Ashton Scott

I glance at her in time to see her hand move to her throat. She catches me looking and sucks in a breath before facing the road again.

We drive in silence the rest of the way to my place, all lost in our thoughts. When I pull into the driveway, Jack jumps out and rounds the car. I roll the window down when he taps on it. “I won’t wait up for you,” he says with a grin.

“Keep out of trouble.”

His grin fades. “I can control myself, Ashton.”

“I won’t be long.”

He straightens. “Like I said, I won’t wait up. Don’t hurry back.”

I watch him walk inside before shifting the car into reverse. As I back out of the driveway, Lorelei says, “How worried about him are you?”

I glance at her. “Tonight, not so much, but in general, I worry a lot.”

“Why not tonight?”

“His mood is easy tonight. You put him in a good mood.”

“Really?”

“You sound surprised.”

“Well, I hardly know him so I wouldn’t expect to have an effect on him.”

“Lorelei, not many people know the real Jack. He has hundreds of so-called friends, but I could probably count on two hands the number of people who know him better than you.”

She’s silent for a beat. “I find that so sad.”

“Yeah, it is.”

Shifting in her seat to face me, she says, “You surprised me again tonight.”

“How?”

“By bringing Jack with you. I don’t know many guys who would have done that.”

“Trust me, I wanted you all to myself.”

“But you didn’t let that stop you from looking out for him.”

I pull up at a red light and look at her. “Jack is one of the only people I would do that for, so I’m perhaps not as good as you think.”

She smiles. “Well, I’m reserving judgement.”

The light turns green and I continue towards her apartment. We arrive five minutes later, and I make my way around to her side of the car to open the door. She exits the car before I hit her side, though, and frowns at my expression when she meets my eyes.

“What?” she asks.

I ignore her question and guide her inside. I’ve never been a man to open car doors for women before, so my actions are perplexing to me also.

The elevator ride is excruciatingly long. Being so close to Lorelei and not touching her takes all my control. As I step out of the lift and follow her, my gaze is drawn to her ass and down her legs. I groan inwardly; this will be the hardest part of tonight.

She turns the key in the door, pushes it open and then turns to face me.

Our eyes meet.

“Thank you for dinner,” she says softly.