by C. A. Harms
“Okay, well, I must have misunderstood her then.”
Walking out of the store straight for my car, I unlocked the doors and slid inside. The smell of pizza hit my nose immediately. With a twelve pack of beer on the floorboard and two pizzas in the front passenger seat, I started my car and drove straight for her place. Apparently a certain someone was avoiding my help but I refused to let her outwit me.
There was nothing wrong with us being friends.
I’d always had a special spot for Ashlynn, even before Beau swept in and decided to ignore the interest I had in her. But that was Beau; he felt he was entitled to whatever he wanted without question.
I never thought he deserved her. She was too sweet and nothing like the normal girls he’d dated. He and I had been friends since childhood, going to all the same schools, hanging with all the same kids. Even in college we roomed together.
During all those years I watched the many girls who came in and out of his life and not once did he date anyone like Ashlynn. He went more for the fast and easy, no brains, or at least those who acted as if they had none. He avoided complicated. Then we showed up at a party for some girl he knew, with a younger crowd of women and there she was.
I still remember what color her bikini was that day, and the kind of beer she held in her hand. I was drawn to her instantly. Apparently someone picked up on that fact quickly, and before I had the chance to make a move, he swept in and the opportunity was gone.
Later I found that they’d already known one another by a connection through their mothers, and yet up until then he’d never shown interest. It was the threat that maybe I would get to her first that triggered him to go after her.
I guess I still felt that connection with her, though now it was different. It had to be. She was the ex of my best friend and it couldn’t be more than friendship. Guys just didn’t do that kind of shit to a friend.
At least I didn’t.
Even if the asshole spent their entire relationship blind to what he truly had. He never treated her right and it pissed me off more than anything.
Climbing the hill toward her parents’ home, I turned into the drive and followed the long narrow fork that veered off to the left toward her place.
When I noticed her car parked in front of the garage, my heart raced. Maybe me showing up without calling wasn’t the best idea, but I was there, so what the hell.
I lifted the twelve-pack with one hand and placed the pizza boxes in the other, using my hip to shut my car door. I began walking up her sidewalk and didn’t even get the chance to knock before the front door opened and she filled the space.
There she stood, cutoff jeans so short that the material of her pockets stuck out at the bottom. A pink tank top, tight and revealing, and her blonde hair piled on top of her head. Paint the color of her walls smeared across her cheek and arm and speckled the clothes she wore.
“Thought you said you’d call.” It was the first thing that popped in my mind. Okay, so I lied. The first thing was fuck me, she’s gorgeous, but saying that aloud wasn’t an option.
She shrugged, still saying nothing as she eyed the pizza and beer.
“What do you say you let me in and I’ll ignore the fact that you lied to me earlier when you said you didn’t have the paint yet.”
She looked away from me, and I could tell she was trying to come up with something to say.
“We can be friends, Ash.” When she looked back at me, I continued, “His screw up shouldn’t mean the end of our friendship too.”
“Would you call us friends?” Her question surprised me. “Because I can’t remember a time you and I hung out or talked that didn’t revolve around Beau.”
“That’s not true.” It was mostly true, but that was because Beau didn’t like her with me without him. I can’t say that I blame him; had she been mine I would have kept her to myself too, but that would have been more because I didn’t want to miss a moment with her and not because I didn’t trust her. Apparently he wasn’t secure enough to trust that nothing would happen. How ironic, considering he’s the one who cheated in the end. “Remember when you and Kristen got a flat tire and I came to help change it?”
“That’s because Kristen had a thing for you.”
“But I came for you.” She seemed surprised by my words and frankly so was I. Friends, I repeated in my head.
“Because I was Beau’s girlfriend.” I should have denied it, but the mention of Beau reminded me I couldn’t hit on my best friend’s ex.
“Regardless of the reason, I came for you, and you can pretend we aren’t friends, but I can assure you I consider you a friend.” I held up the pizza and the beer. “So you gonna let your friend inside so he can help paint? Because from the looks of it, you’re clearly failing.” I pointed toward her shirt and her gaze followed.
“Hey.” She faked being offended.
“Babe, I think you have more in your hair and on your face than you do on your walls.”
She narrowed her eyes, and after a second she stepped aside and allowed me to enter. As she moved around me after closing the door, I did my very best not to look at her ass, but it was like a fucking magnet.
I was instantly reminded of all the times I’d admired her when she wasn’t looking. Okay truth, Hayley was right, I had a crush on my best friend’s ex. Like a fucking itch you can’t reach kind of crush, one that no matter how hard you attempt to ignore it only grows more intense. I had to ask myself why I was letting the temptation torture me.
She looked back over her shoulder and that smile of hers hit me like a brick wall. Then I knew why—because all the torture in the world was worth just one smile from Ashlynn.
***
Her laughter was contagious as it echoed through the still empty house. The only furniture she had was a small coffee table in the living room and a few pillows tossed on the floor for seating. Her bedroom held her bed and dresser, but the rest of the house remained bare.
We’d long ago finished the painting, and even though my body ached from the strain of the continuous up and down movement of the roller, I had never felt more relaxed.
“How was I supposed to know my parents would be skinny dipping?” Tears rolled over her cheeks as she laughed, holding onto her stomach. The alcohol had begun to hit us both, her definitely more than me. “I walked right up to the side of the pool, dived into the water, and started swimming to the opposite side. When I came up for air there they both were, covering their goodies and staring at me in shock. Horror, maybe it was horror.”
“Yeah, I’m sure that’s what it was.”
“Then it hit me.” Her eyes widened as she animatedly continued, “my parents were naked. Which most likely meant they were—”
She didn’t even finish saying it, only widened her eyes a bit more as if to emphasize the actual event and nodded.
“They were doing it,” I finished for her and she hung her head and laughed.
“Yes, it.” She groaned and her body shook from laughter.
“I hate to break it to you, Ash, but adults do…it.”
“Oh my god, Kyler, I know. But no child ever, and I do mean ever, wants to catch their parents in the act.” This time I chuckled. She was so fucking cute when she was buzzed. “I couldn’t look at them directly in the eyes for over a week, and forget about swimming in the pool. To me it was like toxic waste or something, the thought of what was in the water.”
She shivered and fake gagged and my laughter grew. She, of course, took it as me making fun of her, and okay maybe I was, so she tossed a pillow in my direction. I dodged out of the way at the last minute and her eyes widened as if she could read my mind.
Without a second thought I dived for her and hooked her around the waist, rolling my body and pulling hers along with me. She was laughing, and I was momentarily frozen as I looked up at her hovering above me, our bodies firmly pressed together, her hair wild and crazy around us. The entire scene made my heart race with excitement and my body
reacted to her closeness.
It took her a moment to realize the position we were in, and when she did she also went rigid. I wasn’t even sure what my initial thought was when I made this move, but the only thing I could think about then was kissing her.
Her shallow breathing, mixed with her blue eyes that bore into my own, made it even harder to resist that temptation. I was losing the battle, and the longer I looked up at her, the harder it became.
Maybe it was the alcohol…okay, who was I kidding? It was her, all her, but I gave in. Reaching up, I cupped her face in my palm and lifted my lips to meet hers. Soft at first as I weighed her reaction. For a moment I felt like she was pulling away, then she relaxed against me and the tip of her tongue rolled along the seam of my lips.
Then it was over, as in, no longer did I fight it. I slid my hand further around to cup the back of her neck as I held her firmly against me. The kiss deepened as I used my tongue to demonstrate just what I’d imagined doing to other parts of her sweet body.
Rolling over, I placed her body beneath mine without breaking our kiss. Her legs parted and I positioned myself between them as I moved against her, slow and teasingly. When she whimpered, my dick jumped eagerly behind the zipper of my jeans. By the moan that escaped her I knew she felt it too, and that only drove me more.
Kissing her was better than I imagined.
The way her hands moved over my sides and along my lower back made me want to feel them without the barrier of my shirt blocking her touch. Her body tucked beneath mine, the way she fit almost perfectly, made that guilt I might have felt for a split second disappear.
I couldn’t deny I wanted this. I couldn’t pretend I hadn’t thought of this moment more than a dozen times. I’d be lying if I said so.
My phone began to ring and she tried to move her head toward the sound, but I followed her movements and refused to let her go. Tasting her mouth deep and vigorously, I sucked on her tongue and pulled yet another whimper from her. My body hummed with desire that I had felt for her for over a year and drove me to keep going.
Fuck, I wanted her, more than I wanted my next breath.
The ringing stopped, only to start once more, and I grew irritated at the interruption. Ashlynn took my hesitance as her opportunity to break away and I internally chastised myself for my hesitation.
“Someone is really trying to get ahold of you.” Her words were breathy. I looked at her, still showing no signs of answering the ringing phone. I wanted nothing more than to kiss her swollen lips once more, but the longer we sat there looking at one another, the faster the opportunity faded.
I looked to my left and saw my phone lying on the floor next to us, face up where the screen was visible. Beau’s name lit up the screen as it rang once more.
Reality hit, and I looked back toward Ashlynn, who still lay beneath me. She too was looking at my phone, with her head slightly lifted for a better view.
A look of shame covered her face and it made my stomach tighten with unease.
Our moment passed as she moved beneath me and I rose to let her free. Reaching out to silence my phone, I turned the ringer down and remained in place as I watched Ash move around the room, picking up pizza boxes and empty bottles. She was obviously trying to avoid me and the situation that had just taken place between us.
“Let me help.” I stood, and she waved me off, not saying a word as she moved toward her kitchen. I squeezed my phone in my palm, pissed that Beau had to fucking pick that moment to start calling me.
My adrenaline was pumping, and even though she tried to brush me off, I helped her clean up anyway. My problem was no matter how hard I tried to get her to look at me, she found some way to avoid it. She averted her eyes every possible chance she got, and each time the tension between us grew even thicker.
“I guess I should go,” I said, even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. The worst part was when she nodded in agreement. It was like a kick to the nuts when I was already down.
“Okay.”
She remained in the kitchen doing meaningless things as a way of distraction. I shifted to the side watching, waiting, and hoping that she’d stop me as I gathered my things and moved to the front door.
Only she didn’t, and the moment I stepped outside I grew irritated even more that things fell apart. As if the prick knew I was mentally cussing him, he called again. Walking toward my car, I tossed the phone in my passenger seat, started the car, and answered the call using the Bluetooth. “What?”
“What the fuck were you thinking?”
I knew what he was referring to and I was suddenly rearing for a fight. “I was thinking that the fucking asshole had no right cornering Ashlynn.” He tried to interrupt but I didn’t allow it. “I was thinking that you are the dumb fucker who screwed shit up and cheated on the perfect girl. She’s already had enough fucked-up happen in her life that she sure as hell didn’t need that sack of shit adding to the issues.”
“You told my father you were going to throw him out of the fucking window of his office if he so much as looked in her direction again.”
“So?” I wasn’t joking either.
“He’s an attorney.”
“I don’t give a fuck.” Was that all he had to say about this situation? “If anything you should be fucking pissed he went at her. After all, you’re the one that loves her, or did that already fade? Has your two-dollar whore fucked the memory of the woman you spent almost a year with out of your mind?”
“You always had a problem with putting your nose in my business, Hollywood.” Arrogant prick. “This has nothing to do with you.”
“It has everything to do with me when he comes at her.”
“So what, you now have some imaginary stake on my girlfriend?”
“Ex-girlfriend,” I corrected him and he laughed.
“Stay away from Ashlynn.” His warning struck a complete new round of emotions within me. “You may think you know what I’m going through, you may think you have me all figured out, but you don’t know a fucking thing. I do love Ash and I will get her back. You just need to stay out of my way.”
I chuckled at his idiotic words. “Do you actually think she’s gonna welcome you back into her life after you chose some skank over her? She’s worth more than that.”
“What, and you can give it to her?”
I looked up toward Ashlynn’s front door and smirked. I wanted nothing more than to tell him yes. I wanted to tell him he lost his fucking chance at something great, and since he was too dumb to see what he had I was taking her, but I froze, suddenly remembering the way she withdrew from me after seeing his name on the screen.
“That’s what I thought.”
The call ended before I could say more and for a moment I remained in her driveway.
Part of me thought I should accept that Ashlynn was off limits to me, but another part had me believing that this was my chance to show her she had picked the wrong guy.
Chapter Ten
Ashlynn
“I kissed Kyler,” I blurted out the words without even looking up from my Kindle. “Or maybe he kissed me.” I didn’t have to make eye contact with Hayley to know she was staring at me, most likely wearing the giddy look she often had on her face when there’s gossip to be told.
We sat out by the pool in my backyard, a pitcher of mojitos sitting on the table between us, both holding Kindles but neither of us actually reading.
“I slept with Quinton.”
It was then I looked up, and as I expected, she was grinning from ear to ear, almost dancing in her lounger.
“Okay fine, I’ve done it more than once.” Again, I said nothing. I would be lying if I said I was shocked. The way the two of them flirted and taunted one another the night the guys were painting, I think I expected to be having this conversation with her at one point or another. “It’s been more like eighteen times.”
I crinkled up my brows in confusion as I attempted to count out the days in my head.
“Yes, I am fully aware of the fact that it hasn’t been eighteen days since we were all here, but I can’t help myself.” She widened her eyes and was practically glowing. “He is a machine and who am I to stop him?” She shrugged her shoulders and then twisted around, repositioning her legs over the side of her chair to face me. “And it’s really, really good.”
“But eighteen times?”
She nodded while biting her lip. “It would have been nineteen had I not already made plans to be here with you today.”
I laughed at my best friend who, for the longest time, swore she had given up on men. They were all terrible creatures only placed on earth to terrorize women—her view, not my own. Apparently that streak had ended.
“So tell me more about this kiss.” When I looked away from her and back down toward my Kindle, I remembered I had blurted that out only a few moments ago. “Nope, I haven’t forgotten that part of this conversation, so spill. I am Team Kyler all the way. That man is fine, and sweet to boot.”
“Team Kyler?”
She nodded enthusiastically. “That man has got it for you and has for some time.”
“What are you talking about?” I looked back at her in confusion. “He has not.”
“He has,” she responded, waving her hand nonchalantly in my direction, “but more on this kiss.”
“It was nothing really.”
“If it was nothing you wouldn’t have felt the need to bring it up, so—”
“He showed up with beer and pizza after I lied to him and told him I hadn’t gotten the remaining paint I needed to finish the house.” It was her turn to look at me with a confused expression and I knew she was about to ask me why I lied.
“Don’t ask.” It was my attempt to remain distant from him and ignore my attraction. It backfired and there was no need to rehash. Attempting to avoid a situation that would later leave me feeling confused was what I didn’t want.
“Anyway we laughed, drank, painted, and it really was a fun night.”
