Starting Over (New Beginnings #1) Read online

  Hayden gently rubbed her shoulder where his hand still rested, he then leant down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

  "Watch this!" He said as he ran off and did a huge bomb into the pool, right between the two girls, causing an outburst of squeals and giggles. Ash beamed, watching the ripped muscles of his naked torso; she was glowing watching the girls screaming with delight as Hayden started throwing them around in the pool. She was so distracted by the antics in the pool she didn't even notice Connor come up to her until he took her hand and placed the bottle of beer in it.

  Connor had stopped in the kitchen and grabbed a drink for Ash on his way out to the pool. He knew Ariane and Scott had gone straight to the bar in the games room and he didn't want to bump into them again tonight, so he had avoided the bar itself.

  He walked outside in time to see Hayden lean down and kiss her on the forehead before running off and jumping into the pool making the girls scream out in delight, but the knot in his stomach at watching the gentle brushing of his cousin’s lips on her soft skin had his mind reeling. Still, he only stopped long enough to catch his breath before he walked up to Ash, handing her the beer.

  He noticed she had sat herself down on the one lone chair in the pool enclosure; all the others were in groups of three or four, so he couldn't sit down beside her unless they shared the chair. Not that the thought bothered him, he'd be more than happy to sit her on his knee.

  "Thanks." she said with a smile as she took the beer. She put it straight up to her lips and gulped it down, certainly not very lady like. He liked that.

  "Are you okay?" he asked. "That was a rather scathing attack on Ariane's part."

  "Yeah I'm good. Hayden explained what it was about, so I won't take it personally."

  "I explained your friendship situation with Hayden to her, she's already feeling regret over what she said, so expect an apology some time tomorrow."

  "You told her to apologise to me?" Ash sounded annoyed.

  "No. I know her though, and basically she's a good person, even if she didn't act like it tonight, so she'll apologise when she realises she was out of line."

  Ash nodded.

  "Please don't tell me she was right about your husband running off with a younger woman."

  "Not that I know of, but comments like that make me wonder."

  "You don't know why he left?"

  "He never talked to me while we were married except to tell me what to do and when to do it. He certainly wouldn't share anything with me after he left. I guess it's entirely possible he left for another woman, I wouldn't know."

  "Don't you see him fairly often though, because of the girls? Surely he sees them on a regular basis."

  "He never had time for the girls, and hasn't seen them since the day he left. They asked after him for the first few weeks, and I answered them as honestly as I could. I told them I didn't know where he'd gone and I didn't know when he'll be back. They were enrolled at an exclusive preschool and were supposed to start at the feeder primary school but there was no way I could afford it after he left. I didn't have access to any of the bank accounts; I had a credit card and had to account for every cent that I spent on it. When he left, he had the credit card account shut down. I didn't even know until I went to pay for the week’s groceries and I had nothing to pay with, and I mean nothing, nothing at all. He took everything when he left. He sold the house out from under me. I kept some of the furniture that I could fit in the new place and mine and the girls’ clothes and that was about it."

  "Holy shit!" Connor exclaimed. He had heard part of the story from Hayden but to hear her tell it made it sound so much worse.

  "I have no idea why I just told you all that though," Ash said, blushing. "I'm sorry."

  "Don't be sorry Ash; I'm glad you opened up to me. I'm sorry you had to go through that, the guy sounds like a total douche. How did you even end up married to someone like that?"

  "He wasn't always like that." She tried to explain. "What about you though?" Ash asked.

  Connor could tell she had gone into defensive mode and was trying to change the subject. He decided not to push her.

  "Me? I came out here to go swimming with your girls’, so I better go join them in the pool."

  Ash hadn't been watching Connor while she was talking, she had been distractedly watching the girls swimming and playing in the water with Hayden but his comment made her glance up to where he was standing beside her, and she realised he was standing there in only a pair of green boardies. His chest was on full display and what a display it was. His was rocking a six pack worth drooling over and his chest was sublime, obviously he spent a fair bit of time in the gym and Ash struggled to pull her attention back to the girls.

  "You're not coming in?" He asked.

  "No, I'll join the girls’ tomorrow, I'm too tired tonight. I'm sure I'll have at least half a dozen opportunities to join them in here tomorrow. I think the weather’s supposed to be quite warm so they'll use that as an excuse to annoy me as much as possible."

  "Okay then, I'll talk to you later Ash." Connor said.

  He didn't bomb the girls as Hayden had, but chose to enter the pool with a far more elegant dive from the deep end. Ash watched him as he surfaced in between the girls eliciting almost as many squeals as Hayden had. She watched his damp hair clinging to his forehead in a sexy grip. It wasn't what she'd call long, but it was long enough that she had to resist the urge to follow him in to run her fingers through it, and although it was a mottled blond generally, now all wet, it was a lot darker and sexy as hell.

  Ash was struggling with some of the fantasies she was having about Connor, and they were all bad considering she had practically sworn off men for the rest of her life.

  She sat in silence, watching the two men entertain her daughters for over half an hour before she decided to call the girls’ out. It was pitch black outside now, and almost ten o'clock. Way past their usual bedtime of seven thirty. She hoped that the swimming would have tired them out enough that they had a bit of a sleep in the next morning. She didn't imagine anyone else in the house would be particularly happy if they got woken up at six in the morning.

  "Please Mummy, just two more turns." Beth called back when Ash told them it was time to get out.

  "Please Mummy?" Connor called in mimic.

  "Two more and that's it. Hurry up." Ash replied.

  "Woohoo, let's go." Connor called to Hayden as they each threw one of the girls’ through the air so they passed and landed on opposite sides of the pool, then they quickly picked up the other twin and hoicked them back again. All the girls could manage were squeals and giggles.

  "Alright girls’," Connor said as he pulled them together, conspiring. "Out now, and straight to bed and straight to sleep for your Mum, and I promise tomorrow will be even more fun. There'll be more kids here then and we might even drag your Mum into the pool for a game of water polo. Deal?"

  "Deal." Said Sarah.

  "Deal." Echoed Beth.

  "Cool, off to bed then! Quick sticks."

  Sarah laughed, "Our Mum says that all the time, but sticks aren't quick you know. They don't actually move at all, unless they're falling out of a tree."

  Connor laughed. "Just go."

  The girls climbed out of the pool and followed Ash back towards the gate.

  "Good night girls, sleep tight." Connor called.

  "Ash?" Hayden called out, "Are you coming back out?" He asked hopefully.

  Ash nodded. "Probably, for a little while once I get the girls settled, you can grab me another drink if you’d like."

  Ash was only gone about ten minutes and when she came out the two men were swimming laps in what might even have been a race. Connor got to the edge first and Ash almost fainted as she watched him pull himself out of the pool. His biceps bulged as he hefted himself up and she was mesmerized, watching the pool water run across his ribbed body. She was still staring as he walked towards the outdoor lounge and picked up a towel.

&
nbsp; Please don't dry your chest; please don't dry your chest. She thought to herself as she watched him.

  "I don't think Hayden's got you that beer yet." Connor said as he walked towards her.

  "Oh, that's okay." she answered at the same time Hayden walked past.

  "Going right now," he said as he passed her heading in through the door, dripping water everywhere he went.

  "Bring me a scotch," Connor called, "and make it a double."

  Hayden replied by flipping Connor the bird as he walked away.

  Ash walked up to the chair Connor was standing at and sat down on the edge of it.

  "They went down okay?" he asked.

  "Yeah," Ash sighed. "It seemed somebody made them a promise if they did the right thing... Thank you."

  "You're welcome," he said, warming at her beaming smile. He really didn't understand why her smile warmed his heart so much.

  "So you avoided my questions earlier," Ash said. "You don't want to tell me anything about yourself?"

  "There's not really much to tell." Connor answered

  "Come on, you're a famous rock star. What's that like? There must be lots to tell."

  "I haven't been doing it long enough yet Ash. I mean, I've been a musician since I was a kid, but the whole famous thing is really new and I'm struggling with it. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet."

  "Yeah I guess I can understand that," Ash said. "It must be hard."

  "It's weird, I mean after a show, I was always popular you know; girls throwing themselves at me, people patting me on the back, buying me drinks. But now, I struggle to even walk into Coles to do the shopping at times; I've had to hire someone to do it for me. It is crazy insane. That's why I wanted this place. Somewhere I can get away from it all, just my family and friends and no pressure.

  Now, see, I sound like a whiney old maid or a spoilt brat complaining that I need to hire somebody to do my shopping when others cannot afford to do any shopping but that is part of an entire new mind set. Next week I'm supposed to be meeting with executives at Sound Music to go over the program and present them with the rest of the songs for the album, and I'm terrified, I have no idea what they're going to want."

  "You'll be fine Connor." she said.

  Connor watched her in wonder, he'd seen so many friends start acting like idiots around him; he struggled to understand how someone who had never met him before could act so casual around him.

  "I love how you act around me." He commented without a second thought. "Damn, that probably sounds so conceited." He added.

  "Nah, don't worry about it. I know what you mean. I didn't even know who you were if you recall. So it's easy for me to respond to you as if you are only that, Hayden's cousin who likes to sing."

  "You are so refreshing Ash."

  Hayden showed up then and handed another bottle of beer to Ash, and a glass half filled with scotch to Connor.

  "Ignore anything he says Ash. My cousin loves the ladies and he'll say just about anything to get them into his bed." He said, sitting down on the back of the sun lounge Ash was sitting on. He placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled in satisfaction as he started massaging and felt her relax into his hands.

  "Damn woman, you are so tense." He remarked at the knots he could feel under her shoulder muscles.

  "Yeah, you try working a full time job plus overtime, and raising twin girls. I'd like to see how tense you end up." she retorted.

  "Relax and enjoy this for ten minutes then. What BS has this guy been feeding you?"

  Connor was shooting daggers at Hayden, but he didn't know if he was upset because of Hayden's comments, or the fact that he had his hands on Ash, and she was obviously enjoying it. The only thing stopping him from punching Hayden in the mouth was the fact that he knew that Ash was only appreciating the friendship she felt in the hands, even though he was sure Hayden was imagining his hands massaging her in places other than her shoulders.

  "Nothing much," Ash answered. "We were talking about life I guess."

  Just life? Connor thought, no, I was baring my soul.

  The three of them talked for an hour or so, about little of any real consequence. Connor missed the openness of her sharing when it was only the two of them, but he was sure that until he got her alone again he would have to make do with idle conversation. It was better than not spending time with her at all.

  It was almost midnight when Ash excused herself and went off to bed, she hadn't meant to stay up so late, but she couldn't drag herself away from Connor, she wanted to soak in everything about him while she could.

  When she finally fell into bed, exhausted, she still couldn't fall asleep. She kept picturing Connor's perfect abs, his soft blond hair, and his piercing green eyes.

  ****

  Chapter 5

  Ash was surprised when she woke up at eight o'clock in the morning and the girls were still asleep. She certainly wasn't complaining, but she was surprised. She didn't know what time breakfast was, but she wasn't waking the girls’ up for anything and she figured she would be able to con Hayden into taking her out to get something if they slept through it. She rolled over and drifted back off to sleep.

  When Ash woke up again, it was the sound of giggling that awoke her. She picked up her phone and looked at the time. Quarter to nine, amazing.

  "So who wants some breakfast?" Ash asked.

  "Yeah." They called.

  "Well then let’s gets dressed and go see if there's anything to eat."

  Connor noticed as soon as Ash came into the dining room, he sensed her presence as soon as she entered despite the fact the room was an insane hive of activity. It was bustling with everyone having shown up at the same time. His brother and sister had shown up half an hour ago with their brood of kids and they had all made it back to the dining room for breakfast. The only person they were still waiting on was Hayden's sister, but she wasn't due to arrive until just before lunch.

  He noticed as Hayden walked straight up to Ash and place his arm around her shoulder as he kissed her quickly on the cheek, and he was surprised at the jealousy he felt wishing he had that sort of openness with her. He wasn't usually a jealous man, but she definitely brought out a jealous streak in him that he didn't particularly like.

  He continued to watch as Hayden led Ash around the room introducing her to his family, all the while keeping his hand against the small of her back. Connor decided to leave the room before he ended up doing something he regretted. He made a fresh cup of coffee and walked out of the French doors onto the deck overlooking the lake.

  Ash watched Connor walk out of the room through the French doors. Obviously all the noise in the room was getting too much for him, and she could definitely understand why. Her own girls, added into the melee with his nieces and nephew, equalled insanity and she was pretty desperate to get out of it herself. Instead of simply leaving though, she made some coffee and grabbed some bacon and eggs for breakfast and sat down beside Hayden to eat. Considering he had been waiting for her to show up before he ate, she figured it would be rude not to eat with him. She did notice Connor’s sister sneak out the door though, seconds before Scott pulled out the seat on her other side.

  "Hey Ash." he said as he sat down.

  "Morning Scott," Ash said, turning her attention quickly back to Hayden so she could avoid too much of a conversation with Scott if possible.

  "Listen Ash," Scott continued, ignoring her attempt to fob him off. "I wanted to apologize for last night, I think I made you uncomfortable, I really didn't mean to. I think you're gorgeous, that's all. If you wanted to go out some time, let me know I'd be happy to take you out somewhere. Anywhere you want to go."

  Ash smiled at Hayden and tried not to laugh as she turned back to Scott.

  "I'm really flattered Scott, but I think I might be a bit too old for you."

  "No, I'm sure there's no more than a few years between us."

  "No, I'm sure there's a few more than just a few years in it. How old are you Scott?"


  "Twenty-two," He answered.

  "And you think I'm only a few years older than you? Thank you Scott, I'm truly flattered." Ash replied, knowing her own age, and he obviously thought she was about ten tears younger made her feel empowered. "But I'm actually thirty-seven."

  "What? No way. You can't be. Even Ariane thought you were around twenty-seven."

  "Well I hate to disappoint you, but I can assure you I'm thirty-seven."

  "Damn," Scott said. He sat in silence for a minute thinking before adding, "You know, it really doesn't bother me. I'd still love to go out with you."

  Ash laughed at him this time and shook her head in exasperation. "Scott I'm sorry, but even if I didn't care, I don't date. So we still couldn't go out, ask Hayden." She said, noticing the questioning look in his eyes.

  "Sorry Bud," Hayden responded. "I've been trying to get her to go out with me for six months now, still to no avail."

  "Maybe she just doesn't like you." Scott replied tartly.

  "No Scott, I just don't date. It's that simple, it's a personal choice, so accept it and leave it." Ash said on the verge of getting frustrated.

  Ash got up from the table and made herself a fresh cup of coffee and, after checking on the girls’, she walked out the same doors she had seen Connor walk through earlier.

  ****

  The view from the deck was amazing and Ash caught her breath as she looked out over the expanse of lake that came up almost to the decks edge.

  "Wow." She murmured, looking past the lake to the mountains beyond.

  She didn't even notice Connor until she felt his breath in her ear. "Pretty impressive isn't it?" He asked quietly.

  "Wow." She repeated. "It's just wow. I honestly have no other words. Just. Wow."

  Connor chuckled right beside her ear, causing the flesh there and down her right side to break out in goose bumps. "We can take a canoe out on it later if you'd like."

  "Really? That would be amazing. I haven't been canoeing in so long."

  "We'll go after lunch then."