Claimed: The Complete Short Romance Series

by Nichole Rose

"Also saw the poetry you post." He tips his head to the side, looking at me like mine and Caroline's Rottweiler does when he's trying to figure out what I'm doing. "You're smart."

  "You seem surprised."

  "No." He shakes his head, adamant. "Anyone can have big tits or a pretty face. Not everyone can do the shit you do, make people feel something with a few strokes of a pen. Intelligence is sexy as hell, angel baby. That face and body may have gotten my dick hard the first time I saw you, but that brain of yours…that's what keeps it hard. I love knowing my girl is smart. I'm looking forward to learning all your secrets."

  "We can't date," I tell him, trying not to cave. He's a little rough-around-the-edges and says really inappropriate things, but he's honest. When he compliments me, I know it's genuine. Somehow, that makes it even sweeter.

  He doesn't like that at all.

  He glowers at me, all pissed off and hot again. "The hell we can't," he growls. "We're happening, Kennedy. Might as well accept it now."

  "Asher…you have a whole life in Nashville," I remind him.

  "So?"

  "So I may not even be here next year," I admit, telling him what I haven't even shared with my family yet. My dad and brothers would have a fit if they knew I wanted to transfer out to finish my degree. But Columbia has one of the best writing programs in the country. Caroline graduates this year, meaning I'll be on my own. I can go anywhere. And if I win the Braxton Prize, I have a real shot at being accepted.

  But the thought of leaving Asher behind already makes my heart ache, which is all the evidence I need to know that dating him has bad idea written all over it. I'll get attached to him and never want to give him up. That wouldn't be fair to either of us. My goals matter to me, and I know his shop matters to him.

  "Where are you transferring to?" he asks.

  "I'm not sure. Maybe Columbia."

  "New York?"

  I nod.

  "It's a good school."

  I nod again.

  "Hate to break it to you, angel baby, but you're not going to New York," he says, taking that same bossy stance my brothers mastered long ago. Arms crossed, feet planted, jaw squared, eyes narrowed…completely immovable.

  The sight breaks my heart. Just like everyone else, he thinks I can't take care of myself. Somehow, it hurts more coming from him. Which is stupid because we don't really even know each other. I guess I just thought he would be different, that he saw me better than anyone else.

  Maybe I am naïve.

  I reach inside the car to grab my bag. Once I've got it over my shoulder, I stomp around him, headed back inside. Tears of frustration burn at my eyes, but I battle them back, refusing to cry. I got myself into this mess. Crying now won't get me out of it.

  He curses and grabs my arm. "Kennedy, wait."

  "Let me go," I growl, jerking away from him.

  He mutters a string of curses beneath his breath. I'm pretty sure he just threatened to spank me. And I'm not even going to think about how much I like that thought. Instead, I put my head down and hurry up the steps of the church, narrowly avoiding running right into Dane.

  "Sorry," I mutter, squeezing past him.

  Asher curses behind me again—he curses an awful lot. I ignore him and practically run back to the safety of the bridal suite. He follows me halfway before finally giving up. I don't stop running until I'm back inside with the door closed behind me.

  Sophie and Sienna both look at me with wide eyes.

  "Men are stupid," I say, dropping my bag to the floor. Writing about my first kiss doesn't seem very appealing anymore.

  The wedding is beautiful, even though Trick and Sophie's dad both drive her crazy by cursing. I think it's adorable how they join together to override the whole objection part of the ceremony. When it's over, I walk beside Asher down the aisle. He's rigid beside me, clearly frustrated.

  He growls a couple times, but I ignore him. Once we make it outside, chaos ensues so he doesn't get a chance to say anything to me. By the time we're finished posing for a million pictures, my feet hurt and I'm ready to sit down.

  I can't even lie though, cuddling up in Asher's arms like we were a couple didn't suck. He kept me as close to him as he could get me. I loved every second of it even though I'm still annoyed with him.

  He makes me ride with him to the reception venue, which doesn't annoy me nearly as much as it should. Neither does the fact that he disconnected my battery. I swear, this man is making me crazy. A normal person would be upset with him for being so over-the-top ridiculous. I find it…endearing that someone like him seems to be struggling through this as much as I am. He's so confident and sexy. The fact that he's unsure what to do is sweet.

  He doesn't say much on the drive to the reception venue. He sticks close to my side, glowering at everyone while the DJ introduces the wedding party. As soon as Trick and Sophie are announced, Asher leads me to the table and tells me to sit, and then he goes to find food. He's just as quiet when he comes back with two plates and places one in front of me. It's piled with enough food to feed three of me.

  "I wasn't sure what you liked to eat," he says and then takes his seat next to me.

  "Thank you." I'm still not thrilled with him about what he said before the wedding, but he makes it awful hard to be mad at him. Besides, he's not the only one who thinks I can't take care of myself. They're all wrong. For most of my life, I've been in charge of keeping Caroline out of trouble. It's not as easy as it sounds. She may have looked out for me, but I looked out for her too. Otherwise, she probably would have driven our parents insane a long time ago. They don't understand her or how big her heart is.

  Even though my plan was completely ridiculous, she still agreed to pretend to be me a few days ago at the Halloween Masquerade. We look nothing alike! But I was desperate, and she was too kind to tell me no. Fortunately, no one paid very much attention and neither of us were busted.

  I hope Jared knows how amazing she is. She deserves someone who will love her unconditionally. I love our parents, but it makes me sad that they never seem to be able to accept that she is who she is.

  "What are you thinking about, angel baby?" Asher asks halfway through dinner, turning my chair to face him at the table. He doesn't even seem to care that it makes a God-awful screeching sound on the floor, nor does he notice all the people who turn to look.

  "My sister," I mumble, turning slightly to block everyone else out. A line is forming in front of the table of people wanting to chat with Trick and Sophie. I have a feeling that isn't going to last very long before Trick drags her out of here. He's already glowering at everyone and muttering under his breath.

  "Caroline, right?" Asher asks.

  I narrow my eyes on him, which just makes one corner of his lips tilt up. The ball on his tongue ring peeps out when he chuckles at me.

  "Why aren't you wearing your other piercings?" I asked, reaching up to touch the piercing retainer in his eyebrow. It's barely noticeable unless you're close to him.

  "It's a wedding," he says like he did when I asked about his tattoos.

  "Trick and Sophie wouldn't have minded."

  He shrugs and then turns the subject back to me. "Are you and your sister close?"

  "Yes. At least, I thought so," I say and then sigh. "It's…complicated."

  "Tell me. Wait." He drags my plate closer to me. "Tell me while you eat."

  The whole story spills from my lips between bites. He listens attentively the entire time. When I tell him about the last two months in Jared's class, he growls. He doesn't interrupt though, instead letting me spill all the sordid details about the last few days of my life.

  By the time I run out of steam, I've eaten almost everything on my plate. I stare at it in shock, which makes him chuckle.

  "You were hungry, angel."

  "I guess so."

  "You're not mad at your sister."

  Even though it's not a question, I shake my head. "Being upset with her for falling in love seems a little ridiculous
. Love doesn't ask us if we want to fall. When you're meant to be with someone, it just happens. It doesn't always make sense, and I don't think it's supposed to. It wouldn't be love if it were easily ignored or overcome or explained away. That's part of what makes it so beautiful. It just is. I can't blame her for that."

  He stares at me for a minute, his expression intense.

  "What?" I wipe my mouth, worried I have food on my face.

  "Nothing." He clears his throat and then frowns. "You really believe that?"

  "I do," I say, not ashamed of how I feel. Jared may think my view of love is naïve, but it isn't. Love grows where it makes no sense all the time. We can choose to water the seeds and strengthen it. Or we can decide to ignore them and watch it wither. But we don't decide where to plant them. If we did, I think life would be a little less wonderful and exciting.

  "Never thought about it before." Asher's tongue ring peeks out. He rolls it back and forth across his bottom lip, thinking. His gray eyes meet mine, gently probing for…something.

  I get lost in them for a minute. People always say gray is such a drab, boring color, but they're wrong. There's nothing drab or dull or boring about his eyes. They're full of warmth and curiosity, of darkness and light and secrets. The gray tells a whole story…and I think I'm finally learning to speak the language because I see so much there that I didn't expect. Pride, need, hope…longing so intense it makes me ache with the same emotion.

  "Yeah," he murmurs after a minute, shaking his head as if to clear it. "I guess I do believe it."

  I smile, relieved that he doesn't think I'm ridiculous. "So no, I'm not mad at her. I guess I'm just…sad."

  "Why?" He leans closer, as if he can physically protect me from that emotion. Or maybe he's just trying to hear me over the music. Couples are already abandoning their food to dance.

  "Because she didn't think she could tell me," I admit, swallowing hard. "She's my best friend but she thought she had to hide something this big from me. I guess I don't understand why." I told her I was leaving because I needed time to process, but I think I just needed time to be sad without hurting her feelings.

  Asher wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer to him. His lips touch my temple in a sweet kiss. "You should ask her, angel baby. You'll never know if you don't."

  He's right, of course. And if I'm being honest, I think I understand a little more now about why she didn't tell me. She didn't keep the truth from me to hurt my feelings. I think, maybe, she wanted to keep the feeling all for herself for a little while. I know I do.

  We tell each other everything, but this crazy, amazing thing between me and Asher…I don't want to share it yet. I want it to be just mine for a little while longer. At least until I figure out what's even happening between us and how someone can make me so happy in one breath and then make me want to strangle him in the next.

  "You believe your professor?" he asks, his lips in my hair.

  Sienna and Dane walk by and Sienna grins at me, giving me a thumbs up. My cheeks heat. She didn't ask me any questions about earlier, but I know she knows what we were doing in the closet. She's just too polite to make me fess up.

  "I don't know," I say to Asher once she and Dane are lost in the crowd. "I want to believe that he offered because he believes in me, but I don't know." I shrug helplessly, still hesitant to trust Jared. I think all writers are protective of their work and hate to see it criticized, but that's not why I'm upset with him. "He decided without even knowing me that I needed someone to look out for me."

  Asher makes a sound in the back of his throat.

  "I'm a big girl." I scowl at my almost empty plate. "Okay, I'm a big girl stuck in a little body. But still. Just because he had a bad experience doesn't mean I will."

  "You should tell him that."

  "I did."

  Asher tips my face up to his, grinning at me. "You're a fierce little thing, aren't you?"

  "Maybe. I've never had a chance to find out." I square my jaw. "That's going to change though. I'm not letting people fight my battles or decide things for me anymore. I'm making my own choices."

  "Like New York."

  "Exactly."

  I expect him to get all growly on me again, but he doesn't. He expels a heavy breath and then gives me a look that's midway between proud and miserable. "Then I think you should kick it in the ass, Kennedy," he says. "Don't ever let anyone decide what you're capable of doing."

  "You tried."

  He grimaces. "Not because I didn't think you're capable. You know how many men live in New York?" He eyes me sideways, his expression full of offense. "A whole fucking lot. They'll take one look at you and want you. It's going to make me crazy."

  "You're already crazy, Asher."

  He narrows his eyes on me which makes me laugh.

  "Told you, angel baby, you made me that way."

  "You make me crazy too," I confess on a whisper, hiding my eyes from him. "You're so beautiful and you say the craziest things."

  "You think I'm beautiful?"

  "So beautiful," I whisper. "You remind me of a storm on the coast."

  He chuckles at that. "You're pretty fucking beautiful yourself, baby. Especially in that damn dress. Everyone was looking at you while we were walking down the aisle."

  "No, they weren't."

  "Yeah, they were," he says, shaking his head. "You were just zoned out and didn't notice."

  "I was thinking!"

  "About me," he says, smirking.

  "Was not."

  "You're a shit liar."

  "Whatever," I huff and then hop to my feet and hold out a hand to him. "Come on."

  "Where?"

  "We're going to dance."

  "You want me to dance with you?" He cocks his brow, looking at me like I've lost my mind.

  "I can ask someone else if you'd like," I sass, putting a hand on my hip. We both know that isn't going to happen. Even if I did work up the nerve to follow through, he'd have a fit and put an end to it.

  He's jealous of men in New York that I've never even met. There's no way he's going to let someone else dance with me when I'm wearing a dress he's deemed indecent. He's kind of possessive, which is way hotter than it should be.

  I think I might be falling in love with him.

  He narrows his eyes on me and curses. But, as expected, he climbs to his feet and then slips his hand into mine before leading me to the dancefloor. In his arms, I feel like a queen, capable of anything. Except resisting him.

  I'm not even sure I want to try.

  Shoot. I'm definitely falling in love with him.

  Chapter Five

  Asher

  "You really didn't have to follow me all the way home," Kennedy says, peeking up at me as I walk her to her front door with her overnight bag in hand.

  "Trying to get rid of me already?" I smirk at her, which makes her roll her eyes and blush.

  "No. I just thought you might have other places to be," she mutters, her hips swaying as she walks up the stairs.

  I grit my teeth and clench my hand around her bag, trying to resist the urge to reach out and smack her ass. Swear to God, she's tormenting me without even trying to do it. And fuck me if it isn't the sweetest torment. I'm not a dancer, but I would have stayed on that floor all night without a complaint if it meant holding her while she swayed those hips and shook her ass.

  She's so vibrant and full of life when she's happy. It shimmers in the air around her like fucking glitter, infecting everything. Even my surly ass had a good time tonight. She makes me feel…playful and carefree. I've never felt that shit before. It's not as intolerable as I thought it would be. In fact, there isn't much that I wouldn't tolerate if it made her happy.

  She's so beautiful. I've never met anyone who fits so neatly into every box on my dream girl checklist. I didn't even know I had a list before her. But she surpasses every item on it by miles. She's smart, talented, creative, caring, and kind. She's also independent, ambitious, and motivated.
She may think people look out for her because they think she isn't capable of doing it herself, but I'd bet my left nut that's not why. People look out for her because it's impossible not to want to protect the innocence shining in her eyes.

  The way she looks at the world is an endless source of fascination for me. I never believed in that old soul shit before, but I think she fits the bill to a T. She's an old soul in an innocent wrapping, both wise beyond her years and eternally optimistic. She wants to give people the benefit of the doubt, even when they don't deserve it…even her asshole professor. And fuck that guy. When I meet him—and I will be meeting him—I have a few things to say to him.

  Looking after Kennedy is my job. No, scratch that. Protecting and loving her could never be as tedious or burdensome as a job. It's a joy, especially if I get to touch her and kiss her while doing it. I have no clue what to do about this whole New York thing, but she isn't going by herself. I want to be selfish enough to ask her to stay, but I'm not sure I can do that. If going means as much to her as it does…then she has to go. Even if her going rips my fucking heart out of my chest.

  Jesus. It is going to rip my heart out of my chest. Don't know if love at first sight is normal and don't really care. I'm crazy for this girl. Completely obsessed. If this is how Trick feels about Sophie, it's no wonder he had her at the altar faster than I could blink. I want my life tied to Kennedy's. I'm so fucking in love with her.

  She stops in front of the door to her apartment and fidgets with the keys. "Um, do you want to come in?"

  "What about your sister?" I'm not opposed to meeting her in the least, but she and my girl need to hash out their issue. Kennedy won't be completely happy until they do. She loves her sister. Being at odds with her is clearly weighing on Kennedy. They need to talk it out so they're both happy again.

  "I don't think she's home. Her car isn't here." She bites her bottom lip, looking up at me through her lashes, all shy and innocent and sweet as cherry pie again. "You don't have to come in."

  "Open the door, angel baby," I order her, shaking my head. If she thinks I don't want to be all up in her personal space, she's wrong.