Burn

Jace frowned. It was evident he didn’t quite swallow Gabe’s explanation. It didn’t wash with Ash either, but Gabe’s face was implacable. And him saying it was a business decision was bullshit. It was personal. Ash didn’t know what the hell had gone on in Paris, but whatever it was had turned Gabe solidly against Charles Willis. The man had dropped off the face of the earth after being cut loose from HCM’s operations.

Ash shrugged. All he cared was that they’d salvaged the whole bloody mess. He wasn’t going to get into what had gotten Gabe’s underwear in a knot over the whole thing. It was behind them. No harm, no foul.

“Now if we’re done, I’d really like to get home to my future wife,” Gabe drawled.

Gabe rose and Jace followed suit. Christ, they really were getting old. It wasn’t even ten yet, and they were already folding up the tent for the night and schlepping home. But then, they had women to go home to. In their position, he wouldn’t be so eager to spend a night out with friends either.

He walked out with them and watched as Gabe got into his car. Jace turned to Ash. “Want a ride back to your place or is your driver on standby?”

Ash hesitated. He wasn’t in the mood to talk, and, no doubt, after Gabe’s questions, Jace’s curiosity would be piqued. But if he refused the ride, Jace would be even more convinced that something was bugging him. It would be better if Ash just sucked it up and took the ride.

“How’s Bethany doing?” Ash asked, when they’d gotten in. He figured if he got Jace talking about Bethany, he wouldn’t pry into Ash’s business.

Jace’s expression eased into a smile. “She’s doing good. Excited about going to school.”

“What’s the latest on Kingston? He still being a dumbass?”

Jack Kingston was Bethany’s foster brother. He was also the man who damn near killed Bethany and was currently in rehab. Personally Ash thought Jace had gone far too easy on the other man. Ash would have beat the shit out of him and then nailed his ass to the wall, but in an effort not to hurt Bethany any more than she already had been, Jace had helped Jack get a plea bargain that included rehab and probation.

“We don’t hear from him, and I’m good with that,” Jace said.

Ash arched an eyebrow. “But is Bethany good with it?”

Jace sighed. “She has good days and bad. When I can keep her focused on me and us, things are good. When she has time to think, she worries. She knows he fucked up, and she hasn’t gotten over that. I doubt she ever will. But she still loves him and is sick over what he’s done.”

“That sucks,” Ash murmured.

“Yeah.”

They pulled up to Ash’s building, and Ash was relieved that Jace hadn’t had time to pry into his head. Because he would. Just like Ash would do to him if he sensed something off about Jace. But knowing he’d do the same didn’t mean he was lining up to have Jace do it to him. It made him a flaming hypocrite, but oh well.

“See you tomorrow, then?” Jace asked as Ash started out of the car.

“Yeah, wouldn’t miss it. You walking Mia down the aisle?”

Jace’s face softened. “Yeah.”

“Shouldn’t we have had a rehearsal or some shit like that?” Ash asked.

Granted, his experiences with weddings had been confined to Gabe’s first, but rehearsals were normal for weddings the scale of Gabe’s and Mia’s, surely.

Jace laughed. “Yeah, man, it was last night. You didn’t show. Not that you have to do anything but stand there with Gabe. Mia’s going to give you shit about ducking out. I covered for you and said you had shit with work and that you stayed so Gabe could make the rehearsal. That appeased her.”

“Christ,” Ash said. “I feel like an ass now. I swear I didn’t remember. I wouldn’t have remembered the wedding was tomorrow if I hadn’t seen Gabe at the office earlier.”

“You haven’t been around much lately,” Jace said, curiosity in his voice. “Everything okay with you? Work hasn’t been that bad, unless there’s something you’re not telling me. Things have been pretty damn quiet since Gabe went on a tear trying to get everything worked out before he left for his honeymoon.”

“Just been preoccupied, man. No big deal.”

Jace leaned forward before Ash could close the door. “Look, I know things have been . . . different. Ever since me and Bethany. I get that. But I don’t want things to change, Ash. You’re family.”

“Things did change,” Ash said softly. “Nothing to be done about it. I’m dealing. Don’t make it an issue that it isn’t, Jace. Be happy and make Bethany happy.”

“Are we cool?” Jace asked. “Because you’ve been off lately. And it’s not just me noticing.”

Ash cracked a smile. “Yeah, man, we’re cool. Stop acting like a goddamn nanny. Go home to your woman. I’ll see you tomorrow in my goddamn tuxedo. Only for Mia would I do this shit.”

Jace laughed. “Yeah, tell me about it. Bethany and I are so eloping.”

“Set a date yet?”

While Jace and Bethany had become engaged at Bethany’s twenty-fourth birthday party, they hadn’t set a date, at least not to Ash’s knowledge. But then, he’d been so far out of the loop lately that it was possible he just didn’t know about it.

“Not yet,” Jace said. “Was waiting until this shit with Jack blew over. I don’t want that hanging over her head when we get married. After he gets out of rehab and gets his shit sorted, I’ll plan a trip somewhere and we’ll get married on a beach.”

“Sounds great. See you tomorrow, okay?”

Ash closed the door and slapped the side to signal the driver to pull away before he turned and walked into his apartment building.

Once inside his apartment, he walked into his bedroom and his gaze fell on the painting the art dealer had pulled from the back. The one that was still wrapped and not on display.

The others he’d put against the wall in the living room, but he’d put this one in his bedroom, intending to look at it when he got home. Now curiosity was eating at him, so he carefully pulled away the wrapping and turned it over.

“Holy shit,” he breathed.

It was . . . stunning. Provocative and sexy as hell.

It was her.

Or rather her tattoo, or what he imagined had to be her tattoo. Granted he’d only gotten a glimpse when she’d bared a thin strip of her waist, but this was in the right place and it resembled the flowery vine.

The painting was of a nude woman’s profile. One hip was presented, arms covering her breasts, but the barest hint of one soft mound peeked tantalizingly from underneath her upper arm. And down her entire side was a colorful, flowery tattoo. It curved over her hip and disappeared between her legs.

It had to be on the inside of one thigh and now he was dying to know if this was an exact replica of her tattoo. The one he’d seen on her body. Jesus, but he was dying to know. Dying to trace the lines with his fingers and his tongue.

He stared at the painting, absorbing every detail. The art dealer had been a fool not to display this one. Had he even looked at it? It was erotic as hell and yet still tasteful.

Long blond hair flowed down her back, the ends lifted as if she was caught in a breeze. Her arms were hugged to her body, her fingertips splayed over the arm pressing down over her breast. Delicate. Utterly feminine. And so damn beautiful it made his balls ache.

Holy fuck but he was obsessed with a woman he’d only met in person one time. And this painting wasn’t helping a damn bit.

Tomorrow this was getting framed and it was going over his bed so he’d see it every time he entered his bedroom. Or, even better, he’d put it on the wall opposite his bed so it would be the first thing he saw when he woke up in the morning and the last thing he saw before he went to sleep at night.

Yeah, he wasn’t just obsessed. He was all sorts of fucked up over this woman. He had to get a grip.

Johnny was bringing her jewelry by the office day after tomorrow since the entire business would be shut down for Gabe’s wedding tomorrow. Ash then had to figure out how he was going to get it back to her. He could just mail it to her, but then he wouldn’t see her. And he definitely planned on seeing her again. Soon.

Chapter four

Ash sat in his office the day after Gabe’s wedding and studied the small box containing the jewelry that Josie had pawned. He examined each piece before carefully returning it to the tissue so it wouldn’t get damaged.

It was quality. He wasn’t an expert but it looked vintage and real. Definitely not fake. It was worth far more than Josie had pawned it for, and the pawnbroker knew it, judging by the price it had cost Ash to get it back.

He didn’t like the desperation in that single act. Of pawning jewelry for a fast buck and taking far less than it was worth because she had no other choice. He was going to give that choice back to her. But other choices? Not so much. Not if he had anything to say about it.

It made him arrogant and demanding, but he knew himself to be both, so it didn’t bother him. It was who he was. He knew what he wanted, and he wanted Josie. Now he just had to put the ball in motion.

His intercom buzzed and he jerked his head up in irritation.

“Mr. McIntyre, your sister is here to see you,” Eleanor, his receptionist, said in a crisp voice that sounded pissed off.

But then it wasn’t a secret how Ash—and Gabe and Jace—felt about his family. Eleanor had been with them for years and it likely hadn’t pleased her to buzz him with this kind of information.

What the fuck was Brittany doing here? Had his mother resorted to having his sister do her dirty work for her? He could feel his blood pressure rise, even knowing he had to stop allowing them this kind of power over him.

“Send her in,” Ash said grimly.

No way he was going to air family shit outside the privacy of his office. Whatever it was Brittany wanted, Ash would give her a few minutes and then let her know she wasn’t welcome at his office. None of his family was, and for that matter, none of them had ever stepped inside the HCM offices. They saved their venom for holidays and family get-togethers.

If they ever set foot inside the HCM offices, they’d be forced to acknowledge his success instead of treating it like a dirty secret no one talked about. They’d be forced to see firsthand that he didn’t need them and he’d succeeded without their help or influence. No way they were going to do either.

A soft knock sounded at his door and he voiced a “come in.”

The door slowly opened and his sister walked in, apprehension written all over her features. She looked more than nervous. She looked terrified.

“Ash?” she asked softly. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Brittany was a replica of his mother. Not that his mother wasn’t a beautiful woman. She was. And Brittany was every bit as beautiful, if not more so, than their mother. The only problem was his mother was ugly on the inside and it forever marred his perception of her looks. Because he knew what resided behind that pretty face. It was a cold and calculating mind. He firmly believed she was incapable of loving anyone but herself. It was a mystery to him why she’d ever had children. And not just one, but four.

Besides Brittany, Ash had two older siblings. Both brothers and both firmly under the grasp of their mother and father. Though younger, Brittany was approaching thirty. Or maybe she’d turned thirty already? He couldn’t remember and he didn’t spare an ounce of sadness over that fact. And she was as solidly under the family thumb as their brothers. Perhaps even more so.

Their mother had handpicked Brittany’s husband. An older guy she’d married Brittany off to when she was barely out of college. Wealthy. Influential. All the right connections. The marriage had barely lasted two years and Ash’s mother blamed that squarely on Brittany. Never mind that in Ash’s digging, he’d found a hell of a lot of skeletons in Robert Hanover’s closet.

He was not a man he’d want his sister—or any woman—married to. But Brittany had meekly submitted to her mother’s desires despite Ash’s warning to her that Robert was not the man he seemed.

At least she’d had the balls to get out of the marriage. That had surprised him.

“What’s up?” Ash asked in an even tone.

He gestured for her to sit in the chair facing his desk. She eased into it, perched gingerly on the edge, nervousness and uncertainty evident in her body language.

“I need your help,” she breathed out.

He cocked one eyebrow upward. “What’s wrong? Get into an argument with mommy dearest?”

Anger flashed in Brittany’s eyes as she stared back at Ash.

“Please don’t, Ash. I know I deserve your mockery and scorn. I deserve a lot of things. But I want out. And I need your help to do that. It shames me to have to come and beg for help from you, but I don’t know where else to go or who else to turn to. If I go to Grandpa, he’d just tell Mom and he probably wouldn’t help me anyway. You’re his favorite. He can’t stand the rest of us.”