“I wouldn’t consider shrugging off work.” He chewed contentedly on a corner of the steak. “I’d actually shrug it off.”
Riley set aside her teacup and leaned back. “You’re serious?”
“Painfully. Do you know how much work I’ll have to catch up on when you leave?”
“Well, why don’t you just—”
“Riley? It’s done.” He winced and added a small shrug. “Almost.”
“Almost?”
“There’s a thing.”
“A thing?”
“Tomorrow night.”
Riley exchanged her tea for orange juice and sipped. A knowing expression came over her face. “Hmm…is this thing tomorrow night a party?”
The guilt in his bright stare forced a curse past her lips.
“Shh…” He leaned across the table and squeezed her hand in his. “It was the one thing I couldn’t get out of. I promise we won’t be there long. All you’ve gotta do is hold on to me and look absentminded and beautiful.”
Riley shrugged. “I can certainly handle the absentminded part.”
Asher simply observed his wife, watching as a look of disgust crossed her lovely dark face. She detested parties. Damn, he loved her. In a world where self-absorbed phonies and opportunists were abundant, she’d always been like a breath of fresh air. Her only concern was the time they shared alone together. For Riley Stamper, a splashy party with “the beautiful people” was about as exciting as watching paint dry.
“What?” Riley noted the intensity in his stare.
“You know tomorrow night’s party isn’t the only thing I have in store for you.”
“Uh-oh…” Riley’s lashes fluttered as she brought a hand to her forehead. “Don’t tell me. It’s a brunch with a thousand of your closest friends?”
Asher’s hearty, contagious laughter filled the bedroom. “You know, that’s not a bad idea.” His laughter mounted at the wilting look she sent his way. “How’d you like to see another view of Arizona?”
Riley’s head tilted as curiosity bloomed in her eyes. “What’ve you got in mind?”
Asher, however, was bent on secrecy. “I guarantee it’ll take your breath away.”
She had no doubt, since every minute with her husband did precisely that.
Asher read her expression easily. “Stop it. You need to eat.”
“Can’t you give me a little hint?” She forked a portion of cheesy omelet. “Just a little info about it?”
“A little info. Let’s see…” Asher stroked the strong curve of his jaw and debated. “Ah! You’ll need to get dressed.”
“You’re a crazy man,” Riley breathed two hours later, as she stood with Asher on the rear lawn and stared openmouthed at the hot air balloon waiting to give her “another view of Arizona.” “Have you lost your mind?”
She dragged her gaze away from the vibrant hot pinks, sky blues, greens and purples bursting to life on the balloon. Her heart somersaulted at the crooked grin he flashed her way.
“Don’t even try to get out of it. You work at altitudes higher than this thing will go.” He pointed toward the sky.
Riley grunted. “There’s always more beneath my feet than…hot air, though.”
“Live a little.”
“That’s what I’d like to do.”
Asher was still laughing outrageously as he turned to greet the balloon captain, Elliott Wells. They spent several moments catching up while Riley took a closer, skeptical look at their transportation.
“Have you done this before?” she asked when he finished his conversation with Elliott and returned to her side.
“It’s a good selling point for potential clients looking to be traded out here.” He hooked a thumb through a belt loop on his jeans and glanced up at the balloon. “After an aerial view of Arizona, most can’t believe they’d ever chosen to live anyplace else.”
Riley smiled and bowed her head. It wasn’t hard to figure out what the adventure was about. Still, she decided not to call Asher on it and swallowed her unease in order to play along.
Thirty minutes and two glasses of champagne later, Riley didn’t fear for her life quite so much. She smirked when Asher caught her eye as she reached for the champagne bottle. “This is really unexpected.” She wiggled the bottle.
“Don’t forget the strawberries,” he urged.
“Is this the way you persuade all those big names you sign?” She swirled a strawberry through the whipped cream.
Asher’s expression was serious as he toyed with the frayed edge of the dashiki she wore. “I only break out the champagne and strawberries for the woman I’m trying to persuade.”
“Humph.” She savored the fruit and cream on her tongue. “Trust me, you’ve already persuaded me. Many times.”
“Have I?”
Before she could respond, he was kissing her deeply. “Wait,” she said against his tongue, which was thrusting into her mouth. “Asher…”
He wasn’t in the mood for resistance. The straw basket set beneath the colorful, voluminous balloon was as big as a small room almost and offered a modicum of privacy for a couple wishing to steal a sweet kiss amid paradise.
The kiss they shared, however, was far from sweet. It was torrid, lusty, in its desperation. Riley needed him at once but steeled herself against begging.
“This isn’t fair,” she moaned.
“You’re not enjoying it?” he whispered into her mouth.
“You know it’s beautiful…All I want is to be with you at home.”
“What can we do at home that we can’t do here?” His fingers grew bold, cupping her breast and fondling a firming nipple.
Riley bit her lip on the cry his touch elicited. “This isn’t the place. Come on. Stop now.”
“You’re right.” He stopped suddenly and didn’t tell his wife that he’d glimpsed the disappointment on her face. “This isn’t the place.” He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I intend to correct all that.” He shook his head, dismissing the question he was about to utter, and turned her in his arms.
They embraced while staring out at the beauty before their eyes.
“So how do we get back?” Riley asked as they stood watching the balloon lift off from the clearing and leave them alone in the woods.
Asher grinned. “You in a hurry?”
“No.” She was massaging her arms and looking anything but calm. “Just a little nervous about being in, um…”
“So much open space?”
She waved him off. “I’d just like to know how we’re supposed to get out of here, that’s all.”
Asher tugged her along, not stopping until they approached a tree. He held her against the trunk and leaned close to nuzzle her ear. “I’d be more interested in what we’re gonna do while we’re here.”
Riley’s gaze was naughtiness and innocence combined. “What’ve you got in mind?”
“This first.” His mouth slid around the curve of her jaw, and he kissed her.
The kiss was even lustier than before. Yet in spite of being alone, Asher had no intentions of taking her there. Riley had other ideas and did what she could to entice him to have her then and there. Asher obliged her for a time, losing himself in the light, clean fragrance clinging to her skin and the softness of her breasts filling his hands. When her fingers traveled past his waist to fidget with the buttons securing the fly of his sagging jeans, Asher almost lost himself in his desire for her.
Forcing strength into his legs, he hoisted her against him. Still kissing her, he carried her deeper into the woods and toward his next surprise.
Riley was so involved in their kiss that it took some time for her to notice the spectacular sight past his shoulders. When he broke the kiss and lightly bumped his forehead against hers, Riley’s lashes fluttered. She looked beyond him, at what appeared to be…
“Asher…is that…Is that a tent?”
Still holding her, he turned to look at the structure in the distance.
“What
is this?” she breathed when he started walking toward it.
“This is what we’re gonna do while we’re here.” He joined in when she laughed. “Better yet, it’s where we’re gonna do it.”
“Well, can I look around first?”
“Sure.” He approved but began tugging her out of the dashiki while she oohed and aahed over the tent, which looked more like a mini hotel suite.
“This is lovely,” she breathed, absently raising her arms in order for him to relieve her of the lightweight garment.
“Yes, it is,” Asher said and sighed his agreement when she was bared to his gaze.
Riley’s interest in her surroundings was quelled for a time when he pulled her back next to him. Making love had her full attention.
Afterward, they shared an incredible supper of grilled salmon steaks, Texas toast and salad beneath late evening skies outside the tent.
“You can live like this every minute you’re here, you know?” said Asher.
His cool, informative tone had Riley smiling. Carefully, she placed her fork on the table and decided it was time to lay the real cards on the table. Leaning across the small square table, she brushed the back of her hand against his cheek.
“What’s going on?”
Asher kept his gaze on his plate. “I just miss you, is all.”
She smiled and raised her brows in a teasing manner. “Is it all this great weather and sensual temptation?”
Asher turned deadly serious and gripped the hand she’d brushed across his cheek. “I miss you. There isn’t another woman who can do for me what you do. You should already know that. You really wanna know why it’s so easy to shrug off work when you’re here? Because I can hardly think of anything else when you’re around me.”
Riley tried to keep things light. “And you really want me around, distracting you twenty-four-seven?”
He stood and began to clear the table. “If that’s all I could get, I’d take it.”
“Asher…”
“Let’s dance.”
Thankful he’d changed the subject, she smiled and placed her fingers against his palm. Riley was immediately entranced by the endless sky and the glittering stars, which were more dazzling than the brightest city lights.
“So incredible…” she declared while looking up.
Asher agreed completely, though his eyes were focused solely on her.
Chapter 10
“Asher Demond Hudson, no way are you gonna get me to believe I’d get this kind of treatment every day if I were here.” Riley gasped as she gazed down on the exquisite camp retreat they’d shared the evening before.
Now, instead of a hot air balloon carrying them toward the horizon, it was stylish black helicopter, with Asher at the controls.
“Was this thing down there all night?” She waved her hand.
“Got there early this morning.”
“No way was I sleeping that hard.”
Asher leaned his head back against the seat and smiled. “I swear you were, and by the way, you’re welcome.” When she pinched his arm, he cried, “Ow!”
“Arrogant swine,” she accused amid her laughter.
“I agree with your comment.” He rotated his arm to ease the ache her pinch had caused. “Just remember, this arrogant swine has your life in his hands.”
Riley eyed the flight panel warily. “I’m trying not to think about it.”
“I know you’ve ridden in a chopper before, Stamper.”
“Course, I have. But never have I ridden in one where I had intimate knowledge of the pilot,” she said, speaking over the interference from the headset she wore to communicate with Asher.
“Ah.” Asher’s fingers flexed around the stick. “So I’m your first?”
“Humph. I guess you are.”
“Good. Keep it that way.”
She fixed him with a heavily sugared look. “After last night, that won’t be a problem. Incredible in every way.”
“Shut up. I’m trying to concentrate,” he said after they’d laughed for a good minute.
Riley’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “Am I upsetting your concentration, Mr. Pilot?”
“You have no idea….”
Laughter filled the cockpit once more.
Riley asked about Asher’s best friend and business partner, Talib Mason, while they lounged in massive amounts of cool shade, compliments of the lofty palm trees that sprinkled the rear of the estate and sheltered the pool area.
“Seems to be doing fine.” Asher took a swig of his Heineken. “He was sorry he couldn’t be in town to see you this time around.”
Riley watched him thoughtfully. “Why’d you say that he seems to be doing fine?”
“Come on.” Asher fixed her with a knowing look. “Would it surprise you to know that he’s still suffering over her?”
Riley nodded, not surprised at all. “She’s still suffering for him.”
“So how is she?” Asher inquired about his wife’s best friend and editor, Misha Bales.
“All that brash, sassy, hard-nosed editor and woman of the world stuff has everybody fooled.”
“Everybody except you,” Asher noted, watching his wife help herself to a taste of the Red Stripe beer she’d been nursing.
“They’re just both so stubborn,” she declared, thinking of their friends then.
Asher agreed, with a grunt, and then looked over at Riley. Seconds later, the two of them were dissolving into peals of laughter. Silently, they accepted that for them to call anyone else stubborn was truly a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
“So…what’s next?” Riley asked after they’d enjoyed the shade in silence for a while.
Asher drank deeply of his beer. “I’m not sure all my feats are working on you.”
“They damn well are, since I’m only falling more in love with you,” she swore.
Asher rolled the stout green bottle between his palms. “But not in love enough to stay?” He spoke casually enough so that it seemed he didn’t want a response.
Riley, however, had had enough and set her bottle on the wooden table between them. “Asher, exactly what would you have me do here? You know I can’t leave New York.”
His gaze was cool as it traveled the length of her legs and arms, which were bare thanks to the daring bikini she wore. “Someone holding a gun to your head?”
“I could ask you the same,” she muttered.
Asher’s beer bottle froze in midair. He raised his brows, as though he were considering her question, and then continued with his drink.
Moments later, a perky housemaid came outside to inform them that lunch would be ready in one hour.
Asher pushed off the chaise lounge. “Think I’ll go up and take a shower.”
When he was gone, Riley let her head fall back against the chaise lounge and let loose a long groan.
Asher stood beneath the spray of water and just let the hot beads stream across his face, neck and shoulders. Not even a cold shower would have eased his anger.
Subtlety had never been his strong suit, especially not when it came to Riley. He’d wanted her from the moment they met. At first, it was simply because of her looks—the dark chocolate face; the big expressive brown eyes; the mouth; the body. He grimaced, feeling his own body react to her image in his head.
Then he’d come to love her to insanity. She was a loving, giving and strong companion. She’d become stronger and more loving and giving as his wife. Asher had never felt more complete, and little did his wife know that her treasured existence in his life was what allowed him to do his job so well.
Sadly, he didn’t feel that street went both ways. Sometimes he figured she’d prosper just fine without him in her life. He shook his head to dismiss the thought. He knew she loved him as obsessively as he loved her. Then there was her job. The column she’d transformed from a popular but lighthearted editorial into one of the most respected journalistic efforts in New York City. Business people and college students alike enj
oyed their coffee and bagel over the Stamper Column each morning. They shared their own ideas about her topic of the day. She had her picture on the side of a bus, for goodness sake!
She deserved to hold on to that, he thought. She deserved to want to hold on to that. Again, he shook the annoying thoughts from his mind and chose to focus on his shower. He’d just finished lathering up when the glass doors parted.
His jaw dropped, as did his eyes when they drifted from Riley’s lovely face to her lovely bare body.
“I don’t want to fight,” she whispered, tugging her bottom lip between her teeth when he grabbed her waist and pulled her into the shower.
They were kissing instantly, but Riley backed away and continued to lather him with the soap resting in its holder.
Asher leaned back against the tiles and watched her take the utmost care in bathing him, rinsing him.
Riley paid special attention to the breathtaking array of muscles lining his abdomen and looked on in awe as her nails brushed the carved beauty. She moved on to pay homage to his arousal, erect and ready, and smiled a bit when his groan filled the steamy shower.
Shortly, however, he could take no more and drew Riley to her feet. He trailed kisses along her jaw, neck and shoulders as he posed her to receive him. Her laughter was a clear indication of the pleasure overtaking her when she felt him inside. The laughter, though, was short-lived, as the pleasure forced wanton moans from the back of her throat.
Not surprisingly, the couple decided to spend lunchtime in the shower.
After lunch Asher and Riley drove into Phoenix where Hud-Mason was located. The sports agency Asher had started with Talib had become world renowned within just three years. Now, at the onset of their tenth year, the partners were celebrating success after success. It was rumored that the gorgeous duo could charm an athlete away from his or her present representation as easily as they could charm a woman away from her desire to say no.
Riley thought how fitting that accolade was as she waltzed into her husband’s stunning corner office. She recalled the day when she’d been summoned there, terrified, until that terror merged into desire once she met the man in charge. Without a doubt, she’d been totally charmed by Asher Hudson’s coolly arrogant, provocative demeanor.
Hudsons Crossing Page 8