Chapter 11

Mason

I couldn’t believe my fucking luck. A stupid dinner with my crazy mother’s outlandish expectations had turned into a night with Winston at some dumbass play that I couldn’t understand. And who the hell was there?

Ash.

I hadn’t been able to get her out of my mind. Something about her was addicting, like the way she matched her lip color and her shoes. The blue in her hair was fading, and something told me she was debating a new color. Every single time I saw her she was in an outfit that hugged all the places I wanted to put my hands. She was as cute as I remembered, even if she was dressed down. Spending a little bit more time with her couldn’t hurt.

After the disastrous and, quite frankly, obnoxious play ended, I shot her a text with the name of the bar to meet us at, and we headed out. Winston was chattering in my ear about some bullshit excuse for something he wanted to try with his “research,” but all I could do was think about meeting up with Ash again. I wanted to get there and get all of us a booth before the idiots from the play descended on everything else, and I wanted to make sure Ash sat beside me.

I wanted to feel her skin against mine again.

It took them longer than I thought to get there. I figured they’d be right behind us, so when thirty minutes passed, I started to wonder if Frank had gotten in the way. She seemed like a lot of work and drama, and I didn’t really know what Ash was doing with a friend like that. I mean, Ash seemed like an incredible girl. The fuck was she doing with a loud-mouthed girl like Frank who took advantage of people?

But finally, they walked into the bar. Immediately, I saw the tension on Ash’s face. Frank was all smiles, with her bouncy red curls and her tits shoved up to her face, but Ash looked tense.

The two of them didn’t really look to be going at it the way they had the night Frank barged in on me and Ash at her apartment.

Maybe her ex was an issue?

I’d beat that bastard into the ground if he had pissed Ash off somehow.

I beckoned the waitress over and decided to order them a couple drinks. Frank would probably bitch about it, but Ash looked like she could really use something, anything, to guzzle down quickly. I knew what that felt like. I felt like that after every dinner with my mom.

Maybe the drink I ordered her could help with some of the tension she was obviously carrying. I wanted to have fun with Ash tonight. In fact, I resolved to make sure that whenever she was with me, no matter how long or how often, she would always have fun. She wouldn’t ever let herself have fun if someone didn’t shove it on her, and I figured I could do the shoving.

Their fruity cocktails came, and Ash sat down right next to me. Before I could make a move, she scooted so close I could feel body heat radiating from her leg to mine. She felt so good pressed against me again, and my dick hardened against my pants with each sip of her drink Ash took. Her lips wrapped around the glass, and I couldn’t help but imagine her lips wrapped around my cock.

“And that’s when I ran into the nun again!” Winston roared.

“Wait,” Frank asked. “The nun from the convent was in the bar?”

“Yes,” he said. “The very same. I almost didn’t believe it, so I grabbed her a drink and took it up to her. When she looked up at me, I thought she was gonna pass out!”

“Oh, this didn’t happen,” Ash said, smirking.

“Swear to god on my mother’s grave.”

“Your mother’s still alive, Winston,” I said, smiling.

“Well, on her eventual grave,” Winston said, shrugging.

“I’m ready for another drink,” Frank declared.

“Oh, there’s one here you have to try,” Winston said. “It was inspired by me.”

“No, it was not!” Ash laughed.

“It was,” he said. “I dated the bartender here, and she created a drink for me because of the mind-blowing orgasms I gave her every night we were together.”

Ash tensed beside me, and I couldn’t help but pan my gaze toward her. She was staring hard at Winston, but the smallest flicker of her eyes danced toward me. I knew exactly what she was thinking, so I slid my hand onto her thigh and gave it a little squeeze.

“And what’s this wonderful drink called?” Frank asked seductively.

“The tiny temple,” Ash quipped.

Frank threw her head back and laughed, and Winston feigned like he’d been shot. Just as Ash’s smile fell from her cheeks, I pressed my lips lightly to her ear.

“I’m been thinking about you nonstop since we parted ways, Ash.”

Goosebumps cascaded down her neck, and I squeezed her thigh one last time before I pulled away. The waitress set drinks down in front of us. I brought mine up to take a sip, and it actually didn’t taste that bad.

“I still don’t think you inspired this drink,” I said.

“It pains me that you don’t trust me, Mase.”

“Mase?” Ash asked.

“Oh, I’ve known Mase here for years. We go all the way back to our preppy preschool days.”

“Pulling all the girls’ ponytails, I assume?” Frank asked.

“Only if they wanted me to,” Winston said with a wink.

I let him drone on in the background while I studied Ash. This drink was stronger than it tasted, and I felt myself melting into her presence. I studied the clothes she was in and the bosom that was outlined by her shirt. I snaked my hand over and laid it on her thigh again. Her muscles jumped underneath my touch.

Heat rose in her cheeks, and her ears reddened in this cute little way I’d never seen before. Then my eyes fell to the necklace around her neck. It was bright green and turquoise with what looked like little onyx pieces between the beads.

“I really like your necklace,” I said.

I raised my fingers to touch it and watched as Ash shifted her gaze my way. Before I could ask her where she got it, Frank opened that big mouth of hers again.

For once, I was glad she did.

“She made it herself,” Frank said.

“Wait, you made this?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Frank said, not letting Ash answer. “She has her own line of jewelry and everything.”

“Frank,” Ash groaned.

“Well, you do!”

“Do you make all the jewelry you wear?” I asked her.

“I mean, not all of it,” she said. “And anyway, I’m still technically learning everything. I’d like to save up enough money to one day study with the master jewelry makers in Milan.”

Winston eyed me closely while Frank stuck her foot in her mouth again.

“Yeah, well, working in that craft shop won’t give you that kind of money. I keep telling you that. Oh, Ash! Have you ever told Mase here about the time you got your head stuck in the staircase banister?”

“Only Winston calls me ‘Mase,’ Frank,” I said.

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, have you?”

“Did you do it when you were a kid?” Winston asked.

“No. She did it two months ago!” Frank roared.

I could tell Ash was uncomfortable, and I was thankful for Winston changing the conversation back to his travels. He told us more outlandish stories of when he traveled to Australia and Vienna and Ireland. The girls laughed, and I interjected with stories of my own. I told them about skiing accidents in Aspen, and I told Ash what Milan was like whenever I went there for the family trip. Eventually, I didn’t have any more stories to share.

But Winston never ran out of stories, probably because he’d gone to so many more places.

We all finished the “Winston-inspired drink,” and it was definitely stronger than any of us had thought it would be.

“Just like my orgasms,” Winston said.

I let him rattle on. My attention was focused on how good it felt to have Ash pressed against me again. She leaned into me, and I snaked my arm around her body. I dipped my lips to her ear and told her how incredible she looked tonight. And the truth was, she did. She was finally comfortable, and her smile lit up the bar. She was wearing her stunning pieces of jewelry, and her body felt just like it had that night we were cuddled up in the back seat of her car.

“I really couldn’t stop thinking about you,” I murmured to her.

She turned her face to me and smiled. Then she slid her hand behind my head and guided her lips to my ear. My dick twitched in my pants when her fingertips grazed the base of my scalp.

“That’s the thing about having a really good orgasm,” she whispered. “You always seem to want another one.”

I cleared my throat and excused myself to go to the bathroom. Winston caught on and was quick on my heels. I busted into the bathroom and whipped around, and when he came through the door, I held out my hand to him.

“Let me use your apartment again,” I said.

Winston threw his head back and laughed while he dug around in his pocket for his keys. He dropped them in my hand without another word, and I threw my arms around him and gave him a massive hug. I wasn’t even sure why the hell I was so happy, but the idea of taking Ash home again made my body tremble in anticipation.

We walked back to the table.

“Frank!” Winston exclaimed with his arms wide open. “Why don’t we go for a walk?”

“Sounds like fun,” she said. “Ash?”

I looked over at her and shook my head slightly, and for a moment, I thought she was just going to go along with Frank. But the smirk that dawned on her cheeks thrilled me to my bones.

“You go on ahead,” Ash said. “I think I’m gonna hang out with Mason a little while longer.”

“You sure?” Frank asked.

“Frank,” Winston began, as he took her arm and wound it around his, “have I told you the story of how I got lost in Italy and ended up coming across one of the oldest vineyards in the world?”

“Not yet,” Frank gushed. “How’d you get lost?”

The two of them walked out of the bar, and I turned back to Ash. I watched her dig for her keys before she pulled them from her purse. We wasted no time in taking her car to Winston’s apartment.

We rushed up the stairs, and I threw the door open. Ash’s hands yanked me toward her. She crashed her lips onto mine before her leg kicked the door closed. My hands sank deep into the thick of her hips while her hands started to undo my belt buckle.

Dear Jesus, her tits felt good against my body. I was going to make sure I took her every way and on every surface I could think of.