CHAPTER FOUR
Brenna caught Gemma narrowing her eyes at her as she walked back to the stove.
“Sneaky,” Gemma whispered. “Have you been planning that for days?”
Brenna grinned as she checked her simmering dish. “No. I saw an opportunity and jumped on it.”
That Ash had caved in to her made her happy. It meant he was affected by her little flirtation, right? She hoped so.
It had been so long since she’d spent time with Ash outside of group get-togethers, so she was thrilled that she was going to see him almost every day for two weeks without his sister and the rest of their friends hanging around.
She smiled at herself, now fully accepting her feelings for Ash.
Ash being a brother figure had been comfortable and familiar, and she’d been scared of letting that go. But things had changed. The fact that her friends—especially Amanda—weren’t against the thought of her and Ash together was giving her the courage to face her feelings and act on them.
Since that day at Bondi Beach, Ash was all she could think of, and she couldn’t seem to stop herself. Even her tug-an-earlobe ritual had lost its potency. She’d literally had dreams about him almost every night—some of them were so vivid she still blushed every time she recalled those hot dreams where she’d run her hands and tongue on that sexy body of his. She’d been daydreaming about him throughout the day, too! How crazy was that? More than one workmate had commented she’d been off the planet lately. And now here she was, volunteering to use her annual leave days to help out in his clinic for two weeks.
Yeah. She’d gone bonkers for sure. One minute, she was lamenting how her relationship with Lance was going nowhere, then the next minute she was being swept away by intense feelings for Ash. It excited and frightened her in equal measure.
She’d toyed with the idea of straight up asking him out on a date. After all, wasn’t her New Year’s resolution to make the first move? But every time she’d played different scenarios in her head on how to approach him, an image of Ash walking away always inserted itself—just like he had at Amanda and Connor’s when he’d left early... to be with Sophie.
“That looks ready, doesn’t it?” Tracy said over her shoulder.
Brenna jumped, her face heating up. She was mindlessly stirring the pot, not paying attention to her cooking. “Yeah. I’ll serve it up now.” She switched off the stove and got a serving dish from a cupboard.
“It’s such a pity Bec and Sarah couldn’t join us tonight with their men,” Tracy said. “The one thing that marred my overseas trip was the fact that I missed Bec’s wedding. If only I hadn’t booked and paid for my trip before Bec announced the wedding date...”
“Bec understands, Mum,” Amanda said. “And I have plenty of photos on my iPad that you can have a look at tonight. Their official wedding shots won’t be available for a while.”
“Oh, I’m looking forward to seeing them,” Tracy replied. “Can we start looking through them during dinner? Those photos which made it to the magazines were beautiful. I know they were paparazzi shots, but I’m so proud to see you guys in one of them. Unfortunately Ash wasn’t in it.”
“I know,” Ash said with feigned disappointment. “I missed my five minutes of fame by not sticking close to the famous and powerful Carmichael brothers while the paparazzi were clicking away.”
“Let me get my iPad,” Tracy said. “My pictures from my trip are all in there too.”
The rest of them set the table while they waited for Tracy.
“You know, Ash, you’ll get another chance at fame when Sarah and Jeff get married,” Amanda said. “Those guys are following Bec and Zach’s lead of not worrying about whoever’s taking pictures during their wedding. They’d rather have their wedding photos make it to the front page of the gossip rags than have some outrageous story about them appear instead.”
“Did you read the one where they suggested that Gemma is Greg’s new flame?” Brenna asked.
“Really?” Ash said. “Which magazine? I haven’t seen that.”
Gemma chuckled. “It was only because Greg was my partner groomsman, so they got a shot of us walking together. You know how they speculate that every woman seen hanging on Greg’s arm is someone he’s supposedly sleeping with? At least I was all dolled up in a pretty bridesmaid’s dress when I had one of my pictures make it into a magazine.”
“Do you want paparazzi at our wedding too, babe?” Connor teased Amanda.
“As if they’d be interested in us,” Amanda said. “We’re not that famous, honey.”
“Don’t forget that Zach, Jeff and Greg will be my groomsmen, along with Ash and my brother. The cameras will be going off for sure.”
“Oh, there you go, Ash!” Brenna said. “You’ll be assured of some paparazzi love then.”
“Yeah,” Ash said dryly. “I’m sure all the write-up will be about this good-looking man standing next to the Carmichaels and the groom.”
“And they’d probably write that you’re sleeping with your partner bridesmaid,” Gemma quipped.
Brenna almost dropped the dish she was carrying to the dining table at Gemma’s comment. Brenna was going to be Ash’s partner bridesmaid at Amanda and Connor’s wedding. She glanced at her super-cheeky friend, who simply smiled at her innocently.
“We’re nobodies. No one would want to write fake stories about us,” Ash said.
“Well, I think if someone’s going to write something about you and me, Ash, I’d prefer the ‘we’re sleeping together’ version,” Brenna said breezily, her heart hammering at her audacity.
“You would?” Ash asked, looking shocked.
She smiled. “That would make for interesting reading, don’t you think?”
Ash frowned. “Not if it’s read by the people we’re really sleeping with.”
Her smile disappeared. “True,” she replied.
“Wouldn’t you care if Lance read it?” Ash asked.
“It would be none of my business how he reacts to something like that. We’ve broken up.”
“What? When?”
“Last week.”
Brenna turned her back to fiddle with the cutlery, her chest tightening. From Ash’s comment, it would appear he cared a lot about Sophie to worry about what she might think. Wow. That hurt.
*****
Brenna spent dinner trying to look unconcerned and happy. But jealousy had overshadowed her earlier excitement about working at Ash’s clinic.
She’d made certain plans for tonight concerning Ash. She’d been so looking forward to implementing them. But now she wasn’t sure if she should go through with them without knowing how things really were between him and Sophie.
She was bursting to know the truth, but she wasn’t sure how to ask him. Besides, Ash would most likely not say anything in front of Tracy. She knew Ash didn’t like his mother knowing about the women he dated because Tracy always got too hopeful. Ash didn’t want the pressure.
“Mum, why don’t you and the guys chat in the living room?” Amanda said to Tracy. “The three of us will clean up here. We’ll bring dessert and drinks out there when we’re done.”
When Brenna was alone with Amanda and Gemma, Amanda put a hand on her arm.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said with a bright smile.
“You were too quiet over dinner,” Amanda said. “I’m worried about you.”
“Why?”
Amanda let out a huge sigh. “Because now that you’re open to a relationship with Ash, he seems to be...”
“Getting more interested in Sophie?” Brenna asked softly. “Yes, it seems that way, doesn’t it?”
Gemma glanced at her with an equally concerned look as she quietly wiped the bench top clean.
“Hey, you girls shouldn’t worry about me,” Brenna said, forcing levity in her tone. “I’ll be okay. It’s only a crush anyway. I’ll live.”
Hell, ‘crush’ was an understatement, but she didn’t want her best friends to worry. The way she’d been feeling lately, it couldn’t be a mere crush. She had no idea how it was possible that her feelings for Ash had suddenly exploded. And she didn’t know how to stem the flow.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Amanda asked, peering at her dubiously. “And do you still want to work at his clinic? You can still change your mind, you know.”
Brenna stacked the dishwasher, giving herself some time to think about Amanda’s questions. “Yes, I still want to work at his clinic,” she said after a long moment. “I don’t want him to stress out. He’s worked too hard to get the clinic in tip-top shape, and we all know he’d be worrying about receptionist problems constantly. Besides, I’ve already said I’d do it.”
“Oh, Bren,” Amanda murmured while Gemma exhaled loudly.
Brenna smiled at them. “Plus, I still plan to figure out how he feels about Sophie—and me. I won’t be able to let go of this until I know the truth. And if it turns out that he’s over me and it’s Sophie he now wants...” She bit her lip, preferring not to go there if that was what she would discover. But it was too late to shut everything off. She simply had to know.
*****
“Who’s this man, Bren?” Tracy asked, pointing at someone on Amanda’s iPad while they had some sticky date pudding in the living room.
Brenna leaned over to look. “Oh, that’s Lance, the guy who accompanied me to the wedding.”
Tracy raised her eyebrows. “Accompanied you?”
“Well, I was going out with him at the time. We’ve broken up now.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, Auntie,” she said hastily. “The relationship wasn’t going anywhere anyway.”
“But you took him to the wedding?”
“Yeah,” Brenna said, making a face. “I thought it was a good idea at the time.”
“And you’re okay?”
“Yeah.” She did feel guilty about hurting Lance. She’d never seen him more emotional than when he was begging her to reconsider. When he’d asked if her decision involved a third party, she’d been honest and said yes. She didn’t want him to hope for a reconciliation.
“You gave me the impression you two were heading towards serious territory, Bren,” Ash said, making her heart jump. “I must say I’m very surprised that you guys have split up.”
She looked him straight in the eye. “You might not have dunked me in the water at Bondi, Ash. But you sure woke me up.”
“Woke you up to what?”
“That Lance is not the man for me.”
Ash’s stare made her heart do flip-flops. “Well, that’s good then,” he said.
Tracy patted Brenna’s lap, forcing her to look away from Ash. “Well, darling, I’m sure you’ll find Mr. Right eventually. It’s only a matter of time. But you have to keep your eyes open.”
Brenna chuckled. “Amanda said something similar to me not long ago.”
Amanda nodded. “Yeah, I remember saying it to you. Mum used to tell it to me a lot. Darling, don’t worry,” Amanda said, impersonating her mother. “Your Mr. Right is out there. But you must keep your eyes open. Really open.”
“Well, I was right, wasn’t I?” Tracy asked, sending Connor a fond smile.
“Yes, you were, Mum,” Amanda said, leaning closer to Connor, who put his arm around Amanda’s shoulders and kissed her hair.
“So Ash,” Tracy said, turning her attention to her son. “When are we going to meet Sophie?”
Brenna’s heart stopped. What? Ash had told Tracy about Sophie? Why?
“I’m not sure, Mum,” Ash murmured.
“You know, Ashton, just because you introduce a girl to me doesn’t mean I think you’re going to marry her,” Tracy said. “All I want is to meet the woman you’re dating, that’s all. I’ve never met any one of them before.”
Ash snorted. “Are you saying you’re not gonna be all over her and start imagining my wedding in your head?”
“I promise I won’t be over the top when I meet her. So would you invite her to our next dinner?”
Ash shrugged. “I’ll think about it.”
“Okay, at least that’s progress,” Tracy said with an exaggerated sigh.
“Patience, Mum,” Ash said, rolling his eyes.
Brenna grew more despondent. This night wasn’t turning out the way she’d hoped it would... until she saw Ash’s eyes dart in her direction, then he hastily looked away when he saw her staring at him.
Hm. Was it her imagination or was there something in his glance? She couldn’t exactly describe what it was, and honestly, it could only be wishful thinking on her part. But she was happy to grasp at anything that indicated Ash was still affected by her, so she’d go with her guess that Ash was worried she’d heard the little conversation he had with his mother.
On the strength of that brief peep, she resolved to go ahead with her plans. Since she’d be helping out at his clinic, she’d have plenty of opportunities to put them in action, so there was no urgency tonight. It was perfect, actually, because she could flirt with Ash without his mother or her friends seeing it. And if his response was what she was hoping for, then she’d take the next step—seduction.