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Chapter Nineteen

Aspen

My days off are always busy. Today I managed to squeeze in a visit with my grandmother, but there has been no change. She didn’t remember me; she thought I was a new nurse taking her for her walk. I live for the times she remembers me—those days I drop everything and rush down there, but they are now few and far between.

My first payout from the collab content on the View4U app hit my bank account today, and I sent Arlo his portion. I have never seen so many zeros in my life, all from posting clips online, and not even the sex part. I also did some shopping to make myself feel better, but it didn’t work. And as I pull into the garage, I realize I’m glad to be home.

Home is a funny word for me. It was always my grandmother who made a house feel like home, and nowhere has ever felt that way since I moved out on my own. Until now.

I unload the car and make two trips upstairs to get everything to my room. Once I’m done, I undress and slip on one of Ridge’s business shirts. I do this so that when he watches me, he can see me in his clothes. I love when he gets possessive and growls over the speakers. He and Zeland are off at the golf club or something today. Zeland offered to come visit my gran, but I declined. I need to spend all the time I can with her, and as selfish as it sounds, I don’t want to share her time with him.

“Turn on songs I can dance to,” I say to the intelligent audio system, and wait eagerly for it to create a playlist.

“Okay, turning on songs you can dance to.”

“I Wanna Dance with Somebody” filters through the speakers, and I sing and dance my way into the kitchen, opening the fridge and pulling out the cake Ronny made for us. I don’t bother cutting a slice. Instead, I get a fork and eat it straight from the serving plate. Ridge hates it when I do it, but his punishing spanks when he catches me are totally worth it. In fact, all he’s succeeded in doing is make me want to be naughtier.

Grabbing a bottle of water, I hear a throat clear behind me, and I turn with a smile on my face. It quickly falls when I see Genevieve standing there and not Ridge.

“Ridge isn’t here,” I tell her .

She looks me up and down, and I see her jaw tighten when she recognizes Ridge’s shirt.

“I know,” she replies.

“Then why are you here, Genevieve? Ridge doesn’t like people in his space unannounced.”

She chuckles at me. “I’m not just people; I’m his future wife.” She flicks her hand in the air. “This will all be mine very soon.”

“Is that so?” I reply, leaning back against the counter, interested to see where this is going and why she is really here.

“Yes.”

I smirk at her. “He never told me you were coming.”

“Why would he tell a gold digger that his fiancée is stopping by?”

“Look, how about we stop right there. Whatever this is, I’m not doing it. Ridge does not strike me as the kind of man to mince his words. If you were really his fiancée, future wife, or whatever you are claiming to be, you would know that every inch of this house is covered by cameras—ones he checks frequently—so I would make sure you have proof to back up your claims.”

Her face morphs into that of a scorned woman, and it’s almost comical to see she clearly hasn’t gotten the reaction from me she wanted.

“I’m not a woman who gets jealous and jumps to conclusions. I’m the kind of woman who will talk to Ridge and ask him myself. He has not given me any reasons not to trust him, nor has Zeland, for that matter. If you were expecting me to run out of here in tears, you thought wrong.”

“You think you can just walk in here, flaunt your cheap ass around, and sink your claws into a rich man? Do you plan to live your life off his money? He will throw you away like yesterday’s trash once he has finished with you. I’m the endgame, and he knows I am here waiting for him when he is ready. Then you and Zeland will be gone.”

At the mention of her wanting to split Ridge and Zeland, I’m like a fucking rabid dog, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end as I push off the counter, closing the distance between us. I might be a lot shorter—she is naturally tall, and in heels even taller—and she may look like a supermodel, but if Ridge wanted her, he would be fucking her and not me and Zeland.

“Let’s get one thing fucking straight,” I spit. “You are fucking delusional if you think you can split up Ridge and Zeland. It’s never going to happen, and if you really loved him, you wouldn’t want to try. Clearly, you can’t see what is right in front of you—Ridge loves Zeland, he doesn’t love you. It’s sad, really, that there are trees out there producing oxygen just so you can breathe. Maybe throw them an apology on your way out.”

She opens her mouth to speak, but I hold my hand up. “Get the fuck out of my house before I call Malachi to come throw you out. You are not welcome here, and if you come back again unannounced, I will throw hands. I don’t give a flying fuck how rich you or your father are. You will not come into my house and disrespect MY men. Either of them.”

“This is not your house!” she screeches.

“That is where you are wrong,” a voice booms. She gasps and turns around to see Ridge with his arms crossed over his chest. “This is her house, and if she asked you to leave, I suggest you do it.”

“Can’t you see all she wants is your money?!”

“You can believe what you want, Genevieve, but she has not let me spend a cent on her. Aspen has her own money and supports herself. Now I am asking you politely to please see yourself out. We have been friends for a long time and would hate to have to reevaluate our friendship if you can’t respect my woman or Zeland.”

“Your woman!” She scoffs. “You have lost your damn mind.”

Ridge storms toward her, leaning down into her face. “Maybe I have, but I have never been happier. And let me make one thing very, very clear. I do not love you. I won’t ever love you. And I will never marry you. Now please leave before I call your father and end our working relationship because his daughter doesn’t know her place.”

“Screw you, Ridge! If you want to throw away two decades of friendship over a homeless whore, then so be it.”

As she huffs and storms away, Ridge doesn’t turn to watch her leave. Instead he just stares me up and down in his shirt.

“Fuck, you look hot in my clothes. ”

“I know,” I say with a smirk. Running toward him, I launch myself into his arms and wrap my legs around his waist. “I don’t think I like her very much. Were you watching?”

He smiles. “I sure was. I think I’m a little obsessed with you, so I’m always checking in, but this time I heard the gates open, and I wanted to see what she was up to. You believe there is nothing going on between her and me, right?”

I take his handsome face in my hands. “Of course I do. I meant it when I said I’m not a woman who won’t come to you first before I believe someone else. But I started losing my temper when she said she wanted to get rid of Zeland. I don’t know if she knows you two are together, and I may have let the cat out of the bag on that, but I’m not sorry. You two are meant for each other. He compliments you in ways you need, and vice versa.”

“I don’t care who knows. We don’t put it on billboards, but if people know, they know.”

“Hmm, I like the sound of you two on billboards.”

He chuckles and walks us toward his room. “I’m sure you do. Zeland’s gone to do whatever Zeland does—he disappeared around the fourth hole. I honestly think he is stalking your boyfriend.”

“I doubt he’s stalking him, but maybe they are hanging out. He mentioned something about coffee.”

Ridge snorts as he reaches the top of the stairs to his wing. “We are grown men. We don’t ‘hang out.’”

I pout. “What, you’re too old to hang out with me? I guess that’s what happens when you’re nearing thirty—all your fun has run out.”

“You want me to prove I’m not too old? I will bend you over my bed and fuck the sass right out of your mouth.”

I snort as he walks us through his bedroom and into his en suite, placing me on the counter. “They say you’re only as old as the woman you fuck, so I guess you shaved a few years off.”

He smirks at me, and damn, he is handsome. It should be illegal for every part of his body to be in proportion.

I lick my lips as he untucks the fitted polo that stretches tight across his broad chest. He lifts it slightly, teasing a slither of his sun-kissed skin, but doesn’t rush as he pulls it over his head and throws it into the hamper.

He steps out of his custom-made shoes and unbuckles his belt. In one pull, he removes it, and wetness pools between my legs at the snap.

I bite down on my lip as I watch him undo his golf pants and slide them down his thick legs. I can’t look away, not when every movement feels like an invitation.

Once he is in nothing but his expensive boxer briefs, he steps into me, spreading my legs so he can move between them.

He slowly undoes the buttons on his shirt I still wear as my chest rises and falls in excitement. When he gets to the last button and opens the material, he licks his lips as he looks at my breasts.

“Fuck, you’re beautiful. ”

I scoff. Accepting the compliment is hard; I’m really nothing special. Ridge drags me down off the counter, flipping me around so I’m facing the mirror, his hand twisting in my hair.

“Repeat after me. I am beautiful exactly how I am.”

Doing as he asks, I repeat the words back to him. He seems pleased and grinds his cock against my lower back.

“I am the kind of woman people don’t forget.”

Again I repeat his words, and he growls in approval as he uses his free hand to tug down his briefs before stepping out of them.

“This is the body he can’t keep his hands off. I turn him on with just a look.”

My knees wobble and I whisper the words as he leans down to kiss my neck.

He spins me and pulls me back up into his arms, and instinctively I circle my legs around his waist as he walks us toward the shower. Ridge’s lips never leave my skin as he sucks and nips everywhere he can reach. “You’re ruining me, Aspen, and everything I once believed in.”

“Ditto,” I whisper.

Any walls I had when I moved in here, he and Zeland have smashed through. I no longer care how bad it will hurt if they leave me. Some wounds are worth it. These men are worth it. Now I need to come clean with Arlo. The longer I drag it out, the more chance he will walk away. He has become such an important part of my life and I don’t want to risk losing him.

Ridge steps under the streaming water—I fucking love this shower, with the jets that spray us from every angle. As my back hits the tiles, he uses one arm to hold me up, while his free hand slides his cockhead up and down along my pussy, then he buries himself inside me.

“I will never tire of fucking you,” he growls against my skin.

The warm water washes over us as he thrusts into me, slowly. Ridge isn’t fucking me right now—this feels like more, and it scares the shit out of me. But not enough to stop me from coming all over his cock, all the while screaming his name.