“What’s the problem? That photo is stunning. The model is beautiful, the outfit is smoking hot, and the lighting and location are exactly what you asked for. You cannot be serious.”
“My problem is that you do not own this outfit. I would suggest stealing the skirt the model is wearing.”
“Josh fucking Crawford, you had me panicked. Don’t do that.” She laughed with a shake of her head. “And who says I haven’t already stolen it?”
“You are a minx, Ashlyn Hart.” I laughed as I put the photos back in the envelope.
“Yep, a minx with a new skirt.”
Her eyes dropped to her phone as a text message came through, and a smile appeared on her face when she read it. “Eden’s text messages always crack me up. I see that we are all going to dinner tonight, and Eden is very excited about that fact.” She laughed as she quickly tapped in a reply.
“Maybe Ky has finally grown some balls and proposed, and they are going to tell us.”
She pushed back the seat and stood. “Maybe tonight we could celebrate Ashlyn’s Closet.”
“So you are happy with my suggestion?” I asked, pride swelling in my chest.
“I am ecstatic. It’s perfect.”
“Yep, we will have a drink tonight to celebrate your first day. But I have plans for just you and me to really celebrate it. I’ll surprise you one day, and that’s when I want to see the dress and heels, so that outfit better be in my apartment.”
“Um, the builders are starting tomorrow, so I haven’t moved my stuff yet. I’ll stay at mine tonight.” She walked to the door, but when she reached for the handle, she hesitated and looked at me over her shoulder. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“That you will.”
Seven P.M. rolled around, so I hurried around my apartment trying to find my keys and phone before I had to be downstairs. Eden’s cryptic messages hadn’t stopped all day, and I swore she had been drinking with the random shit she was texting. I was eager to find out what had caused her eccentric mood.
I stepped into the café and headed straight to our usual booth, then halted. Eden’s excitement became quite clear. Tori, her best friend from the West Coast, the same best friend I fucked when Eden first arrived, was sitting opposite her and Ky, and she was now staring straight at me. When Ky decided to become prince charming and buy Eden their dream house, Tori had moved into his apartment briefly. She returned to San Francisco due to work, however, and I hadn’t seen her since.
Ky’s attention hit me and, with a chin lift, he silently invited me to the table. I maneuvered my way through the other customers and stood at the end of the table with my hands jammed in my pockets.
“Josh, you made it,” Eden said excitedly as she slid out of the booth to give me a hug. Unfortunately, I couldn’t smell any alcohol on her, so drinking couldn’t explain her crazy mood. Yet in the pit of my stomach, I had a feeling she expected Tori and I to start up again. Matchmaker Eden was out in full force.
“Hey, pretty girl.” I returned her hug, and kissed her cheek quickly.
Eden moved back next to Ky and I turned to Tori. “Good to see you, Tori.”
“You too, babe,” she said, then leaned in and kissed me lightly on the lips, completely shocking me in the process.
I slid in opposite Ky and Eden, and Tori immediately slid in beside me. What the actual fuck was happening?
“We’re just waiting for Ashlyn,” Eden announced cheerily, and silently I thanked God that this wasn’t some kind of crazy double date. We ordered drinks, and Tori chatted happily about life in San Francisco. Eden, more often than not, liked to bring up my single status, and the shock horror of Tori’s single status. I loved Eden more than anything, but she was as subtle as a brick. Ky sat across from me with a shit-eating grin, loving every second of my being uncomfortable.
The door opened and, like my eyes were magnets, they were drawn to whoever was about to step through. Ashlyn appeared, and when she met my gaze she smiled and rushed toward us. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Gone was the business woman attire, and she was now in bombshell mode. Her blond hair was now hanging over her shoulders in loose curls, and her body was wrapped in a dress that showed of her inhuman hourglass figure. Fuck, her curves were dangerous; the kind that would make you swerve and lose complete control, but be completely okay with it.
“Hey,” Ashlyn said with a smile when she got to the table. Her eyes danced over all of us and landed on Tori. “I didn’t know you were in town, Tori.”
“It’s a surprise,” Tori responded, and moved in closer to my side, until she was practically on my lap. “I wanted to surprise Josh.”
And surprised I was.
Dinner was ordered, and the drinks began to flow. Laughter soon took over the table, and I felt myself relaxing. Tori wasn’t afraid to show her affection for me, and as the night wore on I seemed to warm to her. Eden looked like she was in her element. She had planned this little get together and, in her eyes, it was becoming a huge success. Once we had eaten, we decided to head into the city to a bar that was owned by one of my closest friends from Los Angeles. Red Velvet NY was the sister bar to Red Velvet LA, which I frequented when I was in town. Charisma oozed from the boutique bar that gave you the feeling of stepping into the glitz and glamour of the 1950s. Low lights, soft music, and atmosphere thick with confidence greeted us.
The five of us moved toward the cornered-off section, and Ky headed for the bar while I stayed with the girls.
“Are you going to dance with me tonight?” Tori whispered and shifted toward me. She placed her hand on my chest, and her breath hit my ear. “We could have some fun. That’s why I’m here. You left me with very good memories. Memories I wish to revisit.”
Tori flashed me a look of heat after she stepped back, and I knew right then, whether it made me seem like a cocky asshole or not, that I could have her if I wanted. The question was, did I want to go back for round two with her? I didn’t want complication in my life, and that was what I was afraid of if I listened to my cock.
“Ash, your face just lost all color.” Eden’s voice penetrated the air, and I immediately turned my attention to Ashlyn, who was focused on her phone. Her head shot up, her eyes wide, and she looked at Eden before briefly turning her attention to me. Eden walked over to her and grabbed her hand. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Everything is good.” She smiled, and immediately I knew everything was not good, because her smile didn’t reach her eyes.
“Are you sure?” Eden pressed, and I waited for Ashlyn to answer.
“Let’s go and dance. That’s why we’re here, right?” Ashlyn announced, completely redirecting the attention from moments ago. “Josh, you are on bag-minding duty.”
Three bags were thrust into my hands, and the girls disappeared through the crowd. I took a seat so I had a view of them, and my gaze centered on Ashlyn. Something was going on, and whatever she had seen on her phone caused her to immediately shut down. I had no doubt that whatever it was had to do with Lachlan.
Ky slid in bedside me and handed me a whiskey. We both moved our focus to the girls as we sat in silence. Every single man in the bar watched them with eager eyes, and Ky switched into protective beast mode. One wrong move and it wouldn’t take long for him to cross the bar and show every man exactly who Eden belonged to, and I knew I’d do the same, without question.
“Are you taking Tori home tonight?” he asked during the down time between songs.
“I’ll see how the night plays out,” I answered halfheartedly. “I kind of wanted a quiet night to get organized for Ashlyn moving in tomorrow.”
The shock on his face was immediately evident. “Are you telling me you are refusing the promise of pussy to get ready for your friend to come stay with you?”
“Just concentrate on your own cock and don’t concern yourself with mine. I get plenty.” I smirked and lifted my glass to my lips, then turned my focus back to the girls.
The next song started, and a
low, sultry number played through the bar. Ashlyn’s hips moved against Eden’s, and they wrapped their arms around each other, completely oblivious to the pain that they would be causing all of the men that were watching them. They had absolutely no idea the effect they had. Ashlyn looked over Eden’s shoulder, and our eyes met. We fell into an intense stare. I lifted the whiskey to my mouth and watched her over my glass as she swung her hips and got lost in the music. I didn’t bother hiding the fact that I was watching her, since I’d watched her the exact same way since I met her; with intrigue, need, and the craving to wrap her in my arms and steal her away. Lust was the temptress that constantly made me question every decision I’d ever made when it came to Ashlyn. Temptation, though, was the seductive whore who made me lose the ability to see the difference between reality and fantasy.
When the song changed, Ky stood and made his way to Eden. His hands fell to her hips, and I knew that was my sign to look away. I glanced around the bar, taking in the other patrons and allowing myself to be absorbed by the atmosphere. There was a whisper of promise in the air that made the hair on my arms stand at attention. It was the kind of place that made you want to own up to every sinful thought taunting your mind, and every sinful thought I had revolved around a blond bombshell that would be moving into my apartment in less than twenty-four hours. I shifted in my seat and rested my head against the booth as I began to swim into dangerously tempting waters.
“I love them to death, but they are sickeningly in love.” Ashlyn laughed and collapsed into the booth beside me. “They are practically fucking out there.”
I turned to look at Ky and Eden and, sure enough, they were putting on a show for everyone. Immediately, I diverted my eyes back to Ashlyn. She grabbed the glass of whiskey clean from my hand and finished it in one go. Her face scrunched up as the straight liquor hit her throat, then she thrust the glass back into my hand with force.
“How do you drink this shit?” she asked through a cough.
“The question should be why you are drinking it?”
“I have a need to get drunk tonight, and whiskey will do that.”
“Does your need to get drunk have anything to do with what happened earlier?” I dove straight in.
“Maybe, but I’m not talking about it,” she stated quickly, then turned her attention back to the dance floor.
I grabbed her legs and twisted her back around until she had no choice but to look at me. “When are you telling Ky and Eden?”
The fact that people believed Ashlyn was still with him infuriated me. Just today, during a phone call with Mom, she mentioned Lachlan and Ashlyn, and it took everything I was not to tell her. He didn’t deserve to have his name mentioned with someone like Ashlyn, and until she told Ky and Eden, it would continue to happen.
“Can we not let my asshole ex ruin tonight? I’m having a good time getting drunk, and I’m the girl sitting with the guy every girl in the bar wants. Don’t let him taint that.” Her smile begged for me to agree. “I just want to forget everything other than right now.”
“I’m the guy every girl wants, huh?”
“Tori wants you. She is making that fact very well known.”
Both of us turned back to the dance floor that was now swarming with drunk people trying desperately to hook up for the night. Tori’s gaze found mine, and her heated stare was a clear indication of her intentions. As if I’d invited her, she moved through the crowd toward the sanctuary Ashlyn and I had found, and I cursed under my breath.
“What do you want?” I asked quietly, knowing that our solitude was about to be stolen.
“It doesn’t matter what I want, Josh, because I’ve got all I need.”
Tori slid in beside me, and Ashlyn immediately moved to the vacant chair across from me. Tori’s hand rested on my thigh, but all of my attention was on Ashlyn and her admission. It confused me and intrigued me, and I was desperate to find out exactly what she meant.
“I hear you are moving to London. That is incredible,” Tori said loudly. “I’ve always wanted to visit.”
Just hearing the mention of London caused my fist to ball. To be honest, I had chosen to eradicate the thought from my recent memory, and now Tori decided to bring it crashing back. There was no way Ashlyn would be moving to London, and it would be a priority of mine to make her stay. I had to. The thought of her being thousands of miles away was something I refused to deal with.
“Yeah, that’s the plan. I’ll be here for a couple more months, and then I’ll be packing up my life and heading to the UK.”
I couldn’t deal with this conversation. “I’m heading to the bar.”
I didn’t look back, but I felt eyes burning into me. Standing at the bar, I tapped my fingers on the mahogany top and waited to be served. My mind was a mass of confusion, and I knew I had to get control of it. After I ordered a fresh whiskey, I headed back to the booth to find it empty. I got lost in my thoughts, and swished around the whiskey. As alcohol swam through my veins, I began to forget about everything, and thankfully the cute girl behind the bar decided to keep supplying me.
“I bet you twenty dollars that you take Tori home tonight,” Ashlyn announced as she fell on the seat beside me with a thump and a drunken giggle. “She wont stop until you two fuck again. I’ve never seen a girl so obvious before.”
“I’m not betting you about who I may or may not fuck.”
“Why not? I don’t see anything wrong with a bet between friends; consider me one of the guys. I have bigger balls then some of your friends anyway.”
“No fucking way. I am not doing this with you, and please never say you have balls.”
She twisted her body until our knees were touching. “Why not? I am no different from any of your other friends. Come on, bet me.”
I shook my head dismissively. “You have a pussy. I have a cock. I am not talking to you about where my cock is going.”
“That’s a bit sexist,” she spat, and her eyes narrowed. “Why am I any different from Duke?”
I moved in close, until my mouth was hovering over her ear. I felt her shiver at the proximity, and the alcohol that swam through us both made all inhibitions dissolve. “I don’t think about having sex with Duke, and he certainly hasn’t got a pussy that entices me.”
I dropped my lips to the skin just below her ear before pulling away. Her eyes were hooded, and she was looking at me with her mouth agape. I had rendered her speechless. Everything I said was true, but I knew it was unlikely she’d remember it the next day.
“Well, no one has ever told me that my pussy entices them before,” she whispered. “I didn’t think friends spoke to friends like that.”
“You were the one that brought up fucking,” I said, stating the obvious.
A smirk touched her lips, and she rested her head on my shoulder. “Touché. But just so you know, I am totally going to win this bet.”
Christ.
MY HEAD WAS SCREAMING at me, my mouth felt like a desert, and I wanted to do nothing but sleep the day away. Last night was weird. Really weird. Dinner was beautiful, the company was fun, dancing rocked, but Josh was weird.
What the hell did he mean with the whole pussy enticing him comment? Exactly how much did we both have to drink last night? All that talk of pussy, cock, and fucking was insane. There was no way that I would suddenly entice him after almost five years. There had been months, years even, that we were both single, and not once did he show any interest in me. And believe me, I would have let my pussy entice him on more than one occasion. But now we were friends, and that was how it would stay. The only logical reason I could come up with was that he said it to shut me up and distract me from the awesome bet I came up with.
I stretched in bed, and my bones cracked to life. Today would be the last day in two weeks, maybe more, that I’d be waking up in my bed. In a matter of hours, I’d be wheeling my suitcase down the hall to Josh’s apartment and stepping into a land of unknown. The only guy I ever lived with for more than two
days was Lachlan, and . . . well, we all know how that turned out. Josh was a different story, though. A very different story.
My phone bounced to life on the pillow beside me. With sleep-deprived eyes, I looked at Eden’s name flashing before me. Groaning loudly because it felt like I was using every ounce of energy I had, I swiped the screen to answer.
“I swear I’m dying.” I sighed dramatically, completely feeling sorry for myself.
“I feel like my head is going to explode off my shoulders,” she said, and moaned with exhaustion swamping her voice. “What the hell happened last night?”
“I’ll tell you what happened, you fucked me raw,” Ky said, gloating in the background.
“Eden, you little sex machine.” I laughed loudly.
“Oh my God, hang on, I’m going outside. I can’t stay in bed with Ky looking like he does. He gets this look about him after we’ve had sex all night, and I just want to destroy him.”
“Eden Rivers, I am shocked by this display of crazy sex,” I said and smiled as she giggled.
“What can I say? Ky Crawford unleashes craziness in me.”
I sat up in bed and tried to deal with the spinning in my head. My stomach growled as I placed my feet on the ground and stood on shaky legs. “I could inhale an iced coffee and bacon and eggs right now.”
“Let’s meet at the diner in an hour. I’ll call Tori to see where she is. I think she went home with Josh.” The excitement in her voice wasn’t lost on me.
Of course she did.
“See you in an hour,” I said.
After spending an exorbitant amount of time in the shower, I was now running late. I rushed around my room, desperately trying to make myself feel human again. All it took was a cute sundress, my white flip flops, and a spritz of my favorite perfume for me to feel halfway there. I locked the door behind me, and practically ran to the elevator to make it downstairs in time.
Even though I was running late, Eden and Tori were nowhere to be found. I crossed the diner that was packed to near capacity, waved to Josh’s Aunt Carole, and headed for our usual table in the back. Deciding to waste time on Facebook while I waited, I pulled my phone from my bag, and surprise slapped me in the face when I found Josh’s name splashed across the screen. But it was his words that rendered me speechless.
Be My Temptation Page 7