Green Jewel (The Painted Daisies #2) by L. J. Evans

Author:L. J. Evans [Evans, L. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798886439120
Google: L4GrzwEACAAJ
Amazon: B0BW7SCNSH
Goodreads: 123166090
Publisher: That's What She Said Publishing
Published: 2023-04-11T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Asher

WITHOUT YOU HERE

Performed by The Goo Goo Dolls

Fee’s smile was her real one, and while it didn’t take over her face like her fake one, it was glorious, lighting her up from the inside out until she shone almost more than the sunlight reflecting off the snow. Her laugh was free and unencumbered. Pure enjoyment. It knocked the wind out of him way more than the snowball she’d tossed in his face.

Fee was so fiery and bright, he expected the snow around her to just melt, give in, offer itself up as a sacrifice to the deity who was Fiadh Kane. Jay dragged himself out of the snow, looking down at the three of them, and his grin said it all. The pleasure of the day was written on all of them.

When was the last time he’d felt like this? Light? Happy? Loved…

God, that last thought hit him hard, dimming his smile, and Fee saw it.

She pulled herself away from him, looking over at Jay.

“Want to switch teams before you get your butt kicked again, Jay ol’ boy?”

Jay and Asher both chuckled, but it was Jay who said, “I’d hardly call your pathetic snowball fight a win.”

Asher got up, helping Wren to her feet. They trudged back closer to the house and made their snowpeople in front of the drawing-room windows where his dad, Jozef, and Reggie would be the contest judges from safe inside the warmth of the mansion.

Wren helped Fee enthusiastically. Asher was so enthralled by them that he wasn’t much help to Jay who was valiantly trying to make some sort of snowmonster with a dog at his side.

As they worked, Jay looked from the two women back to Asher, and a small, knowing grin stayed on his face. “She’s good with Wren. I wouldn’t have expected it.”

Asher nodded, thinking about what she’d told him. She’d been thrown out of her house when her siblings were young, but she’d been old enough to babysit, and he was sure she had. It pissed him off all over again that her father had cut her off like that. Made her choose between being herself and having her family. What kind of dick did that? What kind of father did that?

Then, he thought of his mother and the mistakes she’d made. How little she’d cared if he was happy. She’d only cared about pleasing herself. It had been selfish.

He’d called Fee selfish too, and now, watching as she danced and wiggled her butt around with his daughter and the five snowwomen they’d made, he knew the truth. She wasn’t selfish. Maybe lonely. Maybe looking for company. But whatever had made her leave the hotel yesterday morning hadn’t been for herself. Just like she’d said, she’d been doing something for her band. It stabbed at his insides. She’d said something similar the night he’d taken her home from the bar in Albany. Was she using herself as bait? Did she know more about Landry’s killer than she’d let on?

Was that who’d attacked his daughter’s room last night?

That thought completely wiped his smile away.

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