"Speaking of marriage, how's Nicholas?"
The fork I was holding fell from my grasp, followed by a lie that rolled off my tongue. "He's good. He's working right now."
"That's good. I really like him."
I closed my eyes. "Me too."
I didn’t lie.
Paul:Your girl is here.
I stared at the text before starting my engine to drive to Seth's for the baby shower. Did Paul mean Ashleigh was at Seth's? How was that possible? It had been over a week since I'd seen or spoken to her because I still didn't know what to say or do. Was Paul behind this somehow? He was the only one who knew I was going to profess my love to her. At least that was what I told him I was going to do, but I was still scared as shit actually to do it.
Me:What are you talking about?
Paul:Ashleigh is here at the shower. Did you know she was coming?
Me:No.
I could practically see Paul's grin as I read his next text:This is going to be exciting.
Me:Whatever. I'm on my way.
I started my Rover and headed toward Seth's. The entire drive I wondered how it was possible for Ashleigh to be there because I didn't think any of my friends would invite her without telling me, even if they wanted to prove that they'd won the bet.
Or would they?
What was I going to say to Ashleigh when I got there? It wasn't as though she knew I was struggling with my feelings. With any other client, I would walk away and never look back. But obviously, Ashleigh wasn't just any other client.
She was more.
So much more.
Instead of talking to Ashleigh as I told Paul I would, I got a tattoo over my heart to remember her by. I'd always gotten ones that had meaning, and so I'd sketched from memory the moment I fell in love with Ashleigh James under the Fiji moonlight while a country song played in the background then had my tattoo artist replicate it in color to stand out against my usual black and gray ones.
As I pulled up to Seth's house, I decided that I would treat Ashleigh like any of my other friends. I had to gauge how she would react to seeing me again before I took her aside and told her I wanted more. I did want more with her obviously, and I had to man up. None of my friends thought they would ever leave the game, and now they were all happy with growing families. Meanwhile, I was wallowing at home, not able to work or think about anything other than Ashleigh. That had to mean something.
I got out of my SUV, grabbed the gift I'd bought, and headed to the front door. Taking a deep breath, I rang the doorbell and waited. A few moments later, Seth opened the door.
"I heard someone was having a baby?" I held up the gift bag with a huge grin.
He smiled. "And I heard you owe me a grand."
I rolled my eyes. My friends were worse than women with their fucking gossip. "Whatever. Are you going to let me in?"
He lowered his voice. "You know she's here, right?"
I rubbed the back of my neck. "Yes, but I don't understand how."
"Her best friend works for Cat."
I balked. "Really?" I searched my brain for her friend's name. "Adriane works for Cat?"
"Yep, and between you and me, I think Cat had a part in this too."
I thought for a moment. Did that mean that Ashleigh did have feelings for me too? That she’d talked to her best friend about me, and they’d come up with a plan to find out howIfelt about her? Did women work that way? I’d thought I knew the ins and outs of women and their brains since my job was to know what women wanted.
My job …
