Ashton’s shoulders straighten, as if he’s ready to pounce on someone. He already has this whole ‘burly mountain man’ look down, but seeing him like this would surely send Jerry running. Ashton’s dark-brown curls are pulled into a messy bun on top of his head. He’s wearing paint-splattered blue jeans and a white cutoff shirt.
I turn and look up at Zane, whose hazel eyes arestaring at me in confusion, his brows raised high on his forehead and lips slightly parted.
“My date has spent the evening talking about how much he’s in love with his Tesla and how awesome being a foot doctor is, and then he insults my career,” I hiss, earning a snicker from Zane and Ashton. I turn to Ashton with pleading eyes and say, “I need out of this horrible date and would very much like to not talk to this guy again. Can you help me?”
“Why can’t I help?” Zane asks, clearly offended that I didn’t ask him.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Ashton replies, waving a hand over himself. “Clearly I’m the better choice here.”
Zane whips his face in my direction, a look of confusion taking over his expression, and I bite my lip to hide my smile. I shrug and point toward Ashton. “I need a scary, buff dude to send Jerry running.”
“I’m buff,” Zane adds, flexing his arms, giving Ashton a smug look, and I chuckle at the competitive nature of these two.
“Yeah, but are you scary?” Ashton adds before taking a huge bite of his burger, the juices flowing down his dark beard.
Zane returns his attention to me, and I shrug again. “You’re like a teddy bear.”
“My spirit animal is, in fact, a grizzly bear, thank you very much,” Zane adds, folding his arms together with disappointment. “I can be scary if I need to be.”
“He took a bite of my dessert!” I whisper-shout, which gets a gasp out of the two grown men. “I don’t need a grizzly bear. I need a ferocious lion to get back at him.”
Ashton beams proudly at the compliment. I glance over toward Jerry, who’s now searching the room for me. My eyes find Ashton’s, and I say, “I have to get back to my table. Just do something to get me out of this date, please!”
I speed-walk over to my table and sit down so quickly that I slide in my chair, tipping it a bit from the momentum. I steadymyself, smoothing over my dress in the process, and give Jerry a bright smile. “Sorry about that. Where were we?”
“Uh…” He watches me closely with wide blue eyes.
I grab my fork and go to take another bite of my cake when I see that half of it has been eaten. The heat from my neck is now rising up my ears, and I’m pretty sure there are flames flickering inside of my irises when I look up at Jerry.
How.
Dare.
He.
“I’m sorry. Your dessert is so much better than mine. I couldn’t help but sneak a few more bites. I didn’t think you’d mind since you probably eat cakes like this every day.”
I mean, I do taste what I bake each day, but that’s besides the point. Jerry has to go. My eyes shoot over toward Ashton, who’s marching his way over to us, and I try to hide my smirk.
“That’s true, but?—”
I’m cut off by a loud cough coming from behind Jerry, and I wish so badly that I had my phone ready to record his reaction, because when he turns around and sees a grumpy Ashton standing behind him, he pales in fear. I would, too, if I were him, because even though I know how sweet Ashton truly is, he looks terrifying.
“Olivia. Who is this?”
“Oh, this is Jerry?—”
“You know what? I don’t really care who he is. What I do care to know is why he’s here on what looks like a date with my girlfriend.”
I mean, I did ask for Ashton to do anything to help me scare off Jerry, but I didn’t think about him creating a scandal in front of so many locals. But hey, I’m a single woman, and having the town think that I’m dating Ashton isn’t such a bad thing.
I’ve even tried to pursue him a time or two in the past, but once I figured out that he’s still hung upon his ex-wife, I knew his heart would never be available to me or any other woman. We’ve managed a close friendship, though, which I’m very thankful for at this moment as Jerry begins to shake his head with wide eyes and stutters out an excuse.
“I-I didn’t know— This isn’t— You have a boyfriend?” Jerry shouts before placing a hand on the back of his chair and pushing it away from him so he can stand up.
“Apparently,” I add, squinting toward Ashton.
Jerry grabs his jacket and cell phone before looking at me with panic-filled eyes. “I’m going to go.”
