Ashton Scott

“Could you maybe tell me you at least understand how I jumped to those conclusions?”

Truth be told, I could sit here and argue with her all day. I’d rather not, though, so I give her what she’s looking for. Hell, I’ll give her anything she needs at this point. “I understand how you jumped to those conclusions. I’m going to ensure Cassia never has the opportunity to put you in that position again. I promise you I will deal with her. And as for everything you said in your voicemails, you’ve got it right that I’m not used to dealing with women who don’t bend to my every demand. You challenge me some days, and you test the hell out of me. But if you ever change yourself for me, I will put you over my knee and spank that out of you. Any bending to be done in this relationship will be done by both of us. Not just by you. You will never have to fight for this relationship on your own. I will be right there with you fighting, because I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you. You are everything to me.”

Her response takes a moment. “You do realise I’m going to be challenging you forever, right? Like, if you think I’m ever going to take it easy on you, you’re dreaming. Although, this spanking thing you’ve threatened a couple of times now does sound good, so maybe I could be tempted to ease up a little until you take your hand to my ass.”

Fuck.

I’ve gone from tired to fully awake in less than a minute thanks to thoughts of my hand on her ass.

Before I have a chance to reply, she adds softly, “I love you, Ashton Scott, and I promise never to make assumptions again. And I’m going to fight for us, with you, forever.”

59

Lorelei

“I take it your day isn’t going so great,” Sienna says when she returns to our shared office on Monday afternoon. She’s been out with clients all day while I’ve been stuck in the office trying to put out fires. I’m annoyed because I’ve had to cancel my weekly beauty afternoon at the nursing home.

I drop my pen and lean back against my chair. Sighing, I shake my head. “Do I look that bad?”

She sits across from me, placing her laptop on the table. “Yeah, you really do. Is it Ashton again?”

At the mention of his name, I perk up a little. “No, he’s the one thing going right today. It’s everything else. Cranky tenants, my shitty insurance company, and Ryan Shandwick. Between them all, I just wanna go home and crawl into bed with chocolate.” I don’t see my Monday spin class happening today.

“What’s Ryan done? I thought you guys were working well together and that things were progressing nicely there?”

“He hasn’t done anything to me, but I found out this morning that one of the major investors pulled out over the weekend. It was Bob Darwin, who I kinda know through my grandmother. They used to do business together, and she always told me he was one of the good guys who could be trusted. Anyway, so I called him and asked why he pulled out. He told me he was bound by confidentiality clauses, but that I should tread carefully with this development. And now everything Ashton said is coming back to me, and I have a sick feeling in my stomach that somehow I missed something, and that I’ve made a really bad decision.”

“Are you thinking of pulling out of it, too?”

I swallow my uneasiness and shake my head again. “It’ll cost me so much to do that. I’m not sure if it’s the best course of action.” I want Ashton to look over this, and I wouldn’t hesitate to ask him if he wasn’t with Jack. But I don’t want to distract him from doing something far more important than looking over my business deal.

“So what’s the plan here?”

I stare at her in silence for a moment before placing my head on the table and saying, “I told you—bed and chocolate.”

“Okay, so clearly we still need a plan for that. What’s going on with your tenant and insurance company? Have they stopped arguing with you over everything like toddlers?”

Lifting my head, I smile at her. “That’s exactly what this feels like. And no, they haven’t, but my tenant is coming around. There hasn’t been any graffiti for a while now, and no other problems, so she seems to have calmed down. Well, mostly. She’s still arguing for me to reimburse some of her rent because of the supposed disruption to her business.”

Sienna frowns. “Was there any disruption? I don’

t recall you telling me about that.”

“Hardly any. She’s just playing hardball, so I’m playing it back. I’ve told her what I’m willing to give her, and if she wants to continue arguing, she can take it up with our lawyers. That’ll end up costing her more than she’ll get out of me.”

“I like it,” she says with a grin. “Changing the subject, I think we should go out tonight. We could have dinner at that little Italian place we love, and we could make plans for a girls’ weekend next month. It’s been too long since we’ve had one, and I’m in desperate need.”

“Me too,” I agree. “Italian sounds good. And I’m getting chocolate for later.” Ashton’s ringing me late tonight. Between him and chocolate, and time with Sienna, maybe I’ll feel less stressed over everything.

A knock on the glass wall of our office drags my attention from thoughts of chocolate. Turning, I find Boston entering.

“Hey,” he says. “Is now a good time?”

I hesitate with my answer, unsure how to proceed. The last time I saw him, he caused a huge divide between Ashton and me. And while I didn’t easily see it from Ashton’s point of view then, I do now. Ashton doesn’t want Boston in my life any more than I want Cassia in his, so I need to make my ex understand my future is not with him.

Walking towards him, I say, “Now is a very good time for us to talk.”

He reaches for me, his hand curling around my wrist. It’s a familiar move; this was how he used to greet me when we were together. That, and a kiss. “Yeah, I wanted to come over and make sure you’re okay.”