“You’re ridiculous,” Flint said, shaking his head.
My shoulders fell as I feigned defeat, but I was nowhere near done.
His eyes flashed wide as I took a step forward and leaned down. Stopping just a breath away from his mouth, I raked my teeth over my bottom lip before I whispered, “Please come.”
“Ho. Lee. Shit,” Quarry gasped behind us. “You told me you were a lesbian.”
“Nope. Just didn’t want you getting any ideas,” I answered without tearing my eyes off Flint.
The side of Flint’s mouth tipped up in a mischievous grin, and his eyes twinkled with something else completely. Leaning in even closer, he said, “Fine. I’ll come.”
Game over!
A huge smile spread on my face, and I started to back away, but Flint caught the back of my neck, dragging me forward.
“And eventually, Ash, you’ll come too.”
My breath hitched.
I was wrong. I might have conned Flint into hanging out with me, but as he backed away, holding my gaze with a sexy-as-hell smirk, I realized that Flint Page had just completely hijacked my victory.
Cheater.
THE DRY SPELL WAS OVER.
Thank.
Fucking.
Christ.
I had no idea what the hell Ash Mabie wanted or, better yet, why she wanted it from someone like me, but I knew with one hundred percent certainty that I was going to give it to her.
She was hands down the strangest woman I had ever met. The jury was still out on her sanity, and her social awareness might as well have been nonexistent. She simply said whatever-the-hell thought was passing through her brain at the moment her mouth opened.
But God, she was gorgeous.
She was terrible at flirting, and she’d more than proved that back at my apartment. But then again, that might have been the best part. Even as she licked her lips and awkwardly thrust her boobs at me, she was unbelievably confident. Watching her try to get me to go out that night had been as humorous as it’d been cock hardening. She was a woman with a clear mission and didn’t give one fuck what she had to do to complete it.
Really, it worked out well for me, because I had full intentions of giving her that one fuck.
Which was exactly why I’d ended up in front of a brick wall, holding a can of spray paint while I listened to her argue with a middle-aged homeless woman over a pair of shoes.
“They were buy-one-get-one-free, Donna.”
“Green though? You couldn’t have gotten black or brown or something? I’m fifty-seven years old. Girl, these shoes are for kids. I’m surprised they don’t have cartoon characters or some shit on the side.”
“Oh, hush. You’re only as old as you act,” Ash sassed back.
“They’re neon green!”
“Yep! And they match mine.” Ash flashed her a grin. “Twinsies.”
“Dear Lord, help me,” Donna whispered, staring up at the sky.
Ash giggled, walking over to me. “Hey, you haven’t painted anything yet.”
“Yeeeeeah,” I drawled. “Painting isn’t exactly my thing.”
“Don’t think of it as painting, then. This is self-expression!” She snatched the can from my hand and sprayed a bright-yellow mark on the brick.
“Ah, yes. A line. Self-expression at its finest.”
She laughed. “Shut up! I was just trying to get you started.”
“Look, my artistic abilities are limited to diagraming molecules in chemistry.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not great, either. I just write words then decorate them with colors. But hey, it’s fun. They are tearing this baby down. Let’s help her go out in style.” She lovingly patted the wall.
I chuckled to myself, and a bright smile spread across her mouth.
God, I wanted to taste that mouth. My cock thickened at the thought.
“Just draw anything.” She picked the green can up off the ground and wrote the word dream in huge letters. “See? Easy.”
“Uhh . . . Ash, can you come here for a second?” Max called out.
“Yep,” she replied then looked back at me. “Just draw the first thing that comes to mind.” She walked away, dragging the tip of her finger across my back and shoulders.
“The first thing that comes to mind,” I repeated to myself, watching her ass sway as she disappeared around the corner.
But I had nothing.
My mind was absolutely blank.
There was no pain.
No ache in my chest.
No pity.
No hate.
No bitterness.
I was numb.
And it was incredible.
Ash Mabie was quickly becoming my own personal brand of lidocaine.
I stared at that wall for several minutes but never painted a single word. Instead, my eyes stayed locked on that single solitary line.
I drew in a deep breath, releasing it on a laugh.
“Shit. You’re smiling,” she cursed when she reappeared at my side.
I turned to face her. “It happens sometimes,” I teased, but her eyes flashed to the ground in the most unlike-Ash way possible. It immediately set me on alert.
“Are you okay?” I asked, looking over her shoulder.