Page 58 of Twisted Truth

She hums a laugh and goes back to sipping her wine while watching Declan with amusement. Ten minutes later she yawns widely.

“I’m going to head upstairs, I’m exhausted,” she says, gathering up her plate and glass. “Thanks for dinner.”

“Don’t forget there’s a nice big tub in your bathroom.” A thought sparks in my mind. “Or would you like a massage?”

She gives me a confused look.

Declan turns and gives me a salacious grin. “Are you offering massages?”

I roll my eyes at him. “While I do give excellent massages, I wasn’t offering. I was thinking a professional massage.”

“Oh, that’s okay. I’m too tired to go out, even for a massage.”

“Go out?” Declan asks.

She looks confused again. “Yeah, go out to a massage place.”

I chuckle. “You wouldn’t be going out, Ella. I’d have a massage therapist come here.”

“Oh.” She perks up at that. “Is that what you normally do?”

“Yes.”

“That would be nice. But I don’t want to be a bother. A bath is good enough.”

“Stop with that. You’re not a bother, Ella.”

I pick up my phone and text Matthew to have him order a massage therapist. I would do it myself, but I can’t do things like that with my phone and have my number get out. And I’m too tired and lazy to go grab my backup phone.

“The massage therapist will be here in an hour,” I tell Ella a few minutes later after texting back and forth with Matthew.

“Thank you. I think I will go up and take a bath while I wait. You boys enjoy your game.”

“Fanks,” Declan says through another giant mouthful of pizza, half listening to her, half absorbed in the game.

The game breaks for a commercial, and Declan turns to me. “You’re so fucked.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Do you remember our conversation from this morning? The whole, ‘we’re keeping things professional, and this isn’t a real relationship,’ conversation we had with Sterling?”

“I was there.”

“Asher, you’ve only known this woman since Monday. She’s already living in your penthouse, and you’re treating her like a girlfriend.”

“That’s a bit rich, coming from you.”

“Fuck you. But really, though. She’s the first thing you thought of when you got home, and you’re fussing over her, pushing her to eat with us so she’s not alone, ordering her a massage. I’ve never seen you act like this with anyone you’ve dated in the past, and it’s only been four days.”

“You sound jealous.”

“Maybe I am. Why aren’t you fussing over me? Where’s my massage?”

“First of all, mom fusses over you more than what should be considered healthy for a grown-ass man. And second, as you seem to have forgotten per our conversation with Sterling this morning, I have literally asked this woman to put her neck on the line for me. Yes, it’s only been four days. And in those four days, her whole world has not only been flipped upside down, it’s been thrust into the media’s spotlight. You and I both know what a fucking pleasure that is. So yeah, I want to make sure she’s okay. And I want to do what I can to make this as good for her as it can be. That doesn’t mean I’m fussing, that means I’m not a complete asshole.”

“You’re paying her a lot of money,” he argues.

“And you and I both know that money only goes so far.Yeah, that money will change her life for the better, but being in the spotlight might fuck up her life far worse on the other end of the spectrum than the money can make up for. Why are you so defensive about it? You’re not rude to Ella, but you’re not exactly welcoming, either.”