Kristen Ashley

“I’m Chaos?”“Was my dick just in you?”I fought an annoyed growl and said, “Uh... yeah.”“Then you’re Chaos.”

“I left you sweet and smiling in this goddamed bed and I don’t see you or hear your voice for four days? Then I walk into your office and you give me attitude and tell me to kiss your ass because you’re in a pissy mood about some shit you refuse to share? No. You gotta know, darlin’, that shit don’t play with me.”

“Only you could put color in a colorless world.”

“In this world,” I kept whispering, “you were the only thing I had but you were the only thing I needed.”

“On the third day, it hit me what he was doing. He was taking his time. Allowing me to chat with townsfolk, window shop, smell the flowers, taste the foods and drink in the landscape. He was giving me his world.”

“Gods, that you would have granted me this boon when she wed me and with it gave me one night of this hot, greedy tart rather than the cold, selfish fish you gave me,” he muttered, my eyes moved to him and I saw he was speaking to the ceiling in audible prayer.”

“You're in a tight, short dress and high heels? Tack asked."Yes.""I'll be there in five.”

“My head fell forward and to the side until it collided with his shoulder as my arms slid around him and got tight.I felt his head turn and in my ear he said quietly, "Fuck, baby, just with that, you made callin' that marker worth it.”

“Give me that mouth again, babe, then get outta here."Is the word 'please' in your vocabulary?""No, but you throw more attitude at me before givin' me your mouth, tonight, that word is gonna be in your vocabulary and I'm gonna make you use it often”

“Babe, I'm not anyone's boyfriend.I blinked again but this was so I wouldn't flinch."What?" I whispered."You have a boyfriend when you're sixteen. You fuck a man casually, you don't have anything except, if he's good, a supply of orgasms. You got what we're building, you got everything. But bottom line, I've claimed you. This means you're my woman which in turn means I'm your man.”

“FYI, baby, havin' your attitude back is so far from annoying, it's not fuckin' funny.”

“I felt his forehead against mine, another swipe of his thumb to wipe the wetness away and I heard him whisper, "Baby, I can't keep up.”

“Life’s a roller coaster. Best damn ride in the park. You don’t close your eyes, hold on and wait for it to be over, babe. You keep your eyes open, lift your hands straight up in the air and enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts.”

“Darlin' you're the greediest piece of ass I've had in my bed in a long fuckin' time. I got a taste for greedy, you think I'm not gonna take it?”

“You been asleep, baby."My body went still at his words. Tack kept talking."Green tea. Yoga. No TV. Placemats for your coffee table. Thursday night takeaway. You got a night for takeaway. Scheduled. A narrow, little world. Fuck me. Crazy. Fuckin' whacked. I woke you up, opened your eyes to a bigger world and scared you shitless.”

“Oh," I whispered."Fuck, I'm not even close.""To what?""The heart of you. You run so fuckin' deep, I'll never get there."God."Lookin' forward to a lifetime of diggin', babe."God!"Now you're being sweet," I accused, my voice wobbly."Used to it yet?""No.""You got a lifetime to get there too."Seriously.I could take no more."Shut up.""I will, you kiss me.""Rush and/or Tabby might be here any minute.""I didn't tell you to go down on me.”

“(...)The ride is not over but if I can keep my Club together and find a sweet, feisty woman who's got my back and enough to her that she'll stay there, holding me up not dragging me down, I figure I'd find my way to beauty eventually. And I'd find absolution because I'd know, I earned the love of that woman, a woman who's got so much to her it'll take years to dig down and find the heart of her, that would be my reward."Ohmigod.Ohmigod!Ohmigod!Did he just say that?Did. He. Just. Say that?"And you told me," Tack continued, his face coming closer, "I had that when I first met you.”

“You have no clue," he whispered."No clue about what?" I whispered back."What you handed me last night."I took in a deep breath and asked softly, "What did I hand you, honey?""What's lyin' in that bed."That was when I stopped breathing."I claimed it," he went on. "But last night you gave it to me. Gift's given, no takin' it back. You get that, Tyra?""I think so," I whispered."Get that, baby, it's important.”

“We've hit the hot guy motherlode.”

“Silence then, "Are you smashed?""Completely and totally.""What are you wearing?""Who cares?""I do.""Why?""'Cause you're smashed, you been with your girls, you somehow got riled up about somethin' and once I settle you down about whatever's aggravating you, I'm gonna rile you up a different way.”

“Not liking that," I clipped and his brows went up again."Are you shittin' me?""No!" I cried. "I deserve to be wooed!""Right, then I'll amend my statement. I'll woo you by gettin' you off as many times as I can with my mouth, fingers and cock, cookin' for you when I have time, not firin' your ass when you fuck shit up, which is often, and puttin' up with your bullshit. Bullshit like now when you're playin' even more games because you know I like it when you also know what you really wanna do is kiss me.""Actually, handsome, I don't want to kiss you. I want to kick you."His smile came back. "Bullshit games.”

“Tack grinned."You know," I started, "it's annoying when you grin all know-it-all.""This isn't my know-it-all grin, Red. This is my I'm gonna get me some later grin."I felt a couple of quivers that were on the high end of pleasant scale.Still, I shared. "That's even more annoying.""Don't know why since me gettin' some means you're gonna get some.”

“But you know what else never happened to me?""Tell me," he ordered, still...freaking...grinning."Seeing him just a day later in a clinch with a brunette.""You knew me, you'd know she didn't have staying power and you'd know you do.""And how's that?" I snapped."She's dark, you're red. I'll fuck dark, I'll fuck sun but only red has staying power. Considered sun once. Lost her. Now it's you.”

“Truth, honesty, perseverance, strength, love of all kinds and forgiveness are all beautiful, Tack. The most beautiful stories ever told are the most difficult to take.”

“Day in, day out, you peel the layers back for me. Smart mouth, funny, sweet, wild in bed. Chattin' with bikers like they were insurance brokers. Holdin' my girl's hand, givin' her strength when her Mom's bein' a bitch. Keepin' your chin up when your people show in the middle of a full blown drama. But so fuckin' vulnerable, you're scared shitless of livin' life.""You don't know me, Tack."His head came up and his eyes pierced mine. "I know you, Tyra.""You don't.""Life's a roller coaster. Best damn ride in the park. You don't close your eyes, hold on and wait for it to be over, babe. You keep your eyes open, lift your hands straight up in the air and enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts.”

“you don't know this, baby, but some men have dream women too"Tack-Motorcyle Man”

“It was a shit time for you, the worst, but you were there and you saw 'em doin' it. They crawled into this same fuckin' bed with me, so did you, and when you did, you all became mine.”

“They say, if you care about something, you have to set it free and if it comes back to you, it was meant to be.""They're full of shit."Obviously, I failed spectacularly at being philosophical.”

“I'm protecting what's mine." ..."I'm not yours," I said. "You're welcome to think that but it doesn't change the fact that you are.”

“I'm going to take a shower. You're going to be good, try not to be sexy or freak me out or anything like that. I've got to concentrate, preparing for a formal party is serious business. I don't need distractions." His eyes went half-mast and his half-grin appeared. "You're doing it!"I accused. His eyebrows went up. I shook my head. "Never mind". Then I stomped to the shower.”

“She can't wear that dress! It's indecent. Her ass is hangin' out."..."Son, take my advice, you gotta get this girl in hand. You can't let her run around with her ass hangin' out. You allow it once, she'll do it again. Trust me, I know.”

“Son, let me tell you something. Even if you don't care, pretend you do. Honestly, it's the best way to go," Dad, the voice of experience, decided to wade in. "She talks about toss pillows. You don't care about toss pillows. You don't even know what toss pillows are. Pretend that toss pillows are your highest priority in life.”

“and then..."It was like Fortnums was For Gorgeous People Only. They needed a sign so normal people wouldn't wander in unwittingly and develop immediate inferiority complexes.”

“It looked like GQ was having a convention and all the best looking guys had decided to have a coffee at Fortnum's before going to seminars on how to cope with being really, unbelivably, fucking gorgeous”

“Sometimes home wasn't where you grew up. Home was where you were meant to be.”

“Are you here to freak me out in any other way?""Nope.""This would include asking me for a date," I warned."Babe, don't date," he replied."You don't?""Do tequila shots followed by 5 hours of sex count as a date? he asked."Um... no," I answered."Then I don't date."I smiled at him.Then, stupidly, I asked. "You can have sex for 5 hours?"He smiled at me.Yikes.Moving on.”

“You're bossy, arrogant, intrusive, annoying... " His minor grin amplified. See! Totally unrepentant..."Do I have anything going for me?""... you can be sweet, you're a cuddler, and you carried me out of a burning building...""I'm a cuddler?""You spoon."His brows went up. "That's important enough to be on your list?""Uh... yeah."[He's grinning] "Fuckin' ridiculous what women think is important.”

“Babe, wacthing you these past months has been like watching a flower bloom. Don't disappoint us.”

“Stay away from Marcus. He's f**kin' bad news with a capital F**k.”

“F**k!" he exploded, chocolate and caramel flying out of his mouth. My heart seized. He looked like he was going to have a chocolate-caramel-layer-square-induced heart attack. ..."These are unbe-f**king-lievable. I think I've finally fallen in love, with a f**kin' brownie!”

“I do this thing for Rosie, you sleep with me"I stared at him, open-mouthed and in stunned silence. I did, of course, understand what he meant but he explained further. "Not like last night, we'll both be naked and sexual acts will be performed."My expression didn't change except maybe my mouth opened wider."I'll expect your participation."Holly shit."Your avid participation."Dear Lord in Heaven. Eventually, I whispered, "You must be joking."He shook his head and watched me.I dropped my eyes, unable to hold his stqare."I think I need more coffee," I told his throat.”

“Okay,” I started, “perhaps at this juncture we should discuss ourrelationship.”“Clue in again, Gwen, the reason our relationship is the way it is, isso I don’t ever have to waste my fuckin’ time doin’ stupid-ass shitlike discussing it.”Oh boy. Now I was getting really angry.”

“About five seconds after I left you today, things between you andme, they changed,” he informed me in a quiet voice.I felt my brows draw together as my mind processed the fact thatthis was not good.“Changed?” I asked. “How?”“You got attitude, the kind I like. So I decided I’m gonna ride thatattitude wave of yours, see how things work out.”

“I'm payin' and if you even open your mouth to argue with me, I'm gonna be forced to find a way to stop you speaking, and the way I'll pick means Billy's gonna get an eyeful of exactly the kind of friend I intend to be.”

“That's another thing that doesn't turn me off, sweetheart, knowin' that you come with those kids and you need to know that. You also need to know I want kids of my own, two of them. But I don't care, if this works out between me and you, that the kids we have will have an older brother and sister that don't have my blood, just my heart.”

“I love you, Bud," he whispered to Billy and two more tears escaped."I love you too, Mitch," Billy whispered back, my breath hitched and both males' eyes came to me.I waved my wineglass at them and murmured, "Don't mind me. Have your moment."Mitch leaned back, letting Billy go and grinning at me. "Men don't have moments.""You do," I returned. "I'm witnessing one.""This isn't a moment, honey, it's a meeting of the minds," Mitch contradicted me.”

“What I mean is, I didn't fall in love with you all as a whole. I fell in love with each of you because of who you are. I don't care about you because you come with Mara. I care about you because you're a good kid. You're smart. You're loyal. And you love and look out for your sister and Mara. I know grown men who do not have a character as fine as yours. Those are the reasons I love you. There are different reasons I love Billie. And there are different reasons I love Mara. Today, what we had together was good. But the feelings I feel for you aren't feelings I have to have in order to have Mara. They're feelings you earned. Now, you with me?”

“Best thing that ever happened to me, that shredded washer," he whispered."Too bad I didn't know what a washer was or I would have shredded it myself," I whispered back and he burst out laughing.”

“You're Mara, you're sweet, you're beautiful and I will not forget until the day I die how beautiful it felt to slide inside you with you wrapped around me, see your eyes get wet and know straight in my gut that you felt how beautiful it was too.”

“Let's see if I can tear that cocoon wide open and let my Mara fly.”