by Lexy Timms
Ash was rooted to his spot.
She was nothing like the usual females who fawned over him. Fell over themselves to introduce their names to him. She was nothing like the gold diggers and the tall, thin-legged women who tried to get in well with his mother before they even met him. Watching her dance on the floor, swiveling her hips and hugging her friend tightly, it made him miss her. He wanted to be the one dancing with her. He wanted to be the one pressed against her. He wanted to be the one she smiled at.
Like they had on the island.
He closed his eyes and relived the moment. Remembering the feel of her body against his.
Ash had been infuriated when he showed up at her apartment and saw another man at her place. He had hit his private gym for a few hours to work out his rage over that fun little surprise he was met with. He tried to place the face of the man. Tried to figure out who he was that night by searching his phone. But he couldn't come up with anything and he knew he didn't know the man, and for a brief second it reinforced his fears. That what he had with Kallie was nothing but a fantasy on the island. Holiday hookup for her like she had started out for him.
But she wasn't out with him tonight. She was out with a friend of hers.
Did that mean something? Was his anger misplaced?
Maybe this was the chance Ash had been waiting for. Maybe this was his chance to approach her again, since she hadn't called him. He didn't feel right showing up at her apartment after he dropped off those flowers. He wasn't going to beg her for a second chance. She was her own person and if she didn't believe in second chances—if she wanted to be with whoever that other guy was, or even if she just didn't want him—that was her choice. He had no right to force her into making any sort of decision. He had no right to corner her and make some sort of argument as to why he was good for her. If she couldn't see that with what they had already experienced together—couldn’t feel it in her bones like he did—then there was nothing he could do about that.
But there Kallie was, not with that man from her apartment, but with a friend. Out in public. Vulnerable. Accessible. It would be nothing to accidentally run into her and brush it off as a coincidence.
Maybe this was fate giving him a second chance.
Maybe fate was who he needed to ask for a second chance in the first place.
Ash left the quiet VIP lounge and headed down the stairs. He shook hands with his friend one last time and clapped his back, then set his eyes on Kallie’s body. He headed into the crowd, her copper hair in his vision as he slid between the rocking bodies of people bouncing on the dance floor. Men were gawking, and he didn't like that. People were staring, and he didn't like that. The last time a man had gawked at Kallie, she left the club with a bruise. And that wasn't happening again. Not on his watch.
Tonight, Kelly was going home with him.
No matter what it took.
Chapter 5
Kallie
Kallie’s hips swiveled with the music as Eris took her hand. Her drink was in the air and a smile was finally blooming on her face. It was a wonderful time. The music was loud, the alcohol was strong, her stomach was full of good foods. This was what it meant to be single, and Kallie found herself loving it. It was fun. Exciting. Full of adventure.
She was finally starting to feel a little better.
Eris twirled her on the dance floor and all of the men falling over themselves were cheering them on. Kallie didn’t need a man to make her happy. She was just fine on her own. She had Eris, her career, her own damn business. She could go out and party whenever she wanted. Every weekend could be a girls’ weekend if she wanted it to be. No asking for permission. No obeying a specific time frame because of how it might affect someone else. Kallie could come and go as she pleased in her life and it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference to anyone else.
“Get it, girl!” Eris exclaimed. “Look at all these guys!”
Kallie opened her eyes and looked around, surveying the scene in front of her.
There were so many men. And they were all tripping over their own two feet to dance with them. Grabbing her hips and telling her how beautiful she was. Hell, Eris was batting men off left and right. She made her own rules and played by her own standards and she was as happy as she could be. Eris wasn’t tied down, and Kallie didn’t have to be either. Men of all ages and races would be there if Kallie ever wanted to try again.
Maybe she needed to take a page from Eris’s book.
The music was hot and it thumped in the marrow of her bones. Kallie felt everything slide from her body with every second that passed by. All the stress and the worrying and the text messages from James. The flowers from Ash and the notes on the cards. Everything that had transpired over the past three weeks fell from her mind and she allowed the music to take over. She allowed the notes and the melodies and the bumping of the bass to make her decisions for her.
Kallie felt free.
Finally, truly free.
Kallie felt a man come up behind her, despite Eris trying to wiggle her way into the middle. His hands were pawing at her hips and he was trying to grind on her. Hard. He pressed himself into her and slid Eris out of the way, and Kallie tried to take a step away from him. His hands gripped her tightly and Kallie flipped around. She could feel his nasty hips all over her body and Kallie didn’t like it one bit.
It flashed her back to her time at the club on the island.
To her time with Ash.
She thought back to the guy at the bar. Who thought he could have his way with her. She remembered how Ash had handled the situation. With a suave and an ease that didn’t involve any sort of fighting. It still left her breathless. Thinking of him twirling her out of the way still hopped her heart in her chest. Kallie looked into the drunken eyes of the man who wouldn’t let her go, and she wrapped her arm around him and tapped him on the shoulder.
In his drunken state, he looked over, releasing his grip on her hips.
Without hesitation, Kallie spun out of the way. She used Eris’s hand for leverage and spun right out of the man’s grasp. She got her feet underneath her and kept going. Moving her hips around and drinking her drink. Eris was laughing as her arm wrapped around Kallie’s waist, but the second Kallie stepped forward, she ran smack into something hard.
Something sturdy.
Something familiar.
Kallie’s eyes panned up the beautiful suit and looked straight into those hazel eyes. Kallie’s jaw fell open and she felt Eris stop behind her. Kallie released her grip around her drink and it fell from her hands, and without moving a single muscle, Ash caught it in the palm of his hand.
He grinned down at her and Kallie felt her knees going weak.
Ash.
He was at the club.
She watched him wrap those pillowy lips around the straw of her drink and finish it off. Then he reached his arm out and dumped the empty plastic cup into a trash can at their side. She couldn't take her eyes off him. Off the cute freckles on his nose that crinkled as his grin grew into a smile. Off the slightly disheveled mop of hair on his head. If she leaned in close enough, she could still smell the ocean on him. Smell the island and the storm and the raging waters he’d protected her from.
Holy hell that man looked good in a suit.
His hands fell to Kallie’s waist and began dragging her away from the edge of the dance floor. His hand ran up her side, making her shiver as her eyes fluttered closed. She felt his hand grab hers and lace their fingers together, then he led the dance as he spun her around the floor. Like a moth to a flame, Kallie leaned into him. Into his strength and his confidence. His leg slid between hers and Eris soon fell from her mind, her body magnetized to his.
It felt so good to be against him again.
His chest swelled and his arm grew strong. She gripped onto him, steadying her body in his grasp. Her head tilted up to look at him and she got lost in his hazel eyes. In the strobe lights that reflected in his stormy, sea-filled gaze. She could see
him. Clear as day. The man she had enjoyed on the island. The surfer boy with a head full of salted hair and lean legs that carried her around the dance floor. She could see his playful grin dancing along his cheeks. Crinkling his eyes.
Making his freckles jump.
Song after song filtered through the club and Kallie moved with his every step. Ash spun, and she spun with him. Ash dipped her and she relaxed against his arms. Ash’s leg ground between hers and she swirled her hips to the base of the music. Her grip was tight on him and his eyes were locked onto her. He grew closer and closer, like he had on the island. Until his nose was nuzzled against her ear. She smiled into his shoulder. Wrapped her arms around his neck. Pressed all of herself into him as his hands dropped to the small of her back.
“Are you stalking me?” Kallie asked playfully.
Ash chuckled in her ear and it sent shivers down her spine.
“I apparently know one of the club owners,” Ash said.
“You apparently know them?” she asked.
“He asked me multiple times to come out and make an appearance for his opening night. I saw you from the VIP area.”
Kallie rolled her eyes as reality came crashing back.
“I should’ve guessed you’d be a VIP,” she said.
She felt Ash’s arms tighten around her, but she didn’t think anything of it. The crowd was growing and things were getting tight. He was probably just steering her out of the way. She swirled her hips against his leg but couldn’t bring her eyes back to him. The club was so reminiscent of their time on the island that she’d already been swept back into that dream. Into that fantasy he painted so perfectly before destroying it with his money. With his words.
With his lies.
The song came to an end and Kallie tried to catch her breath. Sweat was dripping down her neck and her mind came reeling back into the present.
Where was Eris?
“If you want,” Ash said, “you can come up to the VIP area. Grab a drink. Catch your breath away from the crowd.”
“I’m not alone tonight, Ash.”
Kallie watched Ash’s face fall, and she furrowed her brow. What the hell was he so worried about? Kallie looked back at Eris and beckoned her forward, then she grabbed her friend’s hand. How in the world was she going to explain this? She saw the confusion on Eris’s face. How was she going to tell her friend that this was the guy from the island and still keep Eris from running her mouth off at him?
“I’m with my friend, Eris,” Kallie said.
“Then bring her along,” Ash said with a shrug.
“Who’s the guy?” Eris said into her ear.
Kallie leaned over and pressed her lips to her friend’s ear.
“Remember island guy?” Kallie asked. “He’s inviting us to the VIP section for a drink and a rest.”
She watched her friend’s eyes widen before Eris tugged her hand.
“Come on. Let’s go,” Eris said.
“Lead the way,” Kallie said as she stumbled behind her friend.
Even over the crowd, she could hear Ash’s chuckle. He stepped out in front of them and led the way, walking up a thin spiral staircase. They were soon dumped into a glass encasement that was significantly quieter, cooler, and filled with fresher air. Kallie looked out along the crowd and tried to tell herself it was only temporary. That being in a VIP section didn’t make Ash like James. But she’d been stowed away in so many of them that it didn’t hold the kind of grandeur it did for Eris.
Who was gawking while looking around the glass encasement.
Kallie felt a tug on her waist and dropped to a soft couch underneath her. Ash wasted no time in threading his arm around her waist, but Kallie promptly scooted away. Closer to Eris, who was clearly giving Ash the stink eye. She had no issues taking him up on the offer of VIP treatment, but Kallie knew Eris wouldn't let Ash off the hook that easily.
“Would the three of you like anything to drink?” a man in a suit asked.
“Yes. I’ll have three fingers of scotch on the rocks,” Ash said. “And the girls would like...?”
“A rum and Coke,” Eris said. “And Kallie here will take a margarita.”
“I will?” Kallie asked.
“Make it a mango one if you’ve got it,” Eris said.
Ash chuckled and the sound froze Kallie in her place.
“So, who is your lovely friend, Kallie?” Ash asked.
“You remember me mentioning my maid of honor from time to time?” Kallie asked. “This is Eris.”
“Ah, so this is the woman who found the asshole in the closet,” he said. “I’m Ash.”
“I know,” Eris said flatly.
Great. This was going to be fun.
“Can I ask you a question, Ash?”
“No, Eris,” Kallie said.
“Go right ahead,” Ash said.
“Do you often pretend to be broke to get girls to like you?”
Kallie sighed as she leaned into the couch.
“I like to buck the trend,” Ash said.
“Buck the trend, then buck the girl?”
“Usually in that order, yes,” he said. “Most guys pretend to be rich to snag women, but in my experience those women aren’t worth snagging. It’s the women that don’t care for money that are worth the time and effort.”
“To buck,” Eris said.
“Seriously?” Kallie asked.
But Ash’s sentiment settled a raging question in her mind. He hadn’t tried to intentionally deceive her. He really was on that island trying to live as low-key of a life as he could. Kallie cracked a smile, but she knew Eris wouldn’t be as easily distracted.
“So, does honesty and integrity mean nothing to you?” Eris asked.
“They mean a great deal to me,” Ash said. “But when I’m constantly bombarded by women who want nothing more than my wallet, cloak-and-dagger is the only way I can find women worth spending my time with.”
“So you buck around with women a lot, huh?”
Kallie could tell by the look on Ash’s face that he was regretting bringing Eris up with them. Every time he said something, Eris twisted his words and backed him into a corner. Of course a man like Ash had been with multiple women. That was his prerogative. It wasn’t fair of her best friend to use that against him. He fielded Eris’s questions in stride, but the more she bombarded him, the more his smile and confident demeanor faltered.
Kallie needed to step in soon before Eris ruined something.
She wasn’t sure what Eris could ruin, but if there was something, she wanted to preserve it.
Chapter 6
Ash
“I’m not a virgin, if that’s what you’re asking,” Ash said.
“How many times have you been really, truly serious about a woman? Because I can’t help but think my friend here got played by you,” Eris said.
“I didn't play Kallie. She’s better than that.”
“Did she start off as a play, though?”
“You mean like I started off as a rebound?” Ash asked.
“Oh, so we’re getting into specifics? Good. Let’s see. You lied about your job as a bartender. You lied about that yacht not being yours. You got my friend stuck out in a storm that almost killed her, then you nonchalantly dumped the fact that you’re a rich fucking bastard on her shoulders like it was nothing.”
“I told her I was rich because I cared about what she thought. I didn’t want to hide that aspect of my life from her any longer. I care about Kallie. I care about your friend. I did on the island, I did in that storm, and I do now. Who cares how we started out? Sure, maybe I was making a play for a woman. But I was a rebound to her, and things morphed.”
“So you’re saying this is Kallie’s fault.”
“What? No,” Ash said. “Stop twisting my words.”
“Then say what you mean.”
“Fine. I will. Kallie touched a part of me I couldn't let go. And I was too much of an idiot to see that me admitting I had money mea
nt her equating me to her ex. And I get that. But I don’t enjoy what you’re insinuating me to be, which is a liar and nothing better than her ex. Because it isn’t true. I do value honesty and integrity. Above all else. I also value Kallie above all else.”
Ash was quickly realizing that Kallie’s friend was a tenacious defender. Which was bad, because he’d already gotten on her wrong side. Ash knew he had to do something to diffuse the situation. He knew getting in with the best friend would be the quickest way to winning Kallie back. But he wasn’t sure what to do. Every time he said something, she twisted his words. And the terrible thing was, he couldn't completely deny her statements. Yes, he’d had other women. Yes, he played it off like he didn’t have money. Yes, that made him look like a liar and that he lacked integrity.
But that wasn’t true.
Most people were willing to forgive a rich man. For anything. And he had to admit, he’d been privileged with that for years. He could make a fool of himself, introduce himself, and people would automatically forgive him. But Kallie and Eris weren’t those kinds of people. Ash didn’t get to enjoy some of the perks of being rich without getting the consequences. Like gold diggers and stuck-up families and people who wanted to use him for exposure.
Ash was also figuring out that he couldn't play himself off to be a normal guy and not get the “normal guy issues.”
The drinks came around and Ash divvied them out. Eris with her rum and Coke, Kallie with her mango margarita he still wasn’t sure she wanted, and him with his scotch. He took a sip of his drink and considered his options as he continued to field Eris’s questions. If he had things his way, he would take Kallie with him and leave Eris high and dry. He knew he needed to talk with Kallie, and everything Eris was saying turned Kallie more against him. He could see it in her face. That was her best friend, and she would always be more inclined to listen to her than to him.
But how could he get rid of Eris?
