Free Settling Ashes: A New Adult/College Romance (The Ashes Series Book 2) by Diana Gardin Page A

for this, I’ll confess,” he said with severity.
    Maria gasped, grabbing her throat. “Don’t be absurd, Clay!”
    Christopher reached out and clasped Clay’s shoulder. “Calm down, son. It won’t come to that.”
    “You’re damn right it won’t come to that!” screamed Maria. “What are you thinking? You are not going to throw your future away for some little slut!”
    “Mother,” Clay said, standing again. This time, he tugged my hand with him. “I’m not going to sit here and let you talk about Paige like that. I won’t subject her to you and your abuse. You got that? Come on, Paige. We’re leaving.”
    “Wait,” I told him gently. “Just wait a minute.”
    I turned to Maria, spreading my arms wide in a sign of peace. “I can see how protective you are of your son, Mrs. Forbes. Trust me, I’m just as protective of him. I’ve been without him for the past month and it nearly killed me. I don’t plan on being apart from him again, ever. So there is no way in hell I am going to let him sacrifice himself for me. I want to help fix this, not make the problem worse.”
    Clay’s jaw was flexing tensely at my speech, but there was also awe in his expression as he met my gaze. The combination was so endearing, I needed to feel him beneath my fingers. I reached up and placed my arms around his neck, squeezing him tightly.
    “I’m not letting you go to prison for this, Clay,” I said fiercely.
    He looked at his mother over my shoulder as he hugged me tightly. “Are you happy now?”
    When I turned to look at her, she actually didn’t look happy at all. She seemed, if anything, more upset by the speech I’d just made.  Christopher, on the other hand, was beaming.
    “Lucky man, my son,” he said to Dechlan conspiratorially.
    “Immensely,” Dechlan agreed, his tone dry.
     
    Clay
    “You meant all of that stuff you said to my mom, didn’t you?” I asked Paige, back in my car again as we drove toward her apartment. I kept my hands off of her in the elevator this time, with the exception of keeping her pulled up close to my side. There were too many thoughts and emotions swirling around in my head.
    “Every word,” she affirmed.
    “I meant what I said too,” I told her.
    “I know,” she aid, her expression troubled. “That worries me. No self-sacrificing. Let’s just focus on proving your innocence. We have to find the woman who really took Hannah out of her house that night.”
    “Yeah,” I said, running a hand over my hair. “We do. You up for this?”
    “I’m up for anything that keeps you here with me,” she said simply.
    I pulled over to the shoulder, stopping the car and placing it in park. I turned to look at Paige.
    “What are you doing?” she asked curiously. “Did you forget something?”
    “Yeah,” I said. “This.”
    I leaned over the console, cradled her face in my hands, and kissed her, claiming her lips with all of the pent-up fervor I felt for her. I couldn’t wait any longer to taste her. Everything she had done, everything she had said tonight made me want her. I wanted her for loving me as fiercely as she did, and for wanting to protect me and keep me safe even though I had been unable to do that for her with Hannah.
    She kissed me back with an equal amount of need, and she sighed against my mouth as I reached under her sweater to wrap my hands around her waist and pull her onto my lap.
    She straddled me, running her hands down my shoulders and arms lightly, and I responded to her every touch with a jolt of pleasure.
    “We should go home,” she whispered, pulling back slightly to gaze down at me from her perch.
    “We should,” I agreed, my breathing ragged. “We should definitely go home.”
    Then she bent down and kissed me again, and I was lost to all reason. Her tongue trailed over my bottom lip just before she pulled it into her mouth and bit down gently with her teeth. I pressed myself against her as she sat in my lap, and groaned in frustration and