The Kiss That Launched 1,000 Gifs (19 page)

The red wine ice cream was back on the coffee table.

“So it’s speak-freely time,” Esme said, dipping her spoon into the spice. “Was that kiss as good as it looked?”

Grace groaned and rested her head in her hands. “It was bad, Esme.”

The spoon stopped half way to Esme’s mouth. “Bad?”

Grace shook her head. “No, it was so good that it was bad. Does that make sense?”

“Mmmm. That makes total sense,” she said, finishing her bite.

“Not to be gross, but I’m pretty sure my ovaries dropped an egg at some point during those 43 seconds. I have seriously never been kissed like that before.”

Esme choked on her ice cream for a moment as she started to laugh. “Wow. Is that why you didn’t make eye contact with him for the rest of the night?”

“I claim self defense,” Grace said, holding up her hands in surrender before she looked at her friend and let out a resigned sigh. “What am I going to do, Esme?”

“Well, it all seems pretty clear to me,” she said, setting her spoon down. “He
clearly
likes you. You’re both single. What’s stopping you from running to his place right now and telling him you want to figure out whatever it is that you two have with each other?”

Grace shook her head. “I can’t date him.”

“No?” Esme said, eyebrow arched high. “And please illuminate me on your logic behind this radical conclusion.”

“It’s too soon after Phillip,” Grace blurted. “He would be a rebound.”

Esme nodded sagely. “And you don’t want him to be a rebound?”

“No… he’s just a player. He dates women, then tosses them to the side.”

“Which means he’s a great guy to rebound with.”

“No,” Grace muttered, resting her head in her hands again. “You don’t get it.”

“You’re right. I don’t. If a man kissed me like that, I would not be inviting you over to my place for ice cream later that night. I’d be with him.”

Grace groaned and fell sideways on the couch.

Esme studied her. “You want to know what I think your problem is?”

“What?”

“You like to be in control,” Esme said. “And you have no control over how much you like this guy.”

Grace let out a grunt that was basically an admittance of guilt.

“Ash is nothing like the man you’ve always imagined for yourself… a politician… a senator. Someone with a law degree, refined tastes, and a desire to make the world a better place. A smart man in a sharp suit. That’s always been your type. Then comes along some predictably hot jock whose laid-back approach to life embodies all the things you think are wrong with the world, and your knees buckle. You hate liking him because you think it’s so… expected.”

“Exactly!” Grace said, so glad her friend knew her better than she knew herself. “He’s just a hot guy with a hot body. It’s only human to be attracted to him, but I still want more!”

“Like what?”

“Like… a man who wants to do things that matter!”

“Oh, like volunteer to raise $43,000 for charity?” Esme said.

Grace rolled her eyes. “I’m being serious here.”

“Me, too!” Esme said, leaning forward. “Maybe it wasn’t a black tie event tonight, but Ash still stepped up when asked, and he did it with a smile. And we both know he would have done the same thing no matter what the two of you had been asked to do tonight. Dunk tank? Karaoke? Anything. He would have done it.”

Grace sighed. “You’re not getting it.”

“No,” Esme said, capping the ice cream. “I think I get what’s going on really well. I think you’re the one who’s confused.”

Grace aimed a pout at her friend. “You’re supposed to be helping here.”

“I am.” Esme reached over and placed her hand on Grace’s. “I like him, Grace. And when I say that, what I’m really saying is that I like you around him. I like that he knows how to push your buttons and that he gets you to push back. He gets you to smile, and that’s something Phillip rarely did. He was too busy critiquing you all the time.”

“Phillip was helping me,” Grace countered.

“He was grading you,” Esme said. “All the time. And the part of you that never feels like you’re good enough ate it up with a spoon.”

“That’s not how it was,” Grace said, fighting back anger. “Phillip’s a great guy.”

“Maybe,” Esme said, reaching for her clutch. “But he wasn’t great for you, Grace. The two of you looked like a magazine ad together, but you were always tense. You’re not that way with Ash, and I like that. I just think you’re worried that he’ll break your heart if you give him a shot at it.”

“Which is not a totally irrational thing to think, given that he’s never
not
broken a girl’s heart after dating her.”

“Maybe,” Esme said with a shrug. “Every relationship takes two, Grace. So if you’re scared to date Ashton Miller, then fine. But I’m not going to sit here and tell you that you’re somehow right and he’s somehow wrong.” She stood. “I think it’s pretty clear that he would ask you out if you gave him even half of a green light. I say, go for it.” She took a step closer and squeezed Grace’s shoulder. “But it’s up to you. This is your life. You decide who gets to be a part of it.”

Grace reached up and covered Esme’s hand with her own. “You’re leaving?”

Esme nodded. “I think you need some alone time. Plus, your bedtime is in like fifteen minutes. You should probably try to give that a go so you’re running on all cylinders tomorrow.”

“Probably,” Grace said, giving Esme’s hand a squeeze. “Thanks for having my back tonight.”

“Anytime.”

Grace walked into work the next day with sweaty palms. Esme’s words the night before had swayed her. Grace was going to give Ash the green light to ask her out. Or, at least, that’s what she had been planning to do until the moment she saw Emily leaning across Ash’s desk and pointing to something on his phone.

Seriously? Did the flirtation never stop? And did Grace really want to be with a man who attracted other woman so thoughtlessly?

No. She didn’t.

In the space of a heartbeat, Grace’s tentative green light switched into a hard red, and she found an excuse to step away from her desk.

If Esme were standing next to Grace in that moment, she would have seen the problem too. Yes, Grace wanted Ash for herself, but so did every other woman on the block. It would be an endless competition for his attention, and there was no way Grace wanted a relationship like that.

Emily could have Ash for the whole two weeks the relationship would last before Ash ejected and moved on.

Grace needed to steer clear and be safe around Ash. That was all.

Grace avoided her desk most of the day, but made her way to the sound booth at her usual time: 1:45. Part of her worried that Ash would break form and meet her there to try to talk again, but he didn’t. Per usual, he waited until the last second to plop into his seat. He was late on purpose, Grace finally realized. He intentionally came in every day at the last minute, not because he had poor time management but because he had great time management. In a way, Ash was extremely punctual.

When he took his seat across from her, he didn’t smile or make any jabs. He just waited until the intro music played through before picking up his stress squeezer and leaning in start the show.

After all, it was an odd day.

“I’d like to welcome you all to a very unique episode of The Battle of the Sexes,” he said, his voice sounding chipper—playful, even. But his tone certainly didn’t match the look in his eyes. “This is the episode where every one of you knows that Grace and I made out last night, but we’re all going to try to pretend like it didn’t happen and get back to business as usual. I’m your host for this special edition, Ashton Miller, and with me today is the woman who probably missed watching the nightly news for the first time in her life last night; my sugar-lipped cohost, Grace Vasquez.”

Grace let out a laugh she hoped sounded real. “And did you watch the news last night, Ash?”

“It’s still on my DVR,” he said. “I’ll get to it.”

“I’ll bet,” she laughed.

“You could always come over and watch it with me on the couch,” he teased, even though his eyes stayed cold. “I’ll put the thermostat up to 68 just for you.”

“Sounds freezing.”

“Oh, I think you’ll be warm enough.”

Grace forced out a laugh as she tried to get a read on Ash. This wasn’t the happy-go-lucky guy she was used to dealing with, day-in and day-out. He was saying all the right words, but he was suddenly very cold. She didn’t like it.

“But first things first,” Ash said, before her non-answer could become awkward. “I bet you have the same question in your inbox that I do: Was that kiss as good as it looked last night?”

“I don’t know,” Grace said. “I haven’t watched it yet.”

“Me neither,” he admitted. “Why do you think that is?”

He was expecting her to lie or say something evasive. Grace could see it in Ash’s eye and it irked, so she decided two could play hardball.

“Because I haven’t bounced back from the real deal yet, and we need to work together,” she said, looking Ash right in the eye. “I don’t know how the kiss looked, but I can tell you the real deal was probably way better. At least that’s my excuse for not watching it. What’s yours, Ash?”

Ball’s in your court, Ice Prince.

“Same,” he said, sounding peppy. “It was great kissing you.”

Her heart hammered at the words, both happy to hear them and shocked that he would say them.

“I won’t lie and say it wasn’t on my bucket list. It totally was,” he added with a wink that was more for the webcam than it was for her. “But I also think it’s important not to blow something a coworker did for charity out of proportion. So while I am happy to report that you are indeed a great kisser, it’s probably best for me not to watch that kiss on a loop.”

It was weird how such nice words felt like such a hard slap, but Grace tried to keep the ball rolling. “So how do we answer our listeners then? Was it as good as it looked?”

He shrugged. “I’m fine with your answer that it was better than it looked. Works for me.”

“Final answer?”

He grinned, the ice almost melting from his eyes. “Final answer. Now, tell me, what else is on our docket today? What topic is at the top of the queue?”

Grace glanced at her monitor and cleared her throat. “Well, the most up-voted question of the day is:
Was there tongue?
”

Ash laughed. “Well, I wasn’t planning on it, but then Grace—”

“Me?” she objected.

“Yes, you!”

Had she? Grace honestly couldn’t remember. It was like trying to remember a car accident. Everything seemed to happen at once, outside of time.

“Okay,” she agreed. “Maybe me.”

“Totally you,” he teased. “I had every intention of being a gentleman.”

“And you were.”

“Thank you,” he said with a bit of a huff. “Given the circumstances, I think I gave it a Grade-A effort.”

“Well, I definitely give you an A on that dip you did at the end,” she said, still watching his eyes for signs of defrost. “That was a legit dancing dip. Great form.”

“Ah, now you’re just sucking up.”

“Not at all,” she said. “You can add that to your list of moves you’ve got down.”

“Sure,” he said, eyes all ice again even as he somehow kept his voice playful. “I’ll whip it out on my next date. I’m sure she’ll love it.”

Now that was just passive aggressive. It was also the moment Grace realized they had to get off the topic of the kiss, and quickly.

“You have my personal guarantee on that,” she said, buying time as she glanced down the list of topics until she hit #13. “Which ties in to one of our other hot topics for the day:
Why do men think partner dancing is gay?
”

Ash nodded his head thoughtfully. “That is a good question.”

“And one you’ll have to take the lead on,” Grace said with a smile. “In my culture, all the men dance—and dance well. I think dancing with a woman is one of the straightest things a man can do.”