I hold up the bracelet so he can put it on me, and he takes it, then wraps it around my wrist and closes the clasp. I move my arm this way and that, admiring the way the light catches the diamonds.
“It looks lovely on you, Ashley.”
I know I’ll never win this argument, so I decide to do the gracious thing. “Thank you, Drake.”
He smiles. “You’re welcome.”
We finish eating, and when we’re done I offer to clean up.
“You might want to take off your bracelet first,” he says.
“Good idea.”
“I’ll bring in your things,” he says.
I watch him go, then I remove the bracelet and get to work cleaning up from dinner. After a few minutes it occurs to me that I don’t know where he’ll put my things. In the guest room where I stayed before? In his bedroom? The thought of joining him in his room sends tremors of desire through me, but I don’t know if our relationship is serious enough for that yet.
As I finish wiping the counters, I push aside thoughts of who’s going to sleep where and focus on the fact that our relationship is moving in the right direction and decide to assume I’ll be in the guest room.
When I’m done in the kitchen, I put the bracelet back on, then find Drake in his office. “What are you doing in here?” I say in a teasing voice.
He turns to me with a look of guilt. “I just had a few things to take care of.”
I laugh at his expression. “It’s okay. You can work if you want. I’m really tired so I’m going to bed.”
Pushing back from his desk, he says, “I think I’ll head up too.”
Does that mean anything? “Okay.”
With Drake leading the way, we ascend the stairs. He stops next to the door to the guest room. “I put your things in here.”
Our eyes meet and I want to tell him to move my things to his room, but I stay silent, not sure that our relationship meets the serious criteria just yet. “Thank you.” I hold up my wrist with the bracelet on it. “And thank you for this. It’s really beautiful.”
He takes my wrist and admires the bracelet, then with his other hand he strokes my face. “You are really beautiful.”
His touch leaves me nearly breathless. His hand curls around the back of my neck, then he leans towards me and kisses me. My arms wind around his neck and his hands move to my waist, pulling me against him. The feel of his lips on mine brings such a powerful feeling of desire that I’m nearly overwhelmed.
After a moment he releases me, but it takes me longer before I loosen my arms from his neck. When my eyes meet his, desire is clearly etched there. I expect him to scoop me up and carry me to his room, but instead he puts a finger under my chin and kisses me softly.
“See you in the morning,” he says.
His restraint so surprises me that I’m rendered speechless. How is he not feeling the same way I am? Am I imagining things? Or is he just tormenting me? I can do nothing but nod, then I watch him go into his own bedroom and close his door.
I’m left standing in the hall outside the guest room, and after a moment I go inside and close the door.
Fifty
DRAKE
The moment I close my door, I draw in a deep breath. I’m not sure how I managed to release Ashley from that kiss, but I’m proud that I somehow did, despite that fact that I didn’t want it to end.
Stop thinking about her.
I turn my thoughts to spreadsheets, and financials, and presentations, but it does little to help as my thoughts refuse to let go of her.
When I think of her accusation that I used the car repair money to buy the bracelet, I smile. She’s exactly right. I didn’t know how else to refuse her repayment. Besides, she seems to really like the bracelet, so I know it was a good idea.
ASHLEY
Just as promised, my suitcase is lying on the bed. Wondering what Emily packed for me, I open it up and dig through the clothes, but don’t find anything unexpected. I smile as I think of my friend and hope that she is as happy with Nick as I am with Drake.
I take my toiletry bag to the bathroom and get ready for bed, then dig through the suitcase to find my nightgown. I put it on then climb into bed, but after half an hour of tossing and turning, I realize I’m not tired at all. In fact, I can’t turn my mind off, and all I’m thinking about is Drake.
Before I think it through, I climb out of bed and creep into the hall. My gaze goes to Drake’s closed bedroom door and I stop, wondering if I have the nerve to go in there. Even though we’ve been intimate multiple times, things have changed between us—changed for the better—but still changed.
We’re dating now, maybe even developing a serious relationship, although I’m not sure if it’s reached that level yet. We’ve been dating for less than two weeks, but he told me he cares for me, and I know I feel even stronger than that.
I just want to be close to him. That’s all. I just want to feel his arms around me. We don’t have to violate our condition if we aren’t to that point in our relationship. I can be as strong as he is. I can resist.
Feeling more confident, I gently knock on his door.
“Come in,” he says, obviously wide awake.
I open his door and walk in.
He’s sitting up, reading a book by the light of a table lamp, and when he sees me standing in his doorway, he smiles.
DRAKE
“Ashley,” I say as I set my book down, surprised that she’s come to my room, and wondering what it means.
“Hi,” she says. “I’m sorry to bother you.”
“That’s okay.” I’m glad she’s there. And at least she didn’t call a taxi to come pick her up after she discovered she was trapped here with me. Unless she’s going to say she wants you to take her home in the morning. Holding back a frown, I ask, “What do you need?”
“I just wanted to . . . I don’t know. I guess I wanted to be close to you.”
What does that mean? I stare at her, waiting to see what she’s going to do. To my delight, she approaches the bed, although it’s on the side opposite me.
“Is it okay if I get in?”
Really? Does she have to ask? “Yeah, it’s fine.” I pull back the covers and she slides in.
“I’m not here to break our agreement,” she says as she stretches out on the far side of the bed, then pulls the blankets up to just below her chin.
Well, that’s not what I want to hear. “Then why are you here?” My voice shows my confusion.
She looks at me with an expression of uncertainty. “Maybe I should go back to my room.”
I focus on her face, but that doesn’t help the desire that’s building inside me. “Ashley, tell me what you want.”
“I guess I was hoping you could, you know, hold me while we slept?”
Desperate to do much more than simply hold her, I don’t know if I can stand to have her that close to me if all she wants is for me to have my arms around her, but I also don’t want to turn her away. What would that tell her? “Uh, sure. Okay.” What are you doing?
Her face lights up, and she curls on her side with her back to me. I adjust my pillow so I can lie down as well, then turn off the bedside lamp and slide onto my side. I move to the middle of the bed and as soon as I stop moving, she moves backwards until we’re spooning.
ASHLEY
When he agrees to hold me, I’m elated, though wary. How am I going to be able to be this close to him and not throw myself into his arms and ask for more? I decide to go with it, then curl against him.
Being in Drake’s warm embrace brings me a feeling of security and love like I’ve never known before, and I relish it. It’s been over two weeks since I’ve been this close to him, and I intend to savor every moment.
After a little while I begin to drift off.
“Ashley,” Drake whispers.
I’m feeling so contented and sleepy that I decide not to answer.
“Ashley, are you awake?” he asks.
I hold very stil
l and decide to pretend I’m asleep. That way I won’t have to rebuff his advances—because if he makes an advance I know I’ll relent. Better for him to think I’m asleep.
Drake is silent for a long while and I wonder if he’s fallen asleep.
“I love you, Ashley,” he whispers into my hair.
My eyes fly open and I nearly stop breathing.
He loves me. He said it. He loves me.
Powerful bands of joy thread through me, wrapping me in the most wonderful warm feeling I’ve ever known. Ecstatic, I try to slow my whirling thoughts.
What should I do? Should I admit I heard him? What if he doesn’t want me to know? Why else would he have said it only when he thought I was asleep?
I draw in a slow, steady breath and only one thought fills my mind.
I love you too.
The words pulse in my mind over and over and I know I have to say it out loud. The time couldn’t be more perfect. I’ve wanted to say it for so long, but I’ve held back, afraid of Drake’s reaction. But now I know he loves me.
I open my mouth to speak, but the words seemed jammed up in my throat.
What if he didn’t mean it? What if he was just trying out the words to see how they sound, but he’s not really sure if he feels that way?
I squeeze my eyes closed and replay the words he whispered into my hair. They sounded sincere, not like he was just tasting them.
Do it, Ash. Do it now before you lose your nerve.
“I love you, Drake.” I whisper loudly enough that I’m sure he’ll hear me. His whole body stiffens and I know he heard me. I roll onto my back, and in the moonlight slanting through the window, I meet his eyes.
“You’re awake,” he says as he props himself up on one elbow. He looks down at me as a smile slowly lifts the corners of his mouth. “Why didn’t you answer me when I asked if you were awake?”
I laugh. “Maybe I didn’t want you to know.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I heard what you said,” I say with a grin.
“Oh yeah? What did I say?”
My smile widens. “That you love me.” I gaze at him. “You said it, Drake. I heard you.”
His smile matches mine. “And I heard you.”
I stare at him, my heart overflowing with love.
As he gazes at me, I think of the night we met and how he took care of me. He was so kind to me, tending to my hurt ankle, making me dinner, carrying me up to my room. “I love you,” I say.
His face lights with a smile, then he strokes my cheek and gently kisses my mouth. “I love you.” His smile grows. “You know, I’ve said those words to women before, but this is the first time that I mean it, that I actually feel it.” He gazes at me. “It feels so different this time.”
“How so?”
“This time it feels real.” He kisses me again, and I wind my arms around his neck and kiss him with all the passion and love that I’m feeling.
When I wake the next morning I find him propped up on one elbow, watching me.
“I love you,” he says with a soft smile.
I gaze into his eyes, my heart ready to burst. “I love you so much.”
He pulls me into his arms and I never want to leave the security of his embrace.
Fifty-One
DRAKE
After breakfast, I decide to take Ashley up to my favorite ridge again. “How would you like to go snowmobiling?”
Her eyes brighten with excitement. “I’d love it.”
Half an hour later we’re riding up the hillside, enjoying the beautiful day. As we fly across the snow, I consider how much my feelings have changed in such a short period of time. If someone had told me a month before that in just a few weeks I would be in love and ready to commit to one woman, I would have laughed in derision at such an absurd idea.
Yet here I am, declaring my love to Ashley Spencer. Even more incredible, she loves me too. My heart is full of optimism for the future. I’ve never felt this way, but I like it. I like feeling such wild hope for a life that can include someone who treasures me as much as I treasure her.
With her arms wrapped tightly around me, I also have a feeling of responsibility—to keep her safe and to make her happy. Those are responsibilities that I now relish, responsibilities that I’m eager to fulfill.
As we reach the ridge overlooking the valley, I bring the snowmobile to a stop, then help Ashley climb off. We remove our helmets and I draw her into my arms, holding her against me, then I stroke her face and smile.
ASHLEY
I gaze at Drake, my heart brimming with love. Hardly believing that we’ve reached this point in our relationship, hardly believing that he loves me as I love him, I’m so happy that my heart just might burst.
He leans down and kisses me, and when he releases me it seems like the sun shines brighter and the air smells sweeter, but I know it’s just my joy making me feel that way. “What’s going to happen when we get back to Reno?” I ask, wondering if this interlude at Drake’s cabin will carry over into our real lives.
He smiles, then says, “I want to spend as much time with you as I can.”
“You once said that I’m not ‘real life’,” I say. “Do you still feel that way?”
His mouth quirks into a half-smile. “I was being an idiot. You are more real than any woman I’ve ever known.”
His words warm me, and I pull him closer for a kiss.
“I love you, Ashley,” he murmurs as he looks at me.
I look up at him and smile. “I love you, Drake.”
“You know,” he says, “The more I say it, the stronger I feel it.”
I gaze at him. “Then keep saying it.” With his arms around me, I rest my head against his chest and listen to his steady heartbeat, and know that as long as he’s by my side I’ll have exactly what I want.
Ever After
Drake and Ashley, Book Three
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Ever After (Drake and Ashley, Book Three)
Copyright © 2015 by Christine Kersey
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
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One
ASHLEY
I sneak glances at Drake as he drives us back to Reno and find myself smiling. I’ve just had the best weekend of my life, but as we head towards home, towards our regular lives, I can’t help but worry that reality won’t live up to the paradise we’ve just experienced.
I glance at Drake again, and this time he catches me. Draping his arm around my shoulders, he tugs me against him. I’m already sitting in the middle of the bench seat of his truck, but I move close enough that our thighs touch. Electricity jolts through me as our legs brush against each other, and I think about the wonderful intimacy we shared at his cabin.
In my head I hear Drake whisper that he loves me, and warmth spreads through my chest. I think about the commitment I’d extracted from Drake—no sleeping together until our relationship becomes serious. It had been difficult for both of us, but now that we’ve moved our relationship to the next level, it feels so worth it.
“What are you thinking, Ashley?” He glances at me before focusing back on the road.
I snuggle closer to his side. “How happy I am.” I look at his face and see a smile form on his luscious mouth. A mouth that I’d like to have pressed to mine, but I don’t want to distract him from driving so I keep my thoughts to mysel
f.
“You are, are you?” The arm around my shoulder gently tightens for a moment. “I’m happy too.”
I rest my head on his shoulder and close my eyes.
“You’re liking your new job?” he asks.
I open my eyes and turn to him. “Yeah. I love it, actually.”
Chuckling, he says, “Do you mean to tell me you like it better than being the administrative assistant to the best CEO in Reno?”
I laugh along with him. “Sadly, that is true. Working for you was . . . an experience.”
“All one week of it.”
I pull away and gently push his shoulder. “It’s your fault that I quit.”
He draws me back against him. “I know. But if you hadn’t, we wouldn’t be dating.”
That is certainly true. When Drake hired me to be his assistant, it had been on the condition that we both forget about the time we’d spent at his cabin. As it turned out, we’d both found that to be impossible. “Have you had much luck finding a new assistant?”
“I asked Barbara to head that up. And you know she’ll get right on it.”
“Good.” I smile. “I felt kind of bad about jumping ship so abruptly.”
He laughs. “No you didn’t.”
“Okay. No I didn’t. You made it easy when you said those rude things to me.”
“I’ve already apologized, but I’ll say it again. I’m sorry I spoke to you that way. Like I said, I was trying to put some distance between us. Having you there—seeing you every day—it was getting to me.”
I laugh. “That’s because you were in love with me even then, Drake. Admit it.”
“Hmm. I don’t know if I’d go that far.”
“Oh really?” I turn towards him. “Then why did you track me down at the dance club? When I was on a date, I might add.”
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