“Do you cook?” I ask. That’s the only reason I can think someone would want a kitchen this large.
“Some,” he says with a look on his face that I can’t read. What the heck? This is a top of the line kitchen. I would love to spend hours in this kitchen baking or just sitting at the island and drinking coffee.
“Oh, well, it’s a really nice kitchen.” I mean, what else I could say?
“Glad you like it,” he says in a way that makes me think he’s really glad that I like it. I follow him down a hall that runs beside the kitchen. I look for Beast but don’t see him so I turn around to search him out. When I walk back through the kitchen, I stop. Beast is lying on the couch on his back with his legs straight up in the air. I feel an arm slide around my waist and Asher speaks close to my ear. “Looks like he made himself at home.” A shiver runs across my skin and I know that he can feel it when his arm goes tighter.
“Should I tell him to get down?” I ask.
“No, baby. He’s fine,” he says in his deep drawl. I love that he calls me baby, and at the same time, it scares me that I love it. “Let me show you the bedroom,” he mumbles. At his words, I get another shiver. This one’s in a completely different place.
We walk past two rooms with the doors open. One is an office and the other is a workout room. Across the hall from both is a bathroom. At the end of the hall, he opens the door. I follow behind him and realize that this is his bedroom. There is a platform bed that’s so big, everyone I know could sleep on it and no one would even touch. The sheets and blankets are a mess and there are clothes scattered all over the floor.
Next to the bed is a wall of windows and the shades are slightly open. I can see a deck off his room as well. Beside the bed are night stands built into the wall. There is a long, black dresser in the same color of the bed and side tables. There are two doors. One is open and I can tell that it’s my dream closet. It’s the size of my apartment back in New York. I walk towards it without thinking and turn on the light. I could fit a chair and a table in the space and still have room to add a king size bed.
There are shelves on both sides that have a few pairs of shoes and boots on them and along the walls there is plenty of space to hang clothes. There are a few pieces of clothing hanging but most of it is in piles on the floor.
“Oh my God, I'm in love.” I hear Asher laughing behind me so I turn to look over my shoulder.
“You have committed a huge crime,” I tell him with a completely straight face. He’s still laughing. “No, seriously, this closet should be taken care of and should never have stuff defacing the floor.” He throws his head back and is laughing so hard that the tendons in his neck are out. I catch myself wanting to run my tongue along them. I double blink at that thought. When his eyes come back to mine, he’s still chuckling.
“I don’t even like doing laundry. I'm not a big fan of hanging shit up,” he tells me.
“Oh, of course,” I whisper. Geez, I'm such a dork. He’s a guy. They don’t care about dream closets and having the space to show of all their fashion treasures. I step out of the closet and cross my arms under my br**sts. His eyes drop to my cle**age so I quickly uncross my arms. Then, I realize that I'm standing in his bedroom and I'm sleeping in his house while he’s there.
I look at the bed then back at him. He’s watching me the whole time. When we make eye contact again, there is something working behind his beautiful blue eyes that makes me hold my breath. He breaks eye contact and runs his hand over his head. I clench my hands into fist. I want to know if his hair will feel prickly against my palms. “Um…” I say, trying to clear my brain now that it seems to have gone into an Asher fog. He looks up and smiles. I see his dimple and that doesn’t help. Now I want to lick his cheek and taste his dimple. His smile widens and I swear that he can read my mind. Crap, crap, crap.
“Here, let me show you the bathroom and you can change and get ready for bed,” he says.
Thank God for small favors, I think to myself until we walk into the bathroom. There is a large walk in shower that’s made out of rock with a glass door that makes it look like an open cave. Next to the shower is a bathtub that dreams are made of. Well, at least girl dreams. I can’t picture Asher filling it with bubbles and having a soak. Then, I'm bombarded with thoughts of Asher naked and in the bathtub. I'm staring at the tub when I hear him moving behind me so I turn around. He has my bag in his hand and is setting it on the sink.
“Feel free to take a bath and get into bed. I gotta make a few calls.” I would love to take a bath in his tub. Well, I would love to take a bath in his tub with him but I push that thought away.
“Uh, thanks,” I say, feeling strange. He smiles and leaves, closing the door behind him. I stand there for a few more minutes, trying to figure out what the heck is happening. Then I realize that I’ve been standing there staring at the tub so I jerk out of my Asher tub fog and go to the sink. I took a shower before I left my house so I just dig through my bag and find my pajamas. They’re white, cotton, sleep shorts with a yellow drawstring that matches a yellow tank top. I tie my hair in a knot at the top of my head and wash my face. Then, I dig through my bag and find my toothbrush and toothpaste.
After I'm done, I put on some nighttime skin cream. That is one thing my mom taught me. It was good advice to never go to bed without night cream. She would say, ‘No man wants a woman with wrinkles.’ How she would know, this I don’t know. She has been getting Botox since she was twenty and that’s probably the last time her face showed an expression that wasn’t surprise.