Page 15 of Falling for Ash
Fucking hell.
He didn’t want to move, didn’t want to open his eyes, simply wanted to sit and breathe her in. It was a her. Woman. He was quite certain. That depth of fragrance could only come from a female.
Human or supernatural?
That was harder to distinguish.
Ash took another breath, ignoring the nervous clearing of the woman’s throat. But he could not put it off any longer. Much as he would have liked to simply sit in silence and breathe, he only had a small amount of time with the woman. And the clock was ticking. Stealing himself against disappointment, Ash opened his eyes.
Holy fuck.
“Who are you?”
The words slipped from his tongue without his permission. Stunned, he found himself waiting for an answer rather impatiently. Never had a woman held his attention so. She had big blue eyes, like cornflowers, warm chestnut hair with golden highlights, and a charming rosy glow that made him ache all over just to look at her.
Her figure, though she was sitting, was rounded perfection. She positively glowed there, in the dark, and his body reacted violently. Thank fuck for Arachne’s weaving or his cock would’ve torn a seam! That’s how hard he got, and in an instant too!
Curious.
“Oh, why bother with names. Just color me fascinated,” the vibrant woman said with a shake of her head and a small giggle.
That was when Ash noted the number of empty glasses on her table. Raising his eyebrows, he lifted one, sniffed and closed his eyes. There was enough alcohol in one cup to knock a normal on her ass, which, with another sniff, he concurred she was not. No, definitely not entirely human.
Shifter maybe?
Still, this was quite odd.
“So, what are you? An Elf? Jackalope? Angel, maybe? You sure are pretty enough to be,” she murmured.
“Uh, thanks, I think. Do you come here often?” he asked, hating the cliché, but he wanted to know more about her.
“Who me? No!” She laughed again. “I’m just a schoolteacher. Well, that’s not entirely true, You see, this morning I woke up believing I was just a teacher, Sunday school, actually. Then my stepmother told me I was something more and signed me up for whatever this is.”
“Something more?”
“Yep. Anyway, it hasn’t happened yet, so I am thinking Mim’s just a little bit nuts, then she went and introduced me to like the Eve and Aphrodite.”
“That must have been shocking.”
“Totally! But despite being ridiculously gorgeous, they were quite nice to me. They showed me around the place, explained the whole speed dating thing, and okay, I mean, I thought they were nuts.”
“As anyone rational would,” Ash replied with a grin.
She was dazzling him with her childlike enthusiasm and utter enjoyment. She seemed to be having the time of her life. Odd, considering she was entirely new to the supernatural world from what she was telling him.
“Right? But then they gave me these drinks, and so far, so good. I mean, I met a couple of men who claimed they can turn into Bears and Dragons. I mean, they sure were big! And, ooh, I even met a guy who says he’s a Jersey Devil,” she said without taking a breath.
Ash’s head was spinning, but whether that was from her fast talking or the intoxicating fragrance wafting off her, he didn’t know. He wanted to sit there and listen to her forever. But he also wanted to hunt down every male who’d spoken to her before he did.
“So, out of those Bears and Dragons, anyone take your fancy?” he could not help but ask. Nerves on edge, he waited while she swallowed more of her beverage from a straw, causing her lips to pucker most enticingly, before she shook her head no.
“Mmm mm. So far, you’re the only one who didn’t just sit here and sniff at me. Is that like a thing? Cause it’s super weird. Hey, how many calories are in these things?” she asked, picking up her hand and waving the server over for another round.
Uh oh.
Ash grimaced. No wonder she was talking a mile a minute. The glasses littering the table were all empty, having been previously full of one of Aphrodite and Eve’s special mixed drinks.
Fucking hell.
