Page 11 of The Master

I’d always knownon an intellectual level just how large my place was, but I’d never appreciated it until I had to go over every inch of it to prove I hadn’t set up any cameras here. I was glad to do it, and I was even more glad to be doing it with her at my side. It was ninety great minutes of us making small talk about what we’d been doing at work. Discussing anything too personal would’ve felt weird while we were doing this.

When we returned to where we’d started, I waited for her to say something, wondering if I’d done enough.

Better than her saying something, she went up on her toes and brushed her lips across mine. It was a chaste kiss, barely a touch, but it went through me like electricity, lighting up my entire body in a way that no one else ever could. It was instinct to reach for her, but she took a step back before I could touch her, and I remembered that I wasn’t supposed to.

“Want something to eat?” I asked as I rubbed the back of my neck. “I have some steak leftover from yesterday I can throw into a salad.”

“That sounds lovely, thank you.” Her cheeks were pink, reassuring me that I affected her as much as she did me.

The heat between us still simmered as we moved into the kitchen, but neither of us acted on it. In a way, it was almost nicer than if we’d let things continue from that kiss. There was something to be said, after all, for anticipation. I would’ve preferred knowing that our waiting would be over tonight rather than a time to be determined, but at least I had hope that it would eventually happen. I decided to use the time to finally ask about a subject I’d been dreading.

“We’ve talked about what we did at work last week,” I said, “but you never said if you’d done anything…fun.”

I didn’t have any reason to believe she’d gone out to a club or anything like that, but that possessive part of me needed to hear her say it.

“I spent some time with my neighbors,” she said. “Mostly dinner and a movie.”

“Mrs. Posner?” I couldn’t quite picture Ashlee and the elderly woman eating popcorn and watching some romantic comedy.

“Her sister’s in town for a few days, and I don’t know what those two have been up to, but I’m pretty sure she lost her security deposit at some point.” Ashlee laughed, then added, “Anyway, it wasn’t her. I was with Perry and Gary.”

I frowned. “The two twenty-something guys who live next to Mrs. Posner?”

“That’s them.”

“Mm-hm.” I picked up the salad and carried it to the table. “Did you spend a lot of time with them?”

She set down two bowls and forks, her eyes narrowing. “Are you seriously jealous?” When I didn’t answer, she sighed. “If I can move past all of the women you’ve been with, then you can get over being jealous of my two male friends, especially since one of them is gay and the other’s not interested.”

The volume of relief that went through me was absurd. I trusted that she was telling me the truth. She might not have noticed if the straight one of the pair was actually interested, but it was clear that she wasn’t. That was enough for me.

“I’ll behave myself.” I winked at her. “Mostly.”

She laughed and picked a cherry tomato from her salad and popped it into her mouth. That simple action shouldn’t have been so damn hot, but when it came to her, my libido had even more of a mind of its own.

“What about you?” she asked. “Anything fun?”

I shook my head. “Pretty much just work and working out.” The gaze she ran over my body made everything tighten. “What are you thinking?” My voice was rougher than it had been just a few seconds ago.

“Just picturing you working out. All muscles and sweat…” She ran the tip of her tongue over her bottom lip. “We should probably change the topic before I forget why it was a good idea to go slow.”

Part of me wanted to sayfuck thatand take her right here on the table, but I’d said I’d respect her decision, and I intended to keep that promise. So, I said one of the few things I knew would kill the mood.

“You really need to call your mom and tell her what’s going on. She called Finley and told him she sensed something was wrong because you hadn’t talked about me all week.”

For a beat, Ashlee just stared at me, and then she nodded. “Perfect topic choice. I’m good now.”

Eight

Ashlee

My lips tingledfrom the goodnight kiss Nate had given me at the door to my building, and I hoped that wouldn’t change any time soon. I’d been the one who’d put the brakes on how physical we were, but it had been harder than I’d expected to leave him outside instead of asking him to come up. He’d been smart enough to realize that if he’d come to my apartment door, neither of us would’ve been strong enough to let me go in alone, and that meant almost as much to me as his apology had.

Despite me knowing that we were right to not fall into bed together, my body throbbed with unmet need. Fortunately, I had the perfect task I needed to do before anything else, and it’d take care of any lingering arousal.

I poured myself something to drink and carried it over to my couch, getting comfortable before I called Mom. We exchanged a greeting, and then I dove right in.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about what was going on with Nate, forcing you to call Finley.”

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