Page 30 of Stunner (Whiskey Dolls 3)

I lifted my brows, feeling pretty damn smug at her reaction to me. “You want to refer to it as something else?”

Asher blinked as though she were coming out of a daze. “What?No! No, I mean, I’m fine with calling it a date. Totally fine. That’s cool with me if it’s cool with you.”

My erection pressed against my fly at that point, desperately trying to get closer to the stunner in front of me. “Good. Then a date it is.”

Her grin was shy just then, her cheeks flushed a deep pink, and as she looked up at me through her long lashes, I knew exactly what she wanted, and I was more than happy to give it to her. Closing the last of the space between us, I notched her chin up with my knuckle and started leaning in. She exhaled through parted lips, the minty-ness of her breath like a caress, and I couldn’twaitto finally taste her. Then, less than an inch away from what I’d been dreaming of, a rank smell started my eyes watering and made Asher’s face pinch up in disgust.

“What in the hell?” I barked as I looked down and found the source of the noxious fumes that were singeing my nose hairs.

“Oh my God,” Asher said on a gasping laugh. “No, Triumph! Bad dog!” she scolded while fighting back her hilarity. Sheturned back toward me, her eyes wide and dancing. “I’m so sorry. I guess he needed to go out.”

With a glare, I looked at the dog who’d just shit on my floor two feet away, thinking the little cockblocker was lucky he was so damn cute, or I might have to kill him.

Asher insisted on sticking around long enough to help me clean the mess Triumph had made, but it was safe to say the moment we had before the air in my apartment turned noxious was over. As much as it pained me to admit, there was no way in hell I could salvage an almost-kiss after something like that, and it pained me a whole hell of a lot. I hadn’t had blue balls like that since I was in high school when Sandy Jenkins got cold feet mid-blow job and ran home crying, leaving me with my dick hanging in the wind—literally.

I helped Asher get the little bastard settled in her car before telling her goodnight with only a chaste, boring kiss on the forehead that I’d wanted to be so much more, then headed back up to my apartment where I planned to climb in the shower and jack off to the image of Asher in those tiny little yoga shorts until I emptied my balls down the drain. I seriously doubted it would be as good as the real thing, but that little four-legged asshole screwed it up for me.

I was in the process of closing the windows we’d had to open to air the place out when someone knocked on the door.

Gus’s ears perked and his head cocked to the side as he shifted his attention from the door to me.

“Maybe this night’s looking up after all,” I told him as I started toward the door, my blood racing at the thought of Asher returning because she wanted me as badly as I wanted her.“You’re gonna have to beat it, bud,” I warned him as I grabbed the knob. “No more interruptions.”

But it wasn’t Asher on the other side when I pulled the door open. As a matter of fact, the person knocking on my door was the last goddamn person I wanted to see, especially while still sporting a semi.

“Hey bro. I’m back,” Jackson declared, holding his arms out at his sides, a big, dumbass smile on his punchable face, like it was the best news anyone in the world could have possibly heard. “You miss me?”

His question was met with my balled fist plowing right into his nose. The satisfying crunch of cartilage against my knuckles would have been enough to make me smile if I wasn’t so unhappy to see the asshole.

“Jesus Christ,” he shouted, cupping his nose and tipping his head back to prevent the blood spewing from his nostrils from staining his crisp polo shirt. “What the hell, man? I think you broke my fucking nose.”

I hadn’t, I could tell from how it felt when I landed the hit, but I’d have been lying if I said I didn’t want a second chance to get it right. “Told you what would happen if you bailed on Asher the way you did.”

“Son of abitch, that hurt. My eyes are tearing up, I can’t see shit.” He pinched his nostrils with one hand while waving the other around, searching for purchase against anything.

A part of me would have gladly left the bastard fend for himself, but my luck, he’d fall down the stairs, break his neck, and I’d end up on trial for murder. That was the last thing I needed when Ifinallyseemed to be going in the right direction with Asher.

With a roll of my eyes, I grabbed his wrist before he had a chance to throw himself off balance and go plummeting down the stairs to his death. “Get inside, you dumbass. Go sit down.I’ll get you some ice.” I shoved him in the general direction of the couch, getting a small bit of satisfaction when he tripped over the coffee table in a heap of limbs.

“Jeez! What are you trying to do, kill me?” he whined as he fumbled his way onto one of the cushions.

“If I thought for a moment I’d get away with it,” I muttered as I loaded a hand towel with ice. I shoved it against his face unceremoniously, biting back a smile when he cried out in pain.

“For the love of God, watch it, will you?” He took the towel from me and pressed it gingerly against his swollen nose. “What the hell’s crawled up your ass, huh? I thought you’d be glad to see me. I mean, I’ve been gone for weeks.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I snapped. “I’ve always known you were a selfish asshole, but this is some next-level shit.”

The son of a bitch actually had the nerve to look offended and confused. “What are you talking about?”

It took everything I had not to punch him again. “I’m talking about what you did to Asher, you piece of shit.” My booming voice had Gus scurrying behind the couch and out of the path of danger. “If you thought you could come here after that stunt you pulled, and everything would go back to normal, you’re more delusional than I thought.”

“What the hell do you care? Unless . . .” he trailed off, a slimy smile tugging at his lips, making him look even more ridiculous with his swollen nose and watery eyes. “I fucking knew it.” He pointed a finger at me like he’d just figured out an impossible riddle, and I wanted desperately to reach out and snap the thing in half. “I knew you wanted her that first night we met. I just didn’t realize you’ve been panting after her all this time.” He shook his head and tutted. “That’s messed up. Wanting your best friend’s girl like that? Kind of goes against the bro code, don’t you think?”

“Fuck you and your bullshit bro code,” I gritted, a film of red slipping over my vision. He was one to talk. I always suspected he knew I felt something for his fiancée, but to hear it from his own mouth that he’d known it from that very first night andstillmade a move on her made my blood boil. Where was hisbro codethen?

Any sense of lingering loyalty I might have felt for the man evaporated like a single drop of water in the middle of the desert.

As if finally realizing how serious I was, his bloodshot eyes widened in bewilderment. “Holy shit. You’re serious right now.” The condescending laugh he let out made my blood boil. “You really think you’ve got a shot?” he asked, his eyelids narrowing as a sinister look pulled over his face. “She had a year and a half with me and all I could give her, and you think she’d downgrade tothis?” He snorted and threw an arm out to indicate my apartment. “Sorry to say it, bro, but I don’t see a woman who enjoyed the finer things I was able to give her switching over to your lumberjack bachelor lifestyle.”

---