Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70180 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70180 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
I didn’t know if that made me weak. If it did, then Ash Talmadge made me weak. I wasn’t going to settle for less from him this time. I’d meant it when I said it was our last chance.
But Ash didn’t ask me out. He just grabbed the bill and paid before I could reach for it. A knowing smirk on his too-pretty lips.
Then, he held his hand out and asked, “Leopold’s?”
A man after my heart. Ice cream was always the answer.
5
Savannah
Present
“I’ll take two scoops of the chocolate chip, and she’ll have scoops of butter pecan and pistachio, both in a cone,” Ash ordered for the both of us before I could even open my mouth.
“Coming right up.”
“I can order for myself,” I told him.
He smirked. “But you always get the same thing. You have since we were kids.”
“Not true. I went through a strawberry phase.”
“That was one summer,” he reminded me. “And I think it was just to prove Derek wrong.”
I rolled my eyes at him. It had actually been to prove Derek wrong. “Whatever.”
We took our cones, and Ash went to pay.
I tried to scoot around him. “You got lunch!”
He didn’t budge and tapped his credit card. “So?”
“I can pay for things too.”
“You are capable of that, yes, but not when you’re with me.”
“Just because you’re a Talmadge and have more money than God doesn’t mean that I can’t buy us ice cream.”
He pocketed his wallet and gave me the same smile that had made my knees weak since I’d been fifteen. “Yes, it does.”
There was no point in arguing. I’d never paid for a thing around him. My family had nearly as much money as the Talmadges, and my boutique was doing wonderful, but there was no way I made close to what he did. Not yet at least.
“You’re an ass,” I muttered under my breath as I took the first lick of my cone.
Ash laughed softly. He’d clearly heard me. “Who knew chivalry was dead?”
I rolled my eyes at him, and suddenly, everything felt totally normal again. “I’d say, most people, considering it was a knight’s code of conduct in medieval times. All about honor and justice, are you?”
“Modern terms of chivalry,” he corrected.
“Like stepping in at my debutante ball?”
Ash’s eyes softened at the edges. “Indeed.”
I knew what he’d meant, but it was fun to mess with him. In fact, as we took our seats under the Spanish moss in Reynolds Square, I realized just how much I’d missed Ash. Things had gotten turned upside down, but underneath it all was the friendship I’d had with him my whole life. Even when I’d been too young and he’d only seen me as an annoying little sister. Even when things had changed between us that time at Miss Georgia. Even much later … when we’d said things we couldn’t take back. I wished there were a way that we could hold on to this part of our relationship without reminding me of everything else. But I didn’t know if that was possible.
“So, how did your meeting go?” Ash asked after I was quiet for too long.
“Oh,” I muttered.
And then there was that. The part that he didn’t know.
“It went well.”
“What was it about anyway?”
I bit my lip and then decided to just get it over with. It wasn’t like us getting lunch or ice cream was going to derail my plans.
“I’m looking at opening another boutique.”
His eyes shifted to mine. Blue meeting blue. The world skittered to a halt in that one look. Confusion in them, followed by pride. “That’s incredible. Who did you meet with?”
The question was so innocuous. Or it would have been if Ash hadn’t been the person to help me get the property for my store on Broughton. He’d been with me the entire time. If I wanted to open another location in Savannah, I would go to him.
I swallowed and met his gaze again. “Holden Holdings.”
Ash froze in place. “In Charleston?”
“Yes.”
He opened his mouth and closed it. Of course he knew who Holden Holdings was. It was one of the most prominent companies on the southeastern coast, and he’d gone to college with the CEO, Nolan Holden. Ash had introduced us.
Finally, he asked, “Are you … planning to run it from here?”
“No,” I whispered.
A flash of panic shot across his features.
I continued speaking before I could stop myself. “I was planning to move to Charleston. Marina said I could stay with her while I got situated. Mom offered too, but I loved the idea of living with Marina.”
“You could open another store here,” he said. “There’s plenty of space.”
“I’ve thought about it, but I don’t think the clientele is there.” When he didn’t say anything, I rushed forward. “Eventually, I’d like to open a store all up and down the coast—Hilton Head, Wilmington, Myrtle Beach, Jacksonville. And maybe if that did well, I could start doing college towns—Athens, Columbia, Chapel Hill.”