Burn (Breathless #3)(9)

“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 br**sts, 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 f**k 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 f**ked 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 f**k 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.