"I left home pretty early this morning. You coming in was the first break I'd had since seven."

"I didn't wake up until nine." He peeled the foil away from his taco. "It's my first day off in years," he added defensively.

She watched him, curious, as her practiced fingers unwrapped her food. "What's the point of all the perks if you don't get to enjoy them?"

Ashley hissed and brought his finger to his lips, sucking a hot dollop of refried beans from his skin. "I'll be able to take advantage of the perks eventually. Maybe." He waved his hand and smiled at her. "I think the real point of the perks is the quality of status symbol. It's a sign of power to have money and time at your disposal and never use it. That's what I tell myself anyway."

Her eyes were drawn to the path of his hand, the way he popped his finger into his mouth so casually, the purse of his lips around it. She had to consciously will herself to stop when he addressed her, though the image of what else he could do with his mouth had already sped up her pulse.

"Well, I'm glad that I can contribute to your imminent corruption." She held up her taco in a mock-toast. "To being a slacker, if only for a day."

"Or the hour," Ashley said, checking his watch. "Unless you want to contribute to my corruption for the rest of the afternoon."

She took a bite of her taco. "I thought you said to take you home."

"Actually," he pointed out, pouring the thin salsa over his food, "you said you would take me home."

Frowning, Jenny had to swallow before responding. "Would you rather I took you someplace else?"

Ashley looked at her a long moment, his eyes thoughtful. She shifted, unnerved by the intensity of his gaze. Before she said anything, he smiled and shook his head. "No. How's your food?"

"Good. It's always good here." As if to prove her point, she took another bite, hoping that it would encourage him to try his. It didn't. He seemed too busy watching her eat. "It's better when it's hot, you know," she commented around a mouthful.

"I wouldn't want to burn my mouth." But he picked up the taco and took a healthy bite. She watched for his reaction and was rewarded with a close-mouthed smile. He sipped from his large cup of Coke and nodded. "It is good."

"Like I would steer you wrong. I can't get Bryan to come down here and try it. I took it home for dinner once, and he accidentally took a bite of mine instead of his and spent the next half hour drinking ice water and swearing at me."

Ashley quirked his eyebrow. "You like it hot?"

She grinned. "Let's say I like it with flavor. Besides, Mexican really isn't Bryan's thing. He's more Sunday roast than chicken enchiladas."

Ashley nodded. "A meat and potatoes sort of guy? Doesn't really go in for anything...out of the ordinary?"

"Nope. He's a nine to five, always sleeps on his back, plan everything out ahead of time on a spreadsheet, kind of guy." It dawned on Jenny as she picked up her drink how she was painting Bryan, and she hastened to add, "Which is probably a good thing because somebody has to keep me from going off half-cocked all the time, right?"

"It's good to have a stabilizing influence in your life," Ashley agreed. "If that's the sort of thing you need." The corner of his mouth lifted as he said the latter, like he was daring her to disagree.

Truth be told, some of Bryan's more staid tendencies had a way of driving her crazy, but Jenny loved him and put up with them the same way he put up with her occasional need to go a little nuts. It worked for them. They had worked that way for as long as they had known each other. But she didn't need Ashley to know she sometimes wished it were different.

"So..." she dove back into her food, ready to change the subject, "...you don't take Vera for long drives on the beach, you work obscene hours in hopes of someday being able to take advantage of the perks, and I can't even get you to commit to a game of beach volleyball. Is there anything Ashley Edwards does for fun?"

"Seduce innocent maidens."

She snorted. He had actually said it with a straight face. Well, as straight as Ashley ever got. The devilish twinkle in his eye made Jenny wonder if he was trying to get a visible rise from her. But she knew how to play his game. As long as she ignored the way her thighs clenched together beneath the table.

"And you actually have time for that? Or do you have a ten-step how-to guide you follow to get their attention?"

"Ten steps?" Ashley scoffed. "It's nothing so elaborate. First, I buy her dinner. Then if we hit it off and I don't mind the idea of spending more time with the young lady, I serenade her."

Her brows shot up. "You sing?" He might as well have told her he walked on hot coals bringing them breakfast in bed. "And they don't see through your ploy?"

Ashley smiled at her question. "Nobody's seen through it yet. Or, if they do, they choose to ignore it."

"Because you're that good."

"Yes, I am," he agreed, as though challenging her to deny it.

Heat crept up the back of her neck. Jenny didn't know if he was talking about the singing or the seducing, but she did recognize her desire to reach across the table, grab his shirtfront and drag him back to her mouth was beginning to usurp her common sense. One taste. So that she could know. She had to suck down a long draught of her Diet Coke in order to stop herself from doing it.