Read Touched for Free Online

serious about him has had her heart broken when he walked away.” She spoke in a rush as the music ended and the others returned to the table. “It would be a really bad idea to hook up with him.”
    My initial impression of him had been right. Lucy didn’t have to worry. I had no intention of messing with him for reasons she couldn’t understand.
    Susan overheard her last comment. “You’re talking about Asher Blackwell, right?” She didn’t wait for Lucy’s confirmation. Her eyebrows wiggled above her glasses as she grinned, and I guessed she was the gossip of the group. There always had to be one. “Hot, right?”
    Lucy’s breath hissed out, and I had the urge to laugh.
    “A talented photographer and the best center our hockey team has ever had. Lucy’s right, though,” Susan continued. “The Blackwell boys are serial daters. My older sister went out with Gabriel last year before she left for college. She was a wreck when he broke it off.”
    Greg nodded. “They lived all over the world before they moved here. They’re grotesquely wealthy. Even more than Brand’s family. Some kind of inheritance their parents left them. Lucky bastards.”
    Brandon shoved Greg. “Dude, jealousy is an ugly emotion. Just remember. You’ll always have a job cleaning my pool when you need it.”
    “Hey, man. Anything that gets me closer to your mom. You know she’s in love with me, right?”
    They started bickering, and the others joined in. Asher’s accent made sudden sense. It wasn’t American or British. Maybe some weird mix of the two, plus other places he’d lived. Exotic, like him. I glanced over at the Blackwell table, but Asher had left when I wasn’t paying attention.
    Lucy touched my arm when I rose several minutes later. Contact with her grew more familiar with each brush of her hand, but I didn’t mind.
    “Seriously, Remy. Be careful.” Her eyes flicked to the table where the Blackwells were sitting. I guessed she thought I was planning to look for Asher, and her next words confirmed my suspicion. “Asher and Gabriel bought sailboats from Dad last summer to race in the festival.” Ben ran a shipbuilding company in town, building the sailboats and racing ships used in the Sail Master’s Regatta. “They crashed them racing each other. They’re a little. . . reckless.”
    To acknowledge her concern, I nodded. She was more right than she knew. Asher, at least, was dangerous. Maybe good instincts ran in the family.
    “Is there somewhere I can go to get some air?”
    “Try the patio.”
    Following her directions, I headed to a side door that opened onto a deserted patio, sheltered from the snow by a large awning. I picked a table in the shadows, rubbing my arms to keep warm. Everyone with half a brain stayed inside, but the press of bodies exhausted me. Alone in the dark, I could relax my mental walls without fear of someone bumping into me.
    Chatter filled the night air as the door swung open again behind me, and a couple headed to a corner of the patio to smoke. They didn’t notice me in the darkness, and I closed my eyes listening to their quiet conversation and the constant roar of the ocean in the distance. There was something peaceful about this town.
    “It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?”
    The low voice rasped over my nerves. With a small sigh, I firmed my mental barricade again and looked up. Asher sat at the table next to mine. He must have been sitting there before I came on to the patio because I hadn’t heard him arrive. Up close, he was more handsome, more attractive, simply more than I remembered. The scar slashing through one brow was highlighted by his high cheekbones and the long hair swept off his forehead. The imperfection reminded me he could be bad for my health. That and the small hint of anger I glimpsed in his gaze
    His eyes lit with a challenge when he said, “I’m Asher Blackwell.”
    He introduced himself as if we’d never met. It took me a minute to realize he held a