Pulling out my phone, I called him. It seemed unlikely he’d be in bed since he was a pretty heavy partier. His voicemail picked up.
“Hey man, it’s Ash, how are you? Listen Beth has been talking to me about buying your half of Jet. I don’t want to go any further without hearing from you. Give me a call.”
With that out of the way, I went back to putting together an offer. While I wanted to be generous, I also had to consider that Ben had been away for nearly two years, forcing me to hire a manager and deal with all management issues without his input. I wasn’t sure that offering him fifty percent of the club’s value was fair to me, considering he’d done nothing for two years. Tuck had been right, he’d helped boost the club’s income over the last year with some innovative ideas of his own.
I made a draft of my proposal and would review it later. Next, I started doing some basic online research about Beth, Ben, and their father’s business. There wasn’t a whole lot on her. I found an article on their father’s death. With him gone, and my father’s change of heart, it seemed like Beth and I could have another go at things without their disapproval. Then again, I didn’t give a fuck what either thought now. All that mattered was what Beth thought, and based on how she walked off, odds were slim she was interested in finding out if we had what it took to finish what we started six years ago.
With fatigue finally hitting me, I turned off my computer and got ready for bed. As I lay naked in the cool sheets, I chose to remember the better parts of the evening, like how graceful and sexy her body moved on the dancefloor, how sweet her lips were and how slick and tight her pussy was. As I drifted off, my last thought was how it would be a fucking shame if like last time, I’d only get one chance to have her.
6
Beth – Saturday
What the hell had I been thinking? I had sex with Ash in the back of a limo. I hadn’t been thinking. That was the problem. And goodness, was it good. Great. Fantastic. Better than I remembered the first time being, and the first time had been wonderful. But no, Beth, you’re supposed to be getting money for the club and then moving on.
I chastised myself the whole way home even as my body felt gloriously satisfied. I had to blame the booze and letting myself go at the club for my lapse in judgment. That and the fact that Ash had been kind, sweet, and too sexy for me to resist. I’d let my hormones have their way and now I was having to pay the price. At least there was no chance of pregnancy this time. Not that I was complaining about the first time, because my precious little girl was the one bright spot in my life right now. My father’s illness and subsequent death, Ben’s problems, and the company’s financial trouble all were taking a toll on me, but my Hannah, she was sweet and kind and the one source of happiness in my very difficult life. A life I just complicated more by sleeping with Ash.
He clearly expected us to spend the night together, and then accused me of prostituting myself for a good deal. God how that burned. I believed he regretted saying it, but the words still escaped his lips. It proved true the rumor that all the Raven boys were even more ruthless than their father had been.
When I arrived home, I thanked Morgan and offered her the guest room, but she declined and called a car to take her home. I checked on my daughter. Hannah slept peacefully under a foamy bluish canopy that was supposed to represent the ocean in her mermaid themed room.
Then I took a shower to wash Ash away and climbed into bed.
You’re fucking amazing. I can’t wait to spend the rest of the night making you come over and over.
His words came back to me, making my body heat again. I wondered if he said that to all his women or if he meant it.
I’ve never forgotten you, Beth.
For a moment, a part of me wanted to believe he meant he’d never forgotten our love, but I knew now he meant the sex. I supposed I should feel good that even as a virgin, he remembered that night six years ago, and today still wanted me. The fact that he walked away without a word told me that sex was all it was and an affair was all it would be. I couldn’t afford any more complications in my life. Especially one involving Ash.