CHAPTER - 17

LOVE IS... WONDERFUL

'Love is a wonderful thing. It makes life worthwhile. I love being in love.' - Nicholas Sparks

My smile faltered a bit at the intensity of his eyes, and after blinking in order to get out of the trance I was suddenly in, I smiled at him. Instead of returning the smile, he rolled his eyes at me and got back to his scotch. Shaking my head at him, I looked back towards Mike who, too, was looking at Ashton.

Tapping his shoulder, I brought his attention back to me and asked, "Why are you staring at him like that?"

He frowned a bit and answered, "He is your date, right?"

I pressed my lips in a thin line and half shrugged. "Not really. He is... a client... umm a friend. Whatever, but not my date."

He hummed in reply and looked back at Ashton whose back was now turned towards us. "I don't know, but he looks familiar," Mike mumbled, with scrunched eyebrows.

I nodded and replied, "He is a Parker. He is usually in gossip columns."

His head snapped towards me and he said in disbelief, "He is a Parker? And what makes you think I read the gossip columns." I chuckled at that and he continued, "I think I have seen him somewhere else."

"Where?" I prompted, tilting my head slightly.

After a few thoughtful seconds, he said apologetically, "Honestly, I think I have seen him somewhere. In fact, I think I have met him once for some work related stuff but I might be wrong. I really don't remember. Maybe this is the alcohol in my system blurting out things or making my memory go hazy. I don't know."

'Work and Ashton in one sentence? He surely is drunk,' I concluded. "Don't stress yourself too much, Mike," I suggested him with a smile.

"Okay!" He laughed as he tried to move in rhyme with the music. He had two left feet but it was commendable that he was trying to dance. "You dance beautifully, Lia."

I blushed slightly at the compliment which was in complete contrast with my thoughts about his dancing. "Thank you," I mumbled.

"You know what, you should teach me how to dance. My girlfriend will be pleased." He chuckled and I stared at him in surprise.

"You have a girlfriend?"

"Your surprise offends me, Lia." He feigned hurt as he pouted a bit. "Of course, I have a wonderful girlfriend, but she couldn't come here as she in Prague for some project. She's coming back next week. You should meet her." He smiled remembering her and the happiness was clear on his facial features.

"I would love to." I smiled. It was good to see Michael, the player, happy with one girl.

As soon as I said this, the song came to an end. "I can't dance any longer, Lia." He declared over dramatically, making me laugh. "I asked for a dance because I figured that this was the only way that you'd finally hear me out," he confessed.

"That's not true. I'd have listened to you otherwise too," I mumbled, frowning a bit.

"Yeah, right!" He nodded his head in sarcasm and stepped back. "Now go to your date else he'll kill me." He widened his eyes in mock horror, and I slapped lightly on his chest while rolling my eyes at what he had said.

Date? Ashton was not my date. How many times and to how many people was I supposed to tell this to?

"Stop drinking," I commented the moment I reached Ashton by the bar.

"Why should I?" he asked without even turning to look in my direction.

I held his right arm and felt his strong muscles tighten a bit, but managed to say, "Because we are on a hunt for a suitable candidate for you in this reception." He snorted in reply and I frowned. "I'm serious, Ashton. Look around and see the beauties."

"All I can see right now are the drinks in the open bar," he mumbled as he took another sip of his drink.

Ignoring his disinterest, I continued prying, "What about the girl you were talking to a few minutes back? You looked quite interested in her." In all honesty, I was more interested in what they talked about. I had never liked her, and the thought of her with Ashton just didn't settle well with me. It was all wrong.

He stared at me with lightly scrunched eyebrows and after a thoughtful minute said, "She was sexy."

Unintentionally, my jaw clenched a bit and I mumbled my comment, "Typical!"

Either he didn't hear my comment or chose to ignore it as he added, "But irritating. Very irritating."

Again, I mumbled my comment without the clenched jaw. "Good."

"Did you say something?" He raised an eyebrow with a smirk on his face.

"Dance. I said, 'let's dance'," I replied, stressing on 'dance'.

"Why the f*ck would I dance with you? Go dance with your date." He snorted and got back to his drink. I frowned in confusion and before I could provide any kind of input to this topic, he added, "He sucked at dancing by the way."

"He is not-" I stopped as I decided against repeating the same sentence for what felt like the hundredth time during the day, even though it was in context of someone else. "I know," I responded to his 'sucked at dance' comment. "Why don't you dance with me then? Or do you suck at it too?" I asked him in a challenging tone, raising my eyebrows in mock curiosity. In response, he took a swig of the remaining of his drink, got up from his seat and grabbed my wrist to drag me to the dance floor. "Well, you could have asked nicely," I mumbled as soon as we reached the floor, where many guests were dancing their hearts out.

"Nice?" he echoed and after a thoughtful moment, shook his head. "Never heard of that word."

A light chuckle escaped my lips, which was cut off by Ashton's next actions. He snaked his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him just like Michael had done. But the difference was in the current that seemed to flow in my body upon his touch. The goose bumps made me look up at him in nothing less than a shock. My chuckles had gone missing. Reluctantly, I managed to rest my hands on his shoulders, all the while looking at him with wide eyes.

All these reactions were completely one sided as Ashton seemed to have no effect at all. "Just so you know, I'm an incredible dancer," he declared, cockily.

And his smug tone was enough to pull me out of whatever trance I had fallen into. "So am I," I told him, finally removing my gaze from him.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw him smirk and he whispered, "Are you, Miss Uptight."

"I'm pretty sure you would stop calling me that once you'd see me dance," I told him, looking square into his eyes. One thing I was confident about other than my writing was my dancing skills.

He raised his eyebrows and suddenly, pulled me towards him. I gasped lightly in surprise as our chests met and he seemed satisfied with the reaction he got as his lips curved up in a victorious smirk and whispered, "We'll see that." With that he spun me around, taking me by complete surprise. And that was a start of a new challenge altogether. But it only took me a few seconds to get over my surprise and give it back to him.

I held his left hand with my right and rested my right hand on his shoulder once the spin was complete. Looking at him with a smirk of my own, I waved my body quite close to his. His smirk faltered for the slightest bit and he raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh, we definitely will," I whispered back, winking at him.

His lips curved up slightly and we both started dancing together and yet against each other in a silent challenge. He was a commendable dancer and there were times in our dance where I thought about stopping the dance and just staring at him as he moved his body with the music that had salsa beats to it. If I wasn't competing with him for my ego, I would have definitely done exactly that.

"Your boyfriend made his own version of 'Pretty Woman' with his chick," he mumbled in between our dance as he bent me slightly, making my eyes go wide at the random topic at such a time. Then I realized that it was his stupid strategy to make me lose my focus.

I narrowed my eyes at him, telling him that I wasn't someone who was going to fall for his tricks. I spread my left leg which made my dress part due to the slit and dragged my toes, making a circle to the left, ending my move with an elegant shake of my hips. "You were not shocked on seeing real life Edward and Vivian. You knew about it, didn't you?" I accused, narrowing my eyes at the realization that suddenly dawned in my head.

"So much for thinking that you were pretty smart." He chuckled while rolling his eyes and moved his right foot in my direction, making me take a step back with my left and then, repeating the step with corresponding feet.

My eyes widened at his indirect confession "Who told you?" I was curious, very curious. Priscilla couldn't have. She had herself told me that they hadn't talked in months. Then who was it?

"A little birdie told me." He smirked.

A gasp escaped my lips as I realized who that little birdie could be. "Stephanie!" I gasped and he took that very moment to draw me impossibly closer to him as the song came to an end. His lips curved up in a smile; that very rare and beautiful smile and I concluded that my guess was right. But the most important question was that if he knew about it since two days, then why didn't he say anything to me?

Bringing me back from my thoughts, he brushed his nose lightly to mine, making me notice the negligible distance between us. I grabbed that opportunity to stare in his eyes again, his eyes that had become impossibly familiar to me in merely six days. Our breaths were fast and mingling due to the dance routine we had just showcased. His eyes ever so slowly moved towards my lips and came back to my eyes. And suddenly I was very well aware of his well built arms that were snaked around my waist. I was aware of his rough yet warm hands that were resting just above my hips. And for some reason, this awareness made me want to stay like this for a little while longer.

"Ms. Flexible it is then, huh? I'm sure you'd be f*cking good in bed," he whispered in his husky, low voice. His suggestive words and noise of glass breaking somewhere nearby made me come back to my senses and I stepped away from him hastily.

'What in the world is wrong with me today?' I asked myself in hopes of getting some answers. 'Was I flirting with Ashton; my client Ashton?' I shook my head at my actions as I recalled everything that just happened.

"You're an annoying pervert," I told him with lightly gritted teeth.

He laughed lightly and bowed as if it was the best compliment he could receive during the day. Without waiting for him, I turned away and started moving towards the bar in search of some time away from a certain Parker as having him close was proving to be dangerous for my well being.

I was stopped from reaching my temporary destination by someone. "Hey! Liana, right?" My head snapped towards the person who had called me and my eyes landed on Laura's bridesmaid who had been clinging to Ashton a few minutes back.

"Yeah," I mumbled feeling slightly irritated with her presence. I had never liked her, and for some reason I still didn't like her even a bit.

"That hot hunk has come here with you, right?" she asked, pointing towards Ashton who was standing at the other end of the hall, across the dancing area and looking right back at us. The way she spoke made me dislike her even more. She had a negative aura around her, or maybe it was just me who was trying to read too much into things.

"Uh...huh," I lightly mumbled which made her grin at me as if she had just met Santa Claus who was about to give her favorite gift on Christmas; Santa being me and gift being Ashton.

"Who is he? You were dancing with him just now and he mentioned you a while back. Can you tell me who is he? I mean, I did ask him. But he is kind of rude but hot as hell and honestly, I can think of some really fun things I can do with him. Laura just told me that you were looking out for some girl for him, so here I am." She grinned and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at her airheaded attitude.

Smiling lightly at her, I told her, "Honestly, I think he would have told you who he is himself when you both were talking a while back. But apparently, he didn't; so maybe doesn't want to." I shrugged at the end while shooting an apologetic look towards her and continued my walk towards the bar.

For some reason, the little conversation with the girl, whose name I really couldn't remember, made me feel happy, made me forget my anger towards Ashton and about what happened at the dance floor. My irritation seemed to have evaporated. And the strangest part of this entire ordeal was that the reason behind this sudden change of my mood was the fact that Ashton had not shown any kind of interest in the girl who could think of doing some 'fun' things with him.

**********

There wasn't much that I could recall about her. All I could remember were her dark eyes and hair of the same color. I hadn't met her much during their affair. But I could remember the times when my Dad in those years used to take me out as Mom never declined him from meeting me during their period of separation. Some memories were still fresh in my head, though. Dad used to take me to meet her. He often asked me to call her 'Mom'. Thankfully, even my five year old self knew that it was wrong. I never did. I always addressed her by her name - Helen.

As I stared at her from across the reception hall, I couldn't help but imagine what Mom must have gone through because of her. And that thought alone made me flinch.

She was laughing and talking to her family. I had come to know that she had two sons with her husband. I was very well aware of the fact that she would be present here at Seth's wedding, after all, she is his father's only sister. And because of this very reason, I was glad that Mom and Dad couldn't attend this wedding. I was very glad.

As if feeling my eyes on her, she looked from her husband to me, right in my eyes. My eyes widened at being caught and I removed my gaze from her. I prayed that she wouldn't recognize me. It had been almost eighteen years since she last saw me. But I had recognized me. Could she recognize me?

"What's wrong with you?" a voice broke my train of thoughts and silenced my mental battles.

My head snapped towards Ashton, who was looking at me with raised eyebrows. My eyes drifted towards Helen and I sighed in relief when I saw her eyeing Ashton for a second and then turning back to her family. She had retrieved her steps away from me and that comforted me. Oddly enough, having him here was comforting me and I was thankful that his timing was quite perfect, just like it had been when Nolan had reappeared in my life just a day ago. I was glad that he was there when I had to face my fears; my terrible pasts. Was this mere coincidence? If it was, it was a good one; a very good one. "Nothing." I shook my head with a smile and extended my hand to pick up a random drink from the bar right in front of me. But before I could grab the alcohol, Ashton's hand grabbed mine. "What?" I asked with a frown.

"You don't look like someone who handles this well," he commented and drank it one go.

Rolling my eyes at him, I asked, "How many drinks have you had?"

He shrugged in reply and picked up another scotch. I shook my head at his nonchalant attitude and lightly licked my lower lip. Unsurprisingly, I couldn't taste my lipstick any longer. No wonder, Stephanie was right about this particular habit of mine.

"Did you just lick your lipstick?" Ashton asked raising his eyebrows in disbelief and eying me with disgust etched on his bearded face.

A grimace made its way on my face as he pointed this out so blatantly. Being polite was something alien to Ashton Parker, and insulting me had been his favorite hobby since we had met six days ago. So of course, he did that at every opportunity he got. But then again, my lipstick was of least botheration to me as I shrugged and asked with a grin on my face, "Have I managed to completely ruin it, finally?" I lightly chuckled at the end at the playful tone I used to ask this question from him.

My chuckles were cut off when Ashton moved towards me, leaving almost negligible distance between us. I watched his eyes as they travelled from my lips and then to my eyes. And before I could say anything at all, he sealed my lips with his. My eyes widened at the sudden action, but he didn't move. He moved his hand from my bare shoulders, running them on my naked arms and finally resting them on my waist. My brain shouted at me to push him away but my hormones which had been in a state of dire need since months responded with vigor. Undoubtedly, my hormones won.

Stupid hormones!

I kissed him back which encouraged him to hold my waist more tightly and draw me closer to him, making our chests touch. My hands, having a mind of their own, went to his hair; oh his soft hair. And he chose that very moment to pull his face away from me, thereby ending the kiss.

In a span of half an hour, I was back in his arms, in his embrace and honestly, I didn't want his arms to free me. No matter how insane it sounded, he felt so comfortable that I didn't want to step away. He felt so warm, so wonderful, so secure and so familiar; just like home.

Unable to wrap my head around everything that just happened in the last two minutes and every insane thought that was creating a mess in my head, I opened my eyes and found him looking at me with that arrogant smirk pasted on his face, whereas all I could do was stare at him in shock.

Why did he kiss me?

Most importantly, why in the world did I kiss him back?

And why the fish I thought of him as home; Ashton Parker - the rude, arrogant, pervert and good-for-nothing guy as home?

Just as I opened my mouth after what seemed like hours; painfully silent hours, he brought his thumb to rub my lower lip, making me lose my voice even before I could search it, and said, "No. I managed to completely ruin it... finally."

With one more smirk accompanied by a wink, he turned around and walked away from me, while all I could do was stare at his retreating back with just one question in my mind, 'What just happened?'

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A/N

And they Kissed! :D I'm sure it was unexpected; way too unexpected. But then again, this was the fun part. Lol. Hope you all enjoyed. :)

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PS. Thank you for mkaing his story reach #10 in Humor Hot List. :D <3