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I wonder how he coped with Los Angeles. I wonder how he coped with a social media whore like Chloe. The amount of photos I had to endure of those two over the years could stack up and reach farther than Mount Everest. I guess I could have not looked. But it was hard.
“You’re here early.” Ashton slides into the seat next to me. His body, a pure wall of man, fills my view. He peels off his jacket, and two biceps stretch the sleeves of his t-shirt.
“Yeah… Now that the nights are creeping in a little earlier, I’d rather sit here than watching the clock at home.”
He pauses and considers what I just said. Ashton hasn’t changed. He’s a rare man who thinks before he speaks. “You should have told me you were driving yourself. I would have picked you up.”
Izzy sets another bottle and half-poured pint glass of amber liquid in front of Ashton. He salutes me and tends to another patron at the far end of the bar.
“I grabbed a cab. I’m not a kid anymore.”
His eyebrows dance almost imperceptibly, and I don’t know what he’s thinking, but it seems my comments amuse him.
“But you live alone now?”
“Yeah.”
“Someone needs to get you home safe.”
“Ashton. That someone is me. You might have missed the memo, but I’m a grown woman now.”
He takes his cap off and smooths his hair and pops the cap on backwards. His brown eyes flicker. “I did not miss the memo.”
His words are simple but loaded, and I have to remind myself to keep breathing. I sit up taller, thinking about what I wouldn’t have given for him to say something like that when I was younger.
He leans on his elbow, chiseled jaw on his fist. “You’re on my way to town, and I always made sure you got home safe just like your brothers did. Courtesy.”
“Well, Logan will be here tonight.” As soon as I say it, I realize how stupid it probably sounds.
“Pfft.”
I chuckle. “Hey, he might be the last manstanding but he’s a chivalrous one. He often has the same trusted driver take me home if we’re out together.”
He nods. “Well, that’s something.”
“It is.” I drink. “But anyway, I lived halfway across the country taking care of myself for a decade without any help from any of you. So like I said”—I peer over my glass flirtatiously as I take another sip—“I’m all grown up now.”
He throws his head back with a silent laugh, and his half smile deepens. “Yeah?”
He licks his lips and gives me the most devilish amused dimple I’ve ever seen. Why is he staring at me like that? He takes his thumb and swipes it along my top lip in a long, delicate movement. His touch sends a shiver down my spine, gripping me hot between my thighs.
He draws his thumb back. It has beer foam on it and he licks it off.Holy shit.
“All grown up?” He asks, as if he didn’t just provide me with the most seductive moment of my life.
I want to narrow my eyes, but his thumb on my lips paralyzed me. Normally, I’d bite back with some sort of insult and let him know how lame he is, too. That’s the kind of relationship we always had. But then he never ran a thumb along my lip line and lapped up my seconds like he just did.
We’re adults now, but some things never change. One, Ashton Dane can still turn me to jelly in an instant. And two, we’ll never be closer than friends. I send the thought around all the cells of my body, refuting their ulterior motives. He’s teasing me. Not flirting. There’s a difference. Even if it’s hard to tell.
“For your information Molly is only having one and driving us girls home.” I wipe the back of myfingers along my mouth in case he missed a spot. “And Chimayos are mega frothy.”
“They are.” He says it most politely, but with a shit-eating grin.
I punch his arm. His very steely, completely solid arm. A chortle escapes him, and he rubs it as though it smarts.
“Oh, I’m funny, am I?”
I punch him again, and this time he seizes my hand to stop me because he knows I usually dish out at least three in a row when the guys make fun of me.
