Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 65939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
I tell the cab driver our destination, and as we get going, Ashton gives me a deep, hungry kiss—one that culminates in multiple orgasms when we finally get to my place.
Chapter 28
Ashton
I wake up with Kendall wrapped around me.
Her alarm clock is blaring. She grabs the thing and tosses it at the wall, which stops the noise.
Smiling, I kiss her shoulder. “Didn’t you want to start working nice and early?”
“Shut up,” she grumbles. “Or I’ll throw you.”
I shrug and close my eyes, only to open them again a couple of hours later.
Kendall sits up. “Why did you let me oversleep?”
I extend an arm toward the poor, broken alarm clock. “That was you.”
“Ah. Right.” She gets out of bed. “I’d better get to work ASAP.”
Truth be told, I have a meeting with Jordan in a half hour, which barely gives me enough time to get myself together. That is why I let Kendall usher me out—but not before we make plans for me to come back that very evening.
* * *
My day is very busy. After talking with my sister, I do a friend a huge favor and take on a new client—the guy who was recently appointed Director of the FBI. After that, I head over to Essence, where my team records me as I do my back workout—something that will become an instructional video for the app.
When I return to Kendall’s place, I bring Sir Ems with me and make dinner, just like the night before the birthday outing. Not surprisingly, Kendall and I have the most mind-blowing sex yet.
For the next two weeks, a pattern emerges. I train celebrities, exercise like a fiend, and field inevitable fire drills that—alongside the unwanted wealth that so pleases my parents—are the downside of overseeing a successful fitness app. Kendall works on her design project, even on weekends, but has me come over daily to feed her and then feast on her. The only difference from day to day is that the sex is impossibly improving, and relatedly, I’m growing more convinced that whatever is happening between us is very serious.
In fact, when I talk to my sister the following Monday, without any preamble, I ask, “When is it too soon to ask someone to move in with you?”
“If it hasn’t been a year, it’s too soon,” she says. “By my calculations, you’ve only been officially dating for two weeks.”
“A year?” Marcus contrived to get Emma to move in with him two milliseconds after they met.
“Even after a suitable length of time,” my sister continues, “it helps if you’ve already met each other’s family and friends.”
“That’s half-done.” I pour myself a glass of water. “You were there.”
“Right. And if you two come to visit Mom and Dad with me next week, the parent angle will be completely covered.”
Ah. “Nice try. No.” Having Kendall meet our parents is a lose-lose proposition. She won’t like them—that’s a given—but if they like her, it might actually make me like her less. But if they don’t like her, it will make me upset with them—or more upset than I already am.
“Fine,” Jordan says. “I guess their being in Boston makes her not meeting them somewhat forgiven.”
“Especially if she doesn’t know a trip there is a possibility,” I say. “So don’t tell her… or her brother.”
Jordan and Cameron have been working together, so it’s a real possibility.
“I obviously won’t,” she says. “How could you even hint otherwise?”
“Sorry. Anyway… do you think us moving in together is a good idea?”
“Depends,” she says. “Do you love her?”
I nearly choke on my water. “No.”
Or rather, I don’t know. I do have feelings for her, tender ones, but I’m not ready to examine them closely because I get the feeling that Kendall is not “all in” when it comes to our relationship. If I had to guess, I’d say she still doesn’t believe me about my three-year abstinence. Now, if she says yes to moving in with me, then maybe—
“That wasn’t a very convincing ‘no,’” Jordan says.
I sigh. “Next question.”
“Do you openly talk finances?” she asks. “That’s another important prerequisite.”
Is it? I frown. “We don’t really talk about money. She seems to avoid the topic, in fact. For what it’s worth, moving in with me would make financial sense for her since she’s trying to get her business off the ground.”
Her parents help her out, I know, but I can tell she’s the type of person who doesn’t want to abuse such help.
“I’d wait at least a few more months,” Jordan suggests.
I blow out a disappointed breath. “You’re probably right.”
“I always am.”
With that, she hangs up.
Sir Ems trots over and gives me a soulful stare that seems to say, “My dear chap, if you do decide to move in with the pretty-smelling human, make sure she throws away the cat-like abomination that is her old sousaphone.”