Throughout the following day, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. It annoyed the hell out of me that she was so hot and unavailable. I’d always wanted what I couldn’t have. My mind flicked to Ashley again, and a strange excitement resided in the base of my stomach. I knew tonight was just a friendly dinner, of course, but I was seriously hoping to sweep her off her feet and make her change her mind by the end of the night. My preparations were already made. A table had been booked at a fairly nice and romantic restaurant, the flowers and chocolates had been bought – I was all set. All I needed before I went was to get my game back, and then I’d be able to charm her straight into bed. A punch to my shoulder made me wince, and I looked up at Russell, frowning. I’d been off in my own little world thinking about her again, and forgotten I was in the middle of a training, sparring session with one of my teammates. Shaking my head to clear it, I brought my hands up to protec
Minutes later the waitress came over to take our orders. Ashley was chuckling to herself quietly as the lady tried to flirt with me, but I wasn’t in the mood – well, not unless the little gorgeous brunette sitting opposite me was up for it. “So, what does it feel like to be the most beautiful thing in the room? I’ve always wondered,” I asked, once the waitress disappeared. Ashley smiled weakly. “Look, Jace, I know you’re trying really hard, and I honestly appreciate the effort, but this just isn’t going to go your way. I don't sleep with guys unless I’m in love with them, so you’re fighting a losing battle if you're trying to get me into bed. Let’s just cut the act, and maybe we could be friends?” she offered hopefully. I blinked, taking in her words. She didn’t sleep with guys unless she was in love with them? She had to have been yanking my chain with that. There was no way that could be true; she was probably just trying to scare me away from her. I nodded and t
As I turned, I saw her standing just behind me. I grinned as I set my hands on her hips and lifted her onto the counter. A sexy little squeak of surprise left her lips as a blush coloured her cheeks. While she busied herself pulling on the bottom of her dress, trying to cover up her legs where it had risen up, I grabbed two mugs from the cupboard that I’d seen her get them from last time. We took the coffees into the lounge and when she sat herself on the sofa next to me, instead of one of the two other free chairs, I decided to take that as a good sign. Now, if I could get her to agree to come out with me again, then maybe I would have a real chance with her. I’d just have to be patient for a few dates until she was ready to give it up. I could be patient; well, I was pretty sure I could anyway; I’d never actually tried. We talked easily about movies that we’d seen recently or things that she wanted to see. She was gushing about some crappy sounding romantic comedy that s
All through the next few days I couldn’t stop myself from texting her. Thankfully though, she obviously didn’t think I was coming on too strong because she replied to every single one, plus she hadn’t cancelled for Friday. Throughout the week, my mind would wander to her as soon as I had free time. I’d be sitting watching TV and something that she’d said or text me would spring to the front of my mind and I’d just sit there laughing. I’d had such a busy week, working twelve hour shifts, that by the time I got home all I wanted to do was eat, sleep and text Ashley. On Thursday night I called her just to make sure we were still set for our date. It was the first time I’d actually spoken to her since Monday and the sound of her voice made a goofy smile slip onto my face. We’d ended up talking on the phone for over an hour. Usually talking to girls bored me, but with Ashley I just seemed to enjoy her company and her personality. When I finally disconnected the
She tore her gaze from the book and finally looked up at me. “This is really, really thoughtful. I love it, thank you.” Her eyes were so soft and appreciative that it made my heart speed up. “Yeah, no worries,” I mumbled. And now I’m mumbling too. I’m doing so well with this date so far! Ashley took the book, brushing her fingers across the front cover, looking at me in awe as if I’d just bought her something remarkable instead of just a book. I smiled weakly, shifting on my feet, trying to think of something to say that wouldn’t make me sound like a raving lunatic. When she looked at me like that I started longing for things, things I’d never really thought about before – things like the word girlfriend, and exclusive, and mine. I was in real trouble with this girl. The player side of me that was just standing here wondering what colour underwear she had on, was terrified of this girl and the tender way she was looking at me. My player side was trying to force me
We sat on the sofa still talking freely; everything just seemed so easy with her. I didn’t feel the need to put on an act or try to be something that I wasn’t, she seemed to accept everything at face value and actually be interested in me, instead of what I looked like. I loved that she was intrigued by me as a person; it didn't usually work that way with girls. While we were talking, some of her hair fell across her eyes and before I could stop myself, I reached out and tucked it behind her ear so I could still look into her eyes when I talked to her. Her breath seemed to catch in her throat as she bit her lip lightly making me so freaking horny it was unreal. It had been exactly two weeks since I’d had sex now, and if I didn’t get some soon then I was going to die. Alright, that was a slight exaggeration, but it was certainly a long time for someone like me to go without. I needed to kiss her. My mouth was already watering at the thought of it. As I bent my head to h
I barely slept that night; all I could think about was Ashley and what she said. She’d been burned by a player before, but if she was telling me that she wanted me to wait then she was clearly not opposed to the idea of sleeping with me at some point. Which meant that I was in with a shot. And that also meant that she didn’t have a boyfriend, after all, how could I be in with a shot if she were dating someone else? Ashley really didn’t seem like the type of girl to cheat and cause someone any pain. That still left the huge question of DJ. I knew he existed because Bryson had asked about him, but he wasn’t her boyfriend I would put money on it. She had never actually specifically told me she had a boyfriend, in fact, she’d never mentioned the word ‘boyfriend’ at all. I was just jumping to conclusions, and she was playing along trying to ward me off because she was scared of players. Due to her cancelling the evening date, I called Seth to see what he was doing instead;
When I went to pull back, she shook her head and wrapped her arms around my neck. “If I’m going to die then I want something incredible to be my last memory. So make it count,” she muttered, pulling my mouth back to hers roughly. I smiled against her lips and kissed her passionately, tracing my tongue along her bottom lip. She stepped impossibly closer, crushing her chest against mine as she moaned into my mouth. I grunted, sliding one hand to the nape of her neck. All I wanted was to kiss and feel every inch of her. I broke the kiss just as I was getting a little breathless. Dipping my head, I nibbled on her earlobe, listening to her pant for breath. “That was so hot,” I whispered, as I ran my tongue along the edge of her ear. She shivered against me and nodded. “That’s just what I was thinking.” “So, are we ready now, or was that not incredible enough?” I teased, pulling back fractionally. It was certainly incredible enough for me, if I died right now I would be
I was shaking. No, that wasn’t right, the bed was shaking. Or someone was shaking me which was making the bed shake? “Daddy!” I cracked my stinging eyes open to see DJ bouncing on the edge of my bed with a grin stretched across his face. Groaning, I rubbed my eyes and pushed myself up on one elbow. “Hey, Kid. What’s up?” I rasped. “Momma saids I needed to wake you up,” he replied. I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. “Where is Momma anyway?” Yawning, I glanced around the room. I usually got a better wake up than that if I’d been on sixteen hour nights all week! He beamed up at me. “She’s going out to buys a new dress for the party tonight. You gots to look after me.” His smile told me he was pleased about it. I remembered Ashley mentioning something about having to buy a new dress. “I do? Well maybe we should think of something fun to do today then, huh? How about we go play catch at the park or something?” I offered, knowing he wanted to test ou
She giggled and gripped my shoulders, rolling me over onto my back as she sat up on top of me, holding one arm across her chest, keeping her dress in place. “You didn’t have to get me anything; it’s not a tradition or anything. I just really wanted you to have this tonight,” she assured me, bending and kissing my lips softly. When she pulled back, my hands instinctively tightened on her waist. I didn’t want to let her go, I felt whiny and needy and I just didn’t want her to get off me even if it was only to get something from her bag three feet away from me. She smiled and pushed my hands off her, climbing out of the bed and heading over to the bag. While she was busy, I took the opportunity to slip off my shoes. As I pulled it off, something white caught my eye on the sole of it. I turned it over to see I had two big letters: L and P, written on the bottom of one of my shoes in white marker. Frowning in confusion, I grabbed my other shoe and looked at the sole of that one
“I love you, Mrs Roger,” I whispered, looking into her eyes. My whole future was mapped out before me. It didn’t matter what happened from here on out, as long as I had this girl in my arms every single day I could cope with anything. Instead of replying, she just crashed her lips back to mine again in a scorching hot kiss that was seriously inappropriate for people to be watching, especially standing at the front of the church. The vicar obviously thought so too. “I think your guests are getting impatient,” he said tersely. Ashley broke the kiss immediately and stiffened, as if she forgot where we were and that we weren’t on our own. She blushed and hid her face in the side of my neck as I wrapped my arm around her tightly. “We’re just starting as we mean to go on,” I joked, winking at the vicar. Ashley pinched my stomach playfully as she giggled against my neck. That was a typical Jace and Ashley moment. In my eyes, if the wedding had gone beautifully, then it wo
I didn’t feel nervous at all. Not when Seth started talking about never sleeping with another girl again. Not when he was teasing me that half of all marriages end in divorce. Not when he was telling me that once you got married you only had sex on birthdays and anniversaries. I didn’t even get nervous when Bryson started humming the wedding march. But as soon as I stepped into the church, my legs weakened and my throat seemed to close up as my tongue felt like it swelled to twice its normal size. I was getting married today. I was actually terrified of that thought – not because I didn’t want to marry Ashley, but because every single person from my family was going to watch me stand up the front of the church congregation and say my vows. I’d heard it was normal to get cold feet, but that wasn’t what this was; I was just terrified of screwing it up for Ashley. This was her one and only wedding day, because there was not a chance I was letting her get away from me to marry som
“Are you sure it’s straight?” I asked, frowning at the homemade banner with the words ‘Welcome Home’ emblazoned across it that was now tacked to the wall of the lounge. “It’s straight. The same as it was straight before you climbed on the chair and started fiddling with it. Will you stop stressing?” Anna teased, chuckling. I hopped down off the chair and nodded, forcing myself to take a couple of deep breaths. I’d planned this day out for the last two weeks that Jace had been stuck in the hospital for, I just could hardly wait to have him home so I could fuss over him and treat him like the hero that he really was. Seeing him for an hour at a time at the hospital just wasn’t enough for me. “How much longer do you think they’ll be?” I asked, checking my watch for the hundredth time today. I could barely wait another second. Anna shrugged, selecting a cupcake from the table that was laden with buffet style welcome home afternoon tea we’d made. “Shouldn’t be too much longer, Bryson sa
After a couple of minutes of us just sitting on the bed, talking about what pictures I was going to ask Anna to draw on my casts, Ashley poked her head in the door. She looked a little nervous as she chewed on her lip. When I smiled reassuringly and waved her in, she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “You two okay in here?” she asked, stepping in. DJ grinned and nodded. “Momma, Jace wants to a-dot me and Woody. He wants to be my daddy,” he boasted. “We all getted new names!” Ashley laughed to herself, her eyes sparkling as they met mine. “He wants to adopt both of you? Wow, that’s nice of Jace, huh? Roger is a pretty nice name,” she said breathlessly, heading over to sit on the bed with us. She took my hand and I interlaced our fingers, grinning. “DJ likes the idea of us getting married,” I told her proudly. “That’s a coincidence, because I like the idea too,” she replied, blushing. She sighed and nodded towards the door. “My parents want to come in a
After a little while, Ashley had to excuse herself to go back up to DJ. My parents and Bryson kept me busy, fussing over me for a few hours, before they left too so I could get some rest. Once I was alone, I tried my hardest to sleep, but sleep didn’t come easy, and even when it did, I was plagued with dreams of the fire. Memories flooded my brain, images of Ashley shaking and mumbling words that I couldn’t understand while she was standing by the ambulance. I dreamt of DJ and the look he gave me when he understood that we were going to die. Thankfully, the hospital was busy, so I was woken often by talking or doctors banging around. The noises brought me out of my nightmares before they reached the climax. That afternoon, after I’d finished choking down some hospital garbage that they called ‘food’ the door opened and my beautiful girlfriend stood there with a huge smile stretched across her face. “Hey, you,” she greeted. I smiled, happy to see her again. “Hi.
I took a deep breath, willing myself not to mess it up. “As soon as you said those three words to me, I was going to drop down on one knee and propose to you.” I said it quickly before I wimped out and didn’t do it. She didn’t react how I thought she would though. She didn’t gasp and look at me shocked. Instead, she burst out laughing, shaking her head. “That’s a good one,” she replied around her giggles, settling herself back down onto the bed next to me. I remained silent, waiting for her to catch on that I wasn’t joking. Slowly, I saw it sink in. The giggles stopped, and the smile slowly faded from her face as her eyes widened. “Oh God, seriously?” she asked breathlessly. I nodded in confirmation. “Seriously. But your timing ruined that for me too. I can’t exactly get down on one knee right now because one’s busted and the other leg’s broken, so that plan’s out of the window.” I laughed at my choice of words. Out of the window – yeah, it literally was. “Jace, wh
I pulled the mask off my face so I could talk. “There goes my dancing plans this weekend,” I joked, shifting uncomfortably on the bed. The doctor laughed quietly. “Because of the burns to your legs, we can’t cast it straight away. We need to let the skin heal a little before we can cover it. We’ll have to leave the temporary one on for a few days, then see how you’re getting on after that. You’ll have to stay here for a few days, I’m afraid. The burns need monitoring, and you’ll be started on a two week course of antibiotics to ward off any infections.” I frowned. I really didn’t want to stay here, I hated hospitals. “Will the burns heal or…” I trailed off, wondering what my legs were going to look like after this. The worst of it was on my right leg, covering most of my shin. He nodded. “We’ll move you to the burns centre as soon as we’ve dealt with your other injuries. They’re more equipped to deal with it there. You were very lucky though. The dampness of your cloth