Page 91 of Heal For Me

My body erupts in goose bumps as he nips at my neck. “You need to get dressed because I am certainly not letting you out of this room naked.”

Exhaustion from the late night last night is taking over. “Give me like five minutes.”

If he continues kissing, biting, and licking me the way he is, I will not mind if we miss out on a fancy dinner with his family. His mom was so excited about it earlier today, and I’d like at least one female in his family to continue to like me.

I push up so I’m sitting. Ash follows, still not letting up on his kisses.

“Do you think Grace is going to be upset that she isn’t there?”

He pauses, groans, and pulls away. “Let’s not ever mention my sister when I am ravishing your body. Okay?” He rolls his eyes and sighs. “But maybe. Grace did it to herself the moment she raised her voice at you. I don’t care if she’s upset.”

“I think it bothers your mom though, she seemed to miss her today.”

Ash sighs and presses a deep kiss to my forehead. “You care too deeply sometimes, Jailbird. I love it about you, but sometimes you can’t care. Grace acted like a cunt and yelled at my girl. I need time to get over it before I see her again.”

Why must he always be so annoyingly sweet?

37

Ash

Payson seems just as surprised when we walk into the restaurant and Jethro is sitting at our table with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Why is he pissy now?” I ask her.

Her throat bobs before her face shifts from surprise to something like a child who knows they are about to be reamed. “Uh, probably because I didn’t tell him we were coming here.”

“Here, as in . . .?”

“England.”

Fuck me. I bet he will be a dick about it and blame me. For once, I’m innocent in this whole thing. I won’t throw her under the bus, though. I don’t care if he hates me, but I know she cares about him. Unfortunately.

“Uncle Jet.” Payson’s voice is wary when she stops in front of him, but his eyes are locked onto me.

“Nice to see you too,” I grumble before pulling out Payson’s chair, then my own and falling into it.

“Took you long enough, big guy.” Janelle slaps his shoulder on her way to her seat, but he pays her no attention, still glaring at me. Maybe he is used to intimidating people this way, but it affects me less than none. “I’m surprised you weren’t here when we landed.”

“Me too,” Payson squeaks. “I kind of expected Blue Gate would have called you.”

“They did.”

Her mouth snaps shut and she lowers her eyes to the table in front of her. I fucking hate how he is making her feel, standing, I mock his stance with my own.

“She’s been with me the entire time. Safe. So, you can either sit down and enjoy a nice meal, or you can leave, but I won’t have Payson cowering all of dinner because her uncle is a dick.”

Anger, and maybe even some respect, burns in his eyes, then he lowers himself into the seat across from us.

“I knew the moment you left,” he says. “I knew where you were going, and I let you be. Until”—he shoots a disapproving look in my direction—“you proposed publicly.”

“You saw?” Payson gasps.

He gives her a curt nod. “Yes. Now I’m wondering why Ashley didn’t contact me first.”

“Excuse me?”

“To get my permission.”

---