Page 21 of Accidental Silver Fox Daddy
That’s when most women lose me. I’m sure it’s no surprise that men in my industry typically attract a lot of beautiful girls, but the stereotype isn’t totally wrong. A lot of these girls are about one chicken nugget short of a Happy Meal.
But Ashlyn isn’t.
She was salty, sassy, and held her own. She knew I could have called the cops and had her in handcuffs at the snap of my fingers. Obviously, I never would’ve done that, but she didn’t know that.
I down the rest of my vodka and order another. I must be a glutton for physical punishment.
“You sure you don’t want a martini, love?” Liza asks. She calls everyone that. It’s like her little signature. “I make a mean muddled gin and tonic too. Juniper berries and blackberries and–”
“Sounds an awful lot like a fruit salad to me,” I say. “Which sounds a lot like sugar pretending to be healthy.”
“Well, I had to try,” she says, and I accept my vodka as is. But even as I down about a third of it, it doesn’t blur the images in my head. Images of Ashlyn. Every bit of Ashlyn. I suck my teeth thinking about the way she turned me down, and my lips screw into a smirk. She turned me down. To my face. I don’t mean to sound like a dick, but that’s a first for me. Most women throw themselves at me. Well, they throw themselves at my body and my money. But not her; she looked right at me and challenged me. For the first time in my life, a woman saw me as a person,and not just a model. She pretty much told me to stick it where the sun don’t shine.
“Gin and tonic, please and thank you.”
Ashlyn’s voice is so vivid that for a minute I’m starting to wonder what Liza put in my drink. But when I look over at the stool next to me and see Ashlyn sitting there, I realize I haven’t been drugged. She drags her gaze over to me with a stubborn look on her brow, and I know that I’m not dreaming.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“Why? You own the place?” She asks, and I can’t help but smirk again.
Yep. It’s her. Still, I’m confused.
“It’s just a coincidence, is all,” I say, nursing my vodka.
“Not really,” she says, looking right at me. It’s wild because it’s almost like I manifested her. It’s also wild how she looks sexier every time I see her. She’s wearing a tailored gunmetal gray dress with a black leather belt in the middle. The bottom is scalloped, giving it a shop keeper vibe. No cleavage is showing, and it reaches well past the thighs. She paired it with black ballet flats, making her look like a kindergarten teacher. It’s doing all the things for me.
“How do you figure?” I ask, sipping my drink.
Ashlyn blinks. “Because I came here specifically to talk to you.”
Goddamn.
I finish the rest of my drink, and Liza sets a cocktail in front of Ashlyn. Sure enough, it’s the fruit salad concoction. Because why wouldn’t it be?
“Another?” Liza asks with a smirk that says she is going to keep them coming all night if it means watching me and Ashlyn interact.
“Yeah. Why not?” I nod. Ashlyn’s brow furrows.
“Another? Wait. You mean that’s straight vodka?” she asks.
“Well, it’s not water.” I chuckle.
“Gross,” she says with a scrunched face. “You know, you can put things in it to make it so it’s actually enjoyable. This is gin, but it’s basically the same except there’s a little tonic water and all this fruit. You should taste it,” she says, sliding the glass over to me.
“Yeah, Zane, you should…” Liza says, and I make a point of scratching my eyebrow with my middle finger.
Ashlyn is too focused on waiting for me to taste her cocktail to notice. So I taste it.
“That’s pretty good,” I admit, smacking my lips. “Really good, actually.”
“He’ll take one of these,” she tells Liza, and my eyes dart over to her.
“What is going on here? You show up at my getaway bar and buy me a drink. It feels like you’re up to something,” I say with narrowed eyes.
“Not at all,” she says, swiveling her stool to face me. Her knees skim mine in the process. If she noticed, she’s damn good at hiding it. It hits me then that this woman isn’t just spicy and confident; she’s guarded. I make a mental note to measure the perimeters of those walls later. You know, for scaling. “I justfigured it would be nice to have a drink while we discuss our new arrangement.”
“Arrangement?” I ask.
