His hand slid around her waist, settling into the small of her back.
She enjoyed the feel of it there.
“It’s been an interesting week,” Kallie said. “Some unexpected visits from people, and now this.”
Ash led her through the crowd, and suddenly she found herself back behind a stage.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Do you trust me?” Ash asked.
Kallie’s eyes fluttered up to his as they stood back behind a stage. Away from the crowd of people bustling and talking as their bodies filled the ballroom. Did she trust him? Could she trust him? Her eyes danced between his as he patiently waited for an answer. He didn’t try to push her, or pull her toward his body, or influence her decision in any way.
He was giving her the space she needed.
Like he’d done by having someone deliver her gifts instead of personally delivering them himself.
“I do,” Kallie said. “I do trust you, Ash.”
“Then remember that when you turn around,” he said.
Kallie’s head panned over and her eyes fell on someone she never expected to see again. Sylvia, with her icy eyes and her Botoxed forehead, was standing right behind her. Even though she practically couldn't move her face, she could tell Ash’s mother was very unhappy to see her.
But before she could question Ash on what was going on, a very tall man who looked exactly like Ash appeared from the shadows.
“What in the world are you doing here?” the man asked.
Kallie watched as Sylvia’s face lost all of its color.
“Before you answer that question, Mother, I have something I’d like to say,” Ash said.
“What is it you could possibly want?” Sylvia asked.
“I want the two of you to meet Kallie. The woman I’m in love with.”
Kallie whipped her eyes up toward Ash’s face as her jaw dropped open.
Did she hear him right?
“You can’t be serious,” Sylvia said.
“Are you at least taking my advice, son?” the man asked.
“Kallie, this is my father, Martin. You’ve already met my mother. And if I have anything to do with it, you won’t be meeting them again,” Ash said.
“What?” his father asked.
“No, Dad. I’m not taking your advice. Because I’m in love with Kallie Semple. I plan to ask her if I can spend the rest of my life with her, and my hope is that she’ll say ‘yes.’ And before either of you speak, know this. I don’t care what you think. I don’t care what your opinions are, because they’ve never mattered to me. But I do want you two to hear me loud and clear, because I’m only going to say this once.”
Kallie’s shocked stare panned over both of his parents and she watched their faces set into stone. A hardened, angry type of stone that made Kallie instinctively back into Ash’s body.
But he was there. Unwavering in his presence as he slipped his hand from her back to around her waist. Cradling her. Grounding her. Protecting her without shielding her from anything.
Had Eris been right?
Was he really not trying to hide her away?
“If the two of you ever say an unkind word about Kallie to her face or behind her back, I’ll figure it out. I’ll find you, and I will punish you for it. Whether it’s in court, in the court of opinion, or by decimating your reputations. It doesn’t matter to me. You will respect my choice to be with her and you will respect her. No matter what choice she makes when I ask her to spend the rest of her life with me.”