I had never been kissed like this before. I had never felt like I was being tested, like every touch was being recorded in some sort of sexual data bank. Ashley’s hands spoke contradictions all over my skin. Somehow she could touch me everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

“I don’t understand,” I managed between the kisses she was gently applying to my lips, “Aiden already knows my reputation. He knows what I’m capable of, Ashley.”

“What’s your point?” she asks, sitting up to stare at me in the darkness.

“I know that he’s only smart enough to move people in that he trusts can deliver. He wouldn’t have taken a risk on me like that and you know it. So what are you doing?” I ask, the truth dawning on me the more I speak the words aloud, “why are you here?”

“You’re the competition, Blondie. I want to why you’re here.”

“I imagine for the same reason you are.”

“He needed a blonde.”

“A lot of people have a preference. It was a smart move on Aiden’s part.”

She simply shook her head.

“And you kissed me,” I say after an awkward moment of silence.

“So?”

“I don’t know about you, but it’s kind of an unspoken rule that you’re not supposed to let that happen. It’s too intimate. People can easily form attachments.”

“I know all the attachment theories, thank you very much.”

“Fine, then why did you kiss me?”

“Why did you let me?”

“Why do you answer questions with questions?”

“Why do you ask so many?”

“Why are you still here?”

“Because you’re still talking.”

She was smiling now, and I took a second to live in the moment because I imagine a girl like her doesn’t allow that to happen often.

“I don’t think your sister likes you very much,” I say, not exactly knowing where the statement comes from. A desire to change the subject will make you immediately less tactful.

“Who, Kyla? Oh, whatever. She’s jealous, ok? She’s always been really jealous of me.”

“Not many people make this a family business.”

“Well, for a girl that supposedly hates me she sure follows me around a lot.”

“I see. And one day she followed you to some guy’s dick?”