Take Me Down (Suits in Pursuit) (29 page)

Ashley’s head jerked back. “Pretending?” she asked, her question a piercing screech. Inside, her stomach somersaulted and twisted into knots.

“Yes. Pretending.” Kerrigan said and then pursed her lips. “Or have you two finally admitted the truth?”

Ashley’s mouth dropped open. Before words came out, Dahlia approached

“Hey, ladies,” Dahlia said, waving a long, slender hand. “Look at that baby! Head full of hair, hazel eyes. Kerrigan, she looks just like you. She’s beautiful.” Dahlia leaned down, her face distorting as she cooed at Alexa. The baby greeted her with a gummy grin.

“Hey, girl. I haven’t seen you in months.” Ashley stood and embraced her friend in welcoming arms. “I told Kerrigan that Axel was only the sperm donor,” she said, glancing at Kerrigan’s amused expression.

Dahlia nodded her head in silent agreement and then held out waiting arms. “Let me hold that baby.” Uttering gibberish, Dahlia’s silly expressions and funny sounds earned her another toothless smile, and Kerrigan placed Alexa into Dahlia’s cradled arms.

A loud voice rang out, breaking their conversation. “Kerri, party of three. Your table is ready.”

Gathering Alexa’s bag, Kerrigan stood and headed to the host station. “Did Ash tell you about her new boyfriend?” Kerrigan asked over her shoulder.

Waving a dismissive hand, “I don’t have a boyfriend. I have an understanding,” Ashley defended.

Dahlia elbowed Ashley’s arm. “I leave the country for a few months and you’ve already landed a new man? What happened to Paul?”

They reached the table. Dahlia handed Alexa back to Kerrigan. She draped her jacket over the back of the seat and slid into the chair across from Ashley.

Ashley cleared her throat. “That’s a long story,” she said, rolling her eyes and then sighed. “Paul was a joke. I don’t know why you’re surprised.”

Dahlia shook her head. “I’ll never understand why you insist on wasting your time with losers. What you need is a foreign affair,” she said and then tossed her head back, laughing. “Javier would change your mind about a lot of things.”

“Not everyone is like you, Dahlia.” Ashley growled, her scowl aimed at Dahlia. “I don’t speak four different languages, and I’m not interested in globe-hopping.”

“But you are interested in real estate, particularly those assets belonging to Mr. Sebastian Stone,” Kerrigan teased, grinning at Ashley. “Dahlia, Ash is in deep, but she refuses to admit her feelings.”

“Really?” Dahlia glanced at Kerrigan and then at Ashley, her eyes stretched wide. “Have you moved on?”

Stubby fingers curled around a pitcher, lifting and filling a glass with water. “Welcome, ladies. I’m Tammy. I’ll be your server this afternoon. I can take your drink orders now and come back, unless you’re ready to order.”

“We’re ready,” Dahlia spoke for the group. “We always get the same thing when we come here.” Their bimonthly ritual included lunch at Sam’s Tavern accompanied by girl talk.

Tammy scribbled on the pad in her hand as they took turns rattling off their orders, and then she left.

“So?” Dahlia asked again. Her eyes flashed with delight. “His name is Sebastian? I like.”

Ashley couldn’t stop the smile that trailed across her face. “Like I said before. We have an understanding.”

Kerrigan laughed. “Yeah, I understand that you two spend almost every waking moment together and can’t keep your hands off each other.”

Ashley couldn’t deny the truth. She swallowed hard. “Just stop, would you both?” Under the table, she rubbed clammy palms on her cream dress pants.

The waitress returned, setting bread and salads on the table.

Kerrigan turned to Dahlia, cocked a brow. “You should hear the ridiculous arrangement these two have concocted.”

“Oh? So what’s the arrangement?” Dahlia asked, returning a smirk.

“Well,” Kerrigan began, giving Ashley a snide glance and then rolled her eyes. “They’ve been working together on a project for about eight months. Supposedly, they will stop seeing each other when the project is done, about a year from now. Cold turkey.” She leaned in. “Since these two are crazy about each other, I don’t know how that will ever happen.”

“Uh, sounds delusional to me.” Dahlia’s puckered lips and wide-eye stare forced a wave of nerves through Ashley’s stomach. “How did you two meet?”

Ashley replayed the sordid affair, giving her every grimy detail from their very first encounter on Peachtree Street to their topsy-turvy time in Key West and then to the present day. She omitted the parts about fate, the red robin, and the fact that sex with Sebastian was abso-freakin-lutely-and-hands-down amazing.

“Are you in love with him?” Dahlia asked.

“Of course, she is,” Kerrigan chimed in, wiping drool from her daughter’s mouth.

“Will the both of you back off?” Under normal circumstances, Ashley would be a barracuda, attacking with the sharp-edged bite of cunning words. A trait that made her proud.
Instead, she slumped in her seat. Backed into a corner on the topic of Sebastian by best friends numbers one and two, she felt more like a guppy.

“Ash, do you love that man?” Dahlia pursed her lips, coldcocked Ashley with a piercing glare. She lifted questioning hands into the air, palms up.

Ashley tilted her head back, catching a glimpse of the corrugated tin ceiling. A long, winded sigh seeped out of her, deflating puffed cheeks. “Ugh! What the hell,” she muttered under her breath, shaking her head from side to side. “I like him, a lot. I’ve never had feelings this strong for a man.” Feeling ten pounds lighter after her admission, tension in Ashley’s rounded shoulders dissipated and squared off her posture. “Okay. Maybe I love him, a little.”

Kerrigan’s mouth dropped open. “Ash!”

Dahlia smiled the kind of smile that know-it-alls and friends-with-perfect-lives smiled. “Love doesn’t come in sizes. Either you love him or you don’t. Acknowledging the truth is the first step. The second step is finding the courage to share your feelings. So…” She planted an elbow on the table. “When are you going to tell him that you’re in love with him?”

Ashley’s right palm covered the fingertips on her left hand. “Time out.” She would never tell them that the words had nearly slipped out of her mouth like a sinner in a confessional. “Sebastian doesn’t want a relationship, and he’s made that very clear to me.”

Air sucked between Dahlia’s teeth made a hissing sound. “Sounds like an excuse to me. If you want love, you should go after him.”

Ashley expected Dahlia’s judgment. Being superhuman, her friend didn’t have mortal flaws or human concerns.

“You shouldn’t be too hard on Ash. Admitting her feelings is a huge step.” Kerrigan’s reassuring hand covered Ashley’s shoulder. “You need to tell Sebastian how you feel. He might surprise you. What if he has feelings for you too?”

“What if he doesn’t?” Ashley asked, secretly probing her friends for permission to be wrong.

Dahlia rolled her neck. “If you open your heart to Sebastian and he doesn’t say the words back, then...” She leaned in close, wielding an index finger like a gavel, the final judgment made. “…then you know where you stand.”

The words slammed into Ashley’s stomach like a battering ram. She lifted a proud chin, pointed at the prosecution, and ignored the gaping hole in her center. Last night, the dreaded words bled from her soul, almost poured from quivering lips, almost filled lifeless arteries left barren from despair. Almost. The fact remained, Sebastian didn’t say
I love you
back.

“Well, I don’t know if that’s true,” Kerrigan said, shrugging off Dahlia’s damning verdict.

Ashley’s shoulders drooped. The drought inside withered her confidence. “I’ll get over my puppy love. I’m a big girl,” she said, eyes flitting between Kerrigan, Dahlia and the most captivating linen napkin to ever grace a place setting. If Ashley knew regret spread like a weed, she would have been more careful with her garden. Sebastian planted seeds that had taken root in her heart. And only the good Lord knew what would bloom.

Kerrigan rolled her eyes as she patted Alexa’s little back. “Ash, I’ve watched you stumble from loser to loser. You and Sebastian have a natural chemistry that’s hard to come by.”

“Yeah, but he’s nothing like the man I imagined for me.”

Dahlia huffed. “Oh, thank goodness,” she muttered under her breath and gave an exaggerated sigh. “I’ve seen your default man. Not impressive.”

Kerrigan coughed. “White men may not be able to jump, but they can do everything else. And quite well,” she emphasized.

As though their bodily movements had been synchronized, Dahlia’s hand gave the table a firm smack, followed by Ashley’s echoing assault. They snapped their heads in Kerrigan’s direction, both giving her the bitch-must-have-lost-her-damn-mind look. “You’ve been slamming in the sheets for a hot second and now you’re an expert, huh?” They never had to wonder about Dahlia’s opinion.

A sly smile gathered the corners of Kerrigan’s mouth. One of those smiles that spoke volumes without ensuing words. Words that weren’t needed when she hoisted her left hand in the air, but she spoke anyway. “Well, I’m the only one at this table rocking a wedding ring.”

Ashley shook her head and then laughed. “That’s not a wedding ring.” She squinted, focused on Kerrigan’s ring finger, giving a serious expression. “See how those smaller diamonds orbit the center stone? That’s a damn galactic event on your hand.”

Kerrigan clutched her sides, laughing. “I may be newer than both of you at closed-door activities, but what Axel gives me in the bedroom is out of this world.” She waved her hand, flaunting the enormous diamond. “Alexa is what makes me an expert,” she said, gently rubbing her daughter’s back.

Ashley rolled her eyes. “Bitch!” she said, laughing with her friends.

The raucous laughter calmed. Dahlia didn’t miss a beat, picking up from an earlier point in their conversation. “So, you’re in love. Now what?”

“She’s going to move on.” Kerrigan’s look scolded Ashley. “She’s going to let go of Chris and be happy. She’s going to take a risk and let love happen.”

Seconds later, Ashley’s cell phone rang. “What now!” she blurted out. One hand reached into her handbag.

Sebastian’s number on the phone’s display forced her slack posture to attention. “Excuse me.” Ashley shoved away from the table, eager to disband the double-teaming and frivolous conversation. A private moment away from her love-obsessed friends was the oxygen she needed. The excuse she needed to survive the attack.

Ashley brought the phone to her ear. The rumble of Sebastian’s voice and the throaty rasp as he said, “Hi, baby. When are you coming home?” made her stomach flip.

Something deep within forced her courage, gave her strength, gave her emotions a voice. “I’ll be home in thirty minutes. I’m…”

A rush of air seeped through the speaker, lungs gasping for breath. “Baby, we have some unfinished business. We really need to talk.” His words conveyed warming, warning, wanting. Wanting what she had easily given, wanting what she could no longer give without a cost.

The aroma of freshly stewed tomatoes flooded Ashley’s senses when she entered the loft that evening.

Sandals kicked to the side. Handbag tossed to the sofa. Hasty steps carried Ashley to the thermostat. “Something smells great,” she said, disguising hesitation, trying to soothe nerves that boiled to the point of perspiration. She lowered the temperature to cool her hormones.

Large soiled hands ran down the front of an apron tied around Sebastian’s waist. “My grandmother taught me to make stew like nobody’s business.” Sebastian’s lighthearted tone tugged muscles in his face. A smile that said she might survive another evening without a broken heart.

She returned a faux grin, barely lifting tight facial muscles to accomplish a smile. “Sebastian, I’m not very hungry. I’ve already eaten. Sorry.”

“Just a taste then?”

She couldn’t resist his pleading, playful eyes. “Yes. Just a taste.” The connotation of those infamous words was an indictment. A taste of Sebastian Stone in her so-called attempt to teach him a lesson landed her right where she stood eight months later. Now she had become the student.

“After dinner, I need your help. One of the contractors just called me. Major plumbing work has to be done before the expansion can start. The cost will eat into the budget of the amenities I had hoped to include. Can you help me brainstorm some other options?”

“Okay. Sure.”

Sebastian pointed to the bar. “Have a seat. Your sample is coming right up.” He flashed a sexy grin hot enough to melt the elastic waistband on Ashley’s panties. She would stoop over to raise them from the floor, along with her jaw, when he wasn’t watching her like a hawk.

Sebastian set the countertop with real dishware and utensils, unlike the Styrofoam containers and plastic sporks that usually accompanied her meals. He dished out steaming hot stew into bowls, placed soft rolls on a plate, and poured freshly squeezed lemonade into two glasses.

Sebastian lifted the apron over his head and hung the protective cover on a wall hook. He strolled to the counter where she waited and hoisted himself onto the stool next to Ashley’s. “Try some.” Sebastian planned for dessert. The look he gave said she was it.