Guarding the Broken Read online

  He laughed, his green eyes sparkling with happiness that made my heart soar. “You’ve covered all bases here. You’re a devious planner, huh?”

  I nodded, rolling my eyes. “Oh yeah, I’m pretty sneaky, you need to keep your eyes on me.”

  “Oh, I plan to keep my eyes and anything else that I can on you, don’t worry,” he flirted. I laughed and pushed him away from me playfully before jumping out of the bed and running across the room before he could stop me. At the door, I turned and blew him a kiss, grinning.

  I practically skipped to the kitchen. As I flicked on the kettle, I let my eyes wander around his apartment. The place was actually extremely sweet. It was a total guys’ place though. The furniture didn’t match, and was all designed for practicality and not for how it looked, as with any bachelor pad. I smiled as I looked through his cupboards, finally finding what I was after and grinned as I pulled out two mismatched oversized mugs. I loved it here; his apartment made me feel safe and calm. This place was Ashton all over.

  “Well, that’s definitely a nice view to wake up to in the morning,” a male voice purred behind me.

  I grinned as I turned, knowing this would be the famous Nate Peters, Ashton’s best friend. As I expected him to be, Nate was gorgeous. All blond, spiky hair and blue eyes, tall and toned. The cocky, confident smile that was stretched across his face made him look just the right amount of cheeky. He was currently only wearing boxer shorts and a white vest. I could see why the girls apparently went crazy for him. In my opinion though, as hot as Nate looked, he had nothing on Ashton.

  “Well thanks. I presume you’re talking about the fact that I’m currently making coffee, and not the fact that I’m not wearing very many clothes at the moment,” I stated, raising my eyebrows innocently.

  He was smirking at me. “Of course I was,” he replied, just as innocently.

  “Good.” I turned and grabbed another mug from the cupboard so I could make him one too.

  “You must be Ashton’s girlfriend, Anna.” He moved so he was leaning against the counter next to me and folded his arms over his chest as he looked me over.

  “And you must be Ashton’s best friend, Nate,” I answered, giving him a cocky smile.

  “Yep,” he confirmed, popping the p. I rolled my eyes and went back to the coffee. “You know, Ashton said you were hot, but damn, that’s the understatement of the century,” he continued.

  “Well, he told me you were a flirt who would try and get me into bed, but damn, I didn’t realise you’d start before nine in the morning.” I smirked back at him, chuckling. I liked this guy already; it was probably the fact that he was Ashton’s best friend. Ashton loved this guy, and anyone that got Ashton’s respect, got mine.

  He laughed and shook his head. “That’s what he told you about me? I’m a womaniser?” he asked, faking hurt.

  “Big time,” I confirmed, laughing.

  “Maybe I’m just waiting for the right girl to set me on the right track, make me want to settle down,” he purred suggestively.

  “Right, you know what? I can help you with that,” I answered, looking at him through my eyelashes.

  He raised his eyebrows and smirked at me. “Oh really?” he asked, obviously interested, leaning in closer to me.

  “Yeah,” I breathed, nodding and leaning in closer to him too, watching as his eyes widened and he flinched back slightly. I smiled. Clearly he was regretting flirting with his best friend’s girl now that I was playing along too. “I’ll help you find a girl tonight when we go out,” I added, winking at him and laughing as relief washed over his face.

  He chuckled and shook his head. “You’re funny, no wonder he likes you. Mind you, I can think of a few other reasons too,” he muttered as his eyes skimmed my body again.

  “Well at the moment, Nate, I’m struggling to find anything that he’d like about you,” I teased.

  “Ouch, Anna, you wound me.” He put his hand over his heart, faking hurt.

  The kettle boiled, so I spooned the cheap instant coffee granules into the mugs, plucking the milk from the fridge. “So how do you take it?” I asked, putting sugar in my coffee and extra milk in Ashton’s.

  “I’ll take it and give it any way you want, baby,” he flirted again.

  He’s an even bigger flirt than Ashton! Can he just not help himself? I wondered. “Right, well how about I give it to you strong and straight?” I offered, putting a strong black coffee down in front of him. He laughed in response. “I’m gonna go take this into my man, and start his birthday off right for him,” I winked at him and picked up the two coffees.

  “Well, I will definitely see you later, Anna.”

  I rolled my eyes as I stepped back into Ashton’s bedroom and kicked the door closed behind me. “Hey, Nate’s here,” I chirped, as I plopped back on the bed.

  Ashton’s body seemed to stiffen as he frowned. “He’s up already? He was working until twelve.”

  “He’s up; I just met him in the kitchen. He’s a funny guy,” I shrugged.

  Ashton’s eyes tightened. “He hit on you, didn’t he?”

  I smiled at his question. He was so overprotective of me, sometimes he seemed to forget that I wasn’t actually his girlfriend, although most of the time lately, I wished I was. “Yep, but don’t worry, I told him I wasn’t interested,” I promised, scooting to his side, setting the coffees on the bedside unit.

  “I think you’re the first girl I’ve met that wasn’t interested in him,” he smiled, wrapping his arms around me, pulling my body closer to his.

  I waved my hand dismissively. “Nah, I told you, I already have an extremely hot boyfriend,” I stated, smiling before continuing, “even if he is an old man now.”

  He scowled jokingly. “Hey, don’t start with the age jokes; I’m a little sensitive about it.”

  “Well, we could always say you’re twenty-one and three hundred and sixty-six days,” I offered, shrugging.

  He laughed again. “Yeah, that definitely sounds better than being an old man,” he answered, trailing his fingers up my arm, making me ache all over. He grabbed his new camera off the bedside unit and held it out in front of us, snapping a photo before I could even protest.

  “Hey! I haven’t even brushed my hair,” I whined.

  “You look beautiful, Baby Girl. I love your messy bed hair.”

  I smiled at that. I had a feeling he wasn’t joking either, I loved his messy bed hair too.

  After drinking our coffee, I headed into the shower, and he went out to talk to Nate. I could hear him laughing and catching up with his friend; mostly they were talking about me. I showered and went back to his room to get dressed, pulling on a pair of cropped skinny jeans and a white tank top, slipping a black waistcoat over the top. After pulling on a pair of black wedges, I quickly dried my hair, scraping half up and leaving the rest half down. I didn’t bother with make-up today.

  When I walked into the lounge, the talking stopped immediately, and two sets of eyes fell on me. I frowned at the abrupt change of mood and looked down at myself, wondering if something was wrong. “What? Should I change? Is this not appropriate LA clothing?” I asked, concerned because I didn’t bring lots of clothes with me, so I was limited on options.

  “Damn, you look so damn hot that my mouth’s watering,” Ashton practically growled, looking me over slowly.

  I laughed with relief and felt the blush creep onto my cheeks. When my gaze fell on Nate, I saw he was looking at me too. I raised one eyebrow, knowing I needed to show him that I wasn’t interested. As the plan formed in my head, I didn’t even think twice about it as I strutted over to Ashton and plopped myself down on his lap, straddling him. Dipping my head, I pressed my lips against Ashton’s, wrapping my arms around his neck. He kissed me back, moaning in the back of his throat. The small sound he made seemed to set my body on fire and turned me on more than anything else.

  His arms circled my waist, pulling me tightly against him as the kiss deepened. My whole body seemed to
pulse with desire as his taste and the warmth of his tongue resonated through my senses. As I pressed myself against the hardness of his body, all I could think about was getting closer and melting into him. Every nerve ending in my body seemed to come alive as an uncomfortable ache seemed to be building inside me. I needed him.

  I was so thoroughly lost in the moment that someone clearing their throat next to me made me jump and come back to reality with a bump. I reluctantly pulled my mouth away from Ashton’s, dragging in a ragged breath. Ashton’s eyes shone with excitement and lust – as I would imagine mine did too.

  “Happy birthday,” I whispered, making no moves to get off his lap.

  “Definitely the best birthday ever,” he breathed, resting his hands on my hips.

  He moved me slightly, but the small movement made us rub together in places that were already way too excited for my own good. A little zap of pleasure pulsed through my body. I gasped, tightening my hold on him as I wriggled, trying to ease some of the tension and pressure from my body. His lips found mine again, and in that moment I was lost all over again. His fingers bit into my thighs as another little bolt of the same sensation washed over me. I couldn’t take any more teasing, my body needed relief. It felt like I would spontaneously combust if I didn’t release this tension from inside my body. It was then that I decided that I would make this weekend special for him.

  “Er… you two need a room? Hello, best friend here!” Nate teased. “Not that this isn’t hot to watch,” he added, laughing.

  Ashton groaned and pulled his mouth from mine, somewhat reluctantly. “Dude, seriously, go away!”

  Realising this was inappropriate for their lounge sofa, with Nate watching, I blushed and gulped. “Let’s go eat. I’m starving,” I suggested, changing the subject. I smiled over at Nate. “You coming?”

  A devilish grin broke out on his face. “Not yet, but you can help me with that if you want,” he purred, winking at me.

  Ashton suddenly punched him in the arm. “Mine!” he growled warningly, looking like he was only half joking.

  Nate gasped, rubbing his arm as he winced. “Ouch, dude! I was kidding.”

  I giggled uncontrollably at his put-out face. He looked like a kid that had gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

  Ashton scooted forward on the sofa, still holding me on his lap. “Come on, Baby Girl, Nate doesn’t want to go where we’re going, I already asked him.”

  Nate shrugged. “Actually, I think I’ll come for breakfast, but I’m definitely not coming to the museum,” he chimed in, standing up.

  I frowned, confused. Ashton wasn’t into that kind of thing, so that was a weird choice of thing to want to do. “Museum? What museum?” I asked curiously.

  “There’s a really cool museum I thought you’d like,” he explained, shrugging.

  I shook my head incredulously. “What? We’re not going somewhere for me on your birthday,” I protested, attempting to push myself off his lap, but he held me against him tightly.

  “Aww, come on. You’ll really like it there, I promise,” he whispered, leaning forward and kissing my cheek before trailing little kisses down my neck.

  My body tingled. “Maybe I like it right here,” I mumbled, closing my eyes and enjoying the sensations his mouth was creating within me.

  I felt him smile against my neck. “Well, maybe I like it right here too,” he replied, nibbling on my earlobe.

  “Maybe I’d like to go eat,” Nate chimed in, laughing.

  Ashton sighed and moved his face away from my neck; I bit my lip so I didn’t whimper at the loss of contact. “Come on then. Let’s go eat,” he agreed, rolling his eyes and finally letting go of me so I could stand up.

  We walked to a little café down the road from their apartment, talking casually about nothing in particular. As we walked inside the café, Ashton mumbled ‘shit’ under his breath as a waitress came over, smiling broadly at him.

  “Well hi there, Ashton. How are you doing? Long time no see,” she breathed, setting her hand on his arm as she batted her eyelashes.

  “Er, hi Kelly,” he greeted, clearly uncomfortable.

  An angry expression crossed her face. “It’s Shelly,” she growled. I burst out laughing but quickly turned it into a cough when she turned to glare at me, which of course, made Nate laugh. Ashton was just staring at me in horror as the waitress looked me over distastefully. “Who’s this?” she asked, obviously trying to be polite, but failing miserably.

  Ashton took my hand and pulled me to his side as he spoke, “This is my girlfriend, Anna.”

  I winced at the furious expression that crossed her face. She looked like she wanted to kill me. I had the strong feeling that this girl was going to spit in my food. I inwardly sighed, but decided if she was going to do it anyway then I may as well have some fun too.

  “Nice to meet you, Kelly,” I greeted, trying desperately to hide my grin.

  “It’s Shelly!” she snapped.

  “Oh, right yeah, sorry.” I grinned, looking anywhere but Nate, who was clearly trying to hold in his laughter.

  One of Shelly’s eyebrows rose wickedly as she turned her attention back to Ashton. “I didn’t know you had a girlfriend. Does she know we slept together?”

  I smiled as Ashton seemed to squirm on the spot. I nodded in confirmation, deciding to help him out. This girl was clearly trying to cause trouble between the two of us. “Oh yeah don’t worry, I know my boy’s slept with half of LA,” I dismissed. “Hey, were you the one that taught him that thing that he does with his hand? Because damn, if you did then, I owe you a big thanks,” I added, grinning. Nate lost the battle and his laughter rang out as he shook his head, clutching at his side.

  Shelly’s nose scrunched up distastefully as she snatched three menus from the side, obviously dissatisfied with my reaction. “You want a table?”

  She didn’t wait for an answer as she turned around and strutted off, practically throwing the menus down onto an empty table. Ashton’s hand closed over mine, squeezing tightly as we crossed the restaurant to get to the table she had stopped at. As I slid into the booth, Ashton slid in beside me, still looking extremely uncomfortable and apologetic.

  Shelly seemed determined to ignore me as she took our drinks order. As soon as she was gone, Nate shook his head, still chuckling to himself. “Oh God, that was freaking hilarious,” Nate laughed.

  Ashton groaned. “I’m really sorry. I forgot she worked here.”

  I smiled and waved my hand dismissively. “Ashton, if I got annoyed or upset every time I met a girl you’d slept with, I’d be upset all damn day,” I joked, shrugging.

  His anxious eyes softened, and the tension that was in his shoulders seemed to fade as he smiled gratefully. “I guess. That was a class way to deal with an ex though. That was awesome,” he congratulated. His head cocked to the side, and his eyes turned playful. “But what thing are we talking about that I do with my hand?” he asked, raising one eyebrow knowingly.

  I grinned. “I think you know,” I replied, feeling the blush creep onto my cheeks. He chuckled and leant in, kissing my burning cheek before brushing a loose strand of my hair back into place.

  “Wow, she’s a firecracker, Taylor. No wonder you’re in love with her,” Nate said, looking at me in awe.

  My heart stopped as my eyes widened in surprise at the revelation. Ashton has told Nate that he’s in love with me? But then I realised that this was all part of the charade and undercover assignment. Of course, he had to lie to his friends about me. He was just playing the part of loved up boyfriend like he was supposed to.

  When my eyes flicked to Ashton, I noticed he was glaring at his best friend for some reason. Thankfully though, the waitress chose that moment to come back with our drinks.

  Shelly was still ignoring me as she started taking our food order. After scribbling down what the boys wanted, she turned her evil eyes on me. “And you?” she asked impatiently.

  “I’ll have chocolate chip p
ancakes, please. Oh and Shelly, I’ll leave you a fifty dollar tip if you don’t spit in my food,” I smiled sweetly, handing her my menu. Nate was laughing again now.

  She laughed and for the first time, smiled at me. “Right okay, I’ll go get your order.”

  Nate was practically crying with laughter as she walked off. “You know, I think you should leave Taylor and be with me, Anna,” he said, winking at me.

  “Hmm, I don’t think you could handle me,” I countered. That was the honest truth; he would probably crumble under the pressure of one of my meltdowns.

  “Oh really? I would definitely like to try,” he purred suggestively.

  Ashton’s body seemed to tense up at my side. I smiled, placing my hand over his because for some reason that I couldn’t fathom, Ashton seemed to be jealous and worried that I was going to fall for his best friend. “I’ll tell you what, Nate, if he screws up,” I nodded my head at Ashton, “then I’ll give you a go.”

  “Sweet!” Nate chirped.

  Ashton shook his head adamantly and slung his arm over my shoulder. “I’m not gonna screw up, Baby Girl,” he said, leaning in and planting a soft kiss on the base of my neck. I whimpered and tipped my head to the side as his lips left a burning trail against my overheated skin. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to drag him to the bathroom and have him consume me completely.

  “Seriously, you two need to cut that out!” Nate ordered, flicking a couple of drops of water at us from his glass.

  I laughed and Ashton pulled away, groaning. He seemed to be enjoying that as much as I was. Knowing I needed to change the subject because my body was already aching for Ashton’s touch, I turned back to Nate. “So, why don’t you want to come to the museum then?”

  “Boring! How about we go do something fun instead?” he suggested, raising his eyebrows excitedly.

  “Like what? What do you two boys like to do for fun?” I asked curiously.