Chapter 27
Full-court press – pulling out all the stops for the win
Operation ‘Convince Rowan To Give Ash A Chance’ is in full swing. And by full swing, I mean I’m sitting in the living room waiting for Rowan’s return to confront him. If he won’t tell me why we can’t be together, I’ll have to resort to other measures.
Thus far, the list of ‘other measures’ includes sauntering around the house naked until he can’t help but ravish me and blackmailing Bryan to confess all Rowan’s deepest, darkest secrets. Blackmailing as in switching off his Wi-Fi at home, so he can’t watch the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Mean, I know. But when needs must.
Since I’m not quite ready to go full naked in the house all the time, I’m wearing as little clothing as possible. I’ve got my tightest tank top on. It’s short and shows off my midriff. On the bottom, I’m wearing a pair of short shorts. I wiggle as the shorts creep up my ass. Frankly, being naked would be more comfortable at this point.
The door opens, and Rowan strides inside. Too late to change now.
I stand and approach him. His eyes flare as he takes in my outfit. My plan is working perfectly thus far.
“Are you okay?”
The flame in his eyes dies and his brow furrows. “Am I okay? Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Maybe because your ex confronted you at the bakery this morning.”
He blows out a puff of air. “Heard about that, did you?”
“It’s Winter Falls. You’re lucky I didn’t show up at the bakery while she was there.” And I would have. Had I known she was there. Unfortunately, I switch my phone off while I’m recording. And then Aspen showed off and pulled off a distraction. It was a fun distraction, but I’m still planning my revenge on her.
When he doesn’t respond, I pull up my big girl panties and ask, “What? You said you didn’t want her in town. Maybe you won’t kick her out, but I will. Unless you lied and you do want her here.”
I hold my breath as I wait for his answer. He doesn’t make me wait long.
“Hell no.” Judging by the venom in his voice, he’s not lying.
I need to be certain, though. “You’re sure?”
“I kicked the woman out of the bakery in front of the whole town. What more evidence do you need?”
Phew. Step one of the plan is finished. Put a checkmark next to ‘confirm Rowan is not still in love with bitchy ex-wife’. Onto step two – aka ‘force the stubborn man to tell me why he doesn’t want a relationship’.
I point to the sofa. “Shall we sit?”
“What’s going on?”
“We need to talk.”
At the word ‘talk’, he groans. “What about?”
“Sit and I’ll tell you.”
He settles on the sofa. “Hit me.”
I’m not one for beating around the bush, so I hit him with the most important question. “If you’re not in love with the Queen Bitch, why can’t you have a relationship with me?”
“I can’t have a relationship with anyone.”
“Explain.”
He glances away. “I can’t.”
Guess I’ll have to resort to other measures to convince him to tell me the reason. I crawl onto his lap and straddle him.
“What are you doing?”