Loving A Romano (5 page)

“Ashley?”

When she continued to ignore him he grabbed her arm.

“Aww come on tell me you’re not going to get an attitude over this? If I’m okay with you wanting to fuck the white boy…”

He hunched his shoulders as if that fact alone should give him carte blanche to say whatever he wanted. She looked at the hand holding her arm. Her first instinct was to smack the smug look off his face, but she didn’t. Instead she took a few moments to calm herself. When she finally lifted her head to stare back at him she took a good look at the man standing in front of her. For the first time she wasn’t awed by the sight of him. She could care less about the number of zeros in his yearly salary. She saw him as the asshole he was and she wanted him out of her life and out of her house.

“Is that what would make you feel better David? To think the reason for this,” she motioned with her hands to encompass his things. “That all of this is because I want to sleep with someone else.”

“It isn’t?” He hunched his shoulders.

“It’s not,” she said pulling her arm gently from his grasp
.

Ashley allowed a look of sadness to enter her brown gaze. She placed her hand on his arm and gave it a gentle pat.

“I got caught up in being David Wright’ girlfriend and who wouldn't? After all you are a great catch. Or so you keep telling me. I overlooked a few things in an attempt to make this relationship work.”

She didn’t expound on her meaning. Merely glanced down at his groin area and then back up at him. Her meaning couldn’t have been any clearer.

“I’m simply taking this opportunity to do what I should have done months ago. But, if it makes you feel better to believe all of this is because I want to fuck Wade...” It was her turn to hunch her shoulders as she allowed the sentence to trail off as his did.

The shocked look on his face had her fighting back laughter. He snatched the bag off the bed and stood staring at her. She stepped around him and led the way out of her bedroom. She saw the angry set of his jaw when she glanced back to make sure he followed. A hint of guilt tried to make its way into her head but she shook it off. She continued to tell herself this was not about Wade. She’d only done what she should have done months ago.

Troubling thoughts continued to plague her as she walked down the hall towards the steps. The question of how long would she have kept things going with David if not for last night refused to go away.

She was so deep in thought she wasn’t watching where she was going and collided with Wade coming out of the bathroom. A white towel was wrapped low around his lean hips. Water sparkled on his tanned hairless chest. Strong hands reached out to grip her arms to keep her from falling. Heat instantly shot through her body.

She closed her eyes against the tingling his touch created. Her reaction made a liar of what she’d been trying to convince herself. Her decision had everything to do with Wade.

Chapter Six

“Morning Gorgeous,” Wade said his hands gripping her upper arms.

“Hey man what’s up?” He looked passed her sending David a smile
.

Ashley didn’t need to turn around to know David wore a frown. His gaze all but burned a hole in her back.

“Good morning Nicki. I’m sorry I didn’t see you,” she said trying to step out of his hold, but he simply moved his hands down her arms until he had her hands in his larger ones. Goose bumps popped out along the path he left by his touch.

“No problem. Feel free to crash into me anytime.” He leaned down to kiss her softly on the cheek before heading off down the hall.

“It looks like it won’t be much longer now before you’ll know if there really is a difference between white dicks and black ones,” David said brushing pass her and headed down the stairs. “That’s me giving you the benefit of the doubt you haven’t already found out.”

She fought the urge to tell him she was fully aware of the size of Wade's dick but she held her tongue and heaved a huge sigh before following him downstairs. She reached the bottom in time for the door to close in her face.

Leaning against the doorframe Ashley suddenly felt very tired. She looked up the steps where Wade had been. Her fingers grazed the spot on her cheek where his warm lips had brushed. She half expected the spot to tingle like the rest of her body. Pushing herself away from the closed door, she headed for the kitchen. She needed coffee. Maybe that would help clear her head.

The wonderful smell of freshly brewed coffee met her as soon as she walked into the kitchen. Since David never drank the stuff and felt no obligation to make it she knew Wade must have fixed it. Taking a cup down from the cabinet she was walked towards the powerful elixir when her phone rang.

“Hello,” she answered not bothering to look at the caller id.

“Hey I’m glad I caught you at home. I tried you on your cell but you didn’t answer.”

The bottom fell out of her stomach at the sound of Heather’s voice on the other end. She glanced around expected to see spies peeking in her windows and then stopped herself. There was no conceivable way Heather could know what she had done last night.

“Have you by chance seen my brother? Mom’s freaking because he didn’t come home last night and didn’t call. I told her not to worry because he was probably crashing at a friend’s house or laid up with some ho. But you know Mom.”

“Tell Maura he’s fine. He showed up on my doorstep about three this morning,” she managed to push past dry lips.

“I should have known.”

Ashley almost laughed at the relief she heard in her friend’s voice. Heather was Wade’s toughest critic, always riding him about any and everything. At times like this, there was no denying she loved him. Heather just felt he was wasting his life and for the most part Ashley agreed with her completely. She just didn’t see any reason to remind him of the fact every time she saw him. His sister had no such compunction.

“How did that work out with David being there last night?”

Ashley’s hand paused on the way to her mouth with her coffee. It shook so bad she had to put her cup back on the counter. She gave Heather an overview of the morning events on how David downed their family. She left out the part of their argument where David accused her of wanting to fuck Wade.

“He’s a sorry son of a bitch. What the hell does he know about our family?” Heather spat.

“Nothing. Not that it matters now. It’s done and it was long overdue.”

Feeling a little steadier, she took a sip of her coffee and closed her eyes in pleasure. Wade made the best coffee. That fact alone was enough reason to keep him around.

“You have to admit Wade does seem to spend a lot of time at your house.”

Any feelings of calm vanished. Once again she was on treacherous ground.

“What are you trying to imply Heather?”

“I’m not implying anything Ashley. You cannot deny my brother spends a lot of time at your house. That’s all I said and that’s all I meant.”

Breathe girl. Just remain calm.
Heather had been making sly remarks for years about her and Wade. She’d always been able to ignore them in the past “What am I supposed to do turn him away?”

“I don’t see how taking him in whenever he gets himself in a bind is doing him any good either,” Heather said.

“Hey you sound like David. Cut it out.”

Heather let out a grunt. “Maybe he wasn’t such an asshole after all. Do you know why the brat showed up at your house last night rather than go home?”

Okay back on level ground.

“Yeah, same as always. He drank too much and decided to come here instead of killing himself and/or possibly someone else by driving home,” she said taking another sip of her coffee.

“I figured it had something to do with his inability to drive home. What I meant was what brought on this latest drinking binge? Do you think we should do some kind of intervention or something? I mean this makes the what, second time in so many weeks that he’s gotten too trashed to go home?”

“I don’t know if intervention is needed or just a change in the type of girl he’s dealing with. His latest girlfriend dumped him. He told me that much last night. Who knows if there’s more to the story or not. With Wade one can never tell.” Though she answered as nonchalantly as possible the thought of another girl doing the things they had done last night caused her stomach to churn. Through the years she’d never allowed herself to give too much thought to the number of girls he dated or who he was sleeping with for that matter.

“I didn’t even know he was seeing anyone new. The last girl I remember was Tonya. What was this one’s name?”

“How the hell should I know?” As soon as the words left her mouth Ashley realized she’d allowed her out of control emotions to cause her to put more force behind them than she’d meant. “Like you said she’s gone now but I think it was something with t
he letter D. Dawn, Debbie, Dina… something along those lines.”

“Her name was Dana. I assume you are talking about my last girlfriend’s name?”

She nearly jumped off the stool at the sound of Wade's deep voice behind her. He walked into the kitchen, his tanned chest now dry of water but still bear. He’d managed to put on his jeans, which were riding low on his lean hips. They were zipped but the top button was undone. Her eyes followed him as he walked over to the cabinet. The play of muscles in his back as he reached for a cup had her mesmerized. Her fingers itched to feel that smooth skin once more.

She had to look away as her body reacted to the sight of his naked flesh. That mixed with her ever present thoughts from last night were getting to be too much. She was going to have to get out of there if he didn’t leave soon
.

“Was that Wade I heard?” Heather asked.

“In the flesh.” She couldn't keep the smile from her face when he glanced at her over his shoulder with an answering grin and a look in his eyes she remembered all too well.

“Let me speak with him please.”

“Your sister,” she said holding out the phone.

Mock terror flashed across his face and he backed away, his hands splayed in front of him.

“Oh no, I am so not in the mood for a lecture right now about the need to drink responsibly. Nor do I care to hear her tell me how I need to stop being a pain in your ass. Oh and how can I forget my absolute favorite thing not to listen to - I need to do something with my life. No thanks,” he said pouring himself a cup of coffee ignoring her outstretched hand.

“You know she has a point. You do need to get it together with all the drinking and you could use a job. I mean just so you can have something to do all day.”

His strong hands wrapped around the coffee mug. He had such long fingers and how talented they were. Moisture formed between her legs as she recalled how those fingers had touched her hidden spots last night. Heat spread through her body. She lowered her gaze to prevent him from seeing how the sight of his near naked body affected her. He needed to put a shirt on, she thought. And maybe some gloves too.

“Tell Heather I’ve always said I wasn’t a pain in your ass.” He dismissed the rest of what she’d said with a sexy smile slashed across his full lips.

His smile was infectious and she couldn't keep a serious look on her face.

“He says he’ll pass on the lecture this morning,” she told Heather, shaking her head at him.

“You tell him to call his mother immediately and tell her where he is before she worries herself into a heart attack and I will deal with him later. I gotta run I have a meeting in a few minutes and need to refocus, now that the lost child has been found.”

“Okay call me later. I’ll be here all day.”

“You aren’t going in to work?” Disbelief sounded in Heather’s voice.

It was rare if ever she took a day off but she was determined she would not be doing anything work related today. How about let’s do him, her body asked. Ashley threw a look at Wade from under her lashes. Her heart thumped loudly in her own ears as excitement over the possibility of spending a whole day wrapped in his arms surfaced.

“No, I figured after working fourteen hour days on the Cornwell Engineering event I needed a day off. Don’t ask me what I’m going to do.”

Because it might just be your little brother, her body added. An uncontrollable urge to giggle came over her but she managed to fight it off. Running her fingers threw her hair, she shook her head. It was official. She was losing it.

“Okay tell me how that goes. I’ll call you later.” Heather hung up.

Ashley set the phone down and glanced in Wade’s direction. He stood at the counter, his back still towards her, holding his coffee cup. The muscles in his back flexed with his movement. When he turned and headed in her direction she couldn't take her eyes off of him. She was enthralled by the graceful way he moved. Her body throbbed and moisture soaked her panties as memories came back of how unhurried he’d been last night as he’d tasted every inch of her body.

When he settled on the stool beside her, she took a ragged breath and prayed for strength. The quietness of the house surrounded her making it obvious it was just her and Wade all alone. Considering how her good sense had failed her last night she didn’t think that was a good thing. No matter how much her body liked the idea she was determined to resist. She refused to be added to his lists of conquests.