“All before we tell Ethan, right?” she asked.
“Right. I don’t want to hand my brother another blow when he’s just begun to grieve.”
Ashley’s heart softened at Sebastian’s love for his sibling. The fact that he didn’t want to hurt Ethan without one hundred percent proof spoke volumes about the man Sebastian was deep inside.
A man Ashley was very afraid she was falling for.
Chapter Eight
After making an endless number of phone calls to Sparrow Electronics to speak with Jasper Nichols, only to be told he was out of the office, and having the man not return his messages, Sebastian called Parker once more. This time he asked his brother to look into the man himself. They pulled in Sierra, as she was the social media guru and they needed to find a way to locate the man, swearing her to secrecy about mentioning anything to Ethan.
In the meantime, it was time he saw the campus where the failing locks had been installed. They’d only put them in on one building, having discovered the flaw in the design immediately on installation.
He called Corinne Fields and asked her to get him permission to enter the Keystone campus. A little while later, he and Ashley had shown their IDs at security and signed a non-disclosure agreement that had been left waiting for them, and their car pulled up in front of the main building.
They left the driver out front and headed inside. A security guard met them at the door and showed them to an office where a tall man with military bearing met them.
“Mr. Knight? Ms. Easton? I’ve been expecting you.” The man shook each of their hands.
“I spoke to Mr. Romano and he said to let you walk around the building. We’re not up and running yet, so you can see what you need to and check in with me again before you leave. Every office room has a lock,” he informed them.
“Thank you.”
Sebastian placed his hand on Ashley’s back and led her out of the room.
“Tell me about the smart locks your company is doing for Keystone,” she said as they took the elevator up to the fifth floor, where Sebastian had been told the first locks were installed.
He glanced around. The entire building had been wired to provide what the occupant needed without being asked. Smart heating and cooling, occupancy sensors that acknowledged when people were in various parts of the building and turned on accordingly, and emergency notification systems that communicated with both the main Keystone office and local police and fire departments. Among other things.
Including the smart locks.
“Let’s see. Smart locks are designed to lock and unlock a door upon receiving instructions from an authorized device using wireless protocol and what’s known as a cryptographic key to execute authorization process.”
She laughed at his technical explanation. “I’m almost sorry I asked.”
“It’s a little confusing,” he acknowledged with a wry grin.
“But, in essence, you need a lock and key to work, except the key isn’t a physical one but a smartphone or special key fob configured to wirelessly perform the process.”
“I understand. Sort of. It’s wireless communication.”
“Correct, but there is also hardware involved, as you saw from the purchase orders.”
She nodded in comprehension as they walked to the open room they saw there. “Like these.” She placed her hand on the metal casing on the door.
“Exactly. I wish I could look at them and know what was wrong.” He frowned in frustration and walked over to the window overlooking the corporate park.
Ashley strode up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, looking out over his shoulder in silence. “We can’t do anything here. Why don’t we go back to the hotel?” she suggested.
He liked the idea. Being here only reminded him of what wasn’t getting done.
* * *
Ashley needed to get Sebastian out of his funk. They drove back to the hotel in silence and took the elevator up to the suite, where he pulled off his tie and kicked off his shoes, easing back in a chair. But she sensed the frustration rolling over him in waves.
She toed off her heels and walked over to where he was sitting. “You need to relax.”
“Yeah? You have any ideas how?” he asked, his mind obviously totally on business.
“How about … this?” She slid her hair over one shoulder before turning around, giving him her back. “Unzip my dress?” She glanced at him and batted her eyelashes.
His eyes darkened at her obvious intent. “You’re trying to distract me.”
She grinned. “Is it working?”
He glanced down at the bulge in his pants, his thick erection pushing against the fabric of his pants. “What do you think?”
She backed closer to him. “Unzip.”
He eased the zipper down her dress, parting the fabric and pressing a kiss against her bare skin. At the warm touch of his lips, her nipples puckered into hard peaks, desire pulsing down to her sex.
She shimmied out of the dress, letting it fall to the floor, then hooked her thumbs into the edging of her panties and pulled them off.
His gaze was hot on hers as she moved to undo her bra and let it drop on top of her other clothes. With a low growl, he undressed, too, undoing his button-down and revealing his sexy abs and flat stomach. A dark sprinkling of hair trailed into the waistband of his pants, which he began to undo.
Rising, he dropped his trousers, pulling his boxer briefs down with them. She watched, fascinated, as his thick erection sprang free, a drop of pre-come on the head.
She licked her lips at the sight and he groaned. “Not this time. This time I’m taking control.”
She sensed he needed that, and her sex got wet at the thought. So instead of sliding onto his lap the way she wanted to, so she could feel all that hardness against her, she waited to see what he’d do next.
He rose and hooked his arm around her waist, leading her to the edge of the sofa. From behind, he wrapped his hands around her body and cupped her breasts, kneading them with his palms. She moaned, tilting her head against his shoulder, reveling in the sensations he evoked inside her. He pulled on her nipples and her pussy spasmed, desire slamming into her. She choked back a cry, but he apparently heard her and tweaked harder on the tight buds.
Her legs trembled and she needed more than he was giving her so far. And damn him, he knew it, but he obviously wanted to torment her. His erection sat in the crack of her ass as he spent a good long time plucking and playing with her breasts, his mouth nibbling at her shoulder and neck all the while until she was begging for more.
“Sebastian, please.” She pushed her ass back into his waiting cock, which was hard and thick against her.
He braced his hand on her back and pushed her down so she was bent over the arm of the sofa. She drew a breath, ripe with anticipation, knowing she was soaked between her thighs and she wanted him badly.
He stepped away from her, and then she heard the crinkle of a condom, and soon he stepped back behind her, the thick head of his erection pressing between her legs and nudging at the opening of her sex. He kept a hand on her as he glided his thickness into her, and she groaned with a combination of relief and renewed desire.
His hand slid from her back to her hair, holding on tight as he began to thrust into her from behind.
“Oh God,” she groaned as he filled her up.
He drew back and she had but a second to miss his thickness before he took her hard again. He hit a spot inside her that had her seeing stars, pushing her closer to an explosive orgasm with every renewed thrust.
The tug on her hair was a surprising arousing addition to the sensations taking over her body. And though she ought to feel distant from him, what with the way she couldn’t see his expression and he controlled their every movement, she’d never felt closer to a man. Knowing she trusted him to give her pleasure, not to hurt her but to send her soaring, lent a shocking intimacy to the act. Not to mention the innate understanding she had th
at he needed to be in control in this instance, when the rest of his life was out of his hands, and that she could give him this bonded them in some crazy way.
He curved his free hand around her waist and slid his fingertips over her clit.
She cried out, arching her hips to take him deeper, and then she lost track of where his hands were and how he was touching her. She only knew he was taking her hard, hitting all the right spots. Sending her spiraling into a climax that had her screaming.
His harsh groan followed soon after, and he thrust once, twice, and a third time before she felt him pulsing inside her.
“Jesus,” he muttered as he pulled out of her.
“Yeah.”
“Bed?”
She nodded, needing to get off her feet. He helped her stand before pulling off the condom and tying it off. He headed to the bathroom and she made her way to the bedroom. He caught up with her, hooking an arm around her waist and tossing her onto the bed, coming down beside her.
* * *
Sebastian pushed himself back, pulled Ashley against him, settling them side by side against the pillows on the back of the bed.
“Are you okay?” he asked, because he’d taken her hard, bending her over the sofa and pulling at her hair. Not looking into those beautiful eyes.
He winced at his behavior, but her cheeks were glowing, despite the fact that she wasn’t meeting his gaze.
“I’m good. Really good. I wanted you to take what you needed,” she said. “And I’m glad that you did.”
God, she was amazing. Pulling him in deeper every day they were together, every night she spent in his arms. He didn’t know what kind of progress he was making with her emotionally, probably wouldn’t know until it was time for her to leave him. His stomach twisted at the notion, and he pushed the thought aside. They had a lot to do between now and then.
He turned his attention to them now instead. He was fucking starving. At that moment, her stomach growled and he chuckled. “That answers my next question. You’re obviously hungry, too. Do you want to order from room service or Grub Hub?” he asked of the food delivery service.
They ended up debating, then ordering hamburgers from the hotel and chocolate cheesecake for dessert.
“You’re going to make me fat,” she said to him, curling into his arms, where she felt oh so perfect.
He frowned at her comment. “That has never been an issue except in your mother’s warped mind.” She’d always been perfect to him.
“I think I’m brainwashed sometimes,” she mused.
He knew she was talking about her mother. “What do you mean?” He smoothed her hair down so it wasn’t in his face, but she rolled over so she could face him.
“Mom used to make me watch what I ate so I would attract men.”
He coughed out loud. “As if that was ever an issue.” He’d had plenty of friends interested in the girl who’d moved into his house. Only Sebastian’s threat to bloody a nose or three kept them from making a move.
“Well, for Mom, she wanted to be some man’s trophy wife, be it your father or the next sucker.” She winced. “God, I didn’t mean to call your dad a sucker.”
He couldn’t help the grin that hit his lips. “If the shoe fits… Every woman he’s had since my mom has been his version of the perfect country club woman.”
She nodded. “And my mother has wanted to be kept.” She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “And it’s not that I want to be thin for any particular reason, it’s that I hear her voice in my head. Healthy eating makes for a healthy body, Ashley. And then the right man will take notice. She just didn’t mean healthy in any correct way. But old habits die hard.”
He groaned. “We sure do come from dysfunction,” he said. “Do you keep in touch with your mother?” They hadn’t discussed her relationship with her only parent before now.
She swallowed visibly and hard. “On the holidays and birthdays, if she remembers mine, because otherwise I call her. Mostly because she’s my mother and it’s the right thing to do. I have to be able to live with myself, after all.”
He could see the pain in her eyes at the admission, one he understood more than she knew. “Same here with my dad. I’ll check in because he’s my father. But I know he’s the reason for a lot of my past bad behavior. Whether it was punishing him or following his behavior by example without even realizing it. But those days are over.”
“Why?” She tilted her head and met his gaze. “What changed for you?”
He hesitated, gathering his thoughts, debating how much to tell her. She didn’t need to know how many women he’d been with, how often. “A few things hit at once, to be honest.”
“Mandy’s death.”
He nodded. “My family couldn’t reach me the night she died.” He recalled the pain he’d felt on hearing the news, the desperate need to get to his brother. But he’d also sensed they didn’t know how badly he’d felt. How much he’d hurt for Ethan.
He refused to tell Ashley where he’d been that night. “But when I heard, I rushed right over. That morning, I found out about Mandy’s drug problem – and that Sierra and Parker had already known. They hadn’t trusted me enough to tell me.”
“Oh, Sebastian.” Ashley cupped his chin. “Some people grow up at different speeds than others, but your family should have included you.”
He rolled his shoulders, leaning his head against the headboard. “I don’t know. I understand now they had their reasons. And when you told me what you’d overheard the night in my father’s study, I went home and really thought about not just who I was – but who I wanted to be.”
It’d hurt, too.
But she listened in silent understanding and also, he sensed, support, something he couldn’t say he’d ever had in quite this way before. She wasn’t judging him and that meant everything.
“I saw a guy who thought he took life seriously but who really wasn’t focused on business or family the way he should have been. I saw,” he said, drawing a deep breath, “a guy well on his way to becoming too much like his father.”
He looked into her soft gaze and didn’t see pity. Instead he caught both understanding and what he wanted to think was caring.
“It matters,” she said.
“What does?”
“The fact that you’ve been introspective. That you want to change and are.” She treated him to a warm smile, just as a knock sounded at the door.
She glanced at him with wide, panicked eyes because they were both stark naked. He grinned.
She dove toward the bathroom, giving him a nice view of her ass as she ran.
“One minute,” he called out toward the door. Then he grabbed a pair of jeans from the closet and slid them on before walking to the door and letting the waiter in with their food.
They ate and he felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Sharing with her who he’d been, who he’d feared he was becoming and acknowledging his attempt to change had lightened some of the burden he’d been carrying – because he knew he was making those changes.
He only hoped they were enough to win the woman in the end.
* * *
First thing the next morning, Sebastian’s phone rang, startling him because he’d been in a deep sleep. Ashley lay wrapped around him, her head in the crook of his arm, her knee across his legs, her sweet pussy pressing against his thigh.
Annoyed because the phone had beat the alarm, he answered without looking at who it was. “This better be important,” he said gruffly into the phone.
“It is.” Parker’s voice sounded over the line. “Worth waking you.”
“What time is it?” Sebastian asked.
“Five a.m. your time.”
“Who is it?” Ashley asked, still sounding half-asleep.
“Is that Ashley? Are you two sleeping together?” Parker asked, sounding surprised.
She buried her face in his chest, and he could only imagine how red her cheeks now were.
He slid a comfort
ing hand over her bare back. “It’s none of your fucking business, Switzerland. What’s going on?”
“Sierra and I did the digging you wanted on Jasper Nichols. I can’t believe what she found.”
Completely awake now, Sebastian pushed himself back up against the pillows. Ashley pulled the covers up over herself and leaned in so she could hear the conversation, as well.
“Jasper Nichols hasn’t been in business long, that much we know, which begs the question, why did Mandy do business with them? Not to mention, he spends most weeknights at a club called Marquee. Sierra looked into the place and it’s great if you want to score drugs,” Parker said, sounding disgusted.
“Shit,” Sebastian muttered.
“There’s more,” Parker said.
Sebastian glanced at Ashley. “Go on.”
“Check your phone. I’m sending you a picture Sierra found on Nichols’ Instagram account from about four months ago.”
“Hang on.” Sebastian lowered the phone from his ear, switched apps, and waited for the picture to load.
It took a while but eventually a photograph came up. A guy with shoulder-length brown hair sat in a dark nightclub with a very familiar woman on his lap. Bright red lipstick stained her normally pale, glossed lips. Her eyes were heavily made up and she wore a slinky black dress that showed off ample cleavage. But despite the overly done makeup and barely there dress, there was no mistaking the woman whose face stared directly at the camera with glazed eyes and her arms around the man’s neck. His fingers, meanwhile, dipped below the cleavage of her top.
“Mandy,” Ashley said, sounding horrified.
“Right,” Parker said, this time not commenting on Ashley’s presence in Sebastian’s bed. “And the guy in the picture is Jasper Nichols.”
There was no doubt there was more going on between Nichols and Ethan’s wife than purchasing orders.
“Dammit.” Sebastian’s hand curled into a fist.
Ashley grasped his hand and smoothed out his fingers in an attempt to relax him. “Ethan doesn’t know, does he?” she asked, obviously past caring that Parker knew they were together.
Take Me Again Page 10