“Yeah, it is. Professionally.” He held up his beer. “Cheers.”
I touched my wine glass to his bottle. “Thank you for bringing me here, Ashley. It’s beautiful.”
His gaze dropped to my lips as he sipped his beer, but he didn’t say anything.
I wanted to ask him what hisotherpriorities were. Like, the nonprofessional ones.
Personal. Romantic.
Sexual…
Of course, I hopedYouwould be his answer on every count.
But I chickened out on asking.
* * *
Sometime later, we ended up in the pool. Naked.
Ashley had jacked up the heat for us and it was pretty epic, with the evening sun slanting down and the fresh, coastal air. It was a salt pool, which made it extra nice. No chemically chlorine smell.
“I’ll have to meet this Dylan guy,” I mused, wine glass in hand. If I hadn’t been sipping booze for the last few hours, I probably would’ve chickened out on saying that, too. “He has good taste… in everything.” I was looking up at his gorgeous house.
Then I looked at Ashley, who’d drifted up beside me in the water.
He pulled me into his lap and set my drink aside.
Then there was kissing.
A lot of kissing.
And slow, naked touching under the water. The kind that didn’t end in orgasm; just touching for the sake of touching.
The kind that didn’t end at all…
We were still making out as we toweled each other off and headed back to his house.
Then I broke it to him. If I was staying over, I told him, I absolutely had to do a tiny bit of work in preparation for my unexpected day away from the office tomorrow.
So we paused the making out and got dressed so I could do that.
I messaged Madeleine to let her know I was taking a personal day. I didn’t have any in-person client meetings scheduled, and anyway, tomorrow was the day before my birthday, so Madeleine wouldn’t exactly mind. She’d already suggested I take some time off this week, and while I hadn’t been planning to, plans could change, right?
I didn’t mention any of that to Ashley, though.
I really wasn’t into making a giant deal out of my birthday.
That was more Daniella’s thing.
According to my phone, she’d been calling and texting all day about our birthday plans. But as far as I was concerned, the plans were already set.
My twin sister just needed to learn how to leave well enough alone, and calm down a bit about celebrating her existence. Which was why I’d kept my phone on silent today, on purpose, and ignored her calls.
But I did text her back, just once.
Me:Everything is fine as planned. I’ll see you tomorrow for dinner. DON’T CHANGE ANYTHING AND DON’T INVITE ANY MORE PEOPLE.
A reply popped up immediately. I didn’t read it.
