Page 5 of Acceptance
“Ash—”
“No, it’s true. Before I got clean and met you, I could have died in a gutter, and Dad never would have known. I didn’t have any ID on me. No one would have identified me, and he’d think I was still out there living a life he couldn’t understand. He wouldn’t have known to mourn me.”
He takes her hand and interlocks their fingers. “I’ll ask around and see what I can find out, but the truth remains that I can’t do anything without being asked. The moment I am, though, I’ll jump on it. You know I will.”
Laughing, she moves and sits on his lap. “Like the cops will ask you to help. But they don’t mind having things unsolved.”
Her lips capture his, and she pours herself into the kiss. Some days, as she sits at the desk across from him, she can’t believe she ended up here. That her life not only turned around, but she found a man she can’t live without. Something she swore she’d never do.
Grayson’s a couple of years younger than she is, and he went to school with her brother. It’s crazy to think about because most of the time, he seems so much older than her. Wiser. And he’s one hell of a lover.
When she first moved back, she had no one in her corner. Her brother hated her, and her father didn’t believe she’d stay sober. The one person who believed in her was Grayson Tate. The cop who lived next door to the house she rented.
Ashley spent as much time as possible with Grayson because she loved how he made her feel. How normal it was after so many years of never quite fitting in anywhere without drugsin her system. The boring life they had, even when it was just friendship, made her happier than she ever remembered being.
“Don’t you have a book to finish?” Grayson murmurs against her lips, but his hands tangle in her hair to keep her right where she sits.
“I have some time still,” she says, smiling as she remembers that it was Grayson that got her career started. He helped her live out her dreams while becoming her biggest dream yet. “I can’t get over how sexy my smart and righteous husband is.”
“Ash,” he moans when her hands slip down and over his chest to his jeans.
She smiles and tilts her head. “Are you asking me to stop?”
“I have a meeting in about fifteen minutes. That is not enough time for everything I like to do with you.”
“But it’s plenty of time for what I want to dotoyou. Then, later tonight, you can show me what you have in mind. I’m hoping it’s a full body massage, complete with a happy ending.”
Sliding down to the floor under his desk, Grayson chuckles as he unbuttons his jeans and helps slide them down enough to free himself. She gazes up at him as she licks her lips, and the adoration in his eyes as he looks down at her makes her heart flutter.
“Fuck, Ash,” he moans when she wraps her lips around him. “I’ll make sure you have more than one happy ending tonight. God, sharing an office with you is the best damn decision I’ve ever made.”
Ashley’s biggest competition when it came to Grayson was another daughter of the club. Alexis Nichols. Grayson had been in love with her since high school, and it bothered Ashley that they were friends. Now? She’s grateful to the blonde who is nothing short of the complete opposite of Ashley.
The petite blonde who bleeds Drifter blood convinced her family to not stand in the way of Ashley and Grayson. And shehelped point out how they’d be nothing short of the world’s biggest assholes if they didn’t grant Grayson their blessing to propose to her. Her biggest rival helped Ashley achieve everything she has right now.
All her life, she’s been a loner, but with Grayson, Ashley never wants to be alone. So much time is spent with the man she calls her husband, and it’s not just because the sex is explosive.
“Ash, I’m close,” Grayson warns, his body tensing.
Hollowing out her cheeks, she sucks hard on his cock, reveling in the way he gasps and grips the armrests on his chair to help steady him. His ass nearly comes off the chair as he comes hard, shooting his release down her throat.
Ashley releases him and smirks as he stares down at her with the same look he gave her when she started. The look she’ll randomly see when she glances up from her computer screen when they sit across the room from each other.
Grayson Tate sees Ashley for who she is. Flaws and all, he loves every part of her. Never once has she felt as though her past made her less than him, and he sees it as a sign of strength rather than a weakness. He was the first person to ever tell her he was proud of her, and he’s the reason she stays sober. Disappointing him would destroy her, and she refuses to risk what they’ve built together.
“Okay, I’m not opposed to these pre-meeting meetings with you,” he says, fixing his jeans and pulling her out from underneath the desk.
Biting her lower lip, she winks at him. “I love you, too.”
She walks back to her desk, enjoying the flush in his cheeks as he pants to regain a normal heart rhythm. It amuses her how flustered he is before his meeting, but he never turns her down.
Now, I just have to figure out how to convince him to find a way onto this case. At the rate they’re going, Julian and Traviswill let someone close to the club die because of their ineptitude. I don’t even want to know what that would mean for the town.
Chapter Three
Griffin’s Beach
Diesel
