The Kiss That Launched 1,000 Gifs (6 page)

Ashton nodded solemnly. “I can tell. You could bake a man-sized cake with the heat that is coming off you right now.”

Her mouth fell open before she physically bit down on her bottom lip and gripped the table.

“And with that we’re going to commercial,” Grace said. “Please enjoy these messages from our sponsors while I figure out a way to respond to that without absolutely going off the rails.”

On the other side of the glass, Frank was quick on the uptake, punching in the commercials at the same moment Grace pushed her mic away from her face and turning to the computer in front of her.

“I’m going to create a poll,” she said without looking at him.

Translation:
Don’t talk to me—don’t even breathe in my general direction until business duties require it.

Ash hid a smile and glanced at the phone lines. Each line blinked red. The next two hours should be fun. The room was definitely going to get warm, but it was his own fault.

Speaking of warm… it gave Ash an idea.

Picking up his phone, he accessed the Dropbox folder Emily had set up for him that morning to connect all the photos he had stored on his home computer to his phone. It took him a minute, but he finally found the pictures from his last birthday with Fawn and Megan. He popped the picture into Instagram and zoomed in to show only cake then added a caption.

Look what Grace made me during the show today. #Multitasking #Superwoman

He was really starting to like this whole social media thing.

“So my boyfriend and I need you to settle a debate for us,” a caller said over the speaker.

“We’ll do our best,” Grace said, watching Ashton throw his stress ball back and forth between his hands.

Sending Grace a competitive smile, he leaned forward and said, “Lay it on us, Beth.”

“So this guy and I have been going out for about a month,” Beth said. “But we’ve never really talked about being exclusive.”

“Okay,” Grace said, to encourage the woman to keep talking.

“Well, one of us went out on a date with someone else and doesn’t really think it’s that big of a deal.”

Ashton stopped throwing his ball and leaned forward. “Wait. I need a little more information here. How many dates were there in this month the two of you have been together? Are we talking once a week, or multiple dates a week?”

“Um, maybe three dates a week?” the woman said, not sounding totally sure.

“And how physical was the relationship.”

Beth let out a nervous laugh. “Pretty physical, I guess.”

He nodded his head. “Okay, proceed.”

“I, um, I guess that’s really it,” Beth said. “My question for you two is whether or not there comes a point where relationships are exclusive by default, or if they’re only exclusive if you both sit down and agree that you’re exclusive.”

Grace signaled that she had a response and Ash gave her the nod to take the lead. By the look on his face she could tell this was a topic he thought they’d agree on. Wouldn’t that be a miracle?

“My take?” Grace said. “If you want to be exclusive, you need to say the words out loud. You can’t just assume the person you’re dating is on the same page.”

Across the table, Ashton’s mouth fell open. “You have to be kidding me.”

“Shocker.” Grace laughed. “Ashton and I disagree on this.”

Ashton leaned into the table and searched her eyes as if he thought she might be kidding. “Beth and her boyfriend have been on a minimum of twelve dates. They’ve also gotten pretty personal. At this point, you think it’s fair for one of them to date someone else without saying anything?”

Grace shrugged, playing things extra casual since she could see this was a topic that got under his skin. Maybe it was time to watch him squirm for once. “If a man hasn’t asked me to be exclusive with him, why would I be?”

“Even if the two of you have been ‘pretty physical?’”

“Define ‘pretty physical,’” Grace said, mirroring his body language as she faced off against him. “It’s such an arbitrary term. Is it like an episode of The Bachelor, where one guy makes out with different girl on every date?”

“That makes for good TV,” Ashton countered, more serious than usual. “Not good relationships.”

Grace hid a smile, getting a kick out his intensity. “Okay, I’ll bite, Ashton. How many dates do you think you need to go on before both parties should assume the relationship is exclusive? And what’s the physical line for exclusivity? A kiss? A make out? More?”

“You know the line when you reach it,” he said, his jaw flexing in annoyance.

“Exactly,” Grace said, leaning back in her chair. “
You
know when you’ve reached the point when you’re all in. But that doesn’t mean the other person is on the same page, and you can’t just assume that they are. Unless you state that you want exclusivity, you can’t expect your date to read your mind and know how seriously you’re taking them.”

Ashton was staring at her in honest disbelief. “So you’re telling me that you could go on date with one man you’ve been seeing regularly on a Friday, then go on a first date with another man on Saturday, kiss both of them, and feel totally good about it?”

Okay, maybe not. But seeing Ashton frazzled was totally worth taking his verbal bait.

“Sure,” she said, as if it was nothing. “If I don’t feel strongly enough to ask him to be exclusive and he hasn’t made any moves that tell me I should stop looking around, I would totally go out with someone else at the same time.”

His mouth literally fell open and he shook his head. “Wow, Beth. I don’t know if Grace and I are going to be any help in solving your debate here.”

“Actually, you’ve been incredibly helpful,” Beth said, sounding chipper. “Grace and I totally agree.”

Grace had to admit she was a little surprised to hear that, but that took a back seat to the pleasure she took at seeing the stupefied expression on Ashton’s face as he said, “You do?”

“Totally,” Beth said. “I mean, I have a great time with this guy, but he’s not sending me any signals that he’s interested in taking things to the next level.”

“Yet you started this call by calling him your boyfriend,” Ashton pointed out.

“It just seemed easier for the sake of this call,” Beth replied.

“Uh-huh,” Ashton drawled, his eyes narrowing. “So you’re with this dude; you call him your boyfriend; the two of you see each other at least three times a week and you’re physical; yet you don’t think that he’s sending any signals that you’re more than a casual relationship to him? On top of all that, you need this man to psychically understand that you desire to be sat down and be specifically asked not to date any other men before he can expect not to hear tales of you kissing other men?”

“Well, when you put it like that…” Beth laughed.

“I’m not putting it like that,” Ashton replied, his trademark lightheartedness distinctly absent in his tone. “I’m saying it like it is.”

“No,” Grace stepped in before Ashton could lay into Beth too hard. “You’re saying it how
you
see it.”

“I guess so,” he said, gripping onto his stress ball and leaning back in his chair with a frown. “If I’ve gone on twelve dates in four weeks with a woman, and she still doesn’t see the need to mention the fact that someone else has asked her out and she wants to go, then I would seriously rethink date thirteen. I have zero interest in dating a woman who plays games like that.”

Grace tried to laugh through the tension. “You mean you still wouldn’t think to sit down and talk about how you really like her and want the two of you to be exclusive?”

He shook his head. “Not at that point. Not if she’s kissing some other dude and is totally cool with it. At that point, I’d be done. She could have Mr. First Date.”

“Totally with you, man!” a male voice called out on the other side of Beth’s phone. Only then did Ashton’s mouth curve up.

“Sounds like you have some damage control to do, Beth,” he said, leaning forward and giving his stress ball a slow, almost sensual squeeze. “A word of advice?”

Beth cleared her throat. “Uh, sure?”

“If this date you went on was a passive-aggressive ploy to try to get your
boyfriend
to show how much he cares about you, then you need to own up to it and apologize. But if you really do want to date others at this point, then you need to own up to that too and let the cards fall where they may. But don’t pretend the person in the relationship who assumed exclusivity because of how much time you’ve spent together and how physical you’ve been is the stupid or naive one at this point. Most men speak with their actions, not their words. So if a man is showing you fidelity, then guess what, in his mind the two of you are exclusive. And if you need to hear those words from him, then bring the subject up and ask. Don’t go out with another man and see how mad your boyfriend gets. Everyone loses when you play games like that.”