Page 39 of Asher

She bit the inside of her lip. “Yes.”

I sighed, relieved. “Thank you.”

A sad smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, but it never reached her beautiful blues. “But not right now. Right now, I need to clear my head and you need to go to Gray’s room.”

“Haley.” My chest felt like it was being ripped open. This was not how today was supposed to go. I was supposed to tell her how I felt. I was supposed to kiss her. I was supposed to leave with her.

Together.

“Please.” Her voice cracked, and I knew I had pushed too far.

My shoulders dropped as I walked to the door. Grabbing the handle, I took a deep breath. “Fine. But can I say one thing?” My eyes connected with hers as she bit her lip, waiting for me to continue. “I want you. I want you in all ways. I want you as a friend. A lover. A wife. I. Want.You.” Without waiting for a response, I turned the knob and walked out.

CHAPTER TEN

HALEY

I twistedthe small gold band on my finger. The cold metal felt strange against my skin, but also right at the same time. Three hours had passed since Asher walked out of my hotel room. Three hours of replaying everything he said. Everything he did.

How could he say he wanted me?

How could he just spit that little piece of information out like he was talking about the weather and then walk the hell away?

Today’s high will be seventy with a chance of staying married to hot husband who wants to bone you.

Everything he said was exactly what I’d been waiting for him to say. Everything I could possibly want, but what was with that barefoot girl in his house? I knew he probably had an explanation. At least, he implied he had one. But even so, could we really just go from friends to married? It would be crazy. Hell, even Chandler and Monica dated first. They didn’t just jump straight into marriage. And it didn’t fucking work for Ross and Rachel.

I wanted the wooing and the dates.

Was that too much to ask for?

Gray plopped down in the ugly brown chair next to me. Our plane was scheduled to leave in an hour, and I was ready to get the hell out of Vegas. I had taken a separate Uber, needing some space, and I knew Asher was in Gray’s hotel room.

“You look like crap,” Gray said as I sipped of my coffee, one eyebrow raised.

“About time you showed up,” I ignored his comment because he wasn’t wrong. I was in old leggings and an oversized tank top with my dark gray fleece thrown on top. My hair, for once, was truly just thrown up into a bun on the top of my head with my sunglasses. If I didn’t think it would scream ‘this bitch is hungover,’ I would probably be wearing them inside.

“I didn’t feel the need to be here three hours early,” he deadpanned.

“You should’ve. You would’ve gotten the best seat in the house.” I waved to where I was sitting.

Gray rolled his eyes and took a drink of his own coffee. “You want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I stared at a small stain on the carpet by my shoe.

“Okay. Let’s try this again. Do you want my two cents on the fact that you are avoiding your new husband?”

Clearly Asher had told him what went down. I rolled my neck, still feeling like crap. The hangover was real. “I feel like you’re going to tell me no matter what I say.”

“Probably.” He shrugged.

“Okay. Then shoot.”

Gray placed a hand on my knee, squeezing it. “To be clear, I’m only doing this because Rylie isn’t here, and I guarantee you haven’t called her or Stephanie to hash out your girly feelings.” He wasn’t wrong, but that was only because my phone died, and I forgot my fucking charger. Otherwise, I would’ve called them as soon as Asher stormed out of my hotel room earlier.

“Girly feelings?”

“Yes, whatever this is.” He waved a hand in my face, and I swatted it away, rolling my eyes.