Penina Ross
We walked into Bellies, and I felt like I was home again. The eatery was crowded for a Sunday afternoon, but just as if fate were welcoming me back to the place where it all started, a couple got up from the bar, and the two seats where Rich and Courtney had ambushed me opened up. Asher also saw the vacancies and took my hand. We made a beeline to them.
My smile felt as luminous as the moon when my butt hit the cushion, and so was his.
“Why are you so happy all of a sudden?” he asked, still grinning.
“Because you’re here with me, and I’ve come full circle.”
I could see by the slight way that his eyes narrowed that he had no idea what I was talking about. Heck, he probably thought I had gone crazy. I didn’t want him to think that, so I guided my lips toward his and initiated a gentle kiss.
Yes, his mouth tasted delicious. Yes, his tongue felt good brushing against mine. Yes, my head floated away from my body. Then I guided my mouth next to his ear so he could hear me above the ambient noise.
“I left this place the morning I ran into you in front of my building, smoking a cigarette.” I kissed his cheek. “And now I’m in love with you.”
Asher captured my face in his hands and once again pressed his lips against mine.
“I love you, too, babe. And about your mother—”
I pressed a finger on his lips. “She’s not my mother, not anymore—and I don’t ever want to talk about her.”
We stared into each other’s eyes. He seemed conflicted. I was not.
“Pen? Are you back?”
I leaned to the side to see around Asher. It was Corey, a cool blond bartender with shaggy hair.
Asher twisted his body around to get a look at him.
“Yes, I’m back,” I sang as I leaned forward, putting one hand on Asher’s solid thigh and holding up two fingers with the other. “Can I have two orders of bourbon wings with hot buttery biscuits for me and my man here?”
Corey’s eyes shifted to Asher as though he’d just noticed he was sitting next to me.
“Oh, okay. Got it. Sparkling water with lemon?” he asked.
“For both of us,” I said.
Corey looked at Asher just to confirm that it was okay to go with my order. I knew it was fine. I’d learned a lot about Asher-Jake during our time together. One thing was that he wouldn’t drink alcohol if I wasn’t having any, unless something was vexing him. That was how I’d instinctively known he recognized the woman on the night of the masquerade party—he had ordered scotch on the rocks.
“Bourbon wings, huh?” he asked.
“Rich doctors don’t eat bourbon wings?” I asked.
He sniffed, regarding me carefully. “What’s wrong with you? Why the big change all of a sudden?”
I inhaled deeply then let it go. “Because there’s nothing I can do about Elizabeth or Julia.”
“You don’t have to worry about Julia,” he said in a rush. “She’s been handled.”
“What did you do to her?” I asked.
He told me that he didn’t want Julia anywhere near Mary Ross, so he’d escorted her back to her office and told her to get to work. She seemed surprised she wasn’t fired, so without a second word, she sat at her desk, turned on her computer, and started working.
“I had to thwart her expectations,” he said.
Smiling a little, I asked, “Thwart them?”
He sniffed. “Exactly. If I had kept fighting with Julia, then she would’ve fought too.”
“Ah,” I said, nodding. “After I pushed her, she latched on to me like a gnat.”
“You pushed her?”
My shoulders hunched. “She tried to block me, so I had to get physical.” I shook my head, banishing the memory of our little altercation. “She’s crazy.”
“Good for you, babe. I bet she thought she could push you around.”
I smirked. “Did you think she could push me around?”
Asher’s lips found mine, and we kissed tenderly. “You’re a delicate flower who’s tough as nails.”
I chuckled against his mouth. “You thought she would push me around.”
Asher laughed.
“I’m badass, you know?”
“Who’s badass?” a woman with a sultry English accent asked.
I whipped my head around to see Zara.
“Hey, KitKat,” she said, initiating a hug.
“Love you, Reece’s Pieces,” I said as we embraced.
Everything after that happened so appropriately and so fast. Zara was with Sarah, who probably hadn’t seen Asher since the night of the fire, and just as she had then, she eye-mugged him from the moment she saw him. Then Asher went to get Kirk, and he joined us as at a bigger table. We talked about everything from politics, which started with Zara asking Asher about his brother, who ran for Senate against his wife’s mother, to some of the new articles in Neuro Journal Today. It surprised me that Zara still read it. I took it as a good sign.
Then Asher’s twin sister called, heard all the noise, and asked if she could join us. By the time she showed up, a typical New Orleans street band had set up. From the first song they played, Asher had taken my hand, cleared some room, and held me against him, and we danced, kissed, and gazed into each other’s eyes.
Then Bryn Christmas, tall, beautiful, blond, and a dead ringer for Asher, walked into the restaurant with another beautiful woman and a man, who was as just as good-looking as Asher. Cell phone cameras flashed. People got excited. Everyone knew Jasper Walker Christmas and his wife, Holly Henderson Christmas. Zara and Holly seemed to get along, as they talked endlessly about current events. As Asher had once said, Bryn and I had more in common. Asher was a favorite topic of ours. He listened with a sheepish grin as his sister and I compared notes. I said I loved the way he folded my clothes when I tossed them here and there.
“Oh, he’s a neat freak,” Bryn said. “Has he cooked for you yet?”
I nodded, rubbing his thigh. “Scallops.”
She smiled at him approvingly. “So, what are you two going to do for Pen’s sabbatical?” Bryn had heard Zara call me Pen and decided she would rather refer to me by the informal version of my name, since she was triple-sure I would be around the family for a long time.
Asher flicked his eyebrows up twice. And on cue, Bryn and I rolled our eyes at the same time then chuckled about it.
“Besides that, Ash,” she said.
Asher scratched the back of his neck. “I want to take her somewhere. A place she’s never been.”
Bryn’s eyes lit up. “Good idea. And I have some suggestions.”
Then Bryn, Asher, and I talked about all the places we could go and where we could stay until Zara held out her hand and asked me to cut a rug with her before she left.
And we did.
And we danced.
And we laughed.
And we were happy.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Penina Ross
That was the night my life began anew. After Asher and I made it back to the penthouse, we made love until Monday afternoon—no sleep, just kissing, touching, and fucking. He skipped the big staff meeting. He said that Si would handle it. Julia had already spread the rumor that Asher and his brothers purchased the hospital. The report from the chief was that no one was bitter about it. Everyone had bought the story that Asher was pretending to be Jake Sparrow to assess whether he would purchase the hospital. Their sentiments were aided by the fact that EBHI would be part of the hospital’s infrastructure, and fifty percent more nurses, doctors, and surgeons would be hired within the next six months.
It was the last week of September. Asher and I had been traveling together for nearly three months, and the next week, we were due back at the hospital. Our journey had started in New Zealand, where we frolicked in blue pools, hiked over glaciers, searched for waterfalls, and slept under the night skies.
Next, we flew to Norway, where we cruised riverways aboard private superyachts, took
long drives through twisty grassy mountains, and gazed over tall cliffs to wonder at the most beautiful landscapes of rocks, grass, and zigzagging streams below.
There was no rhyme or reason for deciding where we chose to go. Asher and I discovered we both had a hankering for marveling at and wallowing in the most beautiful aspects of nature. We both loved connecting with people, too, so we took Bryn’s advice and participated in some of the local food-and-wine festivals in small communities from Portugal to Spain to France to Italy then up to Ireland. We saw a lot of people who, as Bryn had said, didn’t recognize Asher Christmas. It also helped that Asher was multilingual, which surprised the heck out of me. He spoke Spanish, Italian, German, and Portuguese.
We gave ourselves two days in Japan’s Yoshino-Kumano National Park, where we rowed our boat among clusters of rock formations and walked the Kumano Kodo trail to visit an ancient shrine. All the trails felt surreal, dwarfed by tall trees with mossy barks. With all the illustrious sights we’d seen and ancient ground we had walked, the absolute best part of our travels had been gazing into each other’s eyes over candlelit dinners and cooling our bodies in semi-comfortable beds after making love as Asher used his hands to explain the mineral components of the volcanic soil we’d walked across. He knew a lot about land formations and land use. Whenever we encountered local farmers, he would engage them in long conversations about their crops, even lending them tips at times but mostly reeling with excitement when he learned something new from them. I was in awe of how smart he was, and that endeared him to me even more.
After leaving Japan, we decided it was time for a change of pace, especially since our vacation would soon be over and we didn’t want to return to work exhausted from our time off. We opted to explore the Andaman Sea on a superyacht, replacing hiking with snorkeling and swimming in blue lagoons. We dined on five-star meals whipped up by a private chef and made love in a comfortable bed.
Unlike with Rich, Asher and I never ran out of things to talk about. Over breakfast, we discussed the Expansive Brain Health Institute, which was something we were very excited about. Being surgeons, we showed each other techniques, practicing on melons. We discussed Elizabeth Thomas. I was finally able to feel deep inside what I’d said to Asher. I told him that at the moment—and I could only live in the here and now—she was like a whisper that had been carried away by the wind, although my nostrils tightened and tears pooled in my eyes if I thought about her too long.
“That’s okay, Penina. You love her. Honor that and let it be.”
I beamed at him so brightly that perfect warmth spread across my face. “I will. Thank you.”
Then his expression mirrored mine.
Traveling together had showed us how kind and patient we were with each other. Perhaps it was because we were both brain surgeons that we knew how to listen to each other and those around us. That was why, during our last stop in another superyacht on the Arctic Ocean, I knew without a doubt I was made for him and him for me. We both had been derived from turmoil and ugliness. He had met his mother, and she was still alive, but before, he’d been too angry with his father and ashamed of what happened to her to build any sort of relationship with her. Bryn was in a relationship with their mom, though. He had another sister, and he felt the same way about her too. He asked if I could help him, if I would be his strength as we sat with the two of them, sharing a meal and getting to know them better.
I squeezed his hands and said, “Of course, my love. Anything you want.”
Yes, at some point during our travels, I began to refer to Asher as my love. He is my love.
It was nine p.m. Asher had gone to the kitchen to retrieve a bottle of champagne. I was inside the heated glass dome on top of the vessel, naked on the king-sized bed and under a white faux-fur blanket. Not a single cloud blocked the light-green beams and sprays of green light streaking through the atmosphere like clusters of haunting spirits. The colors became more vivid through the telescope glasses we wore to view the phenomenon. Bryn had been right. The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, was the most wonderful spectacle I’d had the privilege to lay eyes on.
I kept thinking about Bryn, recalling the last time I’d seen her and Asher’s family, or at least the people he’d grown up with. It had been two days after our fun night at Bellies. Asher and I had arrived at the mansion at seven p.m. He rang the doorbell three times before opening the door. My dormmate, Nat, used to do the same thing whenever we arrived at her family’s house in Baton Rouge for the holiday. The fact that Asher’s family had the same habit made me feel aglow inside. I was in love with a man who had his own version of Rich’s family, and he was someone I could trust and count on.
After the ringing ended, an excited little girl came to the door. “Daddy!” She spoke gibberish until she said, “Ash here!”
Asher and I raised our eyebrows at each other.
The little girl had long, wavy brown hair and was wearing cut-off denim pedal pushers and a blue-and-white-striped shirt. She rushed Asher and wrapped herself around his leg. “You’re my uncle!”
Her name was Jane, and she was Jasper’s daughter. Asher had been nervous about meeting her for the first time. But she was so excited to meet him. It was as though, for her, a new uncle was like a new toy for her birthday.
My shoulders shook when I laughed. I was just so tickled. Jane was the cutest little thing I’d ever seen. The only reason she could already know Asher and love him even though she’d never seen him was because she felt loved and secure. I could never have been that way at her age, and perhaps that was why tears filled my eyes as I laughed.
And after the shock passed, Asher hoisted her off the ground, and tickling her little tummy, he said, “Yes, I am your uncle. And you must be Jane, my cute-as-a-button niece.”
“I’m Jane,” she sang, nudging herself in the chest. Next, she pointed at me. “And you’re Pen!”
My eyes sparkled when I said, “Yes, I am!”
Asher and I flexed our eyebrows at each other as she hugged him around the neck. Then she asked to be put down so that she could take us to the den where her mom, dad, aunt Bryn, Jada, and uncle Spencer were waiting for us.
After we all shook hands and hugged, we moseyed into the patio dining room for dinner. I had never been a fan of lobster until I ate Chef Bart’s chili lemon lobster over a bed of avocado with fresh mint and lime shrimp ceviche. We were also served antipasto salad with European cheeses and freshly baked breads. I was asked the standard questions—where I was from and why I’d chosen to become a neurosurgeon. But that was all. The Christmases didn’t practice prying.
Jasper’s wife, Holly, seemed to be the one who absorbed every small detail about me. She could see how nervous I was and how out of place I felt as the brothers talked about their plans for the hospital.
“Now, Dr. Ross,” Jasper said, leaning forward.
Holly winked at me. “It’s Pen, honey.”
“Right, sorry, Pen. Do you envision yourself playing an administrative role in the hospital?” He sounded as if he were giving me a job interview.
I turned to Asher, who appeared just as shocked by Jasper’s question as I was.
“Um, that’ll be a no,” I said. “I’m a surgeon.” I raised a finger pointedly. “Research, though, yes!”
His hard expression eased into a smile as he nodded. “Okay … I see.”
“Why do you ask?” I asked.
“If or when you become a Christmas, you’ll have the option.”
I leaned back against my seat. Goodness, he certainly wasn’t one to finesse things. He went straight to the finish line.
“Jas, come on,” Asher said, pulling at his collar while squirming.
“What?” he asked, throwing his hands up as if he didn’t get it.
“But isn’t this great?” Bryn asked, garnering everyone’s attention. “Remember the last time all four of us and Holly had dinner together?”
Spencer grunted. “At the mansion.�
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“Bryn, I heard you had it demolished, and now they’re rebuilding,” Holly said.
Bryn smiled from ear to ear. “It’s almost finished. We have to spend Christmas there, all of us.” She tilted her head, eyeing each and every one of her brothers individually. “And I mean all of us.”
“I’m in,” Spencer said.
“Yes, we’ll be there,” Jasper said.
Asher interlaced his fingers with mine under the table. “So will we.”
“Aha,” Jada, Spencer’s wife, said. “Then you guys are going to be married. Mark my words.”
“Yeah,” Spencer said, nodding. “They’re tying the knot. Absolutely.”
“I would like that,” Jasper said. “I like you, Dr. Ross.”
Holly chuckled as she rubbed her husband’s back. “He just likes saying Dr. Ross.”
“Dr. Ross!” Jane repeated excitedly, and we all laughed.
Throughout the rest of dinner, Bryn led the family in an exercise in which they only shared good memories from the past while Jane sat on her lap. Jasper recounted the time Spencer got the idea to do a backflip off a private yacht while it was in motion. He would’ve been lost in the middle of the South Pacific if Jasper hadn’t gotten to the captain in time and had him retrace their path. The current had carried him five miles off course. They finally found him before nightfall.
“Father was never told about that?” Asher asked.
“No,” Jasper said. “He didn’t need to know.”
“How old were you then?” Jada asked, looking at Spencer.
“Thirteen.”
“Then, Jasper, you were only fifteen,” Jada said. “You never cease to amaze me.”
Jasper shrugged. “I did what needed to be done, that’s all.”
They talked about cheerier memories like swimming in the sound, which their property curved around. They had to admit that they were struggling to pinpoint the good times.
“Well, we’ll make happy memories now, starting with tonight,” Bryn said.
Embrace: The Secret Billionaire Asher Christmas Duet, Two (The Dark Christmases Book 9) Page 20
