"Oh my God. I'm going to be sick." Jason backed out of the room. "You're a dead man, Manning. Here you are, my best friend, and I trusted you to look after my sister for all these years, and this is how you repay me? I'm going to kick your ass the minute the cuffs come off."
"We're getting married," Ashley said.
Her words were smothered under a blanket of testosterone.
"You couldn't kick my ass with the cuffs still on." Lucas rolled onto his back and eyeballed her brother. "And I have looked out for Ashley. More than you have."
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Jason's hands curled into fists.
Ashley rolled her eyes. This brotherly concern was touching and all, but they both seemed to be missing the point. "We're getting married."
No one heard her.
"It means that all these years Ashley's been thinking she's the family dumb blonde and you let her think that. You talk down to her and that's not cool."
Oh, that was throwing a big old glob of chicken fat on the fire.
"I don't think of Ashley as a dumb blonde. Do I, Ash?" Jason looked absolutely affronted.
Since he'd been telling blonde jokes just about since he'd started speaking at eight months old, she wasn't sure why he looked so startled. "Well, actually, Jason, you average about three blonde digs a week. You introduce me as your beautiful, but not very bright sister, and at one point suggested I would make a hell of a shampoo girl."
He frowned. "I said that?"
"Yeah." It was burned into her memory. Lucas's hand caressed her back, giving silent comfort.
"Well, that's because you're my sister, I care about you. It's my way of ribbing you, like a brother should. Like when I give you a hard time about shopping. It's because I'm really proud of you. I mean, you're gorgeous, and you always look like you stepped out of a magazine. What guy wouldn't want a sister so classy? But I couldn't let you get an ego about it."
"No chance of that." But her hurt feelings started to ebb, as she realized something for the first time. Jason looked confused, the poor guy. Maybe he wasn't so smart after all. At least she understood people, which was obviously more than she could say for him.
"Look, I'm sorry if any of that stuff bothered you. I didn't mean to hurt you, Ash."
She could see that, and it was a huge relief. It wasn't Jason's fault they had never talked about this before. He couldn't have known it bothered her if she never said anything. And she had always loved her brother, known he cared about her. "I believe you, Jason. It's okay."
"You were always so popular, so good with people. I never had any of that. My only friends were Lucas and the guys in the chess club." Jason grinned. "They all thought you were so hot. When we were in eighth grade and you were a junior, they all paid me five bucks to walk through your bedroom and touch your cheerleading uniform."
All the fuzzy warm feelings she'd been having evaporated. "What? Jason Andrews! That's horrible." She threw her pillow at him and turned to glare at Lucas.
He held up his hand. "Don't look at me. I didn't pay five bucks to touch your pom-poms."
"Nah. I let him do it for free."
"You didn't!" Ashley gaped at Lucas, who looked painfully guilty.
"I didn't actually touch anything, I just sort of walked around your room." He scratched the whiskers sprinkling across his chin and shot Jason a dirty look.
"Oh, my God. You're both twisted." Ashley shifted on the bed, a little stunned that she had been the object of Lucas's teenage fantasies. "Now, Jason, can you get out so I can get dressed? And please go find the key."
"Sure." Jason snorted and started to turn.
"We're getting married, Jason," Lucas said, his words arresting her brother.
How come no one heard her when she had said that?
Jason turned back around, looking horror-stricken. "Very funny." He gave a forced chuckle. "You had me for a second there."
"I'm serious."
They locked eyes. Stared each other down. Jason's gaze shifted to her. "Is he shitting me?"
She shook her head. "No. I'm in love with Lucas." Geez, it was so exciting to say that out loud. It felt so right, so real. Like it had always been there, and she hadn't known it. Ashley's cheeks grew hot, even as Lucas squeezed her hand, kissed the top of her head.
"Oh. Oh. Well." Jason shuffled his feet. "Marriage, huh?" Then his face split into a grin. He crossed the room and punched Lucas in the arm, gave him a half hug, with thumps on the back. "Dude, we'll be brothers for real! That's so cool."
Put out at being neglected, she said, "Hello… big sister here, planning a wedding, going to wear white… where's my hug?"
Jason spared her a glance. "You're naked, Ash. I'm not hugging you. And you might want to rethink the wearing white thing. Not very believable since you handcuffed yourself to a guy."
Idiot. "Lucas is naked too," she pointed out.
Jason jumped back. She grinned in satisfaction.
Lucas laughed at the mischievous look on Ashley's face. She knew how to rile up her brother.
For that matter, she knew how to rile him up too, but in a different way altogether.
Knowing he was grinning like the village idiot, Lucas wrapped his arm around Ashley and pulled her to him for a kiss. Her mouth was swollen, soft, her morning taste earthy, her curls tousled, her cheek still bearing the imprint of her pillow.
He was going to get to wake to this sight every single day for the rest of his life. He couldn't imagine how he'd gotten so damn lucky.
"If I find the handcuff key will you still go golfing with me?" Jason called from the living room, his lingering presence extremely unwanted.
Lucas did have to admit it was cool to think that Jason was going to be family now, officially. And he wouldn't have to worry about liking his wife's relatives. He already knew them all, and thought of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews like a second set of parents.
He would prefer to stay and roll around in some peach powder with Ash, but he had made the plans with Jason first.
"Do you mind, Ash? We've had this tee time booked for a couple of weeks." Lucas didn't want to leave her, but she might want to actually get some real sleep. "I can come over later and help you pack up the dildos." He owed those dildos a huge debt. They had brought him to Ashley's apartment last night. The least he could do was pack them in bubble wrap.
"Go golfing. I feel so good, this calls for shopping. But first, I have to visit my mom and my friends and every person I've ever met in my life and brag that I'm marrying the sexiest, smartest, most amazing man in existence."
"Do I know him?" Lucas joked, kissing each of her eyelids.
"Lucas," she sighed. "I do love you."
"I feel exactly the same. I've loved you for forever." It was perfectly logical, the smartest thing he'd ever done- falling in love with Ashley.
"Hey, guys? I'm not finding any key," Jason called from the other room. "But I did find some things I want to buy. This sex sling has potential."
Ashley rolled her eyes, groaned. But she was laughing. "He's never going to leave, is he?"
Lucas grinned, lay back down on the bed, and pulled Ashley over top of him. "I don't think so."
"We should get dressed."
"In a minute." Or a year.
"Ashley, what's a Mr. Right Now?" Jason yelled.
With an exasperated groan, she turned and called to him over her shoulder, "Why?"
"Well, these papers all sort of fell on the floor, and I was picking them up and I accidentally saw Hope's order form. She bought a Mr. Right Now."
"Accidentally?" Ashley snorted.
Lucas figured Jason's peek was as much of an accident as him making love to Ashley over a fan. It was more taking advantage of an opportunity than an accident, and he didn't think he could fault Jason for that.
"So what is it?" Jason asked again.
Ashley glanced down at Lucas and gave him a wink. Then she said, "There's a brochure sitting on the table. Read the description."