“Oh, sorry,” she says, her face regretful as she places a bag on the counter. “I brought us subs from a deli a town over. I discovered them last fall, and now I crave them.”
“Sounds perfect.” I smile. “Do you want a cup of coffee?”
“Yes, of course. You don’t even have to ask.”
Reaching up, I grab a clean mug from the cabinet and pour her a cup. “Cream is in the fridge.”
“Thanks.” She adds a splash of cream to her coffee, and turns to me, leaning against the counter. “Now, let’s talk.”
“Yes, let’s. I’m sorry I was an asshole to you.”
“I was, too. And I know you were just trying to deal in your own way.”
“Yeah, I was.” Looking away, I stare at a random spot on the counter.
“You and Ryan talked?”
“We did. In the hospital.”
“Good. Did you work it all out?”
“Sort of? We’ve just been enjoying each other’s company. He said enough that day. For now.”
“Okay…”
“I’m happy, Ally,” I tell her, looking her in the eyes so she can see. “And it’s because of him. I knew he was different from the moment I laid eyes on him. Do you remember?”
“Oh my God, how could I forget?” She laughs. “Ash, you two ate each other alive with your eyes. I had to drag you away from that grill before you jumped him right then and there.”
“Well, come on. He’s so sexy. Of course I wanted to.” I smile.
“You told him you wanted a juicy wiener!”
“He was grilling! I was just taking advantage of the situation.”
“Oh my God.” She groans, slapping her forehead. “You’re too much.”
“Which is why you love me. Admit it.”
“True.” She smiles, taking a sip of her coffee. “Now, let’s eat, I’m starving.”
“Yes! I need food.”
∞∞∞
Ally and I have been sitting and catching up for a couple of hours when my phone rings. “Oh, Ally, uh, I have to take this call.” I smile, biting my lip. “Upstairs, though.”
“Okay?”
“It’s Ryan.”
“Okay?”
“Uh, the short version is that I’m going to go have phone sex with him, and then hang up before he can finish.”
“I’m sorry, what?!” she exclaims, her eyes bugging out.
“You heard me.” I smirk. “It’s this whole thing,” I say, waving my hand dismissively in the air. “But he challenged me this morning, and I’m trying to prove a point.”
“That’s the Ashley I know and love. Alright, go get ‘em! Give him hell.”
Laughing, I walk out of the room and yell over my shoulder, “I always do!”
Swiping open his call, I make sure to use my most seductive voice. “Hey, sheriff. I’ve been waiting for your call.”
“Have you, now?” His gruff voice does something to my insides, but I tamp it down.
“Yes,” I purr, walking upstairs and down the hall. “I’m in your room. In your bed.”
A low groan comes through the phone and I smile, loving that he’s ready to fall into my rap.
“Are you alone?”
“I’m in my office. No one can see or hear me.”
Sitting on the edge of his bed, I get comfortable. “Have you been doing paperwork all day, sheriff? Do you need a reward?”
“Yes. I need you.”
“I know,” I whisper. “Now, picture my hands running up your chest, my lips on your neck, kissing and licking my way up, swirling my tongue around the shell of your ear, whispering everything I want to do to you.”
“And what’s that?” he asks, his breathing heavy.
“Everything,” I tell him, and he groans. “Unbuttoning your shirt, I rake my red nails down your chest, marking you as mine. My fingers dance across your hips, and I unbuckle your belt, popping the button open and pulling your zipper down.” I hear him through the phone, doing just that. “I slide my warm hand into your pants and find you already hard as I grip you in my palm.”
Another groan from Ryan.
“Squeezing you, I’d slip down to my knees under your desk, and spring free your massive cock.”
“Ash,” he breathes.
“Yes, sheriff? Would you like me to stop?”
“No,” he says sternly, and I bite my lip.
“Are you hard right now for me, sheriff? Ready for me? Wishing you could feel my hands on you?”
“Yes,” he says through clenched teeth, and I go back to torturing him.
“Leaning forward, I lick you from base to tip, searing you with the heat of my tongue. Gripping you with one hand, I take the thick head of your cock into my mouth, sucking, swirling my tongue, feeling you grow even harder in my hand.”
“Ashley,” he groans out, low and long.
“Can you feel me, sheriff?” I whisper, knowing he’s already gripping himself. I only get a grunt in response.
“I’m taking you deep, my hot mouth sucking you in until you hit the back of my throat. You taste so good, Ryan.” Moaning, I lay back on the bed, wishing I wasn’t so turned on listening to his grunts as he touches himself. But I have to focus.
“Your musky, heady, taste fills my mouth, and I moan around you, the vibrations traveling the length of you, and down your legs.”
Ryan’s heavy breathing has me holding back a moan of my own. I love that I can do this to him. I almost feel bad for what I’m about to do. Almost.
“Are you almost there?” I ask huskily, letting him hear the roughness in my voice.
“Yes,” he hisses.
“Good.” I pause, listening to the small grunts he’s making. Fuck, it’s sexy. “Now, sheriff, this is what I call teasing,” I purr, “not what I did this morning. I’ll see you later.”
“What?” he sputters, his voice ruff and confused.
“Bye, sheriff.”
Hanging up, I cover my mouth with my hand, a giggle bursting out of me. I can’t believe I just did that.
My phone starts ringing in my hand almost immediately, and it’s Ryan. Laughing, I press ignore, and head back downstairs, an extra spring in my step.
“So, how did it go?” Ally asks when I walk back into the living room.
“Very well.” I laugh. “I left him right on the edge. And then I hung up.”
“Oh my God, Ashley.” She groans, covering her eyes.
“What? It’s fun teasing him. And it’ll be worth it later.” I wink, smiling wickedly.
“I’m glad you’re feeling better.” She laughs, sipping her coffee. “Happiness looks good on you.”
“I could say the same for you.”
“It’s weird, right?”
“What?”
“Feeling happy.”
“Yeah.” I smile. “It is. But I think I’ll adjust just fine.”
Chapter 25
After my little phone call with Ryan, Ally and I had the best afternoon. We talked and laughed, sharing stories about Ryan and Jake. Apparently being sexy alphas who are kings in the bedroom is a family trait.
“I’ve missed this,” I tell her.
“Me, too. Do you think that you’ll be staying?”
“Staying?”
“Yeah, here in Pine Cove.”
“Uh, I don’t know. He asked me to stay when I was in the hospital, but I don’t know if he meant permanently.”
“But you want to.”
“Yeah. I just don’t want to be the one to bring it up.”
“How about I invite Jake over, and we all have dinner together? Maybe I can find a way to bring it up organically.”
“I don’t want an audience for that, Ally.”
“Okay, fine.” She sighs. “But I still think we should have dinner together. How fun would it be? Brothers dating best friends?”
“I guess…”
“Okay, good. I’ll tell Jake to come over. When will Ryan be home?”
“Six. But, u
h, he’s going to expect us to be alone.”
“Well, too bad. You can have sex after we leave.”
“Oh my God, fine. I know you’ll just get your way anyway.”
“I will. Now, what should we make?”
“Ryan went shopping the other day after having to throw everything out from the fridge. So, it’s stocked. Let’s go look.” Walking into the kitchen, I open the fridge. “How about chicken parm?”
“Yes, perfect!” she exclaims, clapping her hands. “Let’s start. It’s already five.”
Ally shoots off a text to Jake, and we wash our hands, getting to work. I haven’t made chicken parmesan in a really long time, but I still remember. My dad taught me when I was a teenager, and I spent years afterward perfecting it.
At six sharp, I hear the side door off of the kitchen open, and the telltale sound of Ryan’s boots on the floor. I may not have told him that we were having company tonight, so I hope he’s not too mad.
Walking around the corner, he stops short when he sees Ally at the stove, stirring the angel hair pasta as it cooks.
“Oh. Hi, Ally.”
“Hey, Ryan.”
He looks back and forth between Ally and me. “I didn’t know we were having company.”
“Well, you are. I invited Jake, too,” Ally tells him.
“What?”
“Sorry,” I apologize. “Ally insisted. But it’ll be fun.” Walking up to him, I stretch up on my toes and kiss his cheek, whispering in his ear, “Don’t worry sheriff, we have all night for me to finish what I started earlier.”
Wrapping his arm around my waist, Ryan pulls me against him. “Oh, you can be sure of that, sweetheart.” He growls in my ear.
Catching my moan before it spills from my mouth, I bite my lip. I’ve been wanting to taste him for the longest time.
Releasing me quickly, I sway on my feet, sighing. I have no problem finishing what I started earlier. I can’t wait to bring this man to his knees. He’ll be at my mercy this time.
“I’m still here,” Ally says flatly, draining the pasta in the sink.
Oops, I forgot. “Sorry.”
“I’m going to go change,” Ryan says, his heated eyes on me before walking out of the kitchen.
“Oh my God, Ash.” Ally smiles. “You two are hot,” she says after he’s out of earshot.
“Uh, thanks?” I laugh, taking the chicken out of the oven. I add a generous layer of cheese to the top of the dish and I put it back in to melt. “I’m so glad you think so.”
“Oh, shut up.” She laughs. “It’s a good thing. You have to have passion to survive and thrive.”
“Thanks for the relationship advice.”
Rolling her eyes, she brings the bowl of pasta over to the table and places it in the middle. “I’m just saying.”
“Well, don’t worry about us keeping the passion alive. The good sheriff knows how to use his cuffs.”
“Ahhh! Oh my God!”
“Shhh, he’ll hear you.”
“Well, I’ll be looking at him differently now. In a very good way.”
“You’re engaged to his brother. Reign it in.”
“Oh, please. Jake keeps me very satisfied.”
“I don’t need to hear about my brother and my soon to be little sister,” Ryan says, walking back into the kitchen in jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt.
“Sorry,” Ally says, her face turning a light shade of pink.
“It’s okay.” Ryan laughs, bringing her in for a hug. “I’m glad Jake has you, but I don’t need to hear about the details of your sex life.”
“No problem,” Ally murmurs, blushing harder.
“Ry, stop embarrassing her. Can you take the dish out of the oven? It should be done.”
“Sure. What did you make?”
“Chicken parm.”
“Oh, baby, yes. That’s one of my favorites.”
“Not your baby, sheriff.” I hate being called that. Men who’ve called me that always grated on my nerves, and meant it in a derogatory or condescending way.
“Sorry, sweetheart. I forgot.” He smiles, throwing me a wink.
“Well, aren’t you two cute?” Ally croons, looking back and forth between us.
I open my mouth to say something back, but the side door opening stops me.
“Hey, Ry,” Jake greets, slapping his brother on the back before walking over to Ally and kissing her deep.
Jake is a huge, Viking, Thor type of a man, and when he turns to me, he envelopes me a big bear hug. “Hey, Ash. I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks. Me too.”
“Unhand my woman,” Ryan says, placing the chicken parm on the table.
“Relax, Ryan.” I sigh, rolling my eyes. Grabbing four wine glasses, and a bottle from his cabinet, I place it on the table and uncork the bottle.
“Can you drink?” Ally asks.
“Yes, would you like to see my ID?”
“Don’t be a smartass, Ash,” she says, pinning with me a stare. “I meant because of your concussion.”
“Oh, I think I can?” I look over at Ryan. “Am I? Did the nurse at the hospital say I couldn’t drink?”
“She said not while you’re still healing.”
“Fine.” I sigh, sitting down. “Let’s eat, then.”
Ally laughs. “Don’t pout, Ash. It’s not a good look.”
“Whatever bitch. I’m the one with a concussion, so I’ll pout if I want.”
“At least hitting your head hasn’t changed you.” She smiles.
It sort of has, though. Hitting my head, although painful and scary, made Ryan and I face what we were too scared to talk about.
∞∞∞
Dinner went smoothly. Ally and Jake are fun to watch. He’s normally stoic, but around Ally, she makes him smile and laugh.
“Jake is actually kind of funny,” I say to Ryan after they leave, and we’ve finished cleaning up.
“That’s all Ally. He was a grumpy ass for years until she came along. She brought me back my brother, and I’m forever grateful. She’s good for him.”
“And he’s good for her. He makes her so happy. I’ve never seen her like that.”
“Speaking of happy,” he says, circling my waist with his arms, pulling me close. “You make me happy.”
Smiling, I smooth my hands up his chest and around his neck. “You make me happy, too.”
Kissing me long and hard, I moan into him, raking my nails against the nape of his neck, pouring all of my emotions into this kiss.
Groaning, he pushes me back against counter, his hot tongue tangling with mine–sweeping, tasting, claiming, owning.
He owns me, body and soul.
Pulling back, he rests his forehead against mine. “Ashley, I want you to stay. Here. With me.”
“What?” I ask, breathless.
“I want you stay here, with me.”
“In your house?”
“Yes.”
“How would that work?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, are you asking me to move in with you? Stay here, in Pine Cove, with you?”
“Yes.”
“But–”
“I asked Bill Jenkins, the lawyer in town, about a job today. And he said that Mrs. Grady, his current paralegal, is retiring at the end of the month and he’s looking for a replacement.”
“What?”
“But if you don’t want to work there, you can do whatever you want. I just happened to run into him. Whatever makes you happy, you can do.”
I’m stunned. “You’re asking me to move in with you, and saying I have a job at the law office if I want it?”
“Yes.” He nods.
“Yes?”
“Ashley.” He smiles. “How are you not getting this?”
“Not getting what?”
“I love you.”
What? How was I supposed to get ‘I love you’ from that? Speechless, I just stare at him.
“I love you, Ashley. I haven
’t stopped thinking about you since that night in the woods. The way you felt, the scent of pine and flowers on your skin, how you responded to my touch. So open, ready, and willing. So beautiful. You were fire in my hands.” He brushes his fingers across my cheek. “But it was the look in your eyes that captivated me. It felt like you could see into my soul. Past the surface.
“I’ve closed my eyes thousands of times since, and saw your eyes there–staring, willing me to come to you. But then you came back, and the second those gorgeous hazel eyes met mine again, I was fucking gone. Done. It was like a punch in the gut. And then you brushed me off”–he smiles–“and I knew, right then, that you were perfect.”
“What?”
“I may not have said the words, Ash, but I’ve showed you how I feel.”
“You did?” I whisper.
Sorting through my muddled brain, I try and think.
But all I come up with is that I love him.
Everything he’s done has made me fall in love with him. Every look, touch, and note he left, made me fall head over ass in love with him.
Oh, I guess he has shown me.
Looking into his eyes, I see it there.
Pulling him down to my lips, I sear mine to his, willing them to never be separated.
Heat blooms in my chest, and a fire ignites. My veins are overflowing with the love I have for this man.
I can’t get enough of him.
He’s unlike anyone I’ve ever known.
I now know why no man has ever captured my attention. It was because none of them were Ryan.
Ryan is who my dad told me to wait for. I never settled for mediocre because I always knew he was out there, waiting for me, like I’ve been waiting for him.
Chapter 26
1 month later…
“Ashley, come on, sweetheart!” Ryan yells up the stairs to me.
“Relax, Ry!” I yell back. “I’ll be down in a second!”
“Don’t make me come up there to get you!”
“I think I’d like that very much, sheriff!” Smiling, I do a little spin in the mirror. If he came up here, I know he’d never let me leave. Not that I would mind. It’s kind of my plan right now. We won’t be going to dinner if I have any say in the matter.
It’s been a month since my accident, and a month since I moved in with Ryan. I still can’t believe that. I never thought I’d move in with a man after just a week. But I’ve always kind of done whatever I wanted.
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