“Wish I could say the same,” she says flatly.
He chuckles and makes a point of checking out her ass as he walks behind her so that only I can see. I forgot that when you tell Declan Astor not to do something, he will not only do it, but he’ll make you watch.
I take a deep breath, attempting to calm my irritation.
“So what’s up?” I ask her. It feels weird speaking so casually after everything that has happened.
She looks distracted, like she’s in her head. I follow her eyes to the corner of my desk. The little pieces of glass she took out of my hand are still sitting in a neat pile where I pushed them off to the side last night. I told the cleaning crew not to do my office when I called them to warn them about all the glass up front. I didn’t need anyone coming in here with the scent of sex still permeating the air. I took out my trashthis morning, but I completely forgot about the glass on my desk.
“Allie,” I say softly.
Her eyes snap to me. “Oh yeah, I just wanted to ask if you want the vendor paperwork filed alphabetically or by date.” I quirk a brow. That’s a lie if I ever heard one.
“You know, because you’re so particular,” she goes on. “I wouldn’t want to waste my time only to have to redo it later.”
Did she—Yeah, she definitely just pulled something out of her ass so she would have an excuse to come talk to me.
“Either way is fine,” I grin.
“Great,” she says a little louder than I was expecting. “That’s great. I’ll just—” She backs up and hits the wall. “Go,” she whispers. Is sheflustered?
“Wait.” She spins back around so fast, I think for a second she’s going to trip on her heels, but she rights herself, only swaying slightly.
“What are you doing Friday night?”
Her lips thin and that Allie scowl I love so much makes a home on her face. “This is not a thing, Rich Boy.”
There she is.
“Oh no? How many times, then?”
“How many times?” Her hands come to rest on her hips.
“How many times do I need to make you come before this is considered athing? Just curious.”
She scoffs, attempting to look outraged by my question, but I see the corners of her mouth tip up ever so slightly. She’s trying to keep from smiling. “I think you’re mistaken, Ashton. Did you already forget the way you beggedmelast night?”
“Oh, trust me. That’s burned into my memory for the rest of time.”
She licks her lips, catching the bottom one in her teeth and sliding it forward. “Good.”
“But make no mistake, Chaos. Just because I let you havecontrol last night, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen every time.” I liked submitting to her…a lot. But I also like the idea of switching it up. Dominating the woman who likes to dominate.
“Let me?”
“Anyway,” I continue, ignoring her question. “Now that we got that out of the way and established that this is, in fact, a thing, I can ask what I was going to ask in the first place. Our first rec league softball game is on Friday and we’re down a player since Theo is still on physical activity restriction. What size shirt are you?”
“Excuse me?”
“Which part do you need me to repeat?”
She blinks up at me, her eyes swimming. “What rec league?”
“The local Emberfield small business recreational softball league.” It’s a mouthful, which is why I usually just call it the “rec league.” I had completely forgotten about it until I got a text from my buddy, Wes, this morning. He’s a DJ at our local radio station. It’s a tradition that the first game of the season is betweenThe Emberfield Lanternand KEMB. It technically doesn’t count toward the official season, which starts at the end of March. It’s more like a warm-up game, but it’s competitive nonetheless. I’ve been playing in the league for years now. Theo begged me to help them out when I first came back home after college. There’s not much I wouldn’t do for that man, so I agreed, even though I didn’t work for the paper.
“Thanks, but no thanks.” Allie interrupts my thoughts. “I don’t play well with others.”
“I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
