Page 215 of The Billionaire's Obsession: Florida

Asha walked to the door, but turned around and looked at Tate again. “You like football. You don’t recognize him?”

“Yeah. Kade Harrison,” Tate answered immediately. “He was a hell of a quarterback, but he needs to work on his personal sense of style.”

Asha knew Tate was ribbing her. He wasn’t the snobby type, and he wasn’t exactly a fancy dresser. “I think he looks very handsome. Yesterday was his hot chili pepper shirt. And he definitely looked…hot.”

Tate snorted as she opened the door. “He needs work.”

Asha looked back at him and told him assuredly, “He needs nothing. He’s perfect just the way he is.”

“In love with him, are you?” Tate asked as he joined Asha at the door. “Only a woman in love could think that about a man in bad shirts.”

Enjoying the bantering with Tate, she answered haughtily, “At least Kade knows how to treat a woman, unlike some men I know.” She raised a brow at him, referring to the brunette who left his apartment every day smiling while Tate insisted it was a casual thing. “I haven’t seen her for a few weeks. Did you dump her?”

Tate shrugged uncomfortably. “We…broke up.”

“Are you sad?” Asha asked curiously, feeling bad that she had given him a hard time.

“Nah. It was bound to happen. She got back together with her ex-husband. I told you it was nothing.”

Asha looked at Tate, but he avoided eye contact with her.

“I’m sorry.” And she was sorry. If the woman had dumped him, even if he wasn’t all that attached to her, it probably hurt.

“Don’t be,” he said hurriedly. “Maybe I can give your star quarterback a run for his money. I’m unattached,” he said jokingly.

“I’m not,” she told him cheekily, knowing Tate wasn’t really interested in her. Pulling her keys from her purse, she walked across the hall to her own apartment.

“I don’t see a ring. He doesn’t have you, yet,” Tate called from his doorway.

Asha unlocked her door and pushed it open. She paused for a moment before looking Tate straight in the eye from the door of her apartment. “He has my heart,” she stated simply, closing the door of her apartment with a small smile.

Glancing at the clock on the wall of her apartment, Asha knew she’d have to hurry to get ready for her dinner date with Kade. A rush of adrenaline and excitement flooded her body as she moved quickly to the bathroom to shower. Not that Kade would mind if she was late. He’d wait patiently, understanding that she’d had to finish a job today, acting like he was perfectly content just to be in the same space with her. Although he was a billionaire who headed one of the most prestigious companies in the world, he never treated her obligations like they were any less important than his. It was one of the many things that Asha loved about Kade. He made her feel like she was important, that what she valued was also significant to him. Most of the time, he put her needs before his own, and it was starting to get less and less confusing for her. Kade cared for her, and he protected those he cared about and treated them with consideration. At one time, that had been foreign to her, but she was getting used to being treated as a woman of value by not only Kade, but by others such as Maddie, Max, Devi, and people she had met who were slowly becoming friends. It was still amazing to Asha that as people had started to value her, she’d started to develop her own self-worth.

Asha sighed as she stepped from the shower and wrapped herself in a towel. Padding over to the closet, she rifled through her clothing, picking a lightweight dress from the collection that Maddie and Mia had purchased for her when she’d first arrived in Florida. After countless discussions about the clothes, Maddie had shown up at her door a week ago with a very large moving van to bring all the clothing to her room to be hung in her closet. Maddie had given Asha adon’t-screw-with-the-pregnant-womanglare, and Asha hadn’t argued. Her sister might be sweet, but she had a stubborn streak when she wanted something. And she had wanted Asha to accept her gift. Maddie’s brilliant, happy smile when Asha had nodded her agreement had been worth swallowing her pride. She’d made Maddie genuinely happy by finally accepting the clothes. It was almost symbolic, as if Asha had finally accepted her as a sister. Had Asha realized that it had meant so much to Maddie, she would have taken them before. But she hadn’t been perceptive enough then to read her sister. Now…she was beginning to understand Maddie, see her through the loving eyes of a sister. The last thing Maddie needed right now was conflict. She was having twins, and the stress of the pregnancy was enough. Asha wanted to be there for Maddie, too.

The same day that Maddie brought the clothes, she just found out she and Sam were having a boy and girl. Asha’s heart had first clenched with joy for Maddie when her sister had happily delivered her news, and then for herself because she was going to be an aunt to a new niece and nephew in just a few months. She and Maddie had cried tears of joy together, and it had been at that profound moment that it really hit Asha that she really had family. It no longer mattered what Max and Maddie had or how successful they had become. They were all irrevocably connected, and status meant very little next to the affection she had for both of them. Money or no money, Asha couldn’t have asked for better siblings, and she was grateful every single day for them. She talked to Maddie and Max most days now, and spent as much time with them as she could, getting to know them both.

Lunch with Maddie, Mia, and Kara had become a weekly event, and Asha was still just a little in awe of all three women and their relationships with three very alpha, powerful men. The women were all independent and strong, but they adored their possessive, protective, and bossy husbands because those men wanted them safe and happy. It wasn’t about control for any of the women’s husbands. It was all about loving so strongly that they couldn’t help themselves.

“Really, it all comes down to love,” Asha whispered to herself as she smoothed the dress over her new curves. Didn’t she love Kade’s overprotectiveness and alpha possessiveness? And didn’t she know it was because he cared? Maddie said there was a big difference between “alpha” and “asshole” and Asha completely understood exactly what her sister was saying. The distinguishing factor was all about what motivated their behavior.

Looking at herself in the mirror, Asha applied some light make-up and began French braiding her hair. She smiled, knowing Kade would just unbraid it later. It had become almost a sexy ritual for them, and she shivered as she braided, knowing it would be Kade’s fingers that would set the strands of hair free again.

Finished, she took a final glance at herself, noting the way the jade green silk dress caressed her curves. It was cut just above the knee, but a small side slit revealed enticing glimpses of her thighs when she moved. Kade would like it, but he’d grumble about the amount of leg she was showing, and glare at any man who looked. Smiling, she snatched up her strappy sandals and her purse, glad she didn’t need stockings. Even though she was of mixed heritage, her complexion was dusky enough that wearing stockings was completely unnecessary.

Asha forced herself to ignore the voice of her foster mother in her head that told her to cover her body, that she was exposing too much skin. Raised to be incredibly modest, the dress was a little out of her comfort zone for going out in public. Shaking herself mentally, she reminded herself that it was actually pretty tame by American standards. Still, it was hard to shake her upbringing and the idea that dressing to expose skin made her a “bad girl” who was asking to be assaulted or abused by a man.

Adding a pair of dangling, beaded earrings and her gold bangles, Asha declared herself ready and headed out to the living room.

Seven o’clock.

Kade should arrive any time. He’d said seven thirty, but he was usually early.

Asha was about to bend down to strap on her sandals when a beefy arm wrapped around her neck, startling a panicked scream from her mouth.

“Shut up. You are dressed like a whore, Asha,” a heavily accented male voice said vehemently in her ear.

Asha had known it was Ravi from the moment the strong, male arm had wrapped around her neck. She’d been in the very same position many times before, and she recognized his painful grip and the sweaty scent of his large body. “H-how did you get in here? How did you find me?”

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