“Okay, smartass.”
She beams up at me, stroking her fingers along my cheek. “I miss it.”
“I don’t. Now I get to see all of you with both eyes.”
Her fingers still glide around my eye. “I have to admit, it is easier having an eye for each of mine.”
“Exactly. I was getting a headache trying to take in all of you with just one eye.”
“But in a way, it may have developed into a super eye.”
“Ooh, that means I’m Cyclops.”
She goes wide-eyed. “Does that make me Jean Grey because, hello, I’d be so hot.”
I give her a sideways look. “Really? I don’t think you look right with red hair.”
“What? I dyed my hair Ariel red in high school, and you told me I looked good!”
“Oh, I lied,” I laugh and she glares. “You looked terrible, but you were so excited, so I rode it out.”
“You bought me a fork!”
I nod. “Because it was funny to watch you comb your hair with it. Come on, Ally, it was funny!” I say since she is glaring even harder. “I feel like if you had the fork right now, you’d make me a pirate again,” I laugh, but she doesn’t think I’m funny. She’s so cute when she’s mad.
“You’d think right!”
“Can you stab this one? This one has had too much drama.”
She ignores my request. “I thought you loved my hair!” she yells, smacking my chest, and I gather her close in my arms.
“I loved it because you did,” I say simply, nipping at her nose. “For me, you’re perfect the way you are. Just you. Not like anyone else—only you.”
She curves her lips. “My stabbing feeling is subsiding.”
I grin as I kiss her top lip. “Good, I really wanted to take you to dinner tonight, but I don’t want to be on edge every time you grab your fork.”
Her grin grows. “While the thought of making you a pirate does arouse me more so than not, I have to admit, I love staring into your perfect gray eyes.”
I kiss the tip of her nose. “It’s still a grayish red.”
She shrugs. “I was thinking that, but I wasn’t sure how to say it without sounding insensitive. So, I’m glad you admit it.”
I snort. “We are the weirdest people ever.”
“We are,” she says, nipping at my bottom lip. “But I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
“Agreed,” I say, and I capture her mouth once more, simultaneously cupping her ass in my palm. When I pull away, she lets out the hottest meep, making me hard everywhere. “So, dinner? And back to my place?”
Her eyes stay closed as she slides her nose along mine. “Yes, and maybe.”
“Maybe?” I ask. “I’m highly offended by that maybe.”
Her face breaks into a grin as she meets my confused gaze.
“Did I snore last time?”
“Asher, you stay snoring,” she reminds me with a shake of her head, and I give her a wide, forgive-me smile, but she ignores it. “It’s not that, I don’t mind it. I have a lot of resumes to send off tonight. It’s my deadline, and I have classes all day, then practice, and now dinner because I like food, and if you’re paying, I’m there—”
“You’re rambling,” I say, and then I notice she’s nervous. Shit, is she still not sure about me? We haven’t brought up our first date at all. It really doesn’t need to be discussed. I get it—feel something for her, or let her go. Not that she came out and said that, but I know she’s worried. I know she said she can be patient, but I also know she wants to know she is getting all that she deserves. I feel I am giving it to her and then some. I know I have my issues, but I do care for her very much. So much, and I hate that she’s being weird. “What’s up?”
She swallows hard. “I just have a lot to do, and I want to blow it all off for you.”
I shake my head. “I know this to be true, but there’s more.”
Her eyes burn into mine for a moment. “Yeah,” she says, looking away. “Maybe we should discuss it at dinner.”
I perk my brow. “Discuss? What is that about?” She looks at her watch, unsettling me. “I’ve never known you to try to get out of a conversation.”
Something flashes in her eyes. Fear, maybe. But she has nothing to fear. It’s me. “I sometimes forget that you know me inside and out.”
“Yeah, that shit you pull with guys who don’t know you won’t fly with me. What’s wrong, Ally T?”
She licks her lips and then kisses right below my bottom lip. Her lips stay there, and I know it’s so she doesn’t have to look in my eyes. “Can we talk tonight?”
I remove my hands from her ass, reluctantly, and grab her jaw. I pull back her head so I can see all of her face. “You have nothing to worry about, Ally. I got you. You know this.”
She swallows hard. “I know.”
“Okay.”
“Okay, but I’ve got to get to class.”
I nod. “Okay.”
She doesn’t move. “You’re annoyed.”
“I am, but you’ve gotta go to class.” I love that I can be honest with her. I always tiptoed around with Jasmine, but with Ally, it’s different. I feel different. That has to mean something. “We can finish this later, but know I’ll be thinking of you all day.”
“Good or bad?”
I pinch her jaw, moving my lips along hers. “In a great way…but also a naughty one,” I say roughly.
I wink with my pirate eye, and she grins. “I missed your winky face.”
“I’ll miss you,” I admit, kissing her softly. She kisses me back, holding me by the back of my neck.
“I’ll miss you,” she says tenderly and then kisses me again. “I gotta go.”
“Okay. Call me when you’re done.”
“I will. You have lunch with your dad, right?”
“Yeah.” I kiss her once more, not letting her out of my arms. “Not sure what he wants to talk to me about, but I’m sure I’ll be uncomfortable.”
She scoffs. “Why?”
“Because! I always feel inadequate around him. I’m not Aiden—”
“No, you’re Asher,” she says simply, holding my jaw. “Pure perfection in your own way.” Man, something shifts in my chest for this girl. “I don’t know what it is about you and Posey and this older sibling thing you’ve both got, but y’all are the most amazing people in my life. He probably just wants to have lunch to spend time with you.”
I kiss her nose. “Thanks, Ally T.”
She beams. “Anytime, Ash B.”
I know she wants to say more. But instead, we kiss again, and then she rushes out since she’s now late. I want to stop her, I don’t want her to leave, but I always have been and always will be supportive of her. Just as she has been for me. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about what she needs to talk to me about. I’m pretty sure I know what it is, especially with the talk of resumes, but I’m not ready to cross that bridge yet.
As much as I didn’t want to come back to Nashville at first, now that I’m here, I’m comfortable. I love my condo, I love being close to my family but far enough away that I’m not in the line of fire between Stella and Emery, and I have two incredible jobs. Add in the fact that I now realize my best friend is more than that, and it’s easy to say, I don’t want to leave.