Her brow crinkled, her eyebrows bunching as she stared into his eyes. And to think she’d been worried that she’d be expected to share him with other women. This she hadn’t expected. She couldn’t imagine as possessive as Ash had been with her so far that he’d want her to have sex with another man while he watched or participated. Furthermore, it wasn’t something she wanted.
“Is that something . . . I mean, is that what you’ll want to do with me? Share me with another man?”
“Fuck no.”
The denial was explosive, the words rushing from his mouth in a puff of air she felt on her chin. Relief hit her hard and she relaxed, waiting for him to continue.
“I didn’t get it then,” he muttered. “How Jace was with Bethany. I didn’t understand it. But I do now.”
“You’re losing me,” she said patiently. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“As I said, Jace is my best friend. He’s involved with Bethany. They’re engaged. We’ll see them a lot. I’ll want to share you with them. Their friendship I mean. They’re important to me and you’re important to me. So we’ll spend time with them. And what you need to know is that in the beginning, the first night that Jace and Bethany were together, I was with them.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you . . . do you still have . . . threesomes . . . with them?”
Ash shook his head. “Hell no. Jace didn’t want it the first time. I didn’t know it at the time. It’s fucked up and complicated, but what you need to know is that I’ve had sex with Bethany. And you’ll see her. And Jace. And I don’t want it to be awkward for you. It was awkward as hell the first few times we were all together after that night. But we’re cool with it now. Bethany’s cool with it and so is Jace. It’s not something that gets brought up. But it’s there. And I don’t want it to hurt you when you look at her and know that I’ve had sex with her. Because there’s nothing there, Josie. Nothing but deep friendship. Bethany’s a great woman. I think you’ll like her. But she is no threat to you.”
“I understand,” she said quietly. “I appreciate you telling me. Being up front with me about it. I can see how it would be awkward, especially if I didn’t know and somehow put my foot in my mouth in front of them.”
His gaze focused on her, studying her intently. “Is that going to be a problem with you? Spending time with a woman I’ve fucked and that I care a great deal about?”
“Not if you tell me it shouldn’t be a problem for me.”
He shook his head. “No, it’s not a problem. Like I said, I didn’t get where Jace was coming from then. His possessiveness where Bethany was concerned. We’d never had a woman come between us like that. There’d never been one who mattered. But I get it now because I know I don’t want to share you with anyone, and especially not my best friend, even if he was single and not in a relationship. And as for other men, that is not something you ever have to worry about. I’ve had threesomes with Jace and another woman. A hell of a lot of times. I won’t lie. We’ve fucked our way through countless women over the years. It’s not something I’m proud of but it’s not something I lose sleep over either. It is what it is. But there will be no threesomes with you, Josie. It’s only going to be you and me. I’m going to be the only man making love to you from now on.”
It all sounded so final, and yet she knew they were just words. How could they be anything else? They’d known each other such a short time. They’d only had sex once. And he was talking like this was a done deal. That they were permanent and in a committed relationship long-term.
While she didn’t doubt his commitment, or even her own, there was no way she could look down the road with any authority. There were too many what-ifs.