Page 23 of Dirty Desires
Chapter Ten
Ashton
I was going to kiss her. I had her in my arms; my lips were on her neck. And then they showed up.
Never in my life had I been so disappointed to see my friends.
And with their arrival, and their eyes on us, our great teamwork in the kitchen came to an end. It was a fiasco with them watching us. I dropped the eggs, Nina overfilled the waffle maker, making a huge mess on the countertop that Julia told us not to worry about.
All I really wanted was for them to leave us alone.
And as we placed the burnt bacon, the chewy waffles, and the unsweetened cream that tasted like crap on the buffet table, I knew Nina could be the one for me.
Well, the other one for me.
I had found true love once, and now it seemed I was being offered a second chance.
As we sat at the breakfast table, barely eating the meal we’d had such great hopes for until it all went awry, Nina took all the ridicule right along with me. “Yeah, yeah,” she said to them all. “It was going well until you four showed up. That’s all I can tell you. Right, Ashton?”
With a nod, I agreed. “It was going well.” I cut my eyes to look at Nina, who was suddenly blushing.
I knew she was remembering the near-kiss we’d almost shared. I knew she would’ve kissed me right back. There was a tablecloth hiding us from the waist down, so I moved my hand over her knee and felt goosebumps pepper her satin-smooth skin. It made my dick hard, simply touching her like that.
Nina made me feel like a whole man again. I’d lost that man. But she had found him, somehow.
I had no idea how she had managed to punch through all the armor that surrounded my heart to set it free again, but she had. And I was ready to let it all down.
Artimus had planned out all of our time for our last day. “We’ve got shopping at the local markets next on our itinerary. And don’t even think about saying you don’t have any extra money to spend.”
Nina was quick to say, “I really don’t, Artimus. I can just stay here while you guys go. Or I can go and just window shop, I guess. I don’t really like window shopping, though. It’s like, when I have money, I can’t find anything I want. When I don’t have any, I find so much that I want.”
“I’ll stay here with her. I don’t need anything, and I hate to buy things I don’t need.” I was just making any excuse I could to get to be alone with her again.
Julia had brought a bag with her, and it was near her feet under the table. “We’ve gotten you all some little gifts to say thank you for being our guests for the weekend.” She put a small pink bag in front of the ladies and small black bags in front of Duke and myself. “Go ahead. See what we’ve given you guys. You know you’re our very best friends in the whole world.”
Lila whined, “I feel bad now, you guys. We didn’t give you anything. We would’ve brought wine and a cheeseboard, but you have much better wine than we could buy anyway.”
“And cheese,” Duke added.
Artimus stepped in. “Don’t even think about that. You gave us the pleasure of your company for the entire weekend. You could’ve done anything you wanted to, and you chose to spend it with us. Now enjoy what we’ve given you and stop making a fuss.”
Nina nudged me in the ribs with her elbow. “Thank you, guys. This is an unexpected and very nice surprise.”
“Yeah, thanks, Artimus, Julia.” I gave them my thanks, with Nina’s urging, even though I didn’t think they needed to give us anything. “Just being your friend is enough for me, but the present is appreciated.”
Lila peeked into her bag. “What’s in here?”
Duke reached into his bag then pulled out a bottle of 80-year-old scotch. “Whoa!”
“Keep digging,” Artimus coached him.
I watched as Nina and Lila each pulled out bottles of rare and very expensive bottles of wine. And when I pulled out the largest gift of mine, I found the most expensive bourbon money could buy.
The girls got some jewelry; Lila, emeralds, Nina, sapphires. Duke and I got watches. And at the very bottom of the bag were prepaid Visa cards. The holders they came in told us there was 5000 dollars on each card.
“Shut up!” I shouted as I stood up.
I didn’t bother holding back; I went to Artimus and hugged him, then picked Julia up and swung her around as she yelped, “Ashton Lange!”
