“Count on it!” Asher bellowed amid a round of applause.
“I’m happy you decided to come out,” Asher was saying as he hugged Misha.
She shrugged and tugged on the cuff of the black cashmere wrap dress she wore. “It’s easy to accept invites for free food and drinks. Besides, I’d never forgive myself if I missed out on a chance to spend the night in Vic’s plush new digs.”
Soft chuckles rumbled between them until Misha saw Talib approaching. “I’ll see you later, Asher,” She whispered and hurried away.
Asher patted Talib’s chest and leaned his head close. “How long will it be before you do something about this?”
Misha took several deep breaths and enjoyed the view of the river. She went to toss back more of her wine and cursed when she discovered her glass was empty. Torn between wanting more wine and not wanting to run into Talib, she stood there debating, with her head bowed.
“Can I get you another?” Talib asked, having watched her with the empty glass for a few moments.
Misha squeezed her eyes shut. “Talib, go. Please leave me alone.” There was no response, and eventually Misha turned. “Would you just go?”
Talib moved with an unexpected quickness. Moments later, he was kissing Misha with a sensual desperation that had her clutching the front of his denim shirt. When she began to thrust her tongue against his, he stopped and cupped her chin.
“I’m sorry, love. You wouldn’t let me apologize before.” With those words, he walked away.
Riley knocked on Asher’s door and waited for his call to enter before she did so. He was half dressed, wearing the jeans he’d worn to the dinner party. He was still holding a pair of rolled socks in his hands and listening to a commentary on ESPN. She’d already closed the distance between them and was sauntering around his chair before he had time to stand.
“Did you ask Vic to put us in separate rooms?”
Asher hesitated. His attention was fixated on the transparent thigh-high negligee she wore beneath an unassuming gray terry robe. “I, um…figured it’d be best, considering…”
“We can’t get along in an entire apartment, let alone a single room?” she finished, trailing her fingers through his close-cropped hair.
“Riley…” He closed his eyes as the fragrance of her perfume enticed his nostrils.
Asher was about to stand, but Riley stopped him and straddled his lap instead. It was then that he discovered she wore no panties beneath the thin gown. With great effort, he swallowed past the need lodged in his throat.
“Rile—” His speech was thoroughly silenced when she kissed him. Thrusting her tongue madly, she took the remote and clicked off the TV.
Asher was instantly at her mercy and let her maintain control. Riley wasn’t interested in sweet words and grinding then. She made quick work of his jeans fastening, freed him and settled herself onto him. Tossing back her head, she closed her eyes and used him as a tool for her pleasure. Asher didn’t mind at all and bit his lip while savoring every lift and rotation of her hips. When they were spent, she withdrew and closed her robe on his vibrant gaze. He reached for her when she stood, but Riley simply passed him the remote.
“Good night,” she mouthed, waved and left the room.
Victor was determined to show his guests a fine time, and the ten couples on hand woke up to the smells of what promised to be a grand breakfast. There were omelets made especially to order, toast, bagels and an array of breakfast meats, coffees, teas and juices. Of course, Riley’s tummy called out louder than anyone else’s and she was the first to the table that morning. Dressed comfortably yet stylishly in flare-legged jeans, a chic T-shirt emblazoned with the words New Mommy Here! Riley filled her plate to overflowing and was having a fine time of it when her husband walked into the dining room.
Asher pressed his lips together as an uneasy expression came to his face. He noticed that he and his wife were as yet the only two people in the room. Before Riley noticed him, he took the time to indulge in a moment of sightseeing and watched his wife at the buffet. The T-shirt she sported easily called his attention to her growing bosom, and the jeans emphasized the round firmness of her bottom. Before his daydreaming got the better of him, Asher cleared his throat to call attention to his presence. He searched for a topic of conversation to start their day, figuring that Riley certainly wouldn’t want to discuss the events from their previous evening. The previous evening, however, was exactly what she wanted to discuss.
“Did you sleep well after I left?” she asked, politely enough, but the naughtiness was written all over her face. Then she smiled and nodded. “Of course you did. You always sleep well after we…well, you know?” she teased, being intentionally vague and loving the reaction she roused from her husband.
Asher was actually behaving as though he was a bit embarrassed by the whole thing and cleared his throat a bit more than necessary. “Shouldn’t you be taking it easy?” he asked while heading over to sample the buffet. “You are pregnant, you know?” he coolly reminded her and settled for a glass of juice first.
“Ah.” Riley nodded as though he’d given her something to think about. “And pregnant women can’t screw their husbands too enthusiastically, is that it?” When Asher almost choked on his juice, she nodded again and strolled to the table, satisfied that she’d gotten a proper response.
It took Asher several moments to fill his plate, while Riley wolfed down her food in record time. She was actually getting up for a second helping of some items when he was just sitting down for his first. Soon, they were joined by one of the other couples invited to Victor’s weekend event.
Jasper and Molly Fasion were old friends of Riley’s who worked in Cache Media’s marketing department. Asher became fast friends with the native Californians shortly after he and Riley had become an item.
Molly was congratulating them again, while Jasper and Asher shook hands near the table.
“I was just saying to Jas last night that it’d be nice if we could have a little get-together to celebrate the new addition. We hardly get together anymore, and this would be the perfect excuse.”
In spite of her earlier outrageousness, Riley wasn’t much feeling a party just then and said so.
Molly didn’t agree, in spite of her husband’s attempts to ask her to let the matter rest. “You guys are New York’s premier couple,” she boasted, her light brown eyes twinkling with decision. “You’ve gotta show everyone else how to do it right.”
Molly’s words roused much-needed laughter from both Riley and Asher.
“You may be overstating things a bit, Mol,” Asher said through his laughter.
“I don’t think so, and I even think it’d be a better idea to make it a real couples weekend—something like what Vic’s done here with this little get-together of his.”
“Hmm…a couples weekend, huh?” Riley began to warm up to the idea when she heard the suggestion.
Asher shook his head and focused on sweetening his coffee. “I still think it’s a little much, guys.”
“I actually think it’s not a bad idea.” Riley put in her two cents and trailed her finger along Asher’s jaw when she left the buffet and passed his chair on her way back to the table. “Don’t worry, guys. I’m sure I can get him to warm up to the idea.”
Asher pushed aside his coffee, losing his taste for anything heated going into his already overheated system. By the time the other guests arrived, the conversation had moved on to sports and Vic’s signing.
Misha was on her way downstairs for breakfast. She had her room door open and was slipping into a pair of ankle boots when a knock sounded.
“I’m on my way, Riley. Give me a sec, will you?”
There was no response, and she glanced up to see that it was Talib filling her doorway. Straightening slowly, she moved far from the bed and waited.
“Are you going down for breakfast?” he asked.
Misha frowned at the question but managed a nod. “Going down now and runni
ng a bit late, I’m afraid, so…” She moved to brush past him and stiffened when he blocked her path through the door.
“Are you okay?” His dark eyes searched every inch of her face as he looked down at her.
Misha let a short laugh lilt from her throat. “What does it matter? You never cared before.”
Talib took a deep breath, and a muscle flexed in his square jaw. “We need to talk, love.”
“Why are you doing this?” she snapped, banging a fist on her beige carpenter’s pants. She cursed herself for feeling tears fill her eyes. She turned back into the bedroom, and Talib followed.
“I’m sorry for upsetting you.”
Whirling around, she slammed her hands against his chest. “It’s too late for your apologies, dammit, and it’s not nearly enough.”
“Will you at least give me the chance to talk to you?”
“About what, Tali?” She winced as the sound of his nickname left her mouth. “Will you just go?” She bowed her head.
“I’ve done enough of that, and I’m sick of it.” He gripped her arm. “I want to make things right, Misha.”
“Why? It’s too late—much too late—and I don’t want to go back…rehashing all the ugliness that made up our relationship. I’m done with you, and anything I felt for you has been dead a long time.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Why?!” She wrenched against his hold on her arm.
He tugged her back easily. “Because when I kissed you last night, I remembered what I lost when I walked away.” With those words, he left her alone.
Vic had shared the fact that he’d always wanted a ranch and said that buying the elaborate spread in the Hamptons would be his only vice. Of course, no one believed him, but they appreciated his “non-bling” frame of mind.
Today horseback riding was the order of the day. Talib and Asher drove out to the stables together, and it didn’t take much for Talib to latch on to the fact that something had his partner quite preoccupied.
“Good day for a ride…” Talib tried to start a semblance of a conversation.
Asher kept his gaze averted, out the passenger window. “Mmm…”
Enough small talk, Talib decided. “So let’s have it then. What’s going on?” he said. “That bad, huh?” he added when almost a full minute passed with no response.
Asher shook his head, as if in a daze. “It’s gonna be harder than I thought to stick to my decision not to move back into the apartment for a while. Riley’s…getting very aggressive,” he shared and wasn’t happy to hear Talib’s resulting laughter.
“Sorry, mate. I just can’t help but recall that it was you who toyed with the idea of seducing her into going back to Phoenix with you. Now she’s turning the tables.”
Asher grimaced. “Boy, is she turning the tables…,” he agreed, and his expression grew murderous at Talib’s humorous reaction. “So how’d it go last night with Misha?” he asked, deciding to turn the conversation in another direction.
It worked, and Talib was immediately on edge. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Asher shrugged, loving the turnabout. “Both of you were real quiet this morning….”
Talib grunted and dropped the hard act. “I don’t know what the hell’s happening,” he admitted.
“You want her back.”
“Every day.”
Asher grinned. “So what’s stopping you?”
“Misha. She doesn’t believe. She doesn’t trust me.” He rolled his eyes away from the stunning view beyond the windows. “Bloody hell, I can’t blame her….”
“So are you gonna let it go at that?”
“I can’t.” Talib flexed his hand around the steering wheel. “I never should’ve kissed her.”
This time it was Asher’s laughter that filled the SUV. “Well, well, and what brought that on?”
“I don’t know why…”
“You want her back, remember? And now the hard part is making her believe in you again.”
Talib smirked. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
Riley and Misha were driving toward the stables just then as well.
“I’ve come all the way out here, and now I can’t even go horseback riding. I never should’ve called Lett.” Riley referred to her doctor, who had forbidden her to even look at a horse.
“It’s for your own good.” Misha’s voice was as absent as the look on her face.
Riley noticed right away. “Honey, are you okay?”
Silence.
“Please don’t make me beg. Is this about Talib?” she asked when Misha offered no information.
“Yes.”
Riley nodded at the uncharacteristically lost tone in her friend’s voice. “You wanna talk about it?”
Misha waved off the suggestion. “Talking about it just makes it real, and this is just Talib being…I don’t know…”
“Don’t you think he’s serious?”
“He’s not.”
“But how—”
“He’s not, Riley, all right!” She bit out the words.
Riley drove in silence for a while. “Maybe he’s regretting the way he handled things before.”
“He’s not. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”
“I remember when I used to say that about Asher.”
Misha rolled her eyes. “Whatever you do, please don’t sit there and try to compare Talib and me to you and Asher.”
Riley shook her head. “All I’m saying is maybe you should hear him out.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Riley…”
“Hey?” She pulled over and stopped the SUV. “Talk to me.”
Misha fought an inner battle with herself. Years of playing the cool, hard role warred with her desire to share. Finally, she began to speak. “I went down an ugly road when things fizzled with me and Talib. It was a scary road, and I…I almost didn’t come back from it, Ri.”
“Misha…” Riley sighed, understanding the full scope of what her best friend was confiding.
“I can’t let him back in, Riley.” She bristled and focused straight ahead. “If that means letting him think I’m the worst type of woman, then so be it. So be it.”
“It’s all right…” Riley soothed and pulled Misha into a hug as she sobbed.
“You really didn’t have to stay, Asher.”
“When you have the baby, we can ask Vic to have us out here again. We’ll do it up right, horseback riding and all,” he promised.
The couple sat perched on the hood of one of the SUVs and watched the dust kicking up in the wake of the horseback riders as they set off for the day.
A chill shimmied up Riley’s spine, and she hugged herself.
“What?” Asher propped his chin on his fist.
“We’re about to be parents,” Riley whispered in disbelief.
He hooked a hand beneath her knee and pulled her close. “We’re gonna do fine.”
“Promise?” Riley spoke into his denim-clad shoulder.
He chuckled. “Sure. Don’t you know we’re New York’s premier couple?”
She laughed then, too. “We’ve made a mess of things, haven’t we?”
He pressed a hard kiss to her head. “We have at that, darlin’.”
“I’m scared, Asher.”
“Me, too, love.”
They sat, embracing and silent, for the longest time.
Chapter 18
Over breakfast one morning, Virginia Stamper made the decision that she’d stirred her coffee long enough. The time had come to either drink it down or spit out the question that had been gnawing its way up her throat.
“Are you really sure about this, girl? You’ve lived in New York all your life.” Realizing her coffee had gone cold amid all the stirring, Virginia left the table. “I’ve known people who moved to the burbs after living in the city all their lives and went crazy.” She dumped the coffee and refilled her mug with a fresh serving. “It’s true,” she
said, with a wink, while pouring.
Riley burst into laughter.
“What’s so funny?” She sipped the dark brew, adding cream and sugar until the taste was acceptable to her. “I’m a nurse. I know these things.”
Riley used the sleeve of her lavender chenille robe to wipe tears of laughter from her eyes. “I’m certain about this, Ma.” Her demeanor began to sober. “I’m also uncertain. Does that make any sense at all?”
“Yes and no.”
“Ma…”
“Now, now, I’m not trying to be funny.” Virginia gave the marble countertop a quick wipe down and returned to the table. “What you’ve said is very easy to understand. Your emotions are all over the place, baby. The decisions you have to make aren’t easy ones.” She pursed her lips and blew at the surface of the coffee. “I am curious, though, about what’s got you browsing real estate catalogs. Asher’s…ultimatum stipulated that you move back to Phoenix, not just relocate outside the city.”
“I know.” Riley pushed away the plate, which had been loaded with fluffy scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and toast. “Even though he said he was wrong to give that ultimatum, I know he wants me and the baby in Phoenix with him. He’s not asking for the utterly impossible, Ma. He just wants his family together.”
Virginia kept her almond-shaped stare on her coffee. “So what will you do?”
“Regardless of how noble Asher’s motives are, this is where I want to be.” She shrugged. “I’m just not sure I want my child slam in the middle of it. Asher’s right. The city is not a prime place to raise a child if you can give it more. That’s what I want to do.” She stood and selected one of the realty brochures from the counter.
Riley went on. “That’s why I started looking at these things. We’re going to outgrow this before the baby outgrows its diapers. Ma?” Riley noticed Virginia wiping from her cheek what looked suspiciously like a tear. “Are you all right?” She knelt beside her mother’s chair.
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