Asher.
Flashes of them naked in the meager night-light in the bathroom were interspersed with flashes of the bonfire and she and Charlie drinking and drinking and drinking some more.
She bolted upright, regretting it instantly, hands to her head like that might stop the pounding and sloshing. What was going on in there? She groaned when her phone rang a cheery little tune that made those jackhammers gave birth to baby jackhammers, all crying for attention.
She punched the screen and grunted into the phone. No hello, just a grunt.
“You’re not at your office.”
“Brice?” Her voice was hoarse. She pushed a hand through her tangled hair and bits of sand hit the sheet resting on her lap.
“Yeah. I brought you donuts from Sugar Hi and coffee from Cup of Jo’s. You need sustenance. I saw you drinking your soul away last night on the beach, you know. I knew you had a rough night but was sure I’d see you by noon.”
“It’s noon?”
“Twelve forty-five.”
Tank padded into the room and stood, front paws on the edge of the bed. He barked, one shrill, brain-piercing bark, and she shushed him.
“Go away,” she whispered.
“I didn’t know you had a dog.”
“I don’t.” She covered her eyes with her hands. She needed coffee. And Advil. And about three more days of sleep.
“You stayed with Knight,” Brice observed quietly.
“Not your business.” She moved her hair behind her ear and her arm brushed against her bare breast. She blinked down at her mostly naked body, mildly alarmed. Great. She had almost no clothes on and was in Asher’s house. Tank barked again. She made a shooing motion and he dropped his paws from the bed’s edge to the floor.
“My offer to combine businesses was never contingent on you being with me in bed, Gloria,” Brice said, sounding sincere. “Just in Chicago. Don’t get me wrong, I’m jealous as hell a guy like Asher gets you and I don’t, but I can live with it. I want you for your brains. Your beauty in my office is just a bonus.”
In my office.
His honesty was so jarring, she simply sat in silence, fiddling with a corner of the sheet.
“Heels?”
“You’re not giving that up, are you?” she asked with a small smile.
“I don’t give up.”
“I haven’t decided yet, but I will.” As soon as she gave herself two seconds to think of anything but her to-do list and Asher Knight.
“Okay, sweetheart. I’m going to drink both these coffees and be ridiculously productive today. But I have extra donuts. If you wander into work today, call me. My hotel is close and I deliver.”
“Thanks.”
“Sure thing.”
They said their good-byes and Gloria put the phone back on the nightstand. Brice brought her coffee and donuts after seeing her drink herself into oblivion on the beach. And he did it after he saw Asher kiss her in plain view. It was possible Brice had also seen her steal away with Asher into the house for mid-party sex.
Brice claimed to want her professionally, but she’d bet it could be a personal something, too, if she could summon up a single feeling for him that wasn’t platonic. Is that what her life held if she returned to Chicago and worked with him? Could she finally stop sleeping with the rock star who continually made her feel too many combating emotions?
Still, last night…She knew she couldn’t get that kind of sex with anyone other than Asher.
You taste better than I remember.
No way would she have let Brice sweep her into a bathroom in the middle of a huge party and strip her bare. No way could she have had her mind erased so thoroughly as to let him go down on her while she had a brain-freezing orgasm.
Only Asher.
As scenes from last night looped in her head, she felt her pulse stir between her legs, throbbing insistently and begging her to give herself a moment’s relief against the pressure. She trailed her fingers between her breasts, then over one nipple as she pictured Asher’s tongue doing just that. Her eyes fell closed and she circled the hardening bud once more…
“I can help you with that if you like.”
Her eyes flew open to find Asher leaning against the doorway, arms folded over his chest like he’d been standing there all day.
“I was…” She put her hand in her lap, unable to invent a single excuse for what she’d been caught doing. So instead, she said, “Come here.”
He didn’t hesitate, pushing off the door frame and skirting Tank. He put a knee on the bed, dipping the mattress under his weight, and took her nipple on his tongue. Oh, that felt so much better than when she’d touched herself. His attention was solitary and dedicated. Wet and warm.
“How ya feelin’?” he asked in the gap of time where he moved his lips to her other breast and kissed here there, too.