Page 109 of Ashley & the A-Listers

“I could join you,” he suggested.

Her gaze narrowed. “No. We’ll be late. And I need to be… thorough,” she said, cheeks flushing.

Dylan smirked. He couldn’t help it, and she smacked him on the arm gently before spinning away and closing the door behind her.

Dylan starfished on the mattress and grinned up at the ceiling like a schoolboy.

He released a slow breath to combat the utter happiness filling his chest, like he could float right up to the ceiling, cheek pressed against the flat white surface.

They were bonded now. Ashley was his and he was hers. Forever.

He wouldn’t leave her again; he’d meant it when he’d promised. And now that promise was physical, a real tether.

Now he just had to keep proving to her that he was worth it. Worth a lifetime together. He’d be a good alpha for her. The best.

Through their bond, he felt Ashley process a slew of emotions as she showered, but by the time the door was opening again, he sensed nothing but a bit of nerves.

“My turn,” he said. He was loath to wash the scent of her from his skin, but hurried so they weren’t late.

“Will they be able to tell?” Ashley asked as Dylan pulled a shirt over his head.

“That we fucked or that we bonded?” And did it matter? Dylan certainly didn’t care if they knew. In fact, he wanted to shout it from the rooftops.

“Either. Both,” Ashley said, and he was reminded she was… a professional. She had to be; she was a female alpha in a male-dominated field. They lived by two very different sets of rules, and he wasn’t going to jeopardize her image or whatever she might have been worried about. He’d follow her lead on this.

“They’ll know we slept in the same room last night,” he said. “Cam’s on suppressants, so I don’t know that his sense of smell is as strong as normal. Do you want to wait to tell them?”

Ashley threw her hands up. “I don’t know! What do we even say?”

She groaned, and he felt her frustration and confusion as his own. She sat on the edge of the bed, watching him get ready, and there was something so intimate about it even though he was putting clotheson.Dylan walked over and put his hand on her unbitten shoulder.

“We don’t have to say anything, if you don’t want to,” Dylan said softly, and squeezed, eying the clock on the side table.

“It’s not that I want to hide it or anything,” she said, and it unknotted a tension between his shoulders he wasn’t aware had been rooting there. “I just don’t know what words to use. ‘Goodmorning! We’re bonded, by the way’ seems abrupt. Should we just wait until it comes up?”

Ashley’s anxiety was taking him right back to high school, and it was endearing that despite all the things that had changed, she was still the same Ashley.

“Maybe we wait for them to notice. We can make a game out of it,” he suggested. The expression on Cameron’s face would be worth it.

“Oh,” Ashley said, peering up at him. “Yeah. I guess it can be as simple as that, couldn’t it?”

“It’s as simple as you want it to be,” he said, and leaned down to kiss her once. And then again, because she was his and he was hers and he could do that kind of thing.

Her lips were so soft against his. Petals and pillows and clouds and whatever other soft things existed in the world had nothing on her.

“I love you,” he said, lips bumping hers with the syllables.

Ashley melted against him, her head tilting back, a smile on her face. “Sounds different in the light of day,” she murmured.

“Say it back,” he grumbled petulantly.

“I love you, too,” she obliged, grin widening.

Dylan cupped the back of her neck and kissed her again before standing. “Let’s go face the music and then head to the gym. I’m sure Nic will be so excited that you’ve started collecting your pack,” he teased.

Her flare of emotion was like a strobe light as her hand caught in his. “Is that what you want? A pack?” Ashley asked suddenly.

Dylan glanced back at her. “Hmm?”

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