A place where she felt like the strong woman she knew herself to be.
Even if that strength still had a quiet voice.
Chapter 19
Ash
Ash studied Kallie as he sat down into his chair. The two of them ordered drinks and food, but other than that no words were spoken between the two of them. He felt more conflicted than he’d ever had in his life. He was fucking pissed at the way Sasha just came up to them and ruined the moment he’d set perfectly for Kallie as well as their dinner. But watching how Kallie stood up for him? How calm and collected she kept her demeanor while putting that bitch in her place? He’d never seen Kallie like that before. He’d never witnessed that type of fierce protection from her. She had no problem standing up to that rude woman, and he liked the way she kind of stood up for him.
It reminded him of the way he should’ve stood up for her in the first place.
The dinner wasn’t a total wash. Even though the two of them weren’t talking, Ash got a great opportunity to study the beautiful woman in front of him. The high color in her cheekbones. The red that trickled down her neck. The way Kallie seemed to be talking with herself in her mind. She was riled up, and she looked sexy as hell. Ash’s mind bombarded him with the other times she had gotten angry with him. The other times she’d unleashed that part of herself. And the passionate moments that followed soon overtook his memories. The sex had been outstanding, and those were some of the closest moments they’d ever experienced with each other.
So when the two of them were done eating, an idea struck Ash.
They weren’t too far off from the beach. In fact, the rice paddies they were hovering over broke to the beach a couple of blocks up the road. He could smell the saltwater in the air as the breeze kicked up, causing the rice paddies to dance underneath them.
“Why don’t we take a walk on the beach?” he asked as the waiter cleared their table.
He watched her eyes whip over to him and he could see “no” etched all over her features. But he wasn’t taking that for an answer. He knew the only reason she wanted to say no was because of how angry she was.
“It looks like you need to cool off a bit before we go back to the hotel,” Ash said.
“You don’t get to tell me what I need and don’t need.”
“I could throw you in the ocean. It’s only a block or two that way,” he said as he thumbed over his back.
“Ashly Worthington, this is not the time to taunt me.”
But oh, it really was.
Ash threw some money down onto the table before getting up and walking off. He knew Kallie wouldn’t be able to resist chasing him down in her fitful manner in order to give him a piece of her mind. He charged out of the restaurant and heard her quick on his heels, so he picked up the pace. He began jogging and taunting her, yelling behind him that she really needed to cool her jets.
“I’ll show you what a cool jet looks like,” Kallie said with a murmur behind him.
The rice paddies quickly broke into the sand of the ocean and Ash started running. He unbuttoned his jacket and allowed it to flap behind him as Kallie chased him down. Telling him to stop and that they needed to talk and that she wasn’t taking one more step toward him until he slowed his fucking ass down.
He loved it when she cussed like that.
“Ash! Stop it! This isn’t funny!”
Then abruptly, he came to a halt.
He turned around and watched Kallie’s eyes widen. She couldn’t stop herself in her heels, and he swung her around the instant she barreled into his body. He lifted her off her feet as the waves crashed around them, wetting his very expensive suit underneath the moonlight of the coast. He walked her into the waves as Kallie kept rattling on in his ear.
“You’re a manipulative bastard, Ash. You know that? I know you like seeing me upset. I know you planned all this. I know you’re just trying to do all of this to get back with me and it’s not going to work. Do you hear me? It’s not going to work, you blinded, selfish little prick!”
Ash walked into the ocean, his face buried into the crook of her neck as she continued to yell.
“You hurt me. You broke my fucking heart. And then that bitch Sasha approaches us at dinner and you fucking fall silent like the shadow of a man you are. Why didn’t you stick up for me, Ash!? Why didn’t you defend me!? Why did you let th
em walk all over me, Ash?”
He felt his heart swell before it shattered into pieces. He didn’t have an answer for her.
He walked out into the ocean until he was waist deep. The waves slowly lapped at their bodies as Kallie sank down his torso. They were soaking wet, and his body was coursing with unused energy he wanted to toss against Kallie’s body. He set her down onto her feet and grabbed her chin, forcing her gaze up to his.
“What the fuck do you want?” she asked through clenched teeth.