“How much have you had to drink?” Eden asked as I stepped into the shower quickly to wash off.

When I stepped back out, I roughly dried myself in Eden’s full view before she placed my fluffy gown over my shoulders, tightening it around my waist and making sure the girls and my lady bits were covered.

“Ash, how much have you had to drink?” she asked again.

“Wine.”

She chuckled as she followed me down the hall and into the kitchen. I spotted my empty bottle of wine on the bench. Geez, I thought I had some left.

“How about we have some water?” Eden suggested in a motherly tone. The kitchen counter became my leaning post, and I sighed a little too loudly as she opened the fridge, pulled out two bottles of water, and handed me one. “Now tell me what has brought on this sudden case of drowning your sorrows and exhibitionism. I might hate you a little now that I’ve had a glance of your body. Damn, your boobs are insane.”

“He likes my boobs.” I smirked as memories of Josh fondling and kissing my breasts hit me. “He even told me tonight.”

“Who are you talking about?” Eden asked quickly. She grabbed my hand and dragged me into the living room, and I collapsed onto the couch with a huff.

“I’ve never felt like this. So deep, Eden, so god damn deep. He has gotten right in there. I’m talking about my heart, not my va jay jay, because he already owns her. Tonight he told me everything, and I mean everything, and then I freaked out and said I needed to be on my own. He bought me Pad Thai and we cuddled, but then I sent him away. Yep, just sent him away like an idiot. It’s official. I’m going to end up with cats and a cupboard full of battery operated friends,” I said babbling, but I couldn’t stop myself.

Eden sat beside me, wide eyed and with her mouth hanging open as she watched me completely lose it.

“I need my phone. He will find this funny. I told him I’d either become a lesbian or own cats. Cats it is.” I pushed myself up from the couch and stumbled back into the kitchen in search of my phone. Hot on my heels was Eden, who seemed to refuse to allow me out of her sight. There was no sign of my phone, but I still wanted to call him. “Can I borrow your phone? I don’t know where mine is.”

Eden handed over her phone while casting a worried gaze over me. “Who are you calling?”

“Him.”

I somehow figured out how to tap in Josh’s number, and started pacing as I listened to his phone ringing in my ear.

Hi, you’ve reached Josh. Leave a message and I’ll call back when I’m free.

“It’s me. Ashlyn. Calling on Eden’s phone. I’m going to buy some cats, probably two or three because they need friends. You were really warm tonight, and you bought me Pad Thai, and now I’m a little drunk on wine, but Eden is making me drink water. Do you like cats?”

After ending the call, I handed the phone back to Eden and left the kitchen. My couch looked overly inviting and, by the time Eden joined me, I had wrapped myself in a blanket and felt myself falling deeper into a wine haze.

“Why did you just call Josh?” Eden asked softly, her eyes full of wonderment.

“How did you know?” I gasped. Was she a mind reader?

Her soft chuckle calmed me somewhat. “Seriously, how much wine have you had? His contact details were on the screen when you handed it back.”

“Oh.”

“Ashlyn, why did you just call Josh?”

Suddenly, it was like my body turned from drunk to sober. Opening up to someone about Josh was something I had wanted from day one, and here Eden was, giving me that option.

She grabbed my hand and gave it a friendly squeeze. “Whatever you say stays with us. Yes I am with Ky, and yes he is my world, but you are my best friend. Sisters before misters.”

I giggled at her use of sisters before misters.

“I think I’m falling in love with him,” I whispered, and the weight of the world seemed to lift from my shoulders. Saying it out loud made it feel even more real. “He called me his girl. I’ve never been anyone’s girl before.”

“Holy shit.” Eden looked at me with wide eyes, and I knew that this was the last thing she expected to hear. “We need wine for this. This isn’t a water conversation.”

After rushing to the kitchen and grabbing another bottle of wine, she sat back beside me and poured two glasses. I lifted mine to my lips, and she looked at me over her glass.

“From the beginning, Ash. Tell me it all.”

I took a massive gulp of my wine and went back to the beginning. I told her about first noticing Josh in the cafeteria at college and getting lost in the fact that he was the hottest guy on campus. I told her about our night at Rubies and how he took my virginity, then I told her about waking up and thinking that I wanted it to be more than just one night. She sat in silence, letting me talk about our history and allowing me to get lost in the amazing memories I had of him.

“So, when did this start again? I am assuming that you are with each other?”

“It was Josh I went to when I got back from Australia. I didn’t realize it at the time, but he was the one that I chose to help me heal. I could have called anyone—you, Ky, Austin . . . but I chose Josh. It was then that something switched on between us. He protects me. Eden, he comforts and encourages me. It was Josh who suggested the name Ashlyn’s Closet. When I moved in with him, we danced around temptation before we collided. Every time he touches me, I feel like I’m floating, and every time he looks at me, I feel like the most beautiful girl in the world.”

“So why are you here and not with him?”

“Because I’m an idiot.”

“Babe, what happened?”

“I’m so afraid of what I feel for Josh. It’s like nothing I’ve felt before. Obviously, I have been in relationships before, but these feelings have a finality to them, like this could be it. I have lived my life not being enough for people—my parents, Lachlan . . . and I thought I wasn’t enough for Josh, that I was just a one-night stand back in college. Tonight we spoke about what happened five years ago, and he told me everything. He wanted this. He has wanted us since that night.”

“So why haven’t you been together?”

“Because of Ky.”

Her face went still and her eyes shot wide. “

“No, nothing like that. Ky has only ever been in love with you. The morning after Josh and I were together is when I became friends with Ky. Josh saw Ky and I together, and he told me that it was the first time Ky had smiled since everything happened with you. Josh was scared that Ky was going to hurt himself, and that he was going to lose him forever, so Josh gave up a future with me because he was more concerned about Ky than with what he wanted.”

“Oh my god.” Eden gasped and lifted her hand to her mouth. Tears shimmered in her blue eyes as she looked at me in awe. “Thank you for saving him. If Ky had done anyth—”

“Babe, don’t think that. Don’t go there. It was all Josh. All I did was be Ky’s friend. It was Josh that sacrificed everything for him. Josh stayed away from me until you came back into Ky’s life and he knew Ky would be okay. But when that happened, I had started things back up with Lachlan, and . . . well, we know how that ended.”

“So all of the women and the bachelor lifestyle was just a cover because he has been in love with you since college? That’s why he never did relationships, because he was waiting for you? Ash, everything makes sense now. For as long as I’ve known Josh, and from what Ky has told me, he has never claimed a girl as his own before.”

“What about Sadie?” I asked softly.

“Sadie was just an extended fuck buddy. Those are Josh’s exact words.” She moved across the couch and grabbed my hands, encouraging me to look at her. “It’s you, babe. You are it for him, and once a Crawford claims a girl we have no hope. They won’t let go.”