I guess he’s been doing a lot of un-Asher-like things lately, or maybe I didn’t know him to begin with?

What does he want?

Why is he here?

Those questions are on the tip of my tongue, before he finally speaks.

“Did the realtor show up today?” he asks, and I breathe a little easier. Of course he wants to know about the realtor and the sale of the house. He seems overly anxious to be done with us… everything that was ours… me.

“She did,” I tell him, swallowing down the edge of emotion, the bitter taste of anger on the tip of my tongue. Keep it together, Tempest. “She already has a few people who are interested.”

He nods, his eyes down, focused on the driveway at his feet. “Good.”

“Yeah,” I agree. Good.

Good.

I’m sure you need your portion of the sale to fund your second honeymoon or something.

Internally, I roll my eyes, but manage to keep my calm facade.

“Who is your plus one?” he asks and for a second I stop breathing.

Are you kidding me?

“What?” he asks, his eyes snapping up to meet mine, and that’s the moment I realize I said that one out loud.

“You don’t get to ask me that,” I inform him, feeling my spine straighten and my heart pound in my chest. “You don’t get to know anything about me.” Deep breaths. “Outside of this house selling, we’re done… over.”

I don’t miss the minute squint of his eyes. He doesn’t like me denying him this information. Asher’s never been good at handling being told no.

“I hear congratulations are in order,” I add, walking past him to the front door. As I pass him, I notice him stiffen. Maybe he thought I wasn’t privy to that bit of information. Before I walk into the house, I add, “I hope the two of you will be very happy.”

Chapter 10

Cage

I’ve been giving myself a talk all morning.

Actually, I take that back. I’ve been giving myself a talk since the day, excuse me, night, Tempest Cassidy walked into my life.

Friends.

I don’t have many of them, not just in Green Valley, but in life period.

Tempest needs a friend.

I need a friend.

So, we’ll be friends. I can do that. I can ignore my crazy, ridiculous, instant attraction to her and be what she needs. Starting today, I’m going to teach her how to kickbox. And what she doesn’t know is that this isn’t just for her. I need this too.

Looking around the downstairs, I smile to myself. Where there was once stark, white walls and gray concrete floors, blue mats now cover a large portion of the floor and half of the walls are covered in mirrors. Not to mention the two bags that are hanging from the steel beams. I plan