Nothing Left to Lose (Guarded Hearts 1)

“You’re so adorable,” he purred, pressing himself to me tighter as his lips found mine again. Someone cleared their throat behind us, and Ashton groaned. “Go away, Carl. Can’t you see we’re busy?” he muttered, kissing me again.

“Agent Taylor, that’s not exactly appropriate behaviour. If you were still under my charge, you’d be doing kitchen duty for a week!” Officer Weston growled.

Ashton jumped up quickly. I’d honestly never seen anyone move so fast in my life. He turned, standing straight and saluted his officer. The sexy little display of respect made my stomach quiver. “I’m sorry, sir. I was just showing Miss Spencer how to shoot, sir,” he lied, holding down a hand to help me up while still standing straight as a poker.

“Really? Showing her how to shoot, is that what you kids call getting it on nowadays?” Officer Weston countered. An amused smile played on his lips. My face burned with embarrassment at being caught and I pressed into Ashton’s back, trying to hide.

“Yes, sir,” Ashton answered, his tone amused.

“Well, I’m glad you’re taking your role as boyfriend seriously, Taylor,” Weston said, shaking his head and walking away, chuckling to himself.

Ashton turned to me and winced. “Oops.”

“That was so embarrassing!” I giggled.

“Embarrassing? I thought he was gonna have my balls,” Ashton countered, shaking his head in amusement. He leant down and grabbed the gun from the floor, folding in the little legs before holding his hand out to me. “Come on, let’s go to that museum I was telling you about. I’d really love to take you.”

I smiled at his thoughtfulness. “You’ll be bored,” I countered.

A heart-stopping smile crept onto his face as his hand squeezed mine. “Not if I’m with you, I won’t.”

I didn’t think it was possible to have a better day than the one we’d had previously, but I was wrong. After a few hours at the museum, we ate ice cream in the park while he told me little stories about living in LA, what he loved and hated about it. The more he’d spoken about it, the more in love with it I’d fallen. I’d decided there and then that if I managed to graduate and get a job, I would try to relocate to LA. Maybe then Ashton and I could hang out occasionally. Of course, that was three years into the future, and I still had a long way to go before I could think about graduating at all.

Once we’d finally grabbed one of the hotdogs that he raved about, we headed back to his apartment. He even allowed me drive, much to his horror and white knuckles. Ashton drove all the time usually, he said it was in case he had to take evasive action, but I knew it was just my driving he hated. I must admit, maybe I did drive a little too fast at times and tended to stomp on the brakes a little too hard occasionally.

We’d already arranged to go out again with his friends tonight. One of Nate’s cousins was a doorman at a bar that had a live band playing, so that was where we were heading tonight.

Once we were back at his apartment, I changed into a little black dress and some hot pink heels. My hair was unsalvageable, so I just unfastened the braid and clipped it up in a little twist at the back of my head. While Ashton dressed next to me, the red scratches on his back came into view again.

I winced. “Did I hurt you last night? I’m really sorry,” I muttered, nodding at his back when he seemed confused.

He twisted, looking in the mirror before laughing. “Looks like you marked me too then,” he mused. He slipped on a shirt, covering it up and smiled over at me. “You weren’t hurting me, trust me.”

I chewed on my lip and stood up, smoothing down my skirt. “Look okay?”

“You look stunning.” His eyes shone with adoration as he held out one hand towards me. “Ready?”

I nodded and grinned, excited for my second night out with him in LA.

When we arrived at the bar, Ashton led us past the huge line to the front and gave his name to the doorman. Much to my amazement, we were waved straight through.

Ashton scanned the bar from the doorway. I assumed he was looking for his friends, but couldn’t rule out the possibility that he was surveying the area for hostiles because he never seemed to relax. Nate’s blond head caught my attention, and I frowned as I spotted Seth standing a few feet away from him with his tongue down a girl’s throat already. I looked back at Ashton and felt unreasonable jealousy settle in the pit of my stomach as I wondered if he had a different girl every night like his friends seemed too. If he did, it would explain why he was so killer in bed.

“They’re over there,” I stated, pointing towards Nate.

He smiled and took my hand as he guided us through the crowd. Nate’s eyes widened as we stopped next to him. “Wow, you look hot Anna. Fuck me,” he said, looking me over slowly.

“Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll pass,” I joked, shrugging.

He grinned. “You’re funny.”

“Did you have fun last night? I was worried when you didn’t come home,” I teased.

“Aw, that’s sweet. Were you concerned about little old me? Or did you just want someone to rock you to sleep?” he asked, winking and smirking at me.

“Yeah, you know anyone?” I shrugged, playing along.

Nate looked at Ashton and grinned. “You know, Taylor, you said I’d be in love with her by the end of the weekend and damn, I think you’re right.” He slapped Ashton on the shoulder proudly.