Chapter Twenty-Six
Ashley
“Ashley?” Tess asks me and I snap back to reality.
“Sorry!” I exclaim to Tess. “I got a bit distracted.”
Tess just rolls her eyes and takes a sip of her drink. We decided to catch up for afternoon drinks at Rue 57. Tess figured that she needed to get a chance to unwind after all the chaos.
And I had a present to give her.
But that doesn’t help that I’m just so distracted with…
Well, I think you can take a guess, can’t you?
If you need a hint, then let me just tell you it involves a tall, dark, and handsome billionaire who just so happens to be the CEO of Draper Pierce.
Yes. Taylor John.
The date that we had last night was…amazing.
“Ashley, this is the fourth time this hour that you’ve drifted off into your own world there,” Tess complains. “What’s going on?”
I take a long sip of my cosmo and wonder how I’m going to explain my continual distraction from life caused by Taylor fucking John.
“Is it Taylor John?” Tess asks and I seriously feel like rolling my eyes at life. Or just Tara Starr.
But instead I take another drink.
“It is Taylor, isn’t it?” Tess asks, honing in. “I knew it. What’s going on with you two?”
“Nothing,” I say hesitantly.
Tess snorts. “Bullshit,” she says to me and takes another drink, finishing her Cosmo. “You went a date with him right?”
“Actually we went out last night for teppanyaki,” I say to her and she raises her eyebrows.
“And?” Tess asks me.
“What do you mean, ‘and’?” I ask, not liking where this line of questioning is going.
“Did you fuck him?” she asks, not pulling any punches.
Fuck.
“Since when did you become the alpha male who fucks everything?” I ask her. “What are you going to cum on senior citizens in the pool now?”
Tess just rolls her eyes. “This isn’t Man Vs. Woman, Ashley. Please tell me you fucked that man. I know you want to.”
I can’t help it. I let loose.
“I know!” I say to her. “I so want to. But I’m not sure if he wants me!”
Tess recoils from me. “What the hell, Ash!” she yells as another drink is placed in front of her. “That man is crazy over you.”
I’m silent.
“Does he like smell or have bad breath?” she asks me, quieter now.
“No, he smells great and he has amazing breath,” I reply back.
“Well did you have food in your teeth?” she asks again.
Jesus.
“No I didn’t have food in my teeth,” I say to her.
“Did you fart in front of him?” Tess continues with her inane questions that are probably coming from the second drink that she’s downing. “Guys don’t like it when you fart in front of them.”
“Fuck, Tess, I didn’t fart in front of him,” I say, pounding my drink. I’m not sure I’m supposed to pound cosmos. The bartender seems to have my next drink already for me because it just materializes. “I don’t know if Taylor wants to fuck me because he seems to like me just as a friend.”
There’s silence from Tess at that admission.
“Why do you say that?” she finally asks.
I shrug. “We went out last night,” I start and Tess settles back in her chair. “Except I went to meet him an hour earlier than we had said. I was hoping I’d catch him as he was getting ready and we’d…you know.”
“Fuck,” Tess adds.
“Yeah,” I agree. “But he just didn’t seem to be too interested.”
Tess ponders this for a long moment.
“Tell me exactly what he said,” she says finally.
I take a deep breath, and another drink as I recollect the words Taylor said to me.
“He said, ‘You look fucking gorgeous’,” I tell her. She widens her eyes.
“That sounds like he wants to do you, babe,” she says to me. “What did you tell him?”
“Well I may have said something like, ‘You look fucking sweaty’,” I say and Tess grimaces. “What? He was back from the gym and I was saying that so you know, maybe I could lick it up or something.”
“Well, what did he say after that?” she asks me.
“I think he asked me if I wanted to join him…” I say, whimpering at this admission.
Tess snorts and coughs.
“And that’s not an invitation?” she asks incredulously. “What did you say?”
I pause for a long moment and realize what I said.
“I think I said I was hungry,” I say sheepishly. Tess is staring daggers at me. “What? I was starving, babe!”
Tess finishes her drink. Wow. That was fast. I knew she had a lot of stress to work off but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her drink so fast. It must be Austin. He’s riled her up so much because he’s like made for her—a perfect match for her. And she’s never had a match that was so equal for her in her life as far as I can tell.
“Ash,” Tess says very seriously. “You need to call him. And tell him to come over to your place and fuck you.”
Yeah. I can’t do that.
Not ‘Mr. CEO’ of the largest investment bank in the world. The guy hangs out with models and actresses on the regular. I’m just a lawyer.
“If he wanted to, Tess, he would do more,” I tell her. “Look at Colt and Serena. Or Malcolm and Sonia. Or even Daphne and Dominic,” I say to her.
Tess nods. But she’s not convinced.
“If he really wanted me, he’d make more of an effort to get me,” I tell her.
“Well, not if you’re telling him you’re hungry and treating him like a friend by showing up early and not banging him,” Tess says to me. “You guys are gaga for each other but you don’t even see it. You’re both dumb as rocks.”
Says the person who is probably secretly in love with Austin.
Speaking of Austin…
“How’s the competition going?” I ask her. “The big final challenge is coming up. You ready?”
Tess sighs.
“I have everything I can do,” she says. “But with all the warfare between us, we’re really not operating at 100%.”
I nod. Cyber attacks and tied up capital will do that to you.
“Well, maybe I have something that will help,” I say and Tess’s eyes go wide.
See, yesterday as Taylor showered, I looked through that file.
I know. I wasn’t supposed to. But it said ‘Giovanni Giannoni’ on it. And everyone knows who Giovanni is. The world famous bedroom set designer. He did all 17 bedrooms in pop star Kristi Crawford’s Bel Air mansion.
So I looked it over. I don’t know why Taylor had it. It was probably just a profile on a high net-worth client for Draper Pierce. I know Taylor personally meets the ultra-wealthy that his bank manages money for. Anyways, if Taylor is managing this guys assets and I can give his contact number to Tess, then it’s a double win, right?
“Come closer,” I say to her. “I’ve got someone who will help you seal this deal and win the contest with no doubts left.”
Tess leans in close and I start to get the pictures I snapped with my phone.
If nothing else, something will come from last night.