Ash said, “Because I was such a coward. I thought you wouldn’t want to see any of us ever again.”
“I probably wouldn’t,” I said.
“I know you must’ve been so hurt and angry,” Ash said. “Understandably, but if you must know, I would have done anything to get you back.”
I sighed. So much pain. I had cried so many tears over the Keystone brothers, and spent so much time and energy wondering what happened and why.
Ash stopped in front of a door next to his bedroom door. It was a spare bedroom that used to be his overflow room -- used for his collections of rock memorabilia, his model airplanes and miniature towns made entirely of puzzle pieces. Ash used to love putting together structures of buildings, constructed either in wood or cardboard.
He opened the door and turned on the lights.
My mouth dropped.
“Welcome to your room, Kaley,” Ash said. “I always believed you would be back, and when I heard you were coming back to the house for the reading of the Will, I had this room fixed up.”
I was shocked. Gone were all of Ash’s stuff. Cleared out and replaced by an elegant king-sized crystal bed, mirrored dresser, wardrobe, and a coffee table in a modern art deco style. A creamy white velvet chaise lounge sat in front of a large window. Fluffy fur rugs lined the marble floors of the room, adding to the glamorous room that looked like a suite at a five-star hotel.
“Ash,” I said, covering my mouth with my hand. “It’s so beautiful.”
Ash took my hand and kissed it, “Like you, Kaley.”
He led me to the closet door, opened it, and switched on the lights. The closet room sparkled like a boutique clothing store. Rows of gowns, dresses, designer jeans and flirty blouses lined the closet, while new shoes of all colors and styles fit neatly in clear acrylic cubes against the wall. A mirrored center island filled with pull-out shelves held sparkling jewelry of all kinds.
“All for you, Kaley,” Ash said.
My mouth dropped again. “Ash, you shouldn’t.”
“You deserve this, Kaley,” Ash said. “And more. When you become my girl, I’m going to make sure you know how much I love you.”
“But you can’t afford all this if you don’t get a cent of your inheritance,” I said. “Wouldn’t you?”
Ash smiled. “Truth is, Kaley. I’m doing very well on my own. You forget I’ve been touring and selling out concerts with my band. I’m a rock star, baby,” he squeezed my hand. “And you had a lot to do with it.”
I could feel how much Ash wanted to kiss me. The heat between us was undeniable, and I wanted to kiss him so badly myself.
“I want to kiss you so badly right now,” Ash said, crushing me to his hard chest. “I want to do so much to you right now, but… damn that stipulation. Damn!”
“One more week,” I said. “We can have willpower, can’t we, Ash?”
Ash took a deep breath and ran his hand over his hair, before letting me go.
His eyes drank in my face, my lips, my eyes, and back to my lips. “This is like asking me, a rock star, to become a monk.”
I backed away from Ash and said, “Then I won’t temp you, Monk.”
“Fuck,” Ash growled, “the sultry way you said ‘Monk’… how am I going to get through this week without kissing you, touching you, fucking you?” He licked his lips.
Damn, now that was hot.
“Hey you guys,” a male voice called from outside the closet. “Ash? Kaley?”
Ash and I jumped further apart from each other and walked stiffly out of the closet.
Thomas was standing by the dresser, while Seb was at the door.
They looked at us suspiciously.
“Ash, what were you doing with Kaley in the closet?” Seb asked.
“Showing her around,” Ash said. “She said she was going to go back to her place to pick up her clothes for the week or so, but I had to show her she had plenty right here,” he grinned.
Thomas grinned too. “Yeah, Ash and I thought we would surprise you at one point.” Thomas walked over to me and looked me over. “Did we guess right? Do these clothes fit you?”
I looked at Thomas and then at Ash. “Thomas, you helped Ash on this?”
Thomas laughed. “Of course. Where do you think all this fashion sense came from?”
I laughed, “I should’ve known. You’re the clothes horse, Thomas.”
“Did you see…” he took my hand and led me back into the closet while Ash and Seb stayed outside. “These?” Thomas pulled out a drawer from the closet island. I looked at the silver lace panties he held. All of a sudden while holding the panties, he closed his eyes and an intense look of hunger and desire crossed his face as he crushed the panties to his nose. “Fuck,” he groaned, “I could picture you in these. Your favorite style of panties, Kaley, and I… Fuck.” He opened his eyes. “I wanted to initiate you back into the Manor and with us while you wore these as soon as I figured out you didn’t betrayed us. We had planned on a night of making love to you tonight before we knew about the no-romance stipulation. Damn that stipulation, I want to eat your pussy and go down on you so badly.”
“We can’t,” I said.
“I know,” Thomas said. He took a deep breath and let out a shudder before crushing me to him. “I don’t know if I can last a week, Kaley,” he whispered in my ear. “When I saw you with Sutton…I just about lost it.”
“You have to,” I said. “You can, just like you could do everything else so well,” I touched the tip of his nose like I used to when he needed some encouragement from me.
“God, Kaley,” Thomas said. “You mean so much to me.”
“Kaley, Thomas!” Seb called. “It’s getting late, and we’re starving. Are we going to go get dinner or what?”
Thomas called out, “Yes, we are. I was just helping Kaley choose an outfit.”
He quickly grabbed a dress and a matching coat.
“Thanks, Thomas,” I said.
He looked me over, eating my body up with his eyes and said, “Anything would look good on you, Kaley. And off you.” His eyes devoured me, and I wanted to jump on him as much as he wanted me.
“I’ll let you change,” he said, tearing himself away to walk out of the closet.
When I walked out wearing a clingy red sweater dress with black high heeled boots, all eyes were on me, drinking me in.
Seb looked at Thomas, “Did you have to pick that red hot slinky number?”
“Damn,” Ash whistled.
“It’s the girl who’s hot, not the dress,” Thomas said. “Kaley can’t help being a hottie.”
“Well guys,” I said, putting on my coat to try to hide my figure in the dress, “Let’s go eat. I’m starved.”
As if they were suddenly aware of anything else, the guys stopped staring and snapped out of whatever fantasy they were having and walked out of the room.
“Where are we heading? Are we even allowed out of the manor this whole time we’re staying?” I asked.
“Yes, we’re allowed to,” Seb said. “How else could we find our clues?”