Near to You

By Asha King

Twenty-something divorcee Niara Morgan has moved back to her small hometown, buying a cottage on the lake where she hopes to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. In fixing the place up, her path crosses that of Brady Trewin, a friend from high school she hires to help. He’s grown up and filled out, but her difficult past keeps her from contemplating anything more than business.

Brady has loved Niara for as long as he can remember, but long ago gave up the dream of ever seeing her again when she moved after graduation. He's saved up and is planning to finally leave his small town for good, just as she steps back into his life. One touch, one feel of her lips might get her out of his system...

Although this near to her after so long, he might never want to let her go.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asha King
• Release date: Dec 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310637124

Asha King

Asha King likes good-looking men and hot books, and often strives to combine the two in contemporary, paranormal, and suspenseful romantic stories. She lives in the exotic land of Alberta, Canada, where she doesn’t ride a polar bear to work but does drink vast amounts of locally brewed beer and watches hockey. She loves connecting with readers and you can keep up to date with her online at www.AshaKing.com, where you’ll find a list of her books as well as what she’s working on and potential release dates.

Book preview

Near to You

An erotic novella by

Asha King

Also by Asha King

Now Available

Near to You

Bad Moon Rising

Somebody to Love

Wild Horses (Stirling Falls #1)

Wild Horses: Cold, Cold Winter (Stirling Falls #1.5)

Sympathy for the Devil (Stirling Falls #2)

Circle of Friends: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?

Cats in Heat (Cats & Conjure #1)

Cat Scratch Fever (Cats & Conjure #2)

Coming Soon

I Who Have Nothing

Gimme Shelter (Stirling Falls #3)

Circle of Friends: Still in Love with You

Near to You

Copyright © 2012 by Asha King

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Edited by Adrienne Jones

Cover Art © 2012 by Asha King

SMASHWORDS EDITION

All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Your support of my livelihood is appreciated.

For Aylia. You’re the wind beneath my wings.

Even though you wouldn’t let me name my hero Gary.

Chapter One

If the weeds weren’t taken care of by today, Niara Morgan was certain the lot of them would rise up in the night, arm themselves, and attack her home.

They wouldn’t need to do much, either. The house was the fixer-upper even fixer-uppers avoided. New insulation around the windows needed—new windows needed. There was a persistent leak in the upstairs bathroom. She didn’t want to think about the potential flooding in her basement with the house situated this close to the lake. If the weeds laid siege, they’d win by sunset, and too few people lived in the general area to hear her scream.

But the place was hers—all hers, paid for with the divorce settlement. And at least the weeds would be tackled today.

If her gardener ever showed up, that is.

The woman she spoke to at Red Rose Home Help Services said someone would arrive between 8:00 a.m. and 8:30. Her watch said 8:22. She’d sat on the sagging step of her front porch, sipped her coffee, and waited. The drink had long since gone cold, and watery spring sunlight crept over her house, drying dew on the grass.

She had been watching dew dry. Seriously. How boring was that?

It would just be her luck, too. Her appointment yesterday with a contractor to look at the inside of the house had postponed and she still didn’t know when he was showing up. Here only a week and already nothing was going smoothly.

Her cordless phone sat beside her, next to the empty pink coffee mug, and chirped a new call. She was expecting someone from the gardening place to cancel or make up excuses for being behind; instead, a familiar name and number flashed.

Niara sighed. Hello?

I guess he’s not yet tilling your garden if you’re answering the phone.

She rubbed at her temples. Hey, Deena.

C’mon, that one was funny.

Once again, I’m not going to sleep with the gardener.

A pause, and then genuine confusion. Why not?

Because, dear, this isn’t a porn flick.

You’re right, her best friend conceded. He might be fugly.

And also, I’m not going to have sex with a stranger.

It’s a small town, Deena said. And you grew up there. You really think that many new occupants entered the rather stagnant gene pool in the past eight years? I bet you totally know the guy.

It was far too early in the morning to be having this conversation. The only gardener I knew growing up was Mr. Tansey. He was in his fifties.

Maybe he had a son?

Gay and childless.

"It’s rather hard to live