“Asher, are you ready yet?” Julie’s voice filters up the stairs and into the bedroom where I’m still trying to decide on a tie. A tie for fuck’s sake. I fucking hate ties, unless I’m using them to tie Julie’s hands to the headboard like I did that one time. Jesus fuck, it was so damn hot.
Focus, Asher.
My mom texted me this morning and told me that I better wear a tie so I don’t embarrass her and my entire family today at the press conference. And I may be thirty-one years old, but when Susan Hansley issues an order, I follow it. So here I stand, in front of my mirror, a blue tie in one hand and a green one in the other, with no clue which one to put on.
“Wear the blue one.” I turn at Julie’s voice. Like it always does, my heart speeds up a little when I see her. I think it will always be that way. At least, I hope it will.
“You sure?” I stare down at both ties again as if they contain the secrets to the entire universe. She doesn’t answer, just walks to me and takes both ties out of my hand, tossing the green oneon the bed and threading the blue one through my collar, tying it herself.
“You know how to tie a tie?”
“Who doesn’t?” She looks at me with aduhexpression on her face.
“Um, a lot of people.”
“Well, I do.” She finishes up, flipping down my collar and smoothing the material with her hands. When she glides her hands down my torso, I flinch and hiss out a breath at the sting.
“What was that?”
“What was what?” I play dumb, knowing it’s not going to work.
“You flinched when I touched your rib cage. What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t flinch. It was electric. I always feel electric when you touch me. We’re lightning, baby.”
She eyes me with a narrowed gaze. “Don’t bullshit me, Asher. Show me.” She starts to tug my shirt out of my waistband, but I stop her with my hands on hers.
“Okay, look. I was going to wait to show you, but I should have known I can’t hide anything from you.”
“You’re just figuring this out now?”
I chuckle, tugging my shirt the rest of the way out of my waist band and lifting it to expose the bandage on my rib cage.
Julie runs her fingers over it. “When did you do this?”
“Yesterday, when you thought I was at the gym with the guys.”
I peel off the bandage to show her the fresh ink;Julietteis added to the list of names I have tattooed there. At the top of the list.
Her breath stutters out and her eyes fill as she rests her fingers beside her name. “You tattooed me on your body?”
I grasp her chin, lifting her head so she’s looking at me. “Inthe list of my most important people, you are the most important of all.”
She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, trying to pull herself together. “I fucking love you, Hot Shot.”
I kiss her softly. “I fucking love you right back.”
She looks at the ink for a few more seconds before putting the bandage back in place and pulling down my shirt. As she helps me tuck it back in, she snorts out a laugh.
“What?” I ask her.
“Charlie is going to be so pissed that you tattooed my name above hers.”
“Charlie will get over it. You’re my number one girl now. Besides, she loves you. You’re basically the fifth Hansley sister they never had.”
“Damn right I am. I even have the Hansley sister group chat to prove it.” She brushes a wrinkle out of my shirt and then rests her hands on my shoulders, studying me.
“How do you feel?”
