CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Ledger
She takes my breath away.
It sounds cliché, but when Asher steps out of the SUV, she renders me breathless.
The blue dress she opted for hugs her every curve.
It’s sexy but classy—just like her. Her hair is in some kind of loose but intricate something or other that has me wondering how I’m going to keep my hands out of it and not mess it up when I kiss her.
Because I will be kissing her.
In fact, I don’t know how I’m going to keep my fucking hands off her.
Her makeup only adds to the full effect. It’s definitely more than I’m used to her wearing, but she’s still my Asher.
“Stunning.” It’s all I can say when she looks my way and her eyes hit mine. The smile she gives me. The look in her eyes. How her body intuitively turns to me. “Absolutely stunning. You. The dress. Everything.”
When I press a kiss on her cheek, I swear my stomach flips over. Something about her, about this moment and bringing her to see my brothers tonight, overwhelms me.
She’s incredible in every sense of the word. Asher in her everyday life stuns me. But she . . . fits. And I’m not sure what to do about that. Yet.
How do I merge our two very different worlds together?
Because I’m starting to see that it may become an absolute necessity.
“Look at you,” she says, luckily breaking up my thoughts and tugging gently on the lapel of my tux. “Handsome as ever.”
“Well,” I say, hands in my pockets as I rock back on my heels. “I know what a picnic in the field got me”—I shrug—“so I figured why not aim a little higher this time and see what happens?”
She snorts, and it’s so very Asher—dressed to the nines and yet still so very much her. “Guess you’ll have to wait and see.”
I hold my elbow out for her to put her arm through. “Shall we?”
“You’re not going to tell me where we’re going yet, are you?”
“Nope.” I want her to see the skyline of the city she loves and see her reaction as she figures it out for herself.
When I step to the side to let her up the stairs first, she stops and simply takes in the entirety of the jet in front of us. “Holy shit,” she murmurs.
“What?”
“This is normal for you, Ledger Sharpe, but this is insane to me. Utterly insane.”
Her face is a mixture of awe and disbelief that has me rooted in place as she starts up the stairs to board.
We’ve had a private jet at our disposal our whole lives. Many of the kids I grew up with at prep schools either owned one like us or used one when they traveled.
I thought this would be a cool treat for us. To get away. To go to where I love. To just be together.
Never in a million years did I think I was going to enjoy her taking in things, being spoiled by things I’d always taken for granted as much as I am right now.
When I reach the top step and see her studying every single detail of the plane’s interior, I can’t stop smiling.
She deserves so much more than this.
“Hey, Asher?” I ask as I come up behind her and wrap my arms around her. “Promise me you’ll let me spoil you all night long?”
She turns, and her grin is mischievous as hell. “On one condition . . .”
The phrase stops me. Thoughts, ideas, and memories collide that have me smiling.
“Oh yeah?” I ask, eyebrows raised, more than willing to meet whatever condition she’s going to offer. “What’s that?”
“You let me join the mile-high club.”
“Deal. Check, please. Done. Where do I sign up?”
When she throws her head back and laughs, I know it’s a sound I could listen to forever.