“Ash?”
“Yes?”
“There are so many things I still don’t know...”
He rose his head to take in her eyes and they were full of such sorrow. Such loss. Confusion. He ached for her. Ached for all she had been through. Her life had been a whiplash, he knew that much for sure. And all he wanted was to help her through it.
“I want to help,” he said. “Not make it worse.”
“You don’t make it worse,” she said.
“Then let me help you.”
“I don’t know, Ash. I don’t ... it’s so hard to explain.”
She shivered against him, and he pulled her from the wall and slid from between her thighs.
“Then don’t,” he said into her ear. “Don’t explain. Just let me be with you, in whatever capacity that means. I came here for you. I chased you down because I couldn’t stand the thought of not being with you.”
He drew her back into his body, his heart slamming against his chest.
He could still see the confusion in her eyes. The hurt and the sorrow. How he wanted to take it all away from her. Suck it from her body and shoulder the burden himself. He kissed the top of her head and ran his fingers through her hair, watching as the water dripped from all of her wondrous curves.
The playground of her body, glistening for him in the shower of a place he used to call home.
“Is the food here yet?” Kallie asked.
He chuckled and kissed her head one last time before stepping away from her.
“Let’s get cleaned up and go see,” Ash said.
Then the two of them soaped up, washed down, and got themselves ready for brunch.
Chapter 9
Kallie
Kallie couldn’t think straight. Ash’s hot pursuit of her had her twisted up in knots. The brunch was fantastic, and she couldn't help but moan over all the food. And she was much hungrier than she originally thought. She felt herself letting her guard down. Letting Ash back in. As they lay there, eating while still tangled up in the sheets with their naked bodies, Kallie began wondering if a relationship between them could work. If something like that was plausible.
Ash wasn’t a typical rich man. He wasn’t the stereotype, like James. Despite his surroundings, she still felt comfortable with him. She didn’t feel judged by her lack of money. If anything, she sort of got the impression that he resented his money. How people saw him because of how rich he was. He wasn’t trying to flaunt it or toss it around to try and impress her. He simply offered it to her and didn’t think twice when she wasn’t accepting of it.
When she looked into his eyes, she could still see the Ash she had connected with on the island.
Was it possible he hadn’t lied about that? Was it possible Ash was still the same man even though his financial status had changed?
Kallie began to wonder if the issue was with her. Maybe she’d been too worried about his money. Maybe James and his family had soured her toward the wealthy, and her overall judgment of them did Ash a disservice. Kallie was so angry at James and his family for always judging her about her lack of money, and there she was passing judgment on a man who did have money.
That didn’t seem right to Kallie.
Just because James and his parents were asshole didn’t mean that everyone with money were assholes. And Ash was beginning to prove that to her. At no point in their interactions since the club did she ever feel like he was encroaching on her. Trying to stifle her with his wallet. They both lay in bed with full stomachs against the plush mattress they’d slept on, and that was the only thing that reminded her of his wealth. He wasn’t talking about business or his finances or on his phone talking to his “portfolio guy.?
??
His attention was on her.
Just her.
“Spend the day with me,” Ash said.