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that. But I don’t want things to change, Ash. You’re family.”
    “Things did change,” Ash said softly. “Nothing to be done about it. I’m dealing. Don’t make it an issue that it isn’t, Jace. Be happy and make Bethany happy.”
    “Are we cool?” Jace asked. “Because you’ve been off lately. And it’s not just me noticing.”
    Ash cracked a smile. “Yeah, man, we’re cool. Stop acting like a goddamn nanny. Go home to your woman. I’ll see you tomorrow in my goddamn tuxedo. Only for Mia would I do this shit.”
    Jace laughed. “Yeah, tell me about it. Bethany and I are so eloping.”
    “Set a date yet?”
    While Jace and Bethany had become engaged at Bethany’s twenty-fourth birthday party, they hadn’t set a date, at least not to Ash’s knowledge. But then, he’d been so far out of the loop lately that it was possible he just didn’t know about it.
    “Not yet,” Jace said. “Was waiting until this shit with Jack blew over. I don’t want that hanging over her head when we get married. After he gets out of rehab and gets his shit sorted, I’ll plan a trip somewhere and we’ll get married on a beach.”
    “Sounds great. See you tomorrow, okay?”
    Ash closed the door and slapped the side to signal the driver to pull away before he turned and walked into his apartment building.
    Once inside his apartment, he walked into his bedroom and his gaze fell on the painting the art dealer had pulled from the back. The one that was still wrapped and not on display.
    The others he’d put against the wall in the living room, but he’d put this one in his bedroom, intending to look at it when he got home. Now curiosity was eating at him, so he carefully pulled away the wrapping and turned it over.
    “Holy shit,” he breathed.
    It was . . . stunning. Provocative and sexy as hell.
    It was her .
    Or rather her tattoo, or what he imagined had to be her tattoo. Granted he’d only gotten a glimpse when she’d bared a thin strip of her waist, but this was in the right place and it resembled the flowery vine.
    The painting was of a nude woman’s profile. One hip was presented, arms covering her breasts, but the barest hint of one soft mound peeked tantalizingly from underneath her upper arm. And down her entire side was a colorful, flowery tattoo. It curved over her hip and disappeared between her legs.
    It had to be on the inside of one thigh and now he was dying to know if this was an exact replica of her tattoo. The one he’d seen on her body. Jesus, but he was dying to know. Dying to trace the lines with his fingers and his tongue.
    He stared at the painting, absorbing every detail. The art dealer had been a fool not to display this one. Had he even looked at it? It was erotic as hell and yet still tasteful.
    Long blond hair flowed down her back, the ends lifted as if she was caught in a breeze. Her arms were hugged to her body, her fingertips splayed over the arm pressing down over her breast. Delicate. Utterly feminine. And so damn beautiful it made his balls ache.
    Holy fuck but he was obsessed with a woman he’d only met in person one time. And this painting wasn’t helping a damn bit.
    Tomorrow this was getting framed and it was going over his bed so he’d see it every time he entered his bedroom. Or, even better, he’d put it on the wall opposite his bed so it would be the first thing he saw when he woke up in the morning and the last thing he saw before he went to sleep at night.
    Yeah, he wasn’t just obsessed. He was all sorts of fucked up over this woman. He had to get a grip.
    Johnny was bringing her jewelry by the office day after tomorrow since the entire business would be shut down for Gabe’s wedding tomorrow. Ash then had to figure out how he was going to get it back to her. He could just mail it to her, but then he wouldn’t see her. And he definitely planned on seeing her again. Soon.

chapter four
    Ash sat in his office the day after Gabe’s wedding and studied the small box