“Really?”
“From the time I was a little girl.”
“Okay,” she said nodding. “When is this audition?”
The waiter came over, interrupting the conversation. In his hand he held a bottle of wine, resting in an ice bucket. He set it up on a stand next to the table before presenting me with the bottle and popping the cork.
“Compliments of Mr. Hawes.”
I glanced over my shoulder; Ashton’s eyes were on me. He lifted his chin slightly, gave me a wink, and turned back to what he was doing. When I turned back to the table, the waiter had poured a glass. He held it out to me. Swirling the liquid like Ashton taught me, I took a sip, savoring the flavor.
“Perfect. Tell Mr. Hawes he has good taste.”
The waiter took our lunch order and after handing over the menu, I looked at Gretchen, who was gaping at me. “Look at you being a flirt.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Oh yes you were.”
Maybe I was, but I wouldn’t admit that to her. “What were we talking about before?”
She laughed. “That quickly that man fried your brain cells.”
I ignored her comments. “Auditions, wasn’t it? Well, I already auditioned and got the part.”
“You did?” she squealed, my reaction to Ashton completely forgotten.
“Yes. It opens in two weeks. Will you come?” I asked, shyly.
“You bet your ass I’ll be there.”
“Thank you. I could use some familiar faces in the audience. It’s been a long time since I’ve been under those lights.”
The waiter brought over our salads and Gretchen picked up her fork to eat. Pointing it at me, she said, “I’m sure Ashton will be there.”
“He will, but the more the merrier.”
She studied me for a moment. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I shook my head, hoping she would see how it was so much more than flirting with Ashton for me. “Nothing.”
She gave me a dubious look. “Okay, fine. Since you won’t ’fess up, tell me more about Ashton and what you do outside your time between the sheets.”
My face flamed. “I never said we’d slept together,” I whispered harshly.
The corner of her eyes crinkled and she laughed. “You don’t have to. I can see the sparks from here.” She grabbed her napkin and started fanning herself.
“Oh my God. Stop that.” I grabbed the napkin from her hand. “We don’t have that kind of chemistry. He’s just really sweet.”
She scoffed and lowered her voice. “You just called a loan shark sweet.”
“How else should I describe him? Ruthless, conniving, maybe selfish? Because he’s been none of those to me.”
Gretchen covered my clenched fist on the table. “Calm down, Elena. That’s not what I meant. It only seems like an oxymoron. ‘Loan shark’ and ‘sweet’ definitely don’t go together—unless you happen to be Ashton Hawes, who is obviously different.”
“He is.”
We finished our salads just in time for lunch to be delivered to the table. The waiter placed Gretchen’s in front of her and when I looked up, Ashton set my lunch in front of me with a flourish. “Enjoy, sweetheart,” he whispered, before disappearing again.
“Hello sexual tension,” Gretchen whispered at me.
Ignoring her, I cut one of the large raviolis into smaller bite size pieces, thoughts of his endearment tickling all of my nerve endings. It gave me chills every time he spoke to me like that. After a bite or two, Gretchen started again.
“You never answered my question about what you and Ashton do together.”
I sighed thinking about the trip a few days ago.
“Did you just sigh?”
I giggled. “I guess I did. Well, he took me to see the sunrise at the Grand Canyon.”
Gretchen’s fork slid from her fingers. “He did what?”
“He took me to see the sunrise at the Grand Canyon. We had lunch there before coming back for the baseball game.” Gretchen winced and I quickly added, “He got seats right behind the dugout. It was perfect.”
“Oh shit,” she whispered.
My gaze snapped back to hers. “What? What is it? Are you okay?”
“You’re already in love with him, aren’t you?”
I froze. Why would she think that? “I’m not. It’s just an infatuation. He’s helped me so much. Guys like him don’t fall in love.”
“Oh, sweetie, even I can see it’s more than an infatuation. Why are you so afraid to admit it?”
Tears welled in my eyes and I hoped to God Ashton wasn’t anywhere near to see it. “The last time I thought I was in love, look where I ended up.”
“Yes, but the man over there,” she nodded to her left, “is nothing like the dickhead you married. For crying out loud, he flew you to Arizona for sunrise. Dominic wouldn’t even take you out to dinner.”
I sniffled. “I don’t want to get hurt again.”
“Elena?” Ashton’s worried tone came from right beside me. He took one look at my face and pulled me from the chair and into his arms, sending a glare Gretchen’s way.
“What’s wrong?”
I tried to collect myself. “We were talking about what a fool I was when it came to Dominic.” At least it was a half-truth.
He brushed the tears from my eyes with his thumbs. “You’re not a fool. That fucker has no idea what he had. He will never get his hands on you again. You’re mine.”
Time froze. The restaurant could have burned down around me as I glanced up into Ashton’s eyes. Even through his glasses, I could see something there. Something more than sex, or helping out a poor abused woman. He opened his mouth to say more when suddenly our bubble was burst.
“Mr. Hawes,” the maître d’ said, now standing next to us.
“Yes, Pierre?”
“Sir, I’m sorry to interrupt, but we have a problem.”
Ashton glanced back and forth between the two of us. He sighed. “I’ll be right there, Pierre.” He waited for Pierre to walk away before saying, “Elena, I’m sorry I have to take care of this.”
“I understand.” While that was true, it didn’t mean I liked it. But he had a restaurant to run. I took my seat and reached for my drink, needing to do something with my shaking hands.
“We need to talk when I get home tonight.”
It wasn’t a request. “Okay.”
“I shouldn’t be too late. Wait up for me, please?”
“All right,” I squeaked out. An empty feeling settled at the pit of my stomach.
What could he want to talk to me about?
Gretchen smirked at me over the rim of her glass. “You’re an idiot.”
“Thanks a lot. Ashton just caught me crying in his restaurant and now he wants to talk.” I said using air quotes. “On top of all that, you’re calling me an idiot. This day just keeps getting better and better.”
“Well, you are an idiot if you can’t see what’s right in front of your face. That man is so into you it’s unreal. I’m pretty sure he was just about to tell you so when you were interrupted.”
My mouth popped open. “No he wasn’t.”
“Oh, babe, he was. At some point you’re going to have to realize you can be loved without being hurt, otherwise you’re going to push everyone away and end up alone.”
Alone.
I’d been alone for a long time. Living with someone who didn’t spend time with me, only talking to me when they had to was possibly more lonely than actually being on my own. My nerves were shot and if we continued the conversation, I was likely to puke all over the table.
“Can we just drop it for now?” I pleaded.
She nodded and set her glass down. The meal continued with us both avoiding anything to do with Ashton, although, I did find my gaze straying as we talked, trying to get a glimpse of the man who occupied my thoughts.
The waiter brought our dessert over without us ordering: chocolate mousse cake. Ashton knew it was my weakness and the fact that he’d known to send it over made more questions swirl through my head.