RUSH (Montgomery Men #1) - C.A. Harms Page 0,27
when all three of them turned to face me with questioning looks, I realized that my humph of laughter was loud enough for them to hear.
“Did you say something, Ms. Masterson?” Ashton asked.
Oh, so we were back to formalities?
“No, Mr. Montgomery,” I said as I lifted the menu and pretended to be completely unaffected by him and his current fling—or at least I hoped it would look that way. “I was just thinking I would much rather have a bottle of Château d’Yquem.”
I didn’t look at Ashton to see his response, but judging by Lex’s shocked look, I could only assume my knowledge of overpriced wines had surprise Ashton as well.
It was a slipup on my part. I was Kiera, the girl that came from the suburbs of Chicago, not Kinsley, who had been married to one of the richest, most powerful men in Miami.
“Fine choice,” Ashton finally said, and I looked up to find the bottle blonde with tits the size of Mt. Everest staring at me through narrowed eyes. Apparently she didn’t like that I was taking attention away from her.
I didn’t like it much either. In fact, I wanted both Ashton and his whore to go far, far away.
“If I found you sharing dinner with someone other than Lex, I may have been a little jealous,” Ashton said, shocking both me and the woman at his side.
He was on a date, for Christ’s sake. How rude.
“Enjoy your evening,” he said before offering a gentle nod in Lex’s direction and moving toward a table in perfect view of ours.
“Why is it that every time I allow you to convince me to do something, I end up regretting it later?” I hissed as I focused yet again on the menu.
“Hey,” Lex said, “this time I had nothing to do with it.”
“You expect me to believe that?” I asked, looking up at him as I narrowed my eyes.
“Is it my fault he checked my calendar?” Lex challenged. “It probably didn’t help that I wrote Dinner with Kiera in bold letters and highlighted it in bright yellow, but still he shouldn’t snoop.”
“Don’t the two of you sync your schedules daily?” I asked, already knowing the answer. Lex had complained on more than one occasion during our many phone conversations that Ashton would change his calendar without warning or making sure it was okay with him. I regretted giving him my phone number after the first call, where he spent almost an hour complaining about how Ashton just assumed Lex had no life outside of his job and never asked him if he had plans before scheduling something.
“Oh yeah, that’s right,” he said with a shrug, and I bit my lip to keep from yelling at him. He was lucky there were witnesses, because I really wanted to beat him with the menu I was clutching so tightly that my fingers hurt.
I took a chance and looked up at the table Ash and his friend now occupied, and I regretted it instantly. He was looking right at me, and as our eyes locked, a cocky smirk covered his lips. I wanted to look away, I needed to look away, but damn it, I couldn’t. His gaze held mine, even when the woman ran her finger along his jawline and leaned in to kiss his neck.
A streak of jealousy I had no right to feel shot through me.
I could be the one kissing and touching him. I could have all of him, only I resisted it.
Why?
Would it really be that awful if I gave in to the desire I felt for Ash? Would it be wrong to allow him to distract me from the fear and anxiety I felt daily?
Would it be wrong to finally allow myself to live?
ASHTON
I TRIED TO APPEAR CALM as Nina continued to touch me, even though I honestly didn’t want her hands on me. Sitting this close to her was taxing enough. Yes, she kept her touches subtle, but she’d made her point—she hoped the evening would end with us in bed, sweating and sated. But I was only here tonight because I was grabbing at straws.
I had to make Kiera want me the way I wanted her, and my assistant had suggested I try to make her jealous.
The asshole sat at a table with the woman who had me fucking tied in knots and enjoyed the food and drink I paid for while I sat here, fighting the urge to toss Nina to the side and insist