She narrows her eyes at me. “Ummm… How about no?”
Of course, she has to be complicated. Everything with Ash is always a production. She can’t say yes and go with the flow.
“You need to eat, do you not?”
She clicks her tongue. “I don’t need you and Sloan breathing down my neck all the time. You guys don’t need to baby me. I’m a grown woman who can feed herself, thank you very much.”
I stuff my hands into my pockets and sigh. “I’m trying here, Ash. Work with me, would you?”
“Okay,” she says with a smile. “You want to work together? Then, you can help me comb through the box of scripts.” She points at a bankers box overflowing with paper. “I have to come up with something for Nico Chase.”
“You work for Vinnie, not Nico. Why do you care if Vinnie reps him?”
“If I can help Nico get back on his feet, then there’s some hope for me.”
I love that Ash is so selfless and caring, a sweet girl in a world full of assholes who do nothing but take. Her kindness often gets her into trouble. Many people have taken advantage of her, and I hate to see her waste her time and lose herself to help a jerk like Nico Chase.
“If I help you, will you have dinner with me?”
Ash presses her index finger to her lips. “Hmm… I guess. How about a working dinner? You should be used to those by now.”
I wanted to have a real dinner at a restaurant, but I guess I have to take what I can get.
“I’ll order us a pizza. You still like pepperoni and sausage?”
She bobs her head, a smile in place.
“C’mon.” I tip my head toward the door. “We can eat in the living room.”
Her eyes widen. “You would let me eat in your precious living room?” She throws her hand over her mouth in mock surprise. “But what if I get crumbs on the couch? You might need to have it professionally cleaned and sanitized.”
“Don’t get smart,” I snap.
She wiggles her eyebrows and then blows me a kiss. “Don’t be annoying, and we can have some fun.”
I consider debating with her and stop myself. She thinks I’m boring because I like things a certain way. Actions speak louder than words. I’ll prove to her that I can let go of my annoying habits.
I won’t yell at her to keep her feet off my couch, and I will try my best not to clean every surface around her. It will be hard. My OCD even drives me nuts. So, I guess we’ll have to see how it goes.
“Make yourself useful and grab the box.” Ash winks, walking past me to leave her bedroom.
She’s trying to work my nerves, and because of that, I will stay strong. I won’t allow her to get under my skin.
I lift the box from the floor and follow behind Ash into the living room. As expected, she plops down on the couch and puts her feet on the fabric. I’m getting it cleaned, but I’m not telling her that. I won’t give her the satisfaction of knowing that she’s bothering me.
Ash peeks up at me and rubs her stomach, pushing up her tank top. And now, I can’t stop staring at her smooth skin. I can’t stop thinking about how good she looked naked, my mind wandering to all of the places I have been with her.
“Are you ordering us a pizza or what?” Ash groans. “I’m a grown woman. I need to eat.”
I remove my cell phone from my pocket and order two large pizzas from DoorDash. “They’ll be here in forty minutes,” I say as I sit next to Ash on the couch. “So, how does this work?”
She digs through dozens of scripts. In typical Ash fashion, everything is out of order, the papers messy and torn in certain places. There’s a giant hole through the middle of one of the scripts, which is weird.
“What happened to this one?” I ask as I remove it from the box, holding it up for Ash to see.
Ash chuckles. “Vinnie ripped it out of a junior agent’s hand and nailed it to a cork board before he told the guy to get the fuck out of his office.”
“He sounds like fun to work for.”
She rolls her shoulders. “He’s an ass. But he likes me.”
“Given his reputation for firing assistants after a few days, I’d say he likes you.”
“You know Vinnie, right?”
I nod. “He came to a party we hosted for Date Crashers with a few of his clients.”
She frowns. “How come I wasn’t invited?”
“You were still working at Jamba Juice back then. He brought a tall redhead with him, his assistant, I think.”
“Lucy,” Ash says with laughter in her tone. “I’ve heard so many stories about her. She got caught having sex with an agent in the copy room. Vinnie warned me not to fraternize with employees because of her.”