I frowned down at her. “What do you mean?”
“Life.” That’s all she said, her face solemn.
What started as a sputter turned into a full-on belly laugh.
“What?” Ashley stopped walking, staring at me like I was out of my mind. “Sasha!”
“I’m s-sorry.” I wiped under my eyes. “That was just so movie of the month. I’m getting married, not being sealed in a tomb.”
“First, it’s getting married. Then it’s babies.” She started down the beach, and I snagged her hand.
“Do you have something to tell me?”
“No. Just pointing out we’re growing up.”
“We’re thirty.”
“But we’ve never acted like it.”
Wrapping my arm around Ashley’s shoulders, I pulled her to my side. “And we won’t. We’ll be eighty and still raising hell. I foresee being kicked out of several retirement communities. These poor men that have chosen to love us.”
“Oh Sasha, they never had a choice.” She peeked up at me with a smirk on her sweet face.
We flirted with the shoreline the rest of the way back, Gio grumbling in the background about his shoes and the water.
Back in our suite, we hugged and went to our rooms while Gio posted up on the fashionable but comfortable coach, ready to protect us should it come to that. I struggled through my night routine before falling into bed. The light from the main living space snuck through the curtains on the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Sometime after dawn, I woke up with a shout. The glass door to my room slid open, and Gio stood with his gun pointed toward the ensuite bathroom. “Sasha?”
Not two seconds later, Ashley ran past him to my side. “Are you okay?”
I fisted my t-shirt and felt the thump-thump of my racing heart. Sweat soaked my collar and dripped down my back. Through ragged breaths, I said, “I’m fine.” I wasn’t fine. Mentally, I was back in that hotel room, fighting for my life.
“You were screaming.” She climbed into bed, hugging me to her chest. “Gio, you can put down the gun.” At the mention of his gun, I shivered and tried to shrink in Ashley’s arms.
Silently, Gio left the room.
“I-I don’t—”
“Shh, honey.”
I panted into her soft tank top, the warm scent of her body butter soothing my frayed nerves. The skin-on-skin contact comforted me until I was breathing more easily. Chuckling, I pulled back and patted her thigh. “I needed that.”
“Anytime.” Ashley’s brown skin glowed in the early morning sunlight pouring through the still open door, her face shiny with product. She adjusted her bonnet with a cautious smile. “Are we getting up or trying to sleep a little more before the chef gets here?”
I scooted back down the bed, fluffing my pillow. “More sleep.”
Ashley nodded and made herself comfortable next to me. Face to face, I couldn’t help but smile. “It’s been a while.”
“Yeah.” She tucked her hands under her cheek.
“Thanks for being here.”
She rolled her eyes, but a small smile tugged at her lips. “Where else would I be? Now go back to sleep. Your breath is nasty.”
I tucked my lips and fought the laughter bubbling up. She shoved my shoulder and rolled onto her back. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of Dante’s hands on my throat.
After listening to Ashley’s snores, I gave up on getting more sleep and shuffled out to the living room. Gio spoke softly on the phone, the crashing waves making it impossible to hear what he was saying.