My One and Only: Book 1 in the Love and Weddings Trilogy (19 page)

              She sighed and grabbed her purse as Jane came around the counter, holding a large, bright pink cupcake in her hand.

              “This is for you,” she said and laid it in front of her proudly.

              Meredith raised an eyebrow. “And what is this creation called?”

              Jane grinned. “
My one and only
, of course. In honor of your dating website and Valentine’s Day. We’ll advertise your website and sell a million cupcakes while we’re at it. There’s pomegranate flavored cream cheese in the middle,” she added.

              Meredith grinned and took a large bite, closing her eyes in ecstasy. “Jane, you are a master,” she whispered. “I’m going to have Brogan put this on the website. Maybe we can have a social get together here. Like a taste testing party. That could be fun,” she said, already thinking of ways to utilize the new cupcake flavor.

              Jane nodded her head, smiling brightly. “We’ll get so much advertising off of your site we’ll make a bundle. I bet we start to outsell the Matafeo cupcakes.”

              Meredith grinned. “Nothing outsells the Matafeo cupcakes. But if this one does, that would be awesome.”

              Jane pulled a box out from behind her back. “And this one is for Asher. I think you should deliver it yourself.”

              Meredith stared at the cupcake box apprehensively but took it. “Thanks, Jane. Thanks for being my friend even when I’m a brat and even when I’m wrong.”

              Jane gave her a hug and pushed her towards the door. “We’re friends, silly. Now go make things right with Asher.”

              Meredith straightened her shoulders and nodded her head. It was time to eat some crow.

              Asher decided to walk over to Meredith’s apartment from Tai’s diner. He could use the fresh air and the time to think. He shoved his hands in his pockets and lifted his face to the cold breeze. At least it wasn’t raining.
Yet.
He felt his jaw with his hand and realized he hadn’t shaved in three days. He must look like a homeless man. That or a hipster. Of course beards and the lumberjack look were really in so maybe Meredith might like it.

              He thought of everything he wanted to say to her and then thought of everything he
could
say to her. She hadn’t let him talk about his feelings for her and he hated that. He wanted to be able to tell her everything that was in his heart. He wanted to tell her how beautiful she was and how smart and feisty and fun she was. He wanted to tell her that when he put his arms around her and kissed her, the whole world stopped and he felt like he was home.

              He wanted to tell her he loved her.

              “Asher.”

              Asher looked up and stopped abruptly as he saw Meredith walking toward him with a small bakery box in her hands, looking shy and uncertain for once in her life.

              “
Meredith
.”

              Meredith walked up to him and gave him a half-smile as she reached out and touched his scruffy face.

              “I like it. You look dangerous.”

              Asher shrugged and looked away, now suddenly unsure of what to say to her.

              Meredith cleared her throat and looked down at the box in her hands. “Um, I just got through talking with Kam and Rob and they told me everything. They told me how none of this was really your fault,” she said, her voice fading off at the end.

              Asher nodded his head and looked away as he realized he was kind of mad at her for being mad at him. He loved her like crazy and wanted her to love him too, but she hadn’t trusted him. She’d thought he was capable of lying about her. And for that, he was angry.

              “Why, Meredith? Why be so cruel to me when you know I’d never do anything to hurt you.
Ever
.”

              Meredith looked at him, her eyes stricken as she reached out to touch his arm, letting her hand fall to her side at the last minute. “Now I can see that.
I know that
. But at the time, I was just so angry and embarrassed. And there you were, such an easy target. Ash, I’m sorry. I’m so very, very sorry. Can you forgive me?”

              Asher stared at her silently for a moment while she squirmed and he sighed loudly. “I can.”

              Meredith sighed, her face lighting up and she stepped closer, this time, putting a hand on his arm. “Thank you for forgiving me,” she whispered and then leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips.

              Asher stared at her in surprise. “You just kissed me,” he said, reaching out and putting his hand on her waist.

              Meredith nodded her head and then kissed him lightly on the cheek. “I just want you to know how sorry I really am.”

              Asher stared at her with narrowed eyes. “And kissing me does that?”

              Meredith shook her head. “No,
this
does. Asher, I want to give it a try. You and me. I was wrong to say no to your feelings before. I was scared and dumb and I don’t want to live my life that way anymore. I want to be fearless and brave
and I want
… I want to be open and alive again.”

              Asher felt his heart speed up as her arms went around his neck. “You do?” he asked, not believing what he was hearing.

              Meredith nodded her head and then leaned her head against his shoulder. “I do,” she whispered.

              Asher closed his eyes and sighed as he held her tightly against his chest. “That makes me very happy,” he said before pulling back and angling his head to the side so he could kiss her properly.

              She laughed and pulled back a short moment later, touching her lips with her fingers. “So scratchy,” she added, before she began kissing him this time.

              Asher grinned and tried to ignore the feeling of a box knocking against his head.

              “Can you put the box down? It’s hard to concentrate when you keep smacking my head with that thing.”

              Meredith stepped back and held the box out to him. “This is for you.
Sorry
. Open it,” she ordered.

              Asher took the box and lifted the lid to see a somewhat mashed up looking pink cupcake and looked at her questioningly. “You bought me a cupcake?”

              Meredith shook her head. “Not really. Jane gave it to me to give to you. But guess what it’s called.”

              Asher reached in and lifted the cupcake out, taking a little bite since he was still full from the chocolate milkshake Tai had made him. “It’s good. What’s the name?”

              Meredith grinned and wiped a smear of icing off his lip with her finger before tasting it. “It’s called
, My One and Only
.”

              Asher grinned and leaned over to kiss her softly. “You’re
my
one and only, Meredith.”

              Meredith nodded. “Well, let’s see how it goes. Let’s date for a while and see if we can mesh our business and personal lives. If we can, then you and I could very well be each other’s one and only.”

              Asher frowned at that. “Where’s your faith, Meredith?”

              Meredith frowned and looked away. “I’m not faithless, I’m realistic. Cautious.
Smart.
I’m not asking so much. Let’s date for a couple months and see how it goes. If everything goes well, we can move things forward.”

              Asher sighed, wondering why he was so disappointed. “Fair enough. Let’s date then.”

              Meredith nodded and kissed him on the cheek. “Okay, let’s go find you a razor. No kissing me until you’re smooth and soft again.”

              “It’s called lumbersexual. A metrosexual who wants the rugged look because women go for that.”

              Meredith laughed and shook her head as she stared at him for a moment, her eyes warming and her face softening. “Razor.
Now
.”

              Asher grinned and took her hand as they walked the three blocks to her apartment where she very kindly let him borrow a razor.

              Meredith sat at her parent’s dining room table and felt Asher slip his hand into hers. She glanced at him and smiled. She hadn’t brought a man home to her parent’s house since Kam and she couldn’t help remembering what that had been like. Her parents had been somewhat in awe of Kam Matafeo. He was so large and so kind and happy and bigger than life.

              Asher was tall, thin, sharply dressed and looked like what he was, a sophisticated man on his way up in the world. Her father was impressed, she could tell. Her mother kept batting her eyelashes at him and Asher was being kind enough to pretend to not notice.

             
Tristan on the other hand.

              “So I hear your band is playing this weekend down at the Rattle and Hum. Is Meredith considered one of your groupies or would you classify her as a girlfriend?” he asked in a concerned tone.

              Meredith reached under the table and kicked her brother squarely in the calf, making him grunt in pain as his eyes laughed at her.

              Asher turned and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She grimaced and knew she’d have to make this one up to him.

              He turned to Tristan and smiled politely. “Well, let’s define groupie. Someone who follows a band from town to town in order to enjoy the music and the performers. Meredith has only been to a couple of our gigs. We were friends and business partners before we decided to start dating more seriously, so no. Not a groupie.”

              Tristan wasn’t willing to let it go though. “So is she your girlfriend? Have you had a D.T.R.?”

              Meredith’s father, Robert Jensen frowned at Tristan. “D.T.R.? What does that mean, Tris? I swear I don’t understand half the things you say these days.”

              Tristan smiled and leaned forward. “It’s an acronym for define the relationship. I’m just asking Asher here, what his intentions are towards my sister. I’m doing my brotherly duty.”

              Robert laughed and looked at Asher. “You’ll have to forgive Tristan, Asher. He’s always taken his brotherly responsibilities seriously. I remember when he was in the ninth grade and Meredith was in the seventh grade and there were a few mean girls picking on her and he decided to take things into his own hands.”

              Meredith grinned remembering. “This is so embarrassing,” she muttered, glancing at Asher who was smiling at her curiously. “I’d made some smart remarks about this girl who wore so much makeup you could not see her skin. It was wrong of me and dumb and thoughtless. This girl’s older sister found out about it and she started targeting me. She would put notes on my locker calling me names. I went home crying a few times. When Tristan found out, he was furious. He found the girl, oh what was her name, Tris?”

              Tristan was no longer smiling as he looked out the window. “Her name was Karen London and she was not a nice person.”

              Meredith laughed. “Well, he found out who she was and had it out with her. Well, instead of fixing the problem, she fell for him and stalked him for the next two years. Didn’t you end up taking her to Homecoming the next year?”

              Tristan groaned and shook his head. “Well, she never bothered you again, did she?”

              Meredith laughed lightly and shook her head. “No, she didn’t. You really are a pretty great brother. Go ahead. Do your duty. Torture Ash to your heart’s content. You deserve it after having to put up with Karen.”

              Tristan shook his head and laughed before turning to Asher. “Excellent. So what are your intentions? And before you answer, just know that I will kill you if you break her heart. If you cheat on her, you’re dead. If you steal her identity and leave her broke before you move to California to make it big in the music business, you’re dead. And don’t even think about dumping her because it’s you and not her. Got it?”

              Meredith’s mouth fell open in surprise. Tristan seemed kind of sincere in his threats. She looked at Asher to gauge his reaction and relaxed when she saw he was grinning.

              “So the only way to get out of this relationship with her is if she breaks up with me? I can live with that.”

              Tristan nodded his head. “Then we understand each other. Good.”

              Meredith’s mouth fell open. “Look, Tris. We’re
just
dating. This is casual. We’re giving it a couple months to see if things work out before we decide to be serious.”

              Asher frowned and turned his body towards her as her mother, Janet walked around the table serving bowls of corn chowder. “So if we’re just casual, does that mean you can date other people and I can date other people too? I guess we do need to D.T.R.”

              Tristan lifted an eyebrow and took a spoonful of soup as his eyes laughed at her. Meredith cleared her throat and fidgeted with her napkin as she refused to meet Asher’s eyes.

              “Well, um,
yeah
. I think the normal protocol for this stage of our relationship would be for us to still be free to see other people until we get to a point where we want to be exclusive.”

              Asher’s face turned to stone and he shook his head slightly as he turned back to his bowl and began eating his soup, not responding. Meredith glanced around the table and saw that her father was wincing, her mother was looking at her with disappointment in her eyes and Tristan looked highly amused.
Great
.

              “So is that not what you were thinking? Were you thinking we were exclusive or something?” she asked quietly, now wishing that they were having this conversation anywhere else but here in front of her family.

              Asher shrugged and kept his face turned away from hers. “I’ve found it’s a waste of time to have any preconceptions where you’re concerned, Meredith. But I’ll admit I wasn’t looking to date anyone else right now. When I’m interested in a girl, then I focus on that girl. How can I find out if she’s the one for me if I’m playing the Bachelor?”

              Meredith frowned, not having thought of it like that before. “Come on, Ash. We can’t be exclusive this soon in the relationship. It’s not how things are done. It implies a commitment that isn’t there.”

              Asher turned and speared her with his blazing bright blue eyes and she swallowed nervously. “No commitment, huh?” he asked softly.

              Meredith shook her head, feeling sick for some reason. “No commitment.”

              Asher nodded his head. “Good to know. Mr. Jensen, did Meredith tell you that our dating website is up to almost four thousand members?”

              Meredith watched as Asher smoothly changed the subject to business and even pulled Tristan into the conversation. She watched him as he smiled and charmed and laughed with her family but she could see the tenseness in his jaw. He wasn’t happy. He wasn’t happy with her.

              She sighed and ate her chowder. Why couldn’t he just be happy with the way things were? Why did he always have to push her faster than she wanted to go? A commitment? What was next? Marriage? She laughed at the thought and went back to dinner. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. She was fine just being who she was, doing what she was doing and going at her own pace. Business was good, her social life was low key and manageable. And she wanted to keep it that way.

              When Asher kissed her on the cheek that night instead of ending the night with his usual passionate kiss, she refused to comment or make an issue of it. He’d get used to the way things were. And she was setting the rules this time. And if he didn’t like it? Well, then he knew what he could do.

              Meredith went to bed that night feeling very good about things. D.T.R. Everyone should do it.