Ashton Scott

His phone sounds with a text and as he reaches for it, he says, “The feeling is mutual I think.” As he reads his message, he mutters, “Shit, I have to call my mother.”

“Is she okay?”

He dials her number and places the phone to his ear. “Yes. Aly just reminded me that Mum had an appointment with her doctor today, so I want to check how that went—” He stops talking and frowns as he listens to his phone. Then—“What the fuck, Cassia? Why are you answering my mother’s phone?”

A sinking feeling hits my stomach. His ex is answering his mother’s calls? This causes alarm bells to ring loudly for me. I already feel all kinds of awkward about her and what their relationship is now. This only increases my anxiety over everything.

They have a heated discussion before he talks with his mother. When the phone call ends, he rakes his fingers through his hair and mutters, “Jesus Christ.”

I take a gulp of my cocktail. I’m going to need a lot more of these this afternoon. “How is she?” While I want to know how his mother is, I really want to know everything there is to know about Cassia, but I don’t know how to ask him. God, why does dating have to be such hard work sometimes?

“Mum’s fine. The appointment went well.”

I take a deep breath before pushing him for more. “And?”

He throws half his glass of whisky down his throat before answering my question. “For a reason I can’t fathom, Cassia is spending a lot of time with my mother. If I know her as well as I think I do, she’s after something.”

The nerves churning in my gut ease a little. I should have had more faith in my man that he wouldn’t keep anything from me. Ashton has been nothing but honest the entire time I’ve known him, so I’m not sure why I was worried he wouldn’t open up to me about this. However, that doesn’t ease any of my concern over what Cassia might be up to. Or the way her mere presence in his life makes me feel.

“Like what?” I ask softly.

“I don’t know yet, but I intend to get to the bottom of it.”

“She must be close to your mum if they’re spending all this time together.”

“I didn’t realise they were this close. They certainly weren’t while we were together.”

I look away. I’m not sure how I feel about his mum having a friendship with the woman he used to love. And I feel like I need a moment to get my thoughts into some kind of order.

“Lorelei.” Ashton’s deep voice cuts through my thoughts. “What’s going through your mind?”

I turn back to find him leaning forward, watching me intently. Unwilling to answer him until I figure out my thoughts, I say honestly, “I don’t know.”

“Yes you do. Don’t think, just tell me the one thing running through it right now.”

God, how I hate it when he tries to force answers from me like this. “I really don’t know, Ashton. I need to process it.”

“You don’t need any time,” he says forcefully. “It’s written across your face and your body that something has upset you, and I want to know what it is because I don’t want it coming between us.”

“Fine,” I mutter, annoyed at him. “If you want to push this… I don’t like that your ex is so bloody close to your mother. It concerns me.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think?” Good God, are all men this unaware?

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking you.” His voice holds nothing but patience, but I sense his impatience with this. Ashton doesn’t always have a high tolerance for the workings of the female mind. He’s held himself in check with me most of the time we’ve been together, but I’ve witnessed it with his sister.

I drink the rest of my cocktail, needing the shot of alcohol. The relaxed state I was in just a little while ago has vanished. Having this conversation with him is hard. We’re still walking the fine line between simply dating and admitting stronger feelings, and bringing this up is a whole step closer to me admitting how I feel about him. And acknowledging ho

w vulnerable I am about this.

Placing my empty glass down on the table a little harder than I mean to, I say, “Honestly, you men really need to figure out how to read a woman. Because you seem unable to, I’m going to give you a quick lesson in exes.” I pause for a moment, gathering myself, before going on. “When a woman starts dating a man, the last thing she wants to find out is that his ex is still close with his parents, especially his mother. His mother is the person she really wants approval from, and if the ex is still in the picture, it makes her all kinds of uncomfortable and anxious. Will the ex influence the mother? Will the mother be ready to let the hopes she had for the past relationship go? Will she even like me?” God, I need another freaking drink now. I can hardly think straight after saying all that out loud.

Ashton remains silent while he processes everything. And then a look of pure determination settles across his face as he moves his chair next to mine. “You have nothing to worry about with my mother, Lorelei. Or with my ex. I’ll be getting to the bottom of whatever Cassia has going on, but in case you haven’t figured this out about me yet, I’m going to get us on the same page—I have zero feelings for Cassia, and my mother has very little say over who I choose to spend my life with. I would like it if you two become friends, but if you don’t, it will not affect our relationship in any way. And as far as the hopes my mother had for my past relationship, I can assure you she had none. She didn’t have much time for Cassia, which is why this situation has me confused now. And if I had to hazard a guess, I would say that Cassia is more interested in getting something out of my father than my mother.” He leans closer to me, eyes blazing with heat. “Having said all that, you also need to know that it turns me the fuck on to know you feel like this.”

I bite my lip as I hold his gaze. “Feel like what?”

He places his hand on my knee and reaches under my skirt, moving his hand up my thigh, stopping halfway up and resting there. It lights my body up to the point where I’m not sure I can breathe properly. “I like a woman staking her claim.”