by Ari Thatcher
The guy’s breath reeked of alcohol when he took Bree in a one-armed hug. “I want a turn, that’s all. She was really hot last night but I didn’t get a shot at her.”
Greg broke through the dancers surrounding them. “What’s up, guys? It’s getting a little loud.”
Taking Bree’s hand, Ash pulled her from the friend’s side. “Nothing, man. We need to hit the road before the next storm arrives.” He held out his hand.
Greg shook it, slapping him on the shoulder. “You’re not going to stick around for the garter toss?”
“Nah. Leave that for the guys who need all the help they can get.”
“Okay. Well, drive safely.” Greg smiled at Bree. “Wait, I haven’t met your date. I’m Greg, the lucky groom.”
“I’m Bree. Ash and I work together.”
“Oh, you’re Bree? The one who stole his phone. I’m guessing we have you to thank for the gift.” His gaze narrowed. “You look familiar.”
She smiled and batted her lashes in a pretense of flirting. “I have one of those faces.” She didn’t know which worried her more, that he remembered her from last night, or he’d been in the club where she’d danced. She and Ash had messed up, thinking she could strip and appear at the wedding without being recognized. It was definitely time to go. While they drove back to the city, however, she would grill Ash on if he’d ever mention her to his friends. Although, he hadn’t known she danced professionally, or wasn’t admitting to knowing, so it was unlikely he’d mentioned that in the past. “It was nice meeting you, and congratulations on your marriage. May you two be happy forever.”
Greg’s face softened again. “Thanks. I really think we will be.”
Ash took her elbow and made a path through the dancers. As they neared the table where Bree had sat, he stopped suddenly. A petite blonde stood before them. “Ash, it’s nice to see you again.”
“Jillian. Hi.”
She offered a cool smile to Bree before turning back to Ash. “How’ve you been? Are you still drawing your little comic books?”
His mouth thinned.
Bree hugged his arm to her side, knowing it made her boobs more obvious. She jumped in before Ash could respond. “You mean the CG work he does? He’s one of the top gaming artists in the country. He gets offers all the time to go to work for our competitors. It must have been so hard for you to give him up, knowing he was headed for greatness like this.”
Pausing for effect, Bree enjoyed the wide-eyed response from Jillian. Bree took a deep breath, bent closer and went in for this kill, whispering, “Especially since he’s such an amazing fuck!” She fanned her face, then smiled and looked up at Ash. “Are we about ready, babe? I don’t know if I can wait until we get back to the city to have you between my legs again.”
His grin spread slowly, as if he couldn’t believe what he’d heard. He nodded and turned back to Jillian. “You heard the lady, I’ve gotta go. But it was so nice running into you again. Say hi to…what-his-name for me, okay?”
Ash’s arm wrapped around Bree and he almost dragged her from the room. He retrieved their coats, helped Bree with hers without a word. Once they were outside he burst out laughing. Catching his breath, he placed a hand on either side of her face and kissed her hard. “That was astoundingly satisfying.”
“Are you sure? I mean, it wasn’t over the top?”
“Well, fuck yeah, it was over the top, which is why it was perfect. You are the perfect girlfriend.” With an arm around her shoulders, he led her down the walkway toward their building.
“Girlfriend? Isn’t this rather sudden? I mean, shouldn’t you at least buy me a drink first?”
“I’m feeling so high, I’ll buy you anything you want. A new car, a trip to Comicon…” He glanced down at her feet. “A new bottle of nail polish.”
Heat washed over her at the memory of her embarrassment. “Oh my God, I almost died. I thought he was going to tell everyone. Do you think Greg recognized me for real?”
“Greg’s so in love with his new wife, he won’t think about you again for weeks.”
“But what if he does realize I stripped for the bachelor party? Will he be pissed you brought a stripper to the wedding?” The last thing she wanted is to come between him and his old friends.
“I didn’t bring a stripper to the wedding. I brought a beautiful, intelligent woman who helped me out in a moment’s desperation. I shouldn’t have put you in the situation. It was inexcusable. If you were smart, you’d walk away from me now.”
She glanced at the snow, now in five- or six-foot drifts where the plow had piled it, and shook her head, trying to keep a straight face. “I don’t think I could walk home in this weather.”
He laughed. “Thank goodness for that.”
When they reached their room, he slid the key card and opened the door, motioning for her to enter. “Your feet must be frozen.”
She kicked off her shoes, picking them up and setting them on the dresser. “They’re cold, but they’ll thaw.” She slipped off her coat and jacket, laying them on the foot of the bed, then reached for the zipper on the back of her dress.
“Let me help you.” Ash slowly drew down the zipper, kissing her skin as it was bared.
She moaned. “Don’t we have to get on the road?”
He pushed the dress off her shoulders and let it puddle at her feet. “Soon, yeah. And if we start something now, we’ll never get on the road. I don’t want to chance icy roads at night.”
She shivered at the gravelly sound of his voice that revealed the state of his arousal. She lifted her suitcase onto the bed and opened it before taking of her dress. A flash of thought hit her. Was this the end of them? She was his wedding date. The amazing sex had been a bonus. Sure, he’d said little things about after, but that could have been foreplay for the next round for all she knew.
Standing in her underwear, she folded her dress, slipped her pumps back into their shoe bag and laid them in the suitcase. While Ash did a pass-through in the bathroom looking for anything they’d left, she tugged on her skinny jeans and clingy cashmere sweater. She’d worn casual, imitation fleece lined boots on the ride up, and poked her toes into them. Her hair was still a dignified helmet, so she wrapped a knit scarf around her head, draping the ends down her front. With a final touch of lip-gloss, she was ready to go.
She found Ash watching her, his expression unreadable. “What’s up?” she asked.
He shook his head and reached for her suitcase handle. “Nothing. I’ll go load the car and get it warmed up.”
Her nerves making it impossible to stand still, she opened and closed the dresser drawers, checking for forgotten items. This had to be the most awkward ending to a date she could remember. Maybe because she’d never gone out of town with a guy on a second date. If you could count shopping for the gift as a date. This was worse than Internet dating. She had no clue what he was thinking, if he wanted to see her again for anything other than sex. The signals he’d sent had all been good. He’d even jokingly called her his girlfriend, but now he was so distant.
If he asked, could she agree to Ash becoming another fuck buddy? No, she couldn’t see that happening. He was too real. She’d seen that on his face when she’d mouthed off to his ex-. His heart would be involved with anyone he saw on a regular basis.
Bree knew she needed to grow up and ask him what came next. What happened when they ran into each other at work Monday morning. After the week passed by and they were faced with weekend plans. She sank onto the bed, hugging her coat closed, and waited.
When Ash entered again, he stopped just inside the door. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Fine. I was just thinking about things.”
“Things…”
“Yeah. I guess it sounds scary when a girl says that, huh? Maybe I just need something to eat when we get down the mountain.”
He slapped his palm against his forehead. “Food, of course. Did you eat anything at the reception? I was so nervous about my speech
, I didn’t check to be sure you had what you needed.”
She stood, grabbed her purse and walked to him. “I’m fine. I did eat, had some champagne. It was all good. So let’s go.”
He held onto her upper arms. “I never apologized for putting you in a bad situation.”
“You said enough. I volunteered. It’s not a problem.”
“But something is.”
“No, not really. It’s just nerves.”
He shook his head and shrugged, obviously clueless about what was bugging her.
“Do you want to see me again after this?” There, she’d spit it out.
His brows drew together. “After what? After this amazing weekend of sex? Fuck yeah.” He must have heard how that sounded, because his tone softened, as did his gaze. “Bree, I’ve been trying to work up the nerve to ask you out for months, I told you. Are you having second thoughts, now? I can see how me being a dick and letting you strip for my friends makes me a lousy boyfriend prospect, but I’ll make it up to you.”
She laughed. “I think we both need to get over that stripping thing and start fresh.”
He grinned. “Cool. Is tomorrow night too soon?”
“To start over?”
His hands tightened on her upper arms. “Dinner. And we’ll see what happens from there.”
“Okay, sure. That sounds good.”
He turned and opened the door, leading her out. “Cool.”
As he helped her get in the car, she glanced up at him. “And if you really think you’re going to get away with not fucking me after dinner tomorrow, think again.”
He paused, that slow grin of his widening. “Point taken. Dessert is a given, then.”
Bree leaned back in her seat, those stomach critters fluttering madly. She wasn’t going to think anymore about where this was going. Sometimes it was enough just to enjoy the ride.
Chapter Seven
A few weeks later, Ash sat in the meeting room at BA Games, tapping his pen on the table. The boss was talking…Ash could hear his voice but the words were flying past like seagulls. Bree sat opposite him, attentively watching the screen where the sketches for the next project were displayed.
She was the reason for his lack of attention. No, that wasn’t right. He had plenty of attention going on, just not on what he was supposed to be looking at. He slouched back in the hard plastic chair and forced himself to look at the screen.
“Well, I guess that covers it.” Their boss walked over to the laptop he’d linked with the project and shut down the program.
Thank God Ash hadn’t been called on to answer some stupid question. He jumped to his feet, almost bumping the guy passing behind him. “Oh, sorry, dude.”
“No problem.”
Bree rounded the table and waited, watching him. “Where were you?” she asked when he drew near.
“When?”
“The past two hours. You definitely weren’t in this room.”
He licked his lips and grinned. There was no way he could tell her what all he’d been imagining. “Come to dinner with me and maybe I’ll show you after.”
“Hmm, should I?” Her voice was low, soft.
He didn’t know why she bothered. Everyone knew they were together. “Yeah, you should.”
“If you insist.”
He pressed his hand against her back and followed her to her cubicle. When she sat down, he spun her chair so she faced her computer monitor. Leaning down, he rested one hand on her desk, the other on the back of her chair. He spoke loudly for all the ears sitting nearby. “Bring up the War of Zeus files.”
She frowned at him, but he nodded toward the computer. She clicked her way through the directory until she found the files, then opened a few.
He spoke right by her ear. “I can’t wait until dinner.”
“We can’t do anything here. We’ll get caught,” she whispered.
“It’s not like they don’t know what’s going on between us.” He moved his hand up and massaged her shoulder.
“Yes, but there are things like sexual harassment.”
He pulled his hand away. “Is that what you think this is?”
“No, but you know Miller is such a prude, he’ll report it.”
One side of Ash’s mouth pulled back at the thought. “Yeah, after watching us long enough to be sure what we were doing.”
Bree push against his chest. “Get back to your desk and let me get something done before quitting time.”
Brushing his lips against her hair, he took a breath to carry her perfume with him. “Until later, my lady.”
She shook her head. “Get out of here.”
~*~
Dinner was unbearably long. The waiter must have been a stoner, he was so relaxed about getting their food to them and bringing the check. Ash nearly ran to the car once he and Bree left the restaurant. He needed to get her home. A cold wind stirred the air around them.
“Are you that anxious to get rid of me?” Bree asked as she buttoned her coat.
“Are you kidding? I want to get you home. Now.”
“I don’t have a curfew. I don’t even have to get up early.”
He pushed the button on his keys to unlock the car door and opened it for her. “So, you wouldn’t mind if I spent the night?”
“Did I act like I minded, when we were at the lodge?”
He closed her door and walked around the car, needing to get out of the cold. He started the engine before answering her. “I figured that was because we didn’t have much choice. You know, there was only one bed.”
“It’s not that big a deal. You can stay the night if you want.”
Not that big a deal. That put him in his place. How many other guys was she going out with? How many of them spent the night?
After he drove a mile or two with neither of them talking, Bree asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Why?”
“You got quiet. You’re never quiet unless something is wrong.”
“I’m okay. Really.” He changed lanes to catch the onramp to the freeway, and turned up the radio.
“Seriously, Ash, I’m getting a complex here. Haven’t we gone out enough for you to be comfortable talking to me? You can tell me anything.”
It had only been a few weeks, but they’d gone out several times a week, and spent the entire day together the prior Sunday. Yet the hours, months, years, they’d worked together, sometimes just the two of them, had made them closer than most new couples. He wanted to make it more serious, though. Exclusive.
He pushed the button on his steering wheel to turn down the radio again. “Are you seeing anyone else?”
“Where did that come from? When do I have time to see anyone?”
“I don’t know. But you made it sound like it was no big deal—wait, those are almost your exact words. To me, this is a big deal.”
“That’s not what I meant.” She put her hand on his thigh, dangerously high for him to keep his mind on driving sixty-five miles an hour. “I meant…God, how can I put it. I want you to spend the night. There’s no reason not to. I kind of liked waking up next to you.”
“Kind of?” he teased.
Her fingers tightened on his leg. “You are a brat. I ought to tell you it was just okay, that you have dragon breath when you wake up.”
Throwing her a glance, he grinned. “That’s not what it smelled like, and you know it. I distinctly remember the last thing I ate that night.”
Bree squirmed in her seat, crossing her legs. “Okay, so you win this round. But seriously, if you ever want to spend the night, say so. If you ever want anything, say so.”
“All right then. I want dessert.” He was pretty sure she’d remember their conversation on the ride down the mountain after the wedding.
“I think I can help you with that.” Her voice deepened just enough to remind him of the way she moaned when they made love.
He adjusted his pants to get more comfortable. If he didn’t get his shit together, she�
�d move on to some other guy. But not before the night was done.
~*~
Valentine’s Day had to be the invention of a woman. Ash stared out of Bree’s sliding glass doors, waiting for her to come out of the bathroom. He’d wanted to take her out and do the romantic night, but she wanted to cook for him.
Who was he to argue with that?
He’d set the small gift bag on the counter when he’d arrived, and she had put the sunflower bouquet in a blue glass vase. Then she’d slipped into her room to finish getting ready.
What could that mean? Didn’t she know he’d just as soon have her naked as all made up and glamorous?
The oven timer dinged and she called out, “Can you get that?”
“Yeah.” He saw a pair of potholders on the stove, and opened the oven door. Taking out the glass baking dish, he realized she’d made lasagna, and the long foil bundle had to be garlic bread. With the oven door open, the garlic smell was overwhelming. He must be really nervous to have missed the aroma. “This smells amazing.”
“I’m glad. I haven’t really cooked in a long time.” Her voice was right behind him.
He turned around and the wind left his lungs in a rush. “Damn, woman.”
“You like?” She held out her arms and spun for him. The black bustier laced up the front, making her tiny waist look no bigger around than his bicep. Of course, that made her breasts all the bigger. The lace over them allowed him to see the shadowy skin of her areolas.
A patch of skin was bared above the tiny triangle of the front of her thong. Her legs stretched on forever, the black high heels making them appear even longer.
“Is that for me?
“Do you see anyone else around?”
“Thank God.”
She laughed. “But we have to eat first.”
He took a step toward her. “I can take care of that.”
Pushing him aside, she picked up the plates and walked to the stove where he’d set the food. “Funny. I meant the dinner I slaved over. I got up early this morning so I could just pop it in the oven when I got home.”