The Bad Boy's Dance (49 page)

          Ivy startled, pulling away slightly to look up at him. There was an intense look of concentration on his face. “You know I love you. I’m hopelessly in love with you, poopy-bear.”

          Asher snorted, and Ivy was relieved his strange anxiety was momentarily forgotten. “I still hate that nickname,” he pointed out.

          “Aw, sucks I don’t care.”

          Asher gently extracted himself from her embrace. She watched him curiously as he paced the floor restlessly. He grabbed her hands and held them tightly to his chest. “Close your eyes,” he whispered. “Don’t peek.”

          Anxiety was starting to flutter in Ivy’s stomach, but she did as she was told. Asher dropped her hands and she stood there for a few minutes, wrestling with the desire to peek.

          “Open your eyes, baby.”

          Ivy gasped. Asher was on one knee, and a sparkling ring was nestled in a velvet box in his palm.

          
Oh God, I’m going to start hyperventilating and sobbing and I might pass out again, 
she thought faintly.

          “Ivy Robello,” Asher said, his cobalt eyes shining with pure love and adoration. “I love you with all my heart and soul. I think I fell in love with you the first time you called me a jerk in this classroom. You saved my life. You gave me purpose. I love you more than my own life, angel.

          “I went to spend the rest of my life with you, until we’re old and gray, and you’re a demented old woman ranting about moon cheese. Ivy Robello, will you be my wife?”

          Tears tracked down Ivy’s cheeks, and she let out a watery chuckle. “Well, when you put it that way…” she said. “How can I say no?”

          When Asher just stared blankly at her, she laughed and nodded vigorously. “Asher Grayson, I would love nothing more than to be your wife. So yes, I will marry you.”

          With a heart-stopping grin, Asher took her hand and slid the sparkling diamond onto her finger. He kissed the ring, and her palm. “It belonged to my grandmother,” he murmured. “She was sure one day some girl would break me of my ‘naughtiness’. I never thought she’d be right.”

          Ivy waited until he got to his feet to launch herself at him. “I doubt anyone could ever break you of your naughtiness, thankfully.”

          “You like me naughty, Mrs. Grayson?” Asher waggled his brows, lifting her so they were eye-level.

          Ivy marveled at her new name. 
Ivy Grayson. 
It was so strange…yet oddly perfect. “I 
love 
you naughty, Mr. Grayson.”

          Winding her fingers in his dark locks of hair, she bought his lips to hers and kissed him with everything in her. Asher braced his hand on the nape of her neck, deepening the kiss, molding her body against his.

          When they broke apart, panting, Asher flashed her a wicked smile that shot tingles all the way to her toes. “So, where are we spending the night, my lovely fiancé?” he queried.

          Ivy opened her mouth to answer, but a thought sidetracked her.

          “
Tell his mother first.”

          
How…who 
was 
that truck driver? He couldn’t have possibly known…

          Shaking her head to clear her head of the puzzling thoughts, she beamed at her amazing fiancé. “Let’s go to your house. I think we should tell your mother first. She’ll be really happy to hear it.”

          Asher closed his lips over hers in another searing kiss. “Thank you.”

          She was a little too scatter-brained to reply.

          “So does this mean you’re moving back home?” she asked hesitantly.

          “I was thinking you’d finish up your year here, I’d finish mine, and then we’d spend a semester abroad.”

          “Really? In France or England or Italy?”

          Asher tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Wherever you want, angel.”

 It was information over-load. Ivy tucked it away for later examination. They walked out of the school, Ivy smiling wistfully at the memories, and Asher re-locked the entrance to the school.

          “Asher? Ivy? What are you two doing here?”

          Ivy jumped and turned to see Caleb, Dana, and Kyle. She could also make out Phoebe’s head in Caleb’s car, fast asleep. She lunged for her friends at the same time they ran for her, enfolding her in their arms.

          “Some weird truck driver took us here after we got a flat,” she explain in a rush.

          “Us too!” Dana exclaimed. “So weird!”

          Ivy disentangled herself from them and tugged Asher forward. Dana’s was the first to notice. “Ives…is that a…” she trailed off, pointing at her hand.

          Caleb’s eyes bulged, and Kyle’s jaw dropped. Asher slapped the guys on the back cheerfully and mussed Dana’s hair affectionately. It was a sign of their surprise that none protested.

          Ivy grinned at her best friends as she winded her hand with Asher’s. “Oh, you guys didn’t know?”

          Asher smirked at their expression. Caleb was muttering something like, “this is even weirder than the ducks,” and Kyle was scratching his head in confusion.

          Dana shrieked at leapt at Ivy, enfolding her in her arms. “You’re getting married. Oh my God, my best friend is engaged!”

          “Can’t…breathe…”

          Kyle pulled his girlfriend away forcefully. “Don’t kill her, Dana.”

          Asher’s deep laugh made her want to crawl up his body like a spider and kiss him stupid. “Yes, please try not to kill her.”

          He smiled at Ivy. “I’m not quite sure what I’d do without her.”

          Yep, she was definitely kissing him stupid.

          “Happy Valentine’s Day,” she quipped, and pulled Asher’s head down for that kiss.

Jodi

“Is he embarrassed to be seen with you or something?” Asher, her brother-in-law, growled. “What was this punk’s name again?”

              Jodi laughed and switched channels, kicking her feet up on the footrest. Spencer had left an empty box of donuts lying on the coffee table, and she made a mental note to throw it out before Momzilla descended with the cleaning tools from hell.

              “His name is Derek. Try to control yourself, he’s not a serial rapist,” Jodi rolled her eyes.

              “Asher?” she heard her sister’s voice faintly on the other end. “Are you
still
talking to Jodi?”

              “Why are you not as disturbed by this as I am? Do I need to spell it out for you ladies, what it means when a guy doesn’t want to be seen with a girl?” Asher sounded frustrated.

              “Poopsy-bear, let me talk to her.”

              “No.”

              Jodi sighed and balanced the phone on her chest. Those two could go at it for a while.

              “Asher Grayson, you give me that phone right now!”

              “Go away. What the fu-get the hell off me, woman!” They sounded like they were wrestling, and Jodi figured he would let his wife win, seeing as manhandling pregnant women was generally frowned upon. Especially with Asher, who treated Ivy like she was porcelain.

              “Hey girl,” Ivy, sounding winded, answered the phone.

              “Hi,” she answered. “How are you?”

              “Dandy, anyway, what’s this I hear about a guy not wanting to be seen with you in public?” in the protective department, Ivy was only slightly easier to deal with than Asher.

              “Argh. It’s not how it sounds, okay? We dated publically last year, and his sister kept messing with me in school, stuffing crap in my locker and turning me into a social pariah. I was willing to deal with it, but Derek was having screaming fights with his sister all the time, and I know he loves her, so I broke up with him. We tried to move on, we really did, but…” Jodi smiled slightly at the remote. “There’s something about him, Ives. I missed him, he missed me, and we skirted all the drama by dating in secret. End of story.”

              “Did you hear all that?” Ivy addressed her husband.

              There was a grunt in response.

              “That school never lacks a head Plastic, does it?” Ivy mused to herself. “Look, honey. If you really care about Derek, and he cares about you, then do whatever you want.”

              “Do NOT do whatever you want!” Asher shouted.

              “So long as you’re safe,” Ivy continued, unperturbed. “I miss you, Jodi.”

              “I miss you too,” I said, and I blinked rapidly as unexpected tears rose. “When are you and Asher coming to town?”

              “Soon, I promise. There’s a sale near Darwin for moon-cheese, I wouldn’t miss it. The baby is craving it.”

              “Oh geez,” Jodi muttered. The doorbell rang, interrupting Ivy’s undoubtedly long spiel about the merits of fictional cheese.

              “I gotta go, Derek’s here. He’s taking me for a picnic in the woods for Valentine’s Day.”

              “The woods?!” Both Asher and Ivy yelled.

              The doorbell rang again. “Love you guys, bye!”

              “Jodi, no-!” She hung up quickly and switched off the T.V.

              Throwing open the door, she tried to contain her excitement. It was rare that she and Derek went somewhere that wasn’t her house or one of her close friends house. Everywhere had the risk of running into Daria, his sister.

              Derek was leaning against the door frame, but straightened quickly when she opened the door. He did a quick scan. “You look beautiful, Jodi,” he smiled, and stepped forward to give her a quick kiss on the forehead.

              It had taken Jodi about two hours to figure out what to wear. She didn’t go into the woods often, since it was a bit creepy and Ivy always looked like she wanted to run screaming whenever they drove past it.

              She’d finally settled on a light green blouse over her favorite Lucky jeans and flip-flops. Her ringlets were wild around her face, held back by a gold pin.

              Derek looked gorgeous as ever. His emerald green eyes were framed with long soot colored lashes, and he was wearing her favorite blue flannel shirt and black jeans.

              The only thing he had in common with Daria was looks. She was just as beautiful as he was, but that’s where the twin similarity ended.

              “Hi,” she couldn’t stop the giddy grin on her face if you paid her.

              “Hi,” Derek laughed. He held out his hand. “Shall we?”

              “Just one second,” Jodi said and darted to the hall closet to grab her coat, avoiding the bag of Doritos Spencer kept stashed there.

              She took Derek’s hand, and he walked them to his car. “There’s a really nice little place by a lake. I figured it’d be a nice for a picnic. I’m not really good at the romantic stuff,” Derek confessed, scratching his head.

              Jodi brushed the stray brown strand of hair from his forehead. “I know. Wherever we go will be perfect.”

              “What’s Daria doing today?” Jodi inquired politely.

              Derek winced almost imperceptibly. “She’s going hiking with Eddie.”

              For the life of her, Jodi couldn’t figure out what Eddie saw in Daria. He was a kind, sweet, smart Mexican-American with looks that could charm the panties off the nearest girl. Daria was mean and dug her claws into anything soft.

              “How about your family? Do they do anything special for Valentine’s Day?”

              Jodi giggled. “Spencer is coming home from Barbados. He took spring break a little bit early.”

              Derek grinned. He was well acquainted with her older brother. “You mean two months early?”

              “Yep. Ten bucks says he goes to pick me up from school because he forgets it’s Saturday.”

              Derek shook his head and made a right turn, taking them onto the semi-isolated road to the path into the woods. “You’re on. Even Spencer can’t forget that.”

              Jodi scoffed. Yes, he definitely could.

              “What about Paul?”

              “Hmm…Paul took some time off of work to come back, especially since Ivy’s due date is coming up. He might actually be home in like an hour.”

              Derek reached across the consul and grabbed her hand, raising it to his lips. “I’m glad I get you all to myself today, then.”

              Jodi smiled like an idiot.

              Derek parked the car and they exited. Jodi grabbed the picnic basket while Derek carried the blanket and a strangely wrapped box.

              “The woods are so pretty,” Jodi observed. There were leaves scattered along the path and sunlight streamed from between the trees. The sound of a pond trickling added a lovely background to the scenery. “I don’t get why Ivy, Asher, Dana, Kyle, Caleb, and Phoebe are terrified of it.”