“How could you, huh, Asher? I thought we had something special.”
He stared at his phone and mumbled something in response. I crept closer, secretly pleased that this random chick was bitching him out. Good; maybe he'd learn to keep his cock in his pants long enough to find a fiancee.
...Why did I have to think about his cock? Oh boy, was I in trouble.
“You lied to me!” The blonde bimbo hit his shoulder. “You told me you were a doctor. That you were flying to some poor country to do charity work. But you were only trying to get me into bed!”
“C'mon, now.” He held up his soda cup to shield himself. “That was over a year ago. I was an idiot. Don't be mad, uh...”
“Courtney,” she snapped, her eyes burning with fury. “If you can't even remember my name, that night must have meant nothing to you.”
She was right about that, at least. Had any woman ever meant anything to Asher? If he was so used to ditching them after sex, no way in hell could he even hold down a steady relationship.
A wife? Forget it. Might as well start closing my store down now.
“See, I'm not that man anymore,” he protested. “I've changed.”
“Oh yeah? Prove it.”
He picked that moment to look up. Our eyes locked; surprise took over his face. Then he smiled.
“Sure. Ask Sarah over there. She's my girlfriend, after all.”
My heart stopped for a second. What did he think he was doing?
This Courtney girl put her hands on her hips and shot me a look of death. I swore to God if she tried to stab me or something, I'd never forgive Asher for his stunt.
“Your girlfriend?” She looked me up and down and rolled her eyes. “Really. Why would you want that when you could have a beautiful woman like me?”
I was about to throw a jar of sprinkles at her head, but then Asher waved me over.
“Come here, sweetie. Almost done shopping, hmm?”
He gave me a quick wink. I could almost feel him begging me to play along. Ugh, he'd better make this up to me big time.
“Yeah, almost.” I plopped into the booth beside him. “Who's this, a friend of yours?”
She glared. He sank an arm around me, and part of me enjoyed it way too much.
“We have to be going soon, Courtney, but it was nice catching up with you.”
She cursed at him under her breath, turned, and stalked away. Even when she was gone, Asher didn't take his arm off me.
It felt so nice to be held. So comforting. Just imagine how much better it'd be with the two of us naked between his sheets...
“Well, wasn't that unpleasant. Thanks for bailing me out, though. You and I sure do make a good team.”
I forced myself to look angry, but I knew he wasn't buying it.
“I can't believe you used me to get that crazy girl off your back! You really have no limits, do you?”
“Nope. I consider myself an opportunist. He who hesitates, fails.” He peeked into my basket. “So, what did you come here for? I never knew you were a baker.”
“There's lots you don't know about me.”
“Maybe I'd like to know those things – if you're willing to share.”
He was an expert at turning the tables, wasn't he?
“I'm not sharing anything with you. You'll figure out some way to use it against me, knowing you. We are competing businesses, after all.”
“I'm not as unscrupulous as you believe I am.”
He offered me some of his drink – a cherry slushee, which incidentally happened to be my favorite. I waved him away.
“You're not, huh? I'd call telling that girl you were a doctor to get her into bed pretty damn unscrupulous.”
He winced. “You heard that, I see. In my defense, I was pretty drunk – and like I told her, I'm a new man these days.”
“You don't make up fake identities to score girls anymore?”
“Nah. Don't need to.” He grinned, showing off perfectly straight, white teeth. “I got women pretty much throwing their panties at me as it is.”
“That's more than I wanted to hear about the matter, thanks very much.” I checked around him for shopping bags, but found none. “Anyway, what are you doing here? This place is a haven for extreme coupon bargain-hunter types. Can't imagine what the high and mighty Asher Carrington would want at a Bullseye.”
“My mother,” he said with a dramatic sigh. “Though she's got plenty of money and a closet full of clothes, she's one of those bargain hunters of which you speak. The sales here are like catnip to her.”
“And you came along because why, exactly?”
“She hates to drive, especially in the snow. A few winters back, she hit a patch of black ice and drove her car into a ditch. Bad weather's freaked her out ever since.”
I hadn't expected Asher to be the sort of son to take his mom shopping. Maybe he wasn't as much a dick as he seemed upon first glance.
“Usually, my sister, Macy, has the honor of being her chauffeur,” he added, stirring his melting drink with the straw. “But she's got a date with her friends at the tanning salon. I keep telling her that shit's going to give her cancer.”
“Tanning in the middle of winter.” I examined my own pearl-white skin. “Now that's ambitious.”
“Ridiculous, more like. She's looking to snag herself a boyfriend at college. I informed her that some men happen to prefer the pale and natural look.”
I caught him checking me out – or at least, I thought maybe he was. It always used to annoy me when he ogled me like that.
These days, I was becoming more flattered
