ding the smile as I tease him.
“That was a low blow, Lexie. You’re still so harsh to me.” He shakes his head, but I can hear the joking tone in his voice.
“You’re being silly, but I’ll make it up to you.” Before I lose my nerve, I rise from my chair and sit sideways in his lap. His face goes from shocked to smiling. I cup his face in my hands and bring his lips to mine. I intended for a small, sweet kiss but I feel him kiss me in more of a frenzy, and his hand travels up my thigh. “Better?”
“Not quite.” Ashton squeezes my leg. “I’ll let you know when it’s all better.”
I give him one more kiss, feeling my hormones taking over more. If I don’t slow down, I’m going to tear off his shirt in a moment. “Will that hold you over till dinner is through?”
“I think so, but you might want to be on standby, just in case it doesn’t.”
“I’ll do my best.” I wink, going back to my own seat. I catch a glance of Ashton readjusting himself. “Now,” I say, changing the subject. “I may have checked the schedule and I did see that there is a certain favorite team of mine coming to town soon. I may have to take you up on those tickets, if you still have them?”
“Hmm…I might need a little incentive.” He winks, taking a bite of his food. “Since you’ve brought it up, there’s something I want you to think about.” He looks a little uncomfortable.
“What’s that?”
“I have a cabin and we go up there a lot when the snow falls. We’re going to spend the weekend up there because I have a whole weekend off close to Thanksgiving. You and Sadie are invited to come. It’ll be Reed, Brooke, Jax, me, and Brooke wants Reed to meet her boyfriend, so he’ll be there to. Tiffany could even come, if you wanted her too. There’s plenty of room.”
“Um, I mean, this seems like a family thing.” Why would he want us there? “Do you really want us to go?”
“Really? You’re asking me that? There’s not a person coming that doesn’t want you and Sadie, even Tiffany, there. Well, maybe Nate, but that’s because he doesn’t know y’all, so he doesn’t count.”
I giggle at him, thinking that Brooke’s boyfriend doesn’t count. Could I really spend the weekend with him? It wouldn’t be like we would be alone. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad thing. “Yeah, I’ll see if we’re all free to go. As long as you think it’s okay.”
“It sounds perfect to me.”
The rest of the dinner is light conversation about work and the events that are coming up on my schedule. Ashton listens to me complain about the Steinbergs and the stress that my work puts me under. Nonetheless, it’s good money, and at the end of the day, I do like it.
At the end of our meal, he even helps me clean up. I rinse the dishes, and he loads the dishwasher.
“That was a great meal, Lex.”
“Thanks, but I can’t take all the credit. My dad has taken up cooking, and he gave me some notes on what to do,” I tell him truthfully.
“Reed told me all about the bug guts and worm cookies.”
I laugh. “Yeah, my dad is always trying to gross Sadie out, but I think she’s immune to it.”
“Do you have any siblings?”
I shake my head. “No, just me, and Tony only had Tiffany.”
“Tiffany? She’s your sister-in-law?”
I nod. “They were twins.”
“You know, I thought Sadie looked like her.” He shuts the dishwater and turns it on.
“Sadie looks a lot like her and Tony. Thankfully, she didn’t get bright red hair, like mine.” We wash our hands and dry them off. “Do you want to watch a movie? I might have something other than SpongeBob, although I can’t swear to it. Or do you need to leave?”
“It’s nine o’clock. I think I can stay a little bit longer.” He kisses my forehead.
I take his hand, grab our glasses, and head into the living room. I turn on the TV and of course it’s Finding Nemo on the screen.
Ashton chuckles. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who has cartoons on my TV all the time.”
“Trust me. If you have kids, you have cartoons on 24/7.”