“Did you ask me to coffee?”
Ashley nodded.
“I thought so. I said okay.”
“You said okay.”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Yes.”
Ashley was shocked and could do nothing but nod for what felt like a year, but was surely only a second or two. “Okay, then.” She turned to leave Lisa’s office, but spun back around. “Incidentally—”
“What I said was out of line,” Lisa interrupted, her tone soft and laced with regret. “I didn’t mean it. And I’m sorry.”
They stared at each other in silence for several moments before Ashley turned and walked as quickly as she could to the break room where she grabbed her stuff. Then she exited the dog wing without looking back, kept her gaze on her feet as she left the building and headed across the parking lot to her car. Once safely inside, she pulled her phone from her pocket and texted Jenna.
I did something totally stupid. Help me.
It only took a few seconds for a reply.
I’ll need details before I offer my valuable assistance.
Always the smart-ass. Ashley sighed and typed.
Long story.
Not surprisingly, her phone rang in her hand.
“Hey,” she said.
“Tell me what’s going on,” Jenna ordered.
There was no way around it, Ashley knew. If she wanted Jenna’s help—and she did because Jenna was very wise about things like this—she was going to have to give up the whole story. As of this moment, the only person she’d told about the kiss was Tammy. And she’d sworn her to secrecy. “No judgment, Jenna. I mean it.”
“None. I swear.”
Taking a deep breath, Ashley dove in, telling Jenna everything, starting from the ambush kiss at the picnic and ending with the invitation to coffee. When she was done, there was silence on the other end of the phone. Ashley held her breath, waiting.
“Well,” Jenna finally said, sounding as if she’d just finished a difficult math problem. “I have some comments.”
“I bet,” Ashley muttered.
“Hey. Relax, Ash-hole. We’ll get to the big thing later. First of all, I am amazed.”
Ashley pulled the phone away from her ear and squinted at it. “You are?” she asked when it was back against her head.
“Are you kidding me? You made a move, my friend. You. You made a move. You never make a move. And not just any move. A major move. You kissed her. Out of the freaking blue, you kissed her. I’m shocked.”
“I was a little tipsy.”
“Doesn’t matter. It still counts. I am hugely impressed with you right now.”
Ashley couldn’t help the tiny grin that turned up the corners of her mouth. “Thanks.”
“And then she kissed you? A second time? You know what that means, right?”
“She likes me?” Ashley said in a small voice.
“She wants you. Different thing totally.”
The idea of Lisa wanting her—like that—sent a pleasant shudder through Ashley’s body, ending with a flutter in her stomach.
“And asking her out to coffee? Classic.”
“I had no plans to do that, Jenna.” Ashley was adamant. “I don’t know where that came from. I was mad at her for the comment she made. I was going to confront her about it.”
“Yeah, that was a douchey thing to say.”
“Right? So, believe me, I was as shocked as she was when the coffee invitation popped out.”
“Classic,” Jenna repeated. Ashley could hear the smile in her voice. “Now, the fact that you asked, she accepted, and then you ran like a greased pig in a hog-catching contest before ironing out any details is…slightly problematic. What were you thinking?” She said it gently and with a slight chuckle, which gave Ashley completely mixed emotions…a little levity, a little mortification.
“I don’t know. I panicked.” She leaned her forehead against the hard plastic of the steering wheel. “What is the matter with me, Jenna? I don’t understand myself.”
“You have made a bit of a mess, haven’t you?” Jenna’s voice gentled, but Ashley knew exactly what she was saying.
“Carly.”
“Yep.”
“What am I gonna do?”
“It’s okay,” Jenna said. “You got this. Listen to me…”
***
“What the hell was I thinking?” Lisa muttered to herself as she steered her car out of the Junebug parking lot an hour later and headed for home. “Seriously. What?” She shoved a hand through her hair, replaying the scene in her head as she drove. Ashley was mad at her. That much she got from her stance and the determined expression on her face. And she had every right to be; Lisa had been cold. She’d been ready to take what Ashley dished out and apologize.
But that’s not at all how it had gone down.
It seemed to her that Ashley was as surprised as she was by the coffee invitation, which was actually kind of adorable now that she thought about it. And she’d seemed even more surprised when Lisa had said yes (probably not as surprised as Lisa herself, but whatever). That was adorable, too.
And before she could stop focusing on “adorable Ashley” and lasso her mind into submission, it tossed her a flashback of that kiss at the picnic.
God, that kiss.
Her body immediately flushed hotly at the memory. She recalled the uncharacteristic boldness with which Ashley had trapped her between the wall and her body, how she hadn’t even hesitated a second before taking the reins. It was so unlike Ashley, so not what Lisa would have expected from her. It was forward. It was brazen.
It was hot.
A small, guttural sound escaped from Lisa’s throat as she braked for a light. Thank God it was Friday. She wouldn’t be back at Junebug Farms until Monday, which meant she had two full days get her shit together, maybe visit with Aunt Joyce, possibly see what Grace and Ella were up to—anything to occupy her mind, which was preoccupied with replaying her kiss with Ashley, over and over and over. And when she was done with that one, she flashed on the other kiss. God. Had she ever kissed anybody who kissed back as well as Ashley? As thoroughly? As sexily? She closed her eyes and shook her head, didn’t open them until an impatient honk sounded from the car behind her, and she realized the light had turned green.
Kissing Ashley was breathtaking.
Seriously, was anybody else’s mouth that soft? Did anybody else taste as good as Ashley did? Was it suddenly oppressively warm in this car? Lisa hit the button, and her window slid down, letting the early summer breeze cool things off. She turned on the radio, cranking the volume in the hopes of drowning out any thoughts of sexy women who smelled like cupcakes and kissed like nobody’s business.
Once home, she felt a bit more grounded. Focusing on her animals always helped her to put things into perspective. This was real. These creatures needed her and somehow, she needed them as well. Everybody got extra hugs and kisses as she murmured her love to each of them, then fed them dinner. Once the kitchen was quiet except for the various sounds of munching and crunching, Lisa stood in front of the refrigerator with the door open, trying to decide on something for the human in the house to have for dinner. That’s when she heard her phone beep with a text notification.
Reaching into the fridge, she chose some romaine lettuce, celery, and half a remaining cucumber from the crisper. From the cheese drawer, she snagged a bowl of crumbled blue cheese. She dumped it all on the counter, opened a cabinet, and found walnuts and dried cranberries. With a satisfied nod, she retrieved her phone from a side table to check the text before settling in to chop up the salad ingredients.
The text was from Ashley.
Lisa stared at the entry for a long time, finger hovering over the Read button. Wetting her lips, she braced herself, touched her fingertip to the screen and read.
I’m sorry I’m such a dumbass. I didn’t expect you to say yes and I had a minor freak-out (obviously). But you did say yes and I am really happ
y about that. I think we could use some time to talk. Away from work. Not sure of your schedule. How about tomorrow at Beans? 3pm? Let me know if a different time works better. Or if you’ve changed your mind completely…
The emoticon at the end was a grimace face and Lisa couldn’t help but smile, as she could almost picture Ashley making it. That slight self-deprecation was kind of cute, really. She could admit that. And come on, it was just coffee. It could be fun. Worth going, even if nothing came of it but friendship. You can’t really have too many friends, right?
Friends. She snorted a laugh. Who was she kidding?
She texted back: Sounds good. I’ll meet you there.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
At precisely 2:35 on Saturday, Ashley accepted her mocha latte from the barista at Beans and looked around for the best table. She was intentionally early—the only way she’d been able to accomplish that was to trick her mind into believing she was meeting Lisa at 2:30—for two reasons: one, she wanted to give herself a chance to settle in, get comfortable, and for quite possibly the first time in her life, not be late. This felt too important, though she couldn’t put her finger on why. Two, she needed to get the hell out of her apartment before she tried on every last piece of clothing she owned. There was a fine line, she decided, between overdressing for this occasion and looking far too casually weekend-ish, and she was not walking it well. Finally choosing a pair of black capris, a summery orange short-sleeved button-down shirt, and black sandals, she was sure she was perfectly decked out for the late-June weather. Of course, she hadn’t counted on Beans having their air conditioning blasting like they were in the tropics. She was already freezing.
The coffee shop wasn’t terribly busy at this time of day, which was partly why Ashley had chosen it (the other part being that Jenna had actually chosen it). Her eyes fell on a corner table and she snagged it quickly, sitting with her back to the wall so she could watch the door. Wrapping both hands around her cup to keep warm, she scanned the other patrons as she willed her heart to stop pounding quite so vehemently in her chest.
What would they talk about?
Lisa wasn’t exactly chatty, so Ashley knew that, by default, she’d most likely need to start the conversation—and possibly keep it going. She ran through various safe subjects in her mind.
The weather.
Beans.
Work.
Only then did she come to understand that what she really wanted to talk about was Lisa. She wanted to know more. More about her, about her life, about her thoughts. It was a strange, invigorating feeling and it caught Ashley off guard. She could not, for the life of her, pinpoint when her views of Lisa had changed. Sure, she’d always found her extremely attractive—anybody would. The woman was gorgeous. But she’d always been a bit standoffish, removed, clear about keeping her distance from people. She was abrupt. A little cold, even.
But sweet baby Jesus, she kissed like a goddess.
Ashley sipped her coffee, enjoying the slight chocolate flavor of it as well as the warmth it tracked into her body, though she knew it wasn’t the only reason she was suddenly warm inside. Maybe it was that day in the lounge…the day Ashley had become a blubbering mess over Jax being adopted. Lisa’s support then had been so…unexpected. And warm. It was then that Ashley had seen her in a slightly different light, saw that maybe she wasn’t cold and unfriendly.
Of course, then there was the accusatory comment about her letting Clark do whatever he wanted.
Maybe she was cold and unfriendly.
Maybe she was just…intensely private.
Or something.
She shook her head, not wanting to drive herself crazy before her date even arrived. Shifting her focus, Ashley studied the coffee shop. It was a large, open space with the coffee bar in the center, like a theatre-in-the-round. Above, a second level circled the entire shop with an open balcony, and the walls were painted a pumpkin orange. There were chairs and tables and couches up there, too, and you could look down onto the rest of the shop. The open, airy feel and the décor of stainless steel and glass made the whole place feel modern and large. The delicious smell of freshly ground coffee beans was simply a bonus.
A few people milled around on the second level. One couple cuddled and laughed on a loveseat. Three others sat at separate tables with laptops open, looking very much like the working college students they probably were, as summer sessions had just begun. On Ashley’s level, two baristas worked behind the counter, one a man who looked to be maybe twenty-five and sported a ponytail and a neck tattoo. The other was a woman in her forties, her brown hair short and her smile very pleasant and nurturing. They laughed together when they had nobody to wait on, and Ashley thought being a barista might be a fun job. She was just trying to decide on what kind of specialty drink she’d invent when she saw her.
Lisa looked stunning, and it was momentarily confusing for Ashley. Lisa always looked amazing; she couldn’t not. But at Junebug Farms, she was always dressed for work and that usually meant simple, functional clothing like khaki pants or shorts and T-shirts or polos.
That’s not what she wore today.
Today, she wore a bright yellow sundress with light green flowers. The short sleeves showed off arms tanned a golden bronze that shocked Ashley (how had she not noticed such gorgeously colored skin?). Her sandaled feet revealed toes polished a deep plum, and she had a small, rectangular purse dangling from one shoulder. The sun shining through the many windows of Beans made Lisa’s hair seem to sparkle with gold highlights, and she lifted one hand to remove her sunglasses and tuck a lock behind her ear.
Ashley’s mouth went dry.
Those breathtaking green eyes scanned the shop before landing on Ashley, who smiled and gave a little wave, amazed she was even able to move her hand after being paralyzed by such a striking woman. “Oh, my God,” she breathed out quietly as Lisa held up a finger to let Ashley know she was grabbing coffee and would be over shortly. “I am so out of my league…”
Time seemed to stand still as she waited for Lisa to get her order, and the butterflies in her stomach became belligerent, causing almost-nausea as her nerves doubled, then tripled. Finally, she gave herself a little mental pep talk. Relax. It’s Lisa. You know her pretty well. And this is just coffee. Chill. Be yourself. Smile. Oh, my God, here she comes!
“Hey,” Lisa said with a grin as she pulled out the chair across from Ashley and took a seat.
“Hey to you. You…” Ashley swallowed and cleared her throat. “You look amazing.” She was rewarded by the slight coloring of Lisa’s cheeks.
“Thank you,” Lisa replied, looking down at her cup and running her fingertip around the rim.
“So. You made it. Have you been here before?”
Lisa shook her head and looked around, up, behind her. “I haven’t. I’ve heard a lot about it, and my townhouse isn’t far from here, so it’s kind of surprising that I haven’t come here. I may have to change that now. I like it.”
“Me, too.” Ashley sipped and Lisa followed suit. “What did you get?”
“I got the French roast.”
“You like strong coffee.”
“I like bold coffee. There’s a difference.” Lisa winked and Ashley felt a tightening low in her body.
“No sugar?”
“Just cream.”
Ashley feigned a horrified gasp. “No sugar? But then it just tastes like…coffee.”
Lisa laughed. “Exactly.” She gestured with her eyes to Ashley’s cup. “What’s in there?”
“Sugar. Chocolate. Cream. Did I say sugar? And maybe a tiny bit of coffee.”
Lisa laughed again and Ashley decided right then that she wanted to make her laugh as often as possible. It was a beautiful sound, slightly musical and very feminine. “You like sweets.”
“I work in a bakery. It’s kind of a requirement.”
Lisa propped her elbows on the table and set her chin on her folded hands. “Tell me about that.”
“The bak
ery?”
A nod. “How you got there, what you do there, do you like it?”
There was something about having those green eyes focused entirely on her that Ashley found intensely erotic and she tried to be subtle about the hard swallow she took.
“I started working there when I was in high school.” Ashley took a small sip of her coffee. “I have always liked baking, I’ve always baked with my mom and my grandma.” She held up a hand, traffic-cop-style. “I don’t like to cook. I like to bake.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Cooking is a lot of winging it. I don’t like that. I don’t wing it well.”
Lisa grinned teasingly. “Not a fly by the seat of your pants kind of girl, are you?”
“No. Not at all.” Which is why it’s so completely bizarre that we’re even here, she almost said, but managed not to. “I like rules. And with baking, you have to follow the rules or it doesn’t work.”
“I see.” Lisa sipped her coffee, her eyes never leaving Ashley’s face, something Ashley found simultaneously unnerving and a complete turn-on.
“I wasn’t a great student in school. I mean, I did fine, but I didn’t enjoy it, and the thought of college just filled me with…angst. Plus, I liked working at the bakery, so I just…stayed.”
“Can you, I don’t know, move up? Is there a career path for you there?”
“I don’t really think about it. I guess there is. It’s just…I like it. I’m comfortable there.”
Lisa gave her a look she couldn’t quite define.
Instead of pursuing it, Ashley changed the subject. “What about you? How did you end up at Junebug?”
“That’s a long story.”
“I like long stories.”
Lisa held Ashley’s gaze for a beat, then glanced down at her cup. She took a sip, looked toward the large windows that showed the street and began to talk. “I knew Jessica through softball. She’s a little bit older than I am and I always…” She hesitated slightly before settling on, “I always looked up to her.”
Ashley arched a knowing eyebrow. “Is that code for ‘had a crush on her’?”
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