Chapter 32 Asher
ASHER
I rattled the door handle again and let out an irritated breath.
“Seriously?” Zoe said from behind me. “Is this their go-to strategy for all disputes?”
“Is that what we’re having?”
“I don’t know why else they’d lock us in here.” She paced the narrow aisle between the rows of coats.
“Maybe they wanted us to see what kind of cash we can find in the pockets of all these fancy coats.”
“Funny. Although it would be nice if someone had left an unlocked phone. Of all the days not to have mine on me.”
Zoe had her usual business attire on… a silky button-down shirt, with a cream-colored cashmere sweater over it.
Or, given that she was from the same economic background that I was, likely a synthetic attempt passing for cashmere.
It was snug, hugging her curves, as did the tight straight skirt she wore.
The outfit was professional but also looked damn good on her.
It was odd because I’d seen her naked and now, she was covered from head to—well, head to mid-knee. But she owned those clothes. They fit her body as if they’d been designed just for her. And yeah, it was very obvious she didn’t have her phone on her—there would’ve been nowhere for her to put it.
“Why’d you have to lend yours to Kai?” she said, exasperated.
“Because his had about four percent left.”
Zoe shook her head in frustration, her dark hair sliding across her shoulders.
Telling her to leave it down had been the best inspiration we’d had so far—even better than not letting her wear panties.
Her clothes said she was all business, but that hair, those full pink lips, and the black shoes with the three-inch heels hinted at the sensual woman who would sometimes come out and play.
“Can we just get this over with?” Zoe asked.
“How? It’s not an escape room where we figure out the clues one at a time.”
She muttered something that I caught only part of.
“What was that?”
“I said you should get a clue.” She was so cute when she was sulky. “This is so dumb. You and I are going to part ways as soon as we get back to campus. What does it matter if we’re getting along or not?”
Shit. That hit me like a kick to the balls. Did she really want to go back to Langley and pretend we didn’t know each other? Pretend none of this ever happened?
“Maybe it should matter.” I leaned my hip against the table by the door.
That surprised her. “Why?”
“For starters, we’ve seen each other naked. Made each other come. Those things aren’t exactly impersonal.”
“It’s just sex,” Zoe said, and though she blushed, she kept her voice steady.
I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. The woman, who had been a virgin until just a few days ago, was trying to lecture me about the meaning of sex. “Which is something I have a lot more experience in than you do. And sex is rarely just sex.”
She stopped pacing and whirled around. “Don’t even go there.”
“Go where?” Shit, she was hot when she got angry like this. Her eyes looked darker and as if they could shoot fire to burn me alive.
“There. The whole feelings thing. Remember, you guys almost refused to teach me because you thought I couldn’t separate sex from feelings. And now that I’ve proven I can, you’re somehow holding that against me?”
“No.” I said it matter of factly. “But I don’t think you’ve proven it.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Feelings don’t have to be all rainbows and puppy dogs. They can also be anger, frustration—anything really. And you’ve already admitted you feel something for me.”
“What? No I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did. I think choosing me as your victim in the fuck, marry, kill game indicates you had a pretty strong feeling about me.”
Somewhat to my surprise, the corner of her mouth quirked upward. “Maybe I’m just a violent person.”
“Or maybe I was a complete asshole to you when the internship started even though you didn’t even remember me.”
Zoe’s shoulders slumped and her face tightened. “You were mean to me because I was mean to you first.”
“No.” I moved to her side. “You weren’t. You tried my food, and you gave your opinion of it. That’s not mean, it’s honest.” I’d been meaning to tell her this for a while now but hadn’t found the right time. I’d been wrong to blame her for her opinion.
She stared at me, her expression serious. “It wasn’t honest,” she said quietly.
“It’s okay, Zoe. Not everyone has to like my food. You—”
“But I did like it.” Her voice was so quiet I had to strain to hear her—especially since my pulse had sped up, echoing in my eardrums. “It was incredible—the best thing I’d ever tasted.
But… all the other students in the class, they’d grown up eating in Michelin-starred restaurants.
Dining in Paris and Rome during frequent European vacations.
I was so different from them, and I felt like a small-town girl who knew nothing.
So I picked on the food to keep from showing how much it had impressed me.
To keep from showing that I hadn’t ever experienced anything like that, when they had their whole lives.
Because maybe if I acted like I wasn’t impressed, they might think I was one of them. ”
Shocked, I stared at her, unable to quite take that in.
When she finally turned to face me, and I saw something vulnerable in her eyes.
“I didn’t want them to know that I was just a scholarship student who’d never had anything fancier than Olive Garden.
So I used all these pretentious words I’d heard the other students use.
I tore you down to make myself sound sophisticated. ”
Her dark eyes were trouble when she stared up at me.
“I didn’t think about the fellow student in the kitchen who had worked so hard to make that meal.
I just didn’t want the others to think I was a simpleton, easily impressed.
But I was impressed, and I’m really sorry I wrote those things on the review.
You didn’t deserve it.” She blinked, moisture lining her dark lashes. “I’m sorry.”
Her gaze lowered after that, which gave me a little time to process.
There was still a layer of anger there. Her review had cut me deeply.
But more importantly, there was relief. This woman had started out as a massive pain in my ass.
And now she was important to me. But throughout both ends of that spectrum, her words, her opinion of my food had colored every encounter we’d had.
Now I knew the truth—but she didn’t.
“I lied to you, too,” I said softly.
That got her attention. “When? I’d never even met you before—”
“Not back then. Here. I told you that I only made those cooking videos to earn money for school. That was where it ended up, but it wasn’t where it started.
” I paused, trying to figure out how to explain.
“When I arrived at Langley, I felt the way you did, that I was nothing like the other students in my program. They were used to the fanciest food imaginable, and whenever I’d try to make something good but straightforward, like a hearty soup or gumbo, they’d look down at me.
So I started making videos that showed that simple food could still be delicious.
I wanted to help people learn to cook better.
But then I started getting lots of comments on the videos, especially from women.
After Kai suggested I try the shirtless thing, those messages and comments increased a hundredfold. Or a thousand.
“The truth is that part of me liked it at first. It was flattering. I’d been a small, scrawny kid growing up.
Didn’t even date until the end of high school when I suddenly shot up six inches and started working out.
So all those women commenting on my body…
it was an ego boost. It felt good to be desired and admired after being invisible for so long.
I’m not proud of reacting that way, but it’s the truth. You were right to call me out for it.”
About a half dozen emotions crossed her face, none sticking around long enough for me to identify them. “Right and wrong. Because that’s not how you feel now,” she said softly.
More importantly, she said it kindly. I captured her hand in mine and squeezed it gently.
“No, it’s not. And now that I want to build my reputation as a serious chef, I wish I could distance myself from that channel.
But I can’t. It pays my tuition and my bills, and I need that for one more semester.
Plus, I signed a contract, and there’s no way to get out of it early. ”
Her head dipped forward, nearly resting on my shoulder. “I thought you got off on all the things they said about you.”
“I did, for a while.” It wasn’t something I was proud of, but I had to be honest. And it was time to be honest about something else.
“But right now, there’s only one woman I hope likes the way I look.
” It was the truth. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her since the night of her first time.
We’d fit together so well. She’d come so beautifully for me.
But there’s been a moment when she was straddling me, riding my cock like a wild woman, when something had changed—for both of us. I just didn’t know what.
“You know you look really fucking good, Asher.”
She said it like it was an annoyance—but maybe something more.
It seemed like she’d lingered on the word fucking…
which she usually didn’t normally use. And her gaze kept sweeping over me.
But then she blinked and looked away, her tone becoming business like.
“Before this… we were both doing what we thought we had to do to survive at school, and to protect ourselves. But I will always regret saying such awful things in that review.”
“I’m sorry too,” I said. “For being such a dick to you when you got here. For holding onto that grudge for years. For…” I gestured vaguely. “For everything.”
“You’re not what I thought you were—and that’s a good thing.” Her smile was small, but still noticeable.
“Right back at you, gorgeous.”
We stood there in that small room full of coats, and for the first time since we’d met, the air between us didn’t feel hostile. It felt like something else. Anticipation, perhaps?
“Do you think we could kind of… start over?” Zoe looked so earnest when she asked. As if there were any chance I’d say no to that.
There wasn’t.
“I’d like that.”
“Me too.”
Her smile was soft and tentative, nothing at all like her usual, ‘I’m going to take the world by storm’ energy. “How do we do that?”
The vulnerability in her voice landed somewhere deep inside me. She was being open, honest, and earnest. I owed her the same, except in this case, I knew the answer. “We start back at the beginning.”
“The beginning?”
“With lesson one.”
It took her a beat or two before comprehension dawned, but I could see the moment my meaning became clear. “Lesson one was kissing,” she said softly, and then she stepped into my arms.
Her eyes closed as I cupped the sides of her face. She looked so damn beautiful like this. There was need in her expression, but no fear. No nervousness. And no hesitation.
She melted against me as I lowered my mouth to hers. This wasn’t the uptight young woman desperate to prove to her privileged classmates that she belonged. It wasn’t the nervous virgin who’d boldly asked for lessons.
It was Zoe. The real woman with genuine grace, intelligence, and passion was often hidden by her outer beauty. But I saw that now. I saw her.
And I kissed her in a way I’d never kissed anyone before. It meant something now, and that made every sensation so much better. The way her curves pressed into me. The way her fingers settled at the back of my head, pulling me closer. The way she clung to me as if she never wanted to let go.
I sure as hell didn’t. I kissed her slowly, taking her mouth, claiming her body as my hands moved all over her. She was real. She was layered. And she was mine. That was true even if she was also ours.
But she deserved better than a kiss in a cold cloakroom. It wasn’t easy, but eventually I broke the kiss, opening my eyes to find hers dazed and blinking, as if waking from a trance. I sure as hell felt like I just had.
Then she smiled, and it damn near made my heart burst.
She wiped her swollen lips with the back of her hand, which was somehow sexy as fuck. When she spoke, her voice was husky. “How do we let them know that we worked it out?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they already know? We should try the door again.”
Zoe looked a little doubtful, but when she turned the knob, sure enough, the heavy door swung inward. She beamed at me. “I guess this means we passed.”
I smiled. “I knew we’d be at the head of the class.”
I followed her out, and this time, I wasn’t watching her shapely ass, or the way her hips swayed in that tight skirt when she walked. This time, I saw all of her.
My smile faded as Kai appeared at the top of the stairs. Zoe made a beeline toward him, and I hastily followed.
“Hey,” said Kai. “Where—” he stopped, when I violently shook my head behind Zoe.
He was even more confused when Zoe smacked him with a tight little fist. “You have to stop doing that.”
Kai rubbed his arm as if she’d hurt it, though I was fairly sure that connecting with his massive bicep had hurt her fist more than the other way around.
“We can work out our differences without you two locking us in together,” Zoe said, shaking her head. “Again.”
Kai’s gaze sharpened, and I wondered if perhaps he could hear the change in her tone. Finally, he cocked his head to the side, looking sternly at her. “If you two have finally quit it with all the arguing, then this’ll be the last time.”
“Good,” Zoe said, no longer sounding mad.
Kai deliberately avoided meeting my eye. “You don’t look too upset,” he observed to Zoe. “Did you two kiss and make up?”
Since that was exactly what we’d done—though not in that order—I grinned.
“We went back to the basics.” Zoe gave me a quick smile before she headed downstairs.
Nonchalantly, I started to follow her, but Kai shot his arm out, blocking my path. I gave him an innocent smile.
“We locked you in again?” Kai asked, arching a brow.
“She thinks you did.”
Kai shook his head, this time in admiration. “Pretty smooth. Did it work?”
“Yeah.” I couldn’t help grinning as I shoved his arm out of the way and followed in the direction Zoe had gone. “I think it did.”