Kevin looked from Aaron to Ashlyn, feeling like a third wheel.
Aaron decided to put Kevin out of his misery and gave him a hug, saying, “She’s a keeper, don’t let her get away. Fix your face it, was only a joke.” Aaron had been on the receiving end of plenty of older brother pranks.
“I thought tonight was supposed to be my night,” Kevin said.
“You have a multitude of fans worshipping your work. Your head could use a little deflation,” Ashlyn retorted.
“On that note, I’m going to make my exit. I’ll see you in a few days, bro. Be prepared to have your ass kicked at pool.” Aaron bent down and kissed Ashlyn on the cheek. “Don’t let his overinflated ego deter you. Kevin’s a great guy, a prince amongst men.” Aaron laughed while walking away.
“How much did you pay him to say that?” Ashlyn asked Kevin.
“A giant portion of his college tuition…while I pretend it’s just a loan.” Kevin shrugged. “Men and their pride,” Kevin quietly said. He wanted her to know how he felt about his brother. Family was quintessentially important to him.
“Med school can be quite expensive.” There was depth behind his gorgeous façade. Kevin was letting her know he was more than the charming rogue. At that point Ashlyn knew he was offering her more than a sexual relationship. While Ashlyn knew she wanted more, she didn’t know if she wanted more with Kevin. Was she still judging him for his age, or was she frightened by his devastating allure?
The two had more in common than either knew. They shared personal drive for professional excellence, extreme dedication to family, an artistic temperament, a desire for a spiritual awakening, and a stellar sexual energy.
Nevertheless, until they both were on the same page, Ashlyn would continue to flee, and Kevin would continue to give chase.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Let’s head back to your hotel. But first I need to swing by home so I can get a change of clothes.” He easily fell back into his habit of issuing a statement instead of a question.
Ashlyn began to navigate through the congested crowd. Individuals stopped him along the way, and she was standing beside the limo by the time he caught up. “As you can see, I can find my way back to my hotel.” Ashlyn climbed into the car, saying, “As usual, you assumed entirely too much. I don’t appreciate having my mind made up for me.” She slammed the door closed, not giving the driver time to do so.
Kevin spoke to the driver, ignoring the smirk on his face. “Hold up, man, and let me talk to Ms. Farrell for one moment. Then you can go back and tell your friends how another brother got put in his place tonight by a ‘I refuse to put up with yo mess’ woman.”
Kevin and the driver shared a ‘been there, done that’ look. He knocked on the window, trying to keep his face from breaking out in a smile.
Ashlyn gazed at him through the tinted window. She would love to live up to his assumption, but no matter how much she’d loved it, she didn’t relish being a notch on his bedpost. Ashlyn had to make decisions she could live with in the future.
If she lived only in the here and now, she would invite him into her bed. Still, her body wanted him, melted at the sight of him waiting for her to lower the window or open the door. Then Ashlyn gave into desire, crossed her long legs and told the driver, who had taken his seat behind the wheel, to please open the door.
Kevin slid onto the seat, watching her reapply lip gloss while looking at her reflection in the compact. Little did he know she was buying time until she had to face him.
“Tell the driver to raise the window.” Another statement. Did questions ever pass Kevin’s lips?
Ashlyn didn’t feel like debating the point. “Sherman, could you please raise the window?”
Kevin turned to her and his thumb wiped the lip gloss from her mouth. Ashlyn licked the tip of his thumb, watching him as she did so, seeing the lids of his eyes lower.
Kevin hit the intercom and instructed the driver. “Circle the city. I’ll let you know when to stop.”
“We’ll probably argue over your domineering ways tomorrow, but tonight I’ll let you have your way.”
Kevin hungrily kissed her, gentleness nowhere in the vicinity. It was a kiss of dominance. Ashlyn closed her eyes, trying to shut out her reaction to him. But how did she ignore a severance of body from mind?
Kevin held her face in place and covered her ears. Kevin loved watching her green eyes blaze with arousal.
Ashlyn felt her pulse pounding. She arched her neck, needing air. She looked at the flashing lights of the city skyline buzzing by through the sunroof. She breathed in pants, her hands hugging the back of his head to her chest. The car sped across the interstate, weaving in and out of traffic, matching the frantic pace of Ashlyn’s heartbeat.
Kevin enjoyed the quiver that shimmied down her spine. He could make out blue veining in her skin. Ashlyn’s pigmentation brought to mind the colors of cotton candy, lemon drops, and apricots, but her passion and personality made him think of scalding scarlet, cinnamon, and the deepest calypso blue. Could a person perish from such bliss?
“Are you a true redhead?” Kevin asked.
“I guess you’ll have to find out first-hand,” Ashlyn answered. She reached for him, touching her lips to his, panting against his lips, and breathed his name, “Kevin, Kevin…I want you, and only you!”
Kevin pressed the intercom and said, “Take Ms. Farrell back to her hotel, please.” She climbed onto his lap and kissed him. He rubbed her exposed back, fingering the raised goose bumps on her skin. She couldn’t seem to stop touching him, her teeth nipping his jaw sharply. Ashlyn never felt the car stop, but Kevin did, increasing his caresses, an assault to her senses. Ashlyn made the decision to invite him up to her room, and prayed she wouldn’t regret it in the morning.
He wanted her to dream of him when they parted at the door. Sherman’s knuckles tapped on the glass, letting them know he was about to open the door.
Ashlyn quickly fixed her dress, smoothing it with her numb fingers. If Kevin hadn’t handed her her bag, she would have forgotten it. She kissed him one last time, wanting to take one more turn around the city. The door opened, and Ashlyn placed her hand in Sherman’s, stepping onto the sidewalk. She turned and watched Kevin exit. He straightened the labels of his jacket and re-buttoned. She placed her hand in his, pulling him along, but he held back. Ashlyn turned to face him, questioning him with her eyes.
Kevin whispered in her ear, “When you’re ready…I want you to come home with me.” He kissed the side of her neck. His words slithered across her eardrum like a stroke. “Tonight…when you walk across the lobby of your hotel, and you feel your lips gliding against the other…think of me, and picture me there.” Kevin sweetly kissed Ashlyn. “Goodnight.”
She was left speechless, instantly realizing his ploy.
Kevin turned to the driver, “Sherman, my man! Do you think you can give me a ride home?”
Sherman lowered his voice and said, “After tonight, you deserve a lift home, and on me. But you have to teach me a few plays from your manual, because when we left the gallery I thought she had the upper hand.” He gazed at Kevin in awe.
Kevin got into the car and spoke through the open partition. When Sherman was in the driver’s seat, Kevin said, “You have to leave them wanting.” Kevin acknowledged he sounded like a pompous ass, but males always boasted to each other, basically another form of “whose penis is bigger.”
“What’s your address?” Sherman asked.
“It’s only a few blocks from here.” Kevin could have walked, but he needed to make an impressive exit. He gave Sherman his address, then answered his cell phone, recognizing the number. Kevin slouched down in the seat, preparing to hear her beg, or at least insist he return and finish what they started in the limo.
“Hello,” he answered, assuming he had all well in hand. He should have remembered the old adage about assuming things.
* * *
“I’ll allow you this one misbehavior. So, go ahead, p
imp and posture for Aaron, Vlad…hell, even Sherman. However, we both know you’ll regret this decision. Especially when you retire this evening with a bitterly cold, cold, cold shower instead of a hot and joyously welcoming body.”
Ashlyn sighed heavily into the phone. She lay in the middle of her overly large bed in only her undies. Deciding to torture him even more, she said, “Did I ever tell you that I’ve only been with one other man?” She flipped onto her stomach and added a bonus. “In my entire life. And the last time happened just over two years ago. Just imagine the things I have yet to do, the acts I would be willing to let you teach me.
“I’m also a star pupil, and so, so eager to please, but you declined my offer.”
* * *
Kevin held the phone to his ear long after she’d hung up. Calling himself all kinds of fool, he bit one of his knuckles. This would go down in the books as one of the dumbest moves ever, and regret was oozing out of his ears. Pride would be a lonely bedfellow. Why was he reaching for some invisible upper hand? If he didn’t quit trying to play some imaginary game, he would lose her.
Kevin grimaced, knowing he had just taken a giant step backwards. The women he’d had a relationship with in the past were impressed by his looks, his financial stability, and his successful career. With her, it was different, because she already possessed all those things.
Kevin called his agent, telling him to box up the painting In Retrospect. He would have it sent to Atlanta, a welcome home present.
Kevin exited the car, shaking Sherman’s hand. “Forget everything I said tonight. A true man would bend over backwards for a woman like Ashlyn Farrell. I behaved like an imbecile. There is such a thing as too much swagger and I demonstrated that this evening.” Kevin paused before asking, “How old are you, Sherman?”
“Nineteen, sir,” he answered.
Kevin was twenty-five and already being called sir. He enjoyed it. “Are you in school?”
“I go during the day and drive the car at night. A friend and I bought it a year ago and we formed a partnership. He drives during the day, because he believes college isn’t for him,” Sherman said.
“What are you studying?”
“I want to be an architect.” Sherman wondered why this obviously successful man was asking about him.
“Is it just you?” Kevin knew the answer was probably no.
“Naw, I help my moms out. I have a younger sister that my mom is putting through private school. Some nights while my mom is working, she rides in the front with me, doing her homework. I don’t take any classes on Fridays, which allows me to get caught up on schoolwork.” Sherman leaned against the side of the car, hoping he would be as successful as the man before him in a few years.
“Your pops around?”
“Dude split like ten years ago. We haven’t seen him since.”
“Give me a couple of your cards. I’ll pass them around to my associates. It’ll generate business for you.” Kevin watched the young man climb into the car, praying that he stayed on the right track and out of trouble. Trouble was easier to find than achievement. He stuffed the cards into his pants pocket. “In a few days, I’ll give you a call about a scholarship. It’ll help alleviate some of your financial burden.”
Kevin shook Sherman’s hand one more time, slipping him a few folded bills. “Keep working hard, because it’ll pay off in the end. But do not under any circumstances make any babies before you’re ready to be a father.”
The last statement made Sherman laugh.
“One more question. What’s your last name, young man?” Kevin asked.
“My full name is Sherman Arthur Townsend, sir. I was named after my father, and his before him.”
“A very distinguished name. Live up to it, the way your father never did,” Kevin told him. “And get a haircut, because no man over twelve should wear braids.”
Well, at least according to Kevin’s father. When he was thirteen his father forced him to get a haircut. Silent tears had rolled down his face as he sat in the barber’s chair. His father told him to cut the silliness out, and to man up, because life was not fair, and he refused to have a son walking around looking like a hoodlum. Kevin had straightened his back and wiped his face. He took his father at his word and trusted his father to lead him in the correct direction.
CHAPTER SIX
What was that infernal noise, the incessant tap, tap, tap? The sound was torture. Dear God, make it stop! Ashlyn wanted to be taken into a field and put out of her misery. This was precisely what she deserved after partying with twenty-somethings. She was entirely too old for such insanity.
Not only that, it wasn’t the proper behavior for a good Catholic. She could hear Sister Mary Catherine standing over her saying, “Anything in excess is never good for the mind or body. It leaves nothing behind but a shallow, wasted shell of humanity good only for buzzards and vultures. Fortunately for you, even they are God’s creatures.” Ashlyn still hadn’t deciphered what the last part meant or how it figured into a statement about excess. She would bet an obscene amount of money her mother knew.
When Ashlyn finally cracked open one eye, the shooting pain caused her to pray for momentary blindness. What had she been thinking…Jell-O shots and straight tequila. She wanted to die where she lay. The noise would not stop. Who in the hell downloaded the vulgar song she could now hear on her phone. The shame just kept right on building. Ashlyn counted to ten and snapped open both eyes, suffering the pain like a petulant, repenting soul. Her hand snaked out from beneath the sheets, grabbing her phone and answering before she checked the number.
“Ashlyn Brianna Farrell, where in the hell are you? I’m standing in your living room right now.” The only person who ever called Ashlyn by her full name and possessed a key to her house was Makayla.
“What are you doing in Atlanta? It’s my turn to visit you.” Ashlyn dragged her sore body into a sitting position, pulling the sheets up to her neck. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. The sides of her hair were sticking to her scalp and the top was standing straight up. She looked like a rooster.
“Did you expect for me to wait for you to visit when you have been avoiding me like the swine flu? Where are you?” Makayla ranted into the phone. She ran her finger along the mantle above the fireplace. “It’s obvious you haven’t been home for at least a week, by the build-up of dust.”
“What, are you taping an episode of CSI?” Ashlyn sarcastically asked.
“Where are you?”
“I’m in Philadelphia.” Ashlyn calmly answered.
“Your shoot ended over a month ago. Why did you go back to Philly? And don’t lie to me.”
“Kayla, I love you, but you’re my friend, not my mother.”
“Don’t you think I know that? You’re older than me, for God’s sake! However, since you’ve become so evasive, have you joined a cult? This isn’t some weirdo religious sect you’ve become involved with, is it? I’m not going to see you on MSNBC for a mass suicide or living in a cave waiting for the great creator to return, am I?” Makayla tried to make Ashlyn laugh, not wanting to argue with her best friend. Ashlyn was the closest thing she had to a sister. She was Makayla’s only family. “Where’s Fancy? I brought her a treat.”
“She’s around the corner with Dawn and Laney,” Ashlyn informed her.
“Can I take her home with me?”
Ashlyn would have to face Makayla when she picked Fancy up, and Makayla knew that, so she tried to reassure her. “No more questions. I know you’ll let me know what’s going on when you’re ready. Let me take Fancy home with me. Besides, you deserve a vacation. No one can handle Fancy like me. I’ll even take her to obedience school for you and make sure she completes it this time. Her crying doesn’t work on me,” Makayla teased. “And I promise only fake meat.”
“Makayla, just know that I’m not intentionally trying to hurt you. I just have a few things I need to figure out for myself. It’s time for me to face a few choices from my past. Take Fancy
home with you. I’ll call when I’m on my way to pick her up,” Ashlyn said. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, but I also know a man is involved. Is he married? Is he toothless? Is he a fixer-upper, or is he so completely unsuitable that you are too embarrassed to tell me about him?” Makayla asked, adding, “I promise not to laugh too hard.”
“Let me enjoy him before I tell you about him. He may just be an interlude or he may be something more. But let me find out first. You’ll be the third person to know…after he and I know. Goodbye, Makayla.”
“Goodbye, Ashlyn.” Makayla just could not help asking something else. She was certified nosey, after all. “How long before you know? I’ve never been known for my patience.”
“I thought you told me no more questions.”
“I meant it, too. I just don’t want you to have too much fun enjoying him, because you’ll forget to call while gorging yourself. Pace is the name of the game,” Makayla said.
“Goodbye.” Ashlyn quickly hung up before Makayla could add more. She lay back down, covering her face, and blocking out the sun. She was entirely too old for this crap. Just because she hadn’t partied like a rock star in her twenties certainly didn’t mean she should start now. She would have to cross that idiotic premise off her bucket list, though she didn’t have an actual list.
Note to self…make a list.
Hanging out, partying, and being part of the in crowd seemed silly now. She was big enough to admit that she’d just wanted to make Kevin jealous; she wanted word to get back to him that she was having a jolly ole time without him.
It was sophomoric of her to attempt now some of the things she was never allowed to do by her parents or herself when she left home.
Tightly wound. The term summarized her. She’d lived her life by a strict set of rules, blurring them only slightly and very rarely. Kevin was beyond a blur, and not just because he fell into a certain ethnic group. He had the potential to cause her to question even more than she already was about her well thought out life. To question her childhood and see her family as less than ideal.
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