Heart of Ash (13 page)

“And the two of you? Did you work it out?”

Emily and Ash exchanged a glance. His brow lifted, as though in question.

“For now,” she said. “We’ve made peace.”

He nodded. “We’re friends.” Though the way he said the word, he didn’t sound thrilled.

“Oh Thank God,” Kaitlin gusted. “Because I have something to tell you.” She flicked a guilt-ridden look at Ash.

“What is it?”

“Well, I kept Roman from winning your auction item, but the bidding closed before I realized…”

“Realized what?”

“The high bidder was…Ash.”

Emily whirled on him. “You bid on my item?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t want Roman to get it. So I won?” He tried to wipe his smile away, but Emily caught it.

“You won.”

“Hours and hours with Emily?”

Kaitlin chuckled. “Mmm hmm. I warn you, she’s a slave driver when it comes to these charity events.”

The wink he shot Emily was a trifle wicked. “Ah,” he murmured. “Punishment it is.”

Chapter Twelve

Ash was not a man to let grass grow under his feet. Especially when it came to an opportunity to spend time with Emily. Using the event she had pledged to help him with as an excuse, he invited her out the next day to talk about the details over coffee.

He would have preferred taking her to his penthouse for something more intimate, but he was determined to take this wooing slowly. Her words had made it clear she had only friendship in mind, but her eyes told a different story. He suspected her feelings ran as deeply for him as his did for her, but he had to take his time.

He’d hurt her, and until he made it up to her, until he won back her trust, friendship would have to do.

Friendship was probably best. No physical contact. Or at least, very little. Kissing, perhaps. And he knew if he had her alone in his apartment, more would happen than kissing. A lot more.

There was something about her he just found irresistible. He wasn’t sure if it was her bright, shining innocent outlook on life, or her smile or just her scent, but when he was around her, he seemed to lose all sanity. He wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and make passionate love to her.

So coffee it was.

They met at Beanie’s Book and Coffee in Montlake, which was awkward, because the shop was owned by Emily’s friends, Lucy and Kristi. Who had, apparently, been clued in about his bad behavior. So as Ash and Emily chatted, they hovered and glared. After a while, Bella and Holt showed up to hover and glare as well. As though Lucy had called for reinforcements.

Ash ignored them. They could hover and glare all they wanted. As long as he was with Emily, he didn’t care. Every moment together was a chance to show her the kind of man he really was. Or at least the kind of man he was trying to be. Every moment together was a chance to win her back.

“So have you decided on a charity?” she asked as she sipped her mocha. He loved the pouf of whipped cream clinging to her nose. He wanted to lap it off, but knew better. Holt liked to flex his muscles when he hovered.

“I have.” After five minutes thought, he’d settled on a cause for his big fund-raiser and as soon as the idea lit in his brain, he knew it was something he needed to do.

“What is it?” She leaned forward.  He tried not to peep at the cleavage the movement exposed and failed.

“I…ah…” His brain fizzled as she leaned forward even more. Hell, if he didn’t know any better, he’d suspect she was trying to torment him. Then again, he had given her carte blanche to punish him. But only because he knew she’d never take him up on it. Not his Emily…

“Ash?”

“Huh? What?” He blinked.

“Your charity?”

“Oh. Right.” He pulled out the folder he’d brought. “It’s a great organization that finds mentors for foster kids.”

She flipped through the prospectus. “Fostering the Future? I’ve heard of them. But…”

“But what?”

She fixed those beautiful blue eyes on him. They sliced right through to his soul. “Why does it matter to you?” When he didn’t answer, her chin firmed. “It has to matter, Ash. These events are a lot of work and if you don’t have a passion for it, it won’t be a success.”

“I do. Have a passion…”

She crossed her arms. “Why?”

“I, ah, well…” Again, her attention dislodged all logical thought. He sucked in a breath and pulled the folder back, focusing on that instead. “Okay. When I was ten my mom had just gone through her fifth divorce—”

She made a little sympathy coo, but he ignored it. There was no need for sympathy anymore. He was over all of that.

“And my dad was between wives—” Another coo. He shot a look at her, trying not to frown. “Okay, the Bristols aren’t known for marital longevity. Not something I’m proud of.”

To his surprise, she put her hand on his. “Ash. It’s not your fault your parents didn’t stay married.”

“I didn’t stay married very long either.”

“Would-would you like to tell me why?” This, she asked softly.

His pulse thudded in the silence. He knew if he was ever going to have anything with her, she needed to know. Deserved to know. But damn, the words were hard to say. “She didn’t love
me
. She married me for my money.” There. Bold. Brash. Raw.

He did not expect her reaction. A combination of fury and outrage. For him. “What a bitch.” The use of that invective from Emily’s lips shocked him. It warmed him too.

“It gets worse.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “She made this announcement on our honeymoon…”

“No.”

“She’d been angling for my father, but he’d just met Michelle. So she switched to me. All she wanted was a settlement.” He was mortified at the way the sentence ended, all wretched and forlorn. He hadn’t intended it that way. But even now, his heart shrank when he thought of it.

“Oh, Ash. I’m so sorry.” Emily stared down at her coffee. “I can’t think of a better reason to end a marriage.”

“It was a bad breakup. In a series of bad breakups. That’s why… That’s why I decided on a rule. One night stands only.” He fiddled with his spoon. “I just came to the conclusion that a real relationship wasn’t in the cards for me.” A flush crawled up his cheeks. “As though I was cursed or something.”

Her mouth opened. Closed. She swallowed. “I see.”

“I know it sounds stupid when I say the words out loud. But that’s how I felt. Can you understand that?”

“I can.” Her tone was thick with emotion. “I’ve felt the same way.”

Her hand still rested on his. He turned his palm up, so they were holding hands, and stroked her with his thumb. “I can’t imagine that.” She was too perfect. Too sweet to feel as though the world was against her.

“Every experience I’ve had with a man has been…well, terrible.”

He winced. Yeah. He probably deserved that.

“All I ever wanted was to find
him
.”

“Him?” He tightened his hold on her.

“You know.” She laughed self-consciously. “Prince Charming. Instead I found Prince Ogre. And Prince Toad…”

“And Prince Ass,” he couldn’t help but add.

She chuckled. “You weren’t so bad.”

“Thank you?”

“Until you dumped me…”

He winced.

“I just haven’t had much luck.” She sighed. “Of course, when I was in high school, boys never approached me. They were scared of my dad.”

“Your dad?”

She waggled her brows. “He’s scary.”

Ash laughed.

“Needless to say, I didn’t date. And then, in college…there was an unpleasant incident.”

Shit
. The way she said it made prickles crawl up his spine. He didn’t want to ask, but had to. “What-what kind of incident?”

Her lashes veiled her eyes. She drew circles on the table with a fingertip. “A…something similar to what happened last night.”

Hackles rose. “How similar?”

Her expression lanced him. “Exactly similar.”

“Roman?”

She nodded.

Rage swept through him like a forest fire.
I will kill him,
he thought.
I will fucking kill him.
But he didn’t say it. Couldn’t speak.

“Anyway, I started thinking
I
was cursed.”

Ash swallowed the lump in his throat. “You’re not cursed.”

“That some malicious fairy had dumped a load of ug-dust on my head as a baby.”

“You’re not cursed. And what is ug-dust?”

“The opposite of pretty-dust.”

He gaped at her. She was beautiful. The most beautiful creature on the planet. How could she think she was anything but magnificent?

“Em—”

“Hey there.” Lucy chirped, stepping up to their table with a plastic smile on her lips. Lucy was a drop-dead gorgeous platinum blonde, but her eyes spat daggers. At Ash. “How’s it going? All finished?” She scooped up Ash’s cup, though it was half full.

Emily frowned. “We’re not done Lucy. Shoo.”

Lucy leaned in. “’Kay. But just a heads up. Holt’s getting twitchy.”

Ash glanced over his shoulder just in time to see the behemoth at the coffee bar crack his knuckles.

“Tell him to take a chill pill,” Emily said, waggling her fingers toward Holt with a devil-may-care insouciance. Then again, she wasn’t the one Holt was gunning for.

“I will. But…” Lucy frowned at their entwined hands. “You might want to keep it on your side of the table, Bristol.” With that, she whirled and flounced away.

Emily made a face. “Sorry about that.”

“I love that they’re so protective of you.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not a baby.”

“No. But you are trusting and sweet. You see the best in people and expect them to act on it…”

“I don’t see the best in people. Ash,” she corrected. “I look for it. There’s a difference. Now, before you get too distracted, you were telling me why this charity matters to you.”

“Right.”

“Your parents had both just divorced…”

“My mom had just divorced. My dad was between wives.”

“There’s a difference?”

“There is.”

“I see. And?”

“And I was having a hard time with it. Okay. Let’s be honest. I was being a total shit. To everyone.  Then one day, my dad brought home this skinny kid. Said he was in foster care. Said we were going to “mentor” him. I thought my dad had gone around the bend. What I didn’t realize was, he had done this for me. I needed a reminder.”

“A reminder?”

“Of how good I had it. Even though my life wasn’t perfect, at least I had someone. This kid had no one. Nothing.”

“He had no one?”

“No one. His parents were dead and he had no relatives. He was shuttled from foster home to foster home, school to school. And…there were other issues too. Anyway, my dad took him under his wing. Practically made him a part of the family. We went to baseball games and on fishing trips and out to the island. Every time I turned around, there he was.

“At first I resented the hell out of him. He was nothing but a mopey pain in the ass, but as I got to know him I realized, he was a great guy. And he’d been through…well, he’d been through hell.” Ash fiddled with the corner of the folder. While he wanted to tell Emily all the details, it wasn’t his story to share. “At any rate, my dad was his mentor all through his teen years…he even lived with us for a while when he aged out of foster care. We made damn sure he went to college.” He fixed his gaze on the file and lowered his voice. “He ended up being the best friend I’ve ever had. It horrifies me to think what would have happened to him if my dad hadn’t stepped in. I suspect the reason Parker is alive today is because of this program. I know his success is a direct result of Fostering the Future.”

“Parker?”

Shit.
He hadn’t meant to say his name. “He’s like a brother to me.”

“All right then.” Emily sat back. “Fostering the Future it is. So Ash, what do you want to accomplish with this fund-raiser?”

“Accomplish?”

“What are your goals? How much money do you want to raise? That determines the kind of venue, the people we invite, you know. Stuff like that.”

“Ah. Yeah.” Money. Money meant nothing. If he’d learned anything in life it was that money could not solve every problem. He leaned forward, ignoring the bristling giant at the coffee bar. “What I’d really like to do, I mean, what they really need, are more mentors. Businessmen and women who want to give their time and knowledge to help a kid get back on his feet. Or her feet…”

“There are girls in the program too?”

“Yes. It’s about half and half right now.”

“And how many clients do they currently have…”

Emily went on to ask questions and Ash answered when necessary, but his attention was riveted on her. On her face, the way it lit up and shone, the animation of her features when an idea came to her. She madly scribbled notes as they talked.

She threw out names of potential donors who would also be excellent mentors; it seemed like she knew everyone who was anyone in Seattle society.

God, she was incredible.

It occurred to him that she would make a perfect wife for a man in his position. Especially if he took over more responsibilities at the foundation. After the disaster of his marriage, he’d decided if he ever married, he’d probably need to choose someone from his own financial strata, just to avoid the risk of marrying a gold digger.

Now he saw that idea for the idiocy it was.

Emily was perfect for him.

Even without being rich.

She would love him for himself…if she ever did fall in love with him. She would be faithful and warm and make him laugh. They would be a perfect match.

They
were
a perfect match.

All he had to do was convince
her
of that.

He was suddenly more determined than ever to make that happen. He glanced over his shoulder. But it wouldn’t happen here. Not with chaperones in tow.

“Okay,” she gusted, recapturing his attention. Or part of it. “Here’s what I’m thinking.”

“Yes?”

“Because we want to find mentors for these kids, it’s crucial to get the kids and the potential mentors together. So they can interact. The thought is, once they meet these kids and see how great they are, they won’t be able to resist.”