“I’m glad to see you have such a high opinion of me, honey,” he mocked before letting out a groan. “I swear, I’ll give you anything you want if you’ll go to the kitchen and get me a bottle of water. I’d do it myself, but I’m deathly afraid I’ll embarrass myself by throwing up if I make any sudden movements.” He peered over at her with the one eye he had open. “Are you in any better shape than I am? If not, I can call down for reinforcements. I’d personally rather beg the concierge for help than have Rosa find out we’re too hungover to get out of bed.”
Dana sat up gingerly next to him, giving her body time to adjust before she slowly inched toward the side and swung her feet over. “Here goes nothing,” she murmured.
“You’ve got this, baby,” Ash called out his encouragement. “Get us the whole bottle of Advil while you’re in there.”
Dana was proud when she managed to get to her feet. She waited for a moment until she felt steady enough to move, then inched forward. It took what seemed like an hour to make the trip into the other room and back, but she did it. When she handed Ash his drink, she thought he’d weep in gratitude. Instead, he thanked her profusely before washing down three Advil with a huge gulp of liquid. When Dana had done the same, they both flopped backward, worn out by the small amount of activity. “I’m off alcohol.” She shuddered. “My mouth feels like it’s stuffed with cotton and my whole body hurts. Did I fall at any point?”
“I have no idea,” Ash muttered. “We probably both wiped out at least a few times. I even think I remember one of the security guards putting me to bed. I hope like hell that didn’t actually happen. Especially since I’m only wearing boxers.”
“If we were both that out of it, how did I end up wearing your shirt? I seem to recall Marcus picking us up at some point. Surely he wouldn’t have changed my clothes for me.”
“I’d kick his ass,” Ash snapped. “I’m guessing that one of us managed to do it because I can assure you that Marcus knows better.”
“That’s good.” Dana yawned and moved over to rest her head against Ash’s chest. They were both dozing when the sound of a door slamming shut had them grabbing their heads and cursing.
“Who in the hell is that?” Ash hissed. “Too damn many people come and go from my apartment. No one knocks anymore. I need to change my fucking locks.”
“Well, lookie what the cat dragged in,” drawled an amused voice. “You two look like shit and you don’t smell much better. I thought I was coming to clean the apartment today, but it appears you need to get hosed down first. I swear, I’m getting drunk from inhaling the fumes in this room.”
Dana peeked over to see Rosa outright laughing at them. “Where were you five minutes ago when I had to crawl to the kitchen?” Dana choked out. “And why would you put the Advil in such a high cabinet? I had to stand on a chair to reach it. I almost broke my neck.”
“Take that up with your boyfriend,” the older lady advised. “He needs to make the area height accessible for his lady love.”
“Sorry ’bout that, baby.” Ash patted her back. “I’ll take care of it as soon as I’m off my death bed. That could be a few days though.”
Rosa put her hands on her hips as she surveyed the room. “I’m not going to find any other people here in various stages of undress, am I? If this was some kind of swingers event, I’d appreciate a warning. I’m no prude and I got nothing against a little nudity, especially if it’s a male. But if there’s any crazy fornicating going on, then that’s different.”
Dana couldn’t help it; she started to giggle at the same time that Ash’s chest began to shake. “I’m not running a sex club,” he managed to say. “If you see that going on, then you should call the cops because I might have accidentally invited someone in last night.”
“Or it could be my stripper,” Dana added. “At one point I may have asked the cowboy if he wanted to come back to my place while I wrote him a check.”
“I can’t wait to share all of this with Dylan.” Ash grinned. “Knowing his sweet wife was being bad will drive him crazy. This may be your last girls’ night for a while. I hope you made the most of it.”
“Don’t you worry about it, sweetie,” Rosa huffed out. “I’ll be happy to fill in for Zoe if it comes to that. Ted wouldn’t mind me having a little fun.”
Dana dug a finger into Ash’s side until she heard him groan before she smiled brightly at Rosa. “I’m sure we’d have a blast. Let’s definitely plan that soon. Hey, maybe Ash could invite Ted over and keep him company that evening. Then no one gets left out.”
“That’s a brilliant idea,” Rosa said excitedly. “Ted would love watching a movie on that big-screen television you’ve got.”
When Rosa stepped out of the bedroom, Dana turned to smirk at Ash, but he’d beaten her to it. “Oh, baby, you tried to screw me over, but this round goes to me. Good old Ted has quite the stash of medical marijuana. So while I’m over here burning one with him, you’ll be watching Rosa slap some stripper’s ass. You rolled the dice, my love, but you lost the game. Too bad, I was really rooting for you.”
Dana rolled over and put her back to him before tossing out over her shoulder, “When I’m feeling human again, you will not be getting sex. So you should become well acquainted with your hand now. You set me up for the fall, and it’s either blue balls for you, or barbequing alone.”
“You realize that to make me suffer, you’ll also be depriving yourself.”
“I hate you,” Dana hissed. “You always have the last word.”
“Oh, pookie,” Ash cooed as he pulled her against his chest. “There’s no need to sulk. You and I both know I can’t hold out. And Rosa will likely never take the bonding experience that far, so I figure you’re home free.”
Dana wrinkled her nose. “You reek of cigarette smoke. Maybe you could crawl to the shower and hose off.”
“You’ve smelled better as well, baby,” he replied, not sounding in the least offended. “At this point, we’re going to have to hope we cancel each other out until we’re able to do something about it.”
Dana snuggled farther into the covers and promptly began drifting off. She had no idea how much time had passed when she jerked awake to find Ash’s side of the bed empty. She rolled to her back and listened for a moment. The water was running in the shower so he’d obviously made it out of bed. She felt much more human herself, even though she was still a bit tired. There was no way she could be the smelly one if he was clean, so she decided to join him. The thick layer of steam in the bathroom indicated that he’d been in there for a while. “Room for one more?” she asked as she opened the glass door to find him leaning against the wall with his eyes closed and water cascading over his hard body. Her mouth went dry as she stood there admiring the intensely hot picture that he made.
“Stop objectifying me.” He smirked without looking at her. Dammit, how did he know?
“Then put that thing away,” she retorted as she pointed toward his rapidly hardening dick.
“Oh, I’d love to,” he purred. “If you’ll be so kind as to get on your knees and open wide.” She wanted to make a smart comment; truly she did. But almost as if she had no control over her movements, she found herself doing exactly as he’d suggested. She was at his feet, with her hands braced on his thighs, waiting to see what he’d do. His eyes were heavy lidded as he reached out to cup her cheek. “Take me in,” he murmured, then hissed when she licked her lips before licking the tip of his cock. She teased him, making small circles around the head until he was gritting his teeth in frustration. Then without warning, she sucked him fully inside until he hit the back of her throat. “Fuck yeah,” he moaned as she used her hand and mouth to cover every inch of his hard length. It gave her a heady sense of power as his body shook with the force of his desire. As she relaxed her throat, taking him deeper, he shouted out his release as he came on her tongue.
Dana lea
ned back onto her heels, marveling at how beautiful he looked with his face flushed and his body trembling. Mine, she thought to herself and didn’t bother to remind herself that it was impossible. Because in that moment, he did belong to her and she was certain that they both knew it. The question now was, where did things go from here? She was so far in over her head that she hadn’t a clue how to handle the situation. The only thing she did know was that she was in love with Asher Jackson, and regardless of what he’d told Rhett, he had feelings for her as well. Was she brave enough to put herself out there in the face of the possibility that he’d never be able to admit that they meant more to each other than just sex? She needed to make a decision once and for all because this emotional roller coaster was driving her mad. He may well panic and run, but what if he didn’t?
Was there any chance at all of having the fairy-tale romance that she’d always scoffed at and pretended she didn’t want? Or would their relationship go down in flames as he moved on to another no-strings fling like Brittany?
Sixteen
Ash couldn’t remember ever feeling this nervous before. He was taking Dana out on an official date tonight. It was not as if they didn’t do couple things, but he’d never actually asked her out on a date. A fact that he’d changed that afternoon when he’d walked down to the coffee shop with sweating palms and a wildly beating heart to extend the invitation. It wasn’t the planned meal that made him nervous though. It was the declaration that he planned to make at some point. For he, Asher Jackson, was once again going to say those three little words to a woman and hope like hell he fared better the second time than he had the first time.
To say that Dana had been surprised when he’d made a bumbling mess of his carefully planned speech earlier would be an understatement. Zoe had been forced to elbow her to bring her out of the stupor she’d been in. But she’d nodded yes to his date invitation, which was good enough for him. He’d kissed her quickly and all but ran before she backed out.
The plan was that she’d go home after work to get ready and Ash would pick her up from there. He probably shouldn’t have let her out of his sight, but he had to trust her at some point. He’d come home early to shower and change. So now he had time to kill as he paced his apartment in a suit. “You look like hell,” Rosa declared as she clucked her tongue. “Are you going to pop the question?”
“What? No!” Ash assured her quickly. “We’re simply having an evening out. And I might possibly tell her that I love her, and God willing, she’ll say it back to me.”
Rosa perched on the arm of a nearby chair. “Any idea if that’s gonna happen? I mean, she seems to like you well enough. But you’ve been a little lazy in the romance department, so it’s hard to say.”
He couldn’t even argue with her. He hadn’t exactly been wining and dining Dana. Beer, pizza, and Netflix were about as close as they’d come to that. Oh, and dinners at his mother’s house. He didn’t think that counted as a positive though. He did buy her a bag of those Cadbury eggs that she loved for Easter. I suck at this. I’m a failure. All this time he’d been blaming Fiona for their relationship falling apart, when it was more than likely him. If he’d been this lazy and unimaginative back then, no wonder she tried to hedge her bets and have the best of both worlds. Ash looked at Rosa in a panic. “I’m screwed,” he whispered. “How could you have let me mess this up so badly? You’re a woman; shouldn’t you have been making suggestions?”
“Hey, don’t blame it on me,” Rosa muttered. “I’m married to a man who doesn’t write any message in my birthday and anniversary cards because he thinks I won’t notice that he recycles them every five years or so. Plus, let’s don’t forget that I make sure she eats. If I left that up to you, she’d be trying to choke down dry cereal for every meal.”
“You’ve got a small point,” he reluctantly agreed. “You’re definitely an added bonus. It’s probably why she’s still with me. I should cancel this whole thing and retreat. We’ve got a good thing going. What if this makes her reconsider?”
He was already tugging at his tie when Rosa got to her feet and held a hand up. “When did you turn into such a wimp? Where’s that swagger that I’m used to seeing? Hell, if you go out there looking like a whipped dog, you’re doomed to failure. You need to grow a pair and try to act confident. Don’t go all chicken shit now or you will lose her.”
Staring at the floor for a moment, he said, “There’s no going back, is there? If I love her, then I need to take this to the next level. She deserves that.”
“Indeed she does,” Rosa agreed. “Now get out of here before you freak out again. I swear, you don’t pay me enough to hold your hand like this. I’m your maid, not your mommy.”
Ash chuckled, knowing her words held no malice. She was attempting to lighten the mood in the only way she knew how. Picking on each other had always been the main dynamic of their relationship, and he took comfort in the familiarity of it now. “You’re overpaid and you know it,” he scoffed. “Your last batch of lasagna was dry and tasteless. I could save a lot of money and eat better if I stocked a bunch of frozen meals. It would be nice to have someone who was actually familiar with a mop and a broom as well. There are cobwebs the size of a Buick rolling around under my bed.”
She snorted, putting her hands on her hips. “Those are old condom wrappers from your man-whore days with those bargain-basement floozies. I hope you’ve kept up to date on those STD checks. That would be one sure way to scare Dana off.”
Ash grinned as he moved past her, then stopped at the last moment and pulled her into a hug. She froze, unused to displays of affection from him, before she briefly patted his back. She cleared her throat, then pushed him away. He didn’t say anything else because he figured they were both embarrassingly tongue-tied. But his world felt centered once again, and the panic he’d been experiencing had settled. Even if things didn’t go as he’d planned tonight, at least he could say that he’d put himself out there again . . . and in the end, wasn’t that all anyone could do?
Dana stood before Zoe in yet another dress, waiting to see if her friend thought this one was better than the last dozen or so she’d tried on. After Ash had stopped by the shop and asked her out on their first official date, she’d almost passed out. Zoe had called in one of the other girls to cover for them and they’d rushed to Dana’s apartment for an emergency planning session. When Zoe wrinkled her nose once again, Dana groaned. “I knew we should have gone shopping on the way home. Or I could have borrowed something from you if you weren’t so freakishly tall.”
“That one looks fine,” Zoe said, shrugging, “but it’s still not what I had in mind. It’s boring and black. We need a pop of color here. He’s already seen you in that one as well. Don’t you have anything else?”
Dana shook her head before it hit her. “Oh my God, I bought a green Michael Kors dress on clearance last year and I’ve never worn it because it was too dressy. Crap, where is it?” she muttered as she ran back into her closet and began pulling hangers frantically out of the way in her haste for what she hoped was buried treasure. She was almost ready to admit defeat when she felt the slinky material brush against her fingertips. She held it up in the air, waving it around as she bounced on her feet in excitement. “Here it is! Please let this be it because otherwise we have just enough time left to make a Walmart run.”
“I love the color,” Zoe said in excitement. “Oh my God, this is going to be perfect. Why in the world didn’t we start with this one?”
Dana rolled her eyes, but her friend’s enthusiasm was contagious. She discarded the last outfit and stepped into the dress. It slithered down the length of her body, fitting her like a second skin. She knew before Zoe opened her mouth that they’d found the winner. “Please say this looks as good as it feels,” she begged.
Zoe jumped up and down, doing some strange cheer. “Heck yeah. You look like a sexy fairy princess. There’s no way we could have
picked anything better suited to you. Ash is going to swallow his tongue and probably yours as well before the evening is over.”
“What if he breaks up with me?” Dana asked, fidgeting nervously.
Zoe shook her head. “There’s no way he’d go to all of this trouble to dump you. Men don’t operate that way. He’d send you a text or start avoiding you. I think this is it. He’s going to tell you how he feels.”
“But I was supposed to do that first,” Dana mumbled as she began applying makeup. “You know I’d already decided to take the leap. But nooo, he had to go and beat me to it. He’s so competitive.”
Zoe giggled. “Are you actually sulking about the possibility of the man saying that he loves you? You both deserve each other in that case because you’re completely irrational when it comes to affairs of the heart.”
“Well, it’s not like I know what I’m doing here,” Dana snapped. “I’ve never felt like this before. Is there some book you’re supposed to read or steps that have to be followed? Crap, do I lose points if I say the wrong thing when the time comes? What if I have food stuck between my teeth, and for the rest of our lives, that’s all he remembers?”
“Oh brother,” Zoe groaned. “He screwed up by giving you advance notice. Was I this bad when Dylan and I were first together?”
“Honey, you were a virgin,” Dana pointed out. “That’s in a league all of its own. You did do and say a lot of whacked things though. And Dylan wasn’t much better. You’d still be dressing like his golf buddy if not for me stepping in and showing you the error of your ways. It was all over for him the first time he saw you in a dress and figured out that you had legs and tits.”
“That was fun.” Zoe smiled softly. “He was eating antacids like candy that night. I was afraid he was having a heart attack.”
“Ash already knows I have the right body parts, so there’s not going to be any surprises there.”
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