Page 60 of Myself

“Nice to meet you, too. This place is gorgeous,” she adds.

“Thank you.” She turns back to me. “When Ryder called and told me that you had moved back, I said it was about time.” She laughs.

“How have you been?” I ask, wishing that I had called her for drinks when I first arrived back in town. She’s like my brother. She doesn’t have much of a social life; I’m not even sure how she breathes at times.

“Great. Just staying busy. This place takes a lot of my time.” She tells me what I already know.

I nod. “I bet. I always heard great things about it while I was away.” I follow their social media sites. She has a big name for herself here in Manhattan. Celebrities use their services all the time.

She nods. “Have you seen Jaycent since you’ve been back?”

I smile to myself. “Yes.”

Ashlyn covers her smile with her hand. “Good. He missed you, you know.”

I don’t say anything because I didn’t know that. How was I supposed to know he had loved me all along? “Well, I will let you ladies get to it. If you need anything, you let me know.” She turns to the desk and speaks to a woman, telling her to take care of us and to give us whatever we need.

“I could get used to this,” Ashlyn says with a smile on her face.

“Welcome, ladies.” The woman who Rosie had been speaking to walks out from behind the desk. “First off, what can I get you to drink?” Before we can say anything, she continues. “We have chardonnay, merlot, champagne ...”

“I’ll take a merlot, please,” Ashlyn tells her.

“And I’ll take a glass of champagne.”

**

We spend our entire day getting pampered from head to toe, and with every second that passes, my worries fall away. I decide I may need to come here once a week. Jaycent calls me while I am getting my nails done and asks if I want him to pick me up or just meet me at the dock. I choose dock, knowing that Ashlyn is meeting Ryder there. I don’t want to leave her alone.

The sun is just starting to set when we pull up to the docks. We make our way down the long wooden walkway and turn right to where my brother’s boat sits.

Like any other time, Ashlyn has a moment of panic when she sees his yacht, or so she calls it. And I can’t help but laugh at her.

I walk up the steps to Ryder’s boat, and the first face I see is Jaycent as he stands to the left with my brother.

My brother sees me and pulls me in for a hug. “You need to start buying clothes that cover more,” he says with a frown, and I laugh. “Where’s Ashlyn?”

“She was right behind me,” I say, and he says he’ll find us in a minute as he goes to look for her.

Jaycent steps up to me, and I take a quick look around to see if anyone is watching us. “You look ... stunning,” he says, and I give him a shy smile.

“Thank you,” I say, looking over his dark blue jeans and light blue button up shirt with a dark blue tie. “You look sexy.” And he smiles, knowing that at one time, that would have made me blush, but now I can say it with a straight face.

He grabs my hand unexpectedly, and I squeal out in surprise when he spins me around. “Jaycent?” I ask breathlessly as he yanks my back to his front. “What are you doing?”

“What?” he whispers by my neck. “I can’t love on you?” His lips touch my neck, and I melt into his arms.

“Stop,” I say, but I don’t pull away; instead, I fall into him. The man wants to love on me. I want that too.

“Make me,” he says as his lips trail up my neck to my ear. “Make me stop, baby.”

A shiver runs through my body, and I moan as he takes my earlobe between his lips and nibbles on it. “Fffuuccckkkk,” I whisper, remembering that we are on my brother’s boat. I pull away from him. “Jaycent!” Turning to face him, I hit him in the chest. “Stop it.”

He laughs. “You know you liked it.” His eyes drop down to my dress. “And...”

I’m laughing at him but clear my throat as I see Ashlyn approaching us. “What is up with you two?” she asks.

“Nothing ...” Jaycent answers. I still haven’t filled him in on what all I have told her about us. I need to do that, so he is up to speed. He sighs heavily and then looks quickly behind her.

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