Settling Ashes: A New Adult/College Romance (The Ashes Series Book 2) by Diana Gardin

don’t want to talk about him,” I said in a strained voice. “Tonight is about us. We will talk about him, Paige. Just not tonight. Okay?”
    “Okay,” she said softly. She reached out to smooth the back of her hand against my cheek, and her touch did a hell of a lot to calm me down. I almost forgot about Beau and what I’d seen when I came in. Almost.
    I needed to fix that. I reached out for her, and she came willingly. I pressed my lips against hers, walking her backward until she reached the wall by the bar. I pressed her up against it, covering her mouth with mine and pushing against her lips with my tongue. When she opened up for me, I plunged inside, savoring the moist tenderness her mouth always offered. I kissed her long and hard, not taking a second of this feeling, of her , for granted. When I pulled back for breath, she looked at me with wide eyes.
    “That was how I wanted to say hello to you tonight,” I said fiercely.
    “Oh,” she breathed. “Hello.”
    “Let’s go.”
    “Where are we going?” she asked breathlessly as I towed her to the door.
    “I have something planned for you tonight that should have been our first night together. Let’s pretend that’s tonight, okay?”
    “Okay,” she answered, taking my hand as we wound down the icy sidewalk toward my car.
    I opened the door for her and helped her in, then walked around to my side of the car and climbed in.
    “You look really amazing tonight, Clay,” she said, eyeing me as I slid into my seat and started the engine.
    “Yeah?” I asked, smiling. I looked down at my outfit. Black slacks and loafers, red fitted dress shirt, skinny black tie. Paige was worth dressing up for. “Thanks.”
    “Yes,” she said. “You’re going to be very hard to resist if we’re doing anything other than heading to your apartment and closing your bedroom door behind us.”
    “Is that right?” I asked, lifting a bow. I pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward my surprise. I was pulling out all the stops for Paige tonight. An entire night of just us, alone and together. It was long overdue, and I had to take advantage of four years worth of networking on campus to call in a couple of favors in order to arrange the night. The private dining room I had reserved at the nicest hotel in town, the penthouse suite where champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries would greet us after dinner. The Jacuzzi tub, which after a text from me at a certain point in the night, would be filled with bubbles and red rose petals.
    Paige deserved all of this and more. I just wanted to spoil her for a night, take a break from the reality that was about to hit us hard when we began preparing for my trial.
    I glanced over at her as I guided the car onto the main drag that led to the middle of Rutherford.
    “That’s definitely right,” she said, still staring at me appreciatively. “You never dress up. Where are we going?”
    “Not telling,” I told her with a smile. “So no more asking.”
    “Oh, I bet I know a few ways to get you to talk.”
    “You’re an evil vixen,” I retorted. “Don’t you dare.”
    She unbuckled her seat belt and leaned closer, taking my earlobe into her mouth. That hot cavity in comparison with the cold air in the car made my teeth clench.
    “Paige,” I growled as she nibbled my ear. “Stop it. And put your seatbelt back on! You’re likely to make me run off the road with that sort of behavior.”  I pulled the car to a stop at a red light and glanced over at her, the expression on my face halfway between a scowl and a grin.
    She leaned back, laughing softly. “You’re no--”
    She was unable to finish her sentence.
    As the light turned green and my foot pressed the gas, bright headlights blazed bright from Paige’s side of the car, growing brighter than seemed possible, and we were suddenly rammed from the side with a sickening crash of metal against metal against glass.

Ten
    Clay
    I’ve heard people say that life began to