Free Murphy's Law by Lori Foster Page B

pressing against the tank tops, and she slapped her hands over herself again. “That’s your fault!”
    â€œI know.” God, but he enjoyed talking with her, even when the subject was absurd. He nodded at her breasts. “They want me to touch them.”
    Her mouth opened, then closed again and she laughed. “They do, huh? Well, I’m running this ship, not my unruly hormones, and I say no touching right now.”
    â€œAll right.” He snuggled her closer to kiss her cheek. “I’ll wait. But not for too long.”
    â€œOkay then.” Hands still cupping herself, she walked around him to his desk. Keeping her back to him, she tore a sheet of paper off a note pad and picked up his gold pen to do some fast writing. When she faced him again, she had one arm shielding herself. “Here’s my address.”
    â€œThank you.”
    She hesitated. “I need to get back to work, but…”
    â€œYes?”
    â€œThe stupid dress I have to wear.”
    â€œWhat about it?”
    â€œMay picked it out. I didn’t. The thing is, it’s made for someone like her, not someone like me.”
    After indulging a few odd conversations with her, he finally felt qualified to decipher her meanings. “For someone with a larger bust?”
    â€œYeah. It sort of goes along with her wedding gown. But it looks pretty lame on me.”
    â€œI’m sure you’ll be beautiful.”
    She rolled her eyes. “You are so doomed for disappointment if you believe that. I just wanted to warn you.” She started to head out of his office.
    â€œAshley?”
    â€œHmmm?” She looked over her shoulder at him.
    â€œIf you really dislike the dress so much, why didn’t you just tell May?”
    â€œBecause she loved the design, and I didn’t want to disappoint her.”
    â€œYou say she’s a good friend, so I’m sure she would have understood.”
    Ashley stared at him for a long moment, then shrugged. “One time, I think it was eighth grade, a class bully kept ridiculing me. He called me Patches, and Pigpen, and no matter how I tried to ignore him, he wouldn’t stop. I was close to losing it. I mean, I was this close”—she held up a finger and thumb, a half inch apart—“to crying. And I’d have rather died than cry in front of him.”
    Something clenched in Quinton’s chest, causing a pain he’d never felt before. Ashley was so brash, so seemingly confident in all situations, that he hated to think of her as a young needy girl, tormented by a bully.
    â€œI hope you kicked him in the crotch.”
    She smiled and shook her head. “No. I didn’t even need to. May jumped him.”
    â€œShe chewed him out?”
    â€œNo, I mean she literally leaped onto his back like a monkey. She knotted her hands in his hair and damn near yanked him bald. They both fell to the ground and he got a broken wrist. By the time the teacher pulled May off him, he was the one in tears.”
    Quinton saw so much emotion in her eyes. He hadn’t yet met May, but he already liked her. A lot. “I’m glad she showed him the error of his ways.”
    â€œYeah. May did that a lot, came to my defense and protected me, until I toughened up enough to defend myself. It was funny when she did it, because May has always been a very proper woman. She never curses or causes a scene. But for me, she’d do whatever it took. She’s the most loyal person I know. I’d end up laughing, and she’d start laughing, and I’ve loved her more than a sister ever since.”
    And so she’d wear a dress she didn’t like, a dress that made her uncomfortable, because in some small way, May had saved her back then. “I see.”
    â€œI figured you would.” She shook off the excess sentiment and returned to her old self. “So no ogling me in the damn dress, and if you dare to laugh, I’ll