Ashley POV

As I headed back to my car after lunch with Spencer my head was spinning.  I felt more alive in the past 2 hours with this girl than I had in three years.   It wasn’t just fact that she was stunning  and that she could pull of the just jeans and a t-shirt look so good, but the fact that she was smart.  Smart was so damn sexy.  She had me wrapped up in her every move and hanging on every word. 

Why was I willing to drop my guard to this particular girl? I got in the car and rested my head on the steering wheel.   I couldn’t help it, but I felt guilt creeping up in me now that I was alone.  I knew Cass wasn’t the type of girl that would have wanted me to end up never being with someone else.   The fear of loosing and pain were the major players.  I had used loosing Cass as an excuse to justify my withdrawal from everything, when in reality it was my own weaknesses.  Was I ready to put myself back out there again?  I wasn’t sure, but something told me if I let an opportunity pass with Spencer it could be a huge regret.  I let the guilt subside and a not so new fear of failing came up.  Damn it, why was this so hard!!

I called Aiden.

“Hey you!” Aiden answered immediately.

“Hey Aid, do you have some time to talk?” I asked. 

He recognized the familiar tone of my voice and like always he stepped right up to the plate for me.

“You bet, Ash.  I am going to walk Kaylen to her car first, so how about we meet at my apartment in 20 minutes.” He replied.

“That sounds great Aiden, thanks.  Tell Kaylen hi for me”

“Will do, see ya in a bit!”

Aiden’s Jeep was already parked in his numbered stall when I got there.  I walked into his apartment without knocking and heard him call a hello from the kitchen.  I flopped on his couch and asked him how his day went and most importantly how Kaylen was.  He came into the living room grinning and handed me a glass of iced tea.  I could tell that Aiden was pretty excited about this new girl.  He hadn’t really dated in a long time.  Probably because the poor guy was stuck taking care of me all the time.