by Rachel Cross
Asher stayed behind to pay the fare, so Shane held the heavy wooden door while the group trooped inside. They all knew the place since they’d gone to college nearby, but it was so far outside Maddy’s price range, she’d never eaten there.
The maître d’ was an impeccably dressed older gentleman who asked for their reservation. Smiling Asher told him they didn’t have one.
“Party of five, private,” Shane stated moving forward he pressed a bill into the man’s hand. The man shrugged, studied his leather bound book on the podium, and pursed his lips. He excused himself and headed through the dining room where he was stopped by a formally dressed waiter who had been eyeing their group, Shane in particular. The young waiter whispered in the old man’s ear, and the maître d’ came back immediately, face wreathed in smiles, to pick up five menus and ask them to follow.
“Should we wait for Asher?”
Shane cast a knowing look at Maddy. She felt the heat rise in her face and gave a tiny shake of her head.
“I’m sure he’ll be along.” Shane said with a wicked grin.
The man led them to a back dining on the first floor. It was a cozy spot with European style, historical prints on the walls, silk-shaded brass oil lamps on tables and best of all, fires, crackling in several fireplaces, giving it a warm, romantic feel. Their club attire didn’t mesh perfectly with the dress code in the traditional restaurant, but no one was asked to put on a jacket and tie either.
The perks of celebrity.
Asher finally joined them after their drink orders had been taken. He’d barely settled into his chair when he reached into his pocket for his phone. He answered it with a puzzled air.
“Oh, good. Yeah, we’re having dinner.” He gave Maddy a nod and smile across the table and she relaxed. Nothing bad then.
“That’s not good. No, we won’t attempt it. We’ll make plans to say here. I wasn’t wild about the drive late at night anyway. No problem. Hey, thanks again.”
He put the phone away and looked at Maddy first then Shane. “Your mom says they’re already getting some freezing rain tonight, in the higher elevations it could ice up and she’s worried about the roads. I told her we’d stay in town.”
Maddy sat back in her chair. “Is Ella all right?”
“Great.”
“Okay then. Should we book a room?” All eyes turned to her and the heat rose in her face. “I … I meant rooms.”
“I’ll take care of it after dinner,” Asher answered, studying the menu.
He’ll take care of it? Oh God. And he wasn’t making eye contact. What did that mean? Did he think she wanted to share a room with him? Did he want to? Did he think she wanted to continue what had happened in the bar? In the cab? Who even instigated any of that?
She picked up her lemon drop martini with a trembling hand. If ever there was a situation that called for alcohol, this was it.
With the car left in a parking garage and no plans to go back tonight, both men ordered another round and discussed clubbing options with Liz and Kelly.
By the time they left for the club Kelly suggested after dinner, the three drinks had muted Maddy’s anxiety. Pleasantly buzzing, Maddy climbed into the cab — this one a minivan that didn’t require lap dancing.
There were no pretentions to the venue selected. No VIP areas. Just great DJs and dancing. Shane showed off some of his TruAchord moves, which had them in stitches trying to follow him.
A slow song came on and Asher swept Maddy up in his arms. She melted into him, shifting her body weight to and fro, her body automatically following the rhythm of his.
“Maddy?”
She looked up and lost her step at the intensity in his eyes. He lowered his head slowly.
Her hands, which had been resting on his shoulders, crept around to his neck, then to his head, bringing him to her. She threaded her fingers through his thick hair and urged him to her lips. Their mouths met, tongues tangling.
His body, taut with tension, pressed against her as his large warm hands swept down her body, lingering on her hips, tugging them against him.
One of her hands strayed to his back and his hips, finding its way under his shirt to the damp, hard flesh.
Asher’s hands fused her body to his and she laid her head on his chest. The slow song had changed to one with an upbeat tempo, but they shifted in a slow circle, drifting as one in a crowd of whirling limbs and strobe lights.
“Let’s go,” he whispered.
Maddy nodded.
• • •
Maddy was as jacked up as if she’d had a triple shot at the coffee shop. Heart racing and mildly nauseated, her body radiated tension as Asher slid the white key card into the slot of the door at the Four Seasons suite. If only she’d had more to drink and she could shut off the voices shrieking “stay” one moment and “bail” the next. God help her, she was nearly coming out of her skin. This would be a mistake of cataclysmic proportions.
She’d seen the kind of women he dated — twelves on a scale of ten. He was her boss. But none of that mattered. She was in the hotel suite with Asher tonight.
What are you doing?
The rigid control she kept on her feelings for him had been completely overwhelmed in the cemetery of the old Pembrook church. God knew she’d never been immune to his attractiveness, but living with him revealed so many appealing facets of his character.
Each time she glimpsed his mouth, every time she got close enough to smell his citrusy leather scent, her body quickened. Her feelings for him were much more complicated than lust. Lust she could deny. Her heart ached for him.
“I want you,” he admitted baldly. “More than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.”
She stepped closer to him, trembling.
He moved closer to her and yanked her into his arms, holding her up against him. His chest rose and fell. She stared into his eyes, hot and heavy-lidded with desire. His face was serious, intent, tense. Then his lips met hers and she stopped thinking at all.
Maddy reveled in his hard lips on hers. His kiss tasted of urgency — the desperation of passion long denied.
She moaned her pleasure as her tongue met the slick, wet, thrust of his. Asher’s hands came up behind her head, locking her mouth to his, feeding at her, spiraling out of control.
She whimpered as his mouth left hers to explore her face, the sensitive areas on her neck, stroking, teasing, and leaving a burning trail of sensation. Her pulse accelerated as his tongue laved the thick coursing of blood in the veins of her neck. His body bowed with tension, pressed against her knees to chest, his hands swept down her body, binding her hips tightly, urgently against his.
Her hands left his hair and drifted down to the muscles in his shoulders, the ridges of his abdomen. She unbuttoned his shirt and slid her mouth away from his, panting. Laying her cheek against on his warm, hard chest, she listened to his thundering heart in wonder. She gave his nipple an open-mouthed kiss, then a tiny nip.
His body shuddered in her arms. His hands yanked her hips harder against the swelling in the front of his trousers. Pulling the heavy cotton dress shirt out of his pants, she savored the feel of his hot, bare flesh where it met his waistband. She traced the seam covering the zipper of his pants. His hand fisted in her hair as she explored his thickness, the outline of his throbbing hardness. She stroked him, once, ungently, and he made an anguished sound, pulling his hips away, giving her more room to caress him. Her hands shook with desire and nerves.
He pushed her back until she was sitting on the edge of the bed, but instead of joining her, he disappeared into the bathroom, emerging moments later with a foil wrapped condom.
Wordlessly she raised her arms and he strode across the room, roughly yanking her dress up and off, leaving her clad only in her lacy panti
es and bra. He unhooked the clasp, stroking the sides of her breasts as he removed it. She shivered, nipples tightening into peaks of arousal. He met her eyes as his fingers caressed the tip of one nipple. She closed her eyes and moaned. It was indescribable. The ache of desire transmuted into an insistent pulse.
He shrugged off his shirt and pushed off his boxer briefs and pants in one swift motion. She opened her eyes to a hungry, aroused, naked man. His body was extraordinary — broad strong shoulders; chest, shoulders and arms covered with tattoos; a tapered waist; narrow hips; rock hard abdominal muscles that she followed with her hand until she reached his thick, jutting cock. She wrapped both hands around it, exploring, watching in awe as his face flushed and he groaned, surging into her hands.
He pulled back, watching her hands on him. “God, Maddy,” he ground out. The feel of his hot skin, his whole naked body pressed against hers was extraordinary. She leaned back on her elbows. He stripped off her panties with impatient hands. His heated gaze met hers as his hands slowly spread her legs. One long finger trailed up her inner thigh. She shivered and shifted restlessly as his fingers moved to her cleft where she throbbed, slick and aching.
“Asher,” she pleaded. Her hand at his shoulders urged him to her, desperate. He gentled her with a deep, kiss, while his long fingers stroked, coaxed — preparing her.
She reached for him and he surged in her hand.
He leaned back and she could not tear her eyes away as he rolled the condom down over his erection, then spread her thighs with gentle hands. Her body shifted restlessly on the bed.
And she arched her back, eyes riveted to his. Slowly, so slowly he pushed the broad head of his cock against her warm, wet cleft, rubbing and stroking her. She pressed down, desperate to have him inside her.
He resisted her machinations and continued the slow, inexorable press forward, entering her, stretching her, making her wild. She gasped, shutting her eyes tight. It was too much; he was too much. She rolled her hips in a desperate attempt to accommodate him. Opening her eyes, she met his fierce, hazel gaze. He froze, panting, giving her time to adjust to his size. Her hands went to his hips and she grasped them, urgently, eyes still locked as he withdrew, then started forward again as her hips rocked. He thrust all the way in. A small cry escaped her and they both froze.
He started to move, more frenzied now.
She clutched at him, at his hips, shoulders. “Please,” she begged.
He kissed her, licked the inside of her mouth and groaned his pleasure into her, making her frantic as he stroked in and out of her, establishing a relentless rhythm. She raked her nails down his back, mindless and panting.
She came with a long, thin wail, swept over the edge. Boneless, half-conscious she was vaguely aware of his final thrusts. He came with a hoarse shout, then stilled.
Slowly, she surfaced, her body delightfully sore.
He’d shifted them both to the side, so she lay on one of his arms, his free arm tucked around her hips.
She stretched, experimentally, and a twinge of pain in her hip made her rub it, wincing. She peeked up and met his gaze.
He was staring with something akin to horror.
The bottom fell out of her stomach and she knifed up in the bed, scrambling, awkwardly, joints uncooperative.
Oh God.
He followed, on his knees reaching for her. She knelt stiffly in his arms. He rested his chin on her head. Gently he helped her back down and under the covers, up against his body so she was facing him. He sighed, her body taut in his arms.
“Maddy, relax.”
She shook her head, throat thick with tears.
He pulled back and looked down.
“Maddy?”
She rubbed a hand over her face.
“I’m sorry — ”
“Please, Asher, your pity is more than I can stand right now,” she said, hoarsely.
“What?”
“That look you just gave me.”
His voice gentled. “Maddy, I felt you flinch and saw your face. I hurt you.”
She relaxed, infinitesimally. Oh. That. She sniffed. “You didn’t hurt me. Geez. Couldn’t you tell?”
“Not during. I mean after … ”
“It’s nothing.”
He put a finger under her chin and tipped her face to meet his eyes. “Should I have been more gentle? I completely forgot about … about your RA,” he said.
She frowned. “I don’t need you to treat me with kid gloves. I’m not an invalid.”
“Okay, okay,” he soothed, his hands stroking her from the nape of her neck to her hips.
“Stop trying to calm me down.”
He gave a short laugh.
“What happened tonight, was … fun and … uh … entertaining,” she lied. “You don’t have to worry that I’m going to freak out.” His expression was unreadable.
“Good.” he said shortly. “Then you won’t mind if I call down and have another woman sent up for the ‘entertainment’? Round two?”
Maddy’s eyes widened.
He chuckled as she went from stunned to pissed in two heartbeats. He held her squirming body with gentle hands. She relaxed against him and sighed. “This was a mistake, Asher.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“You’re my boss.” She felt him nod, his chin resting on the top of her head.
“A complication. We’ll figure it out.”
“Figure what out?” she said.
“How to do this.” He squeezed her.
“I’m not going to continue sleeping with you. This was a onetime thing.” Oh, why couldn’t she make herself get out of the bed? Why was she continuing to lie there, trying to memorize his face, trying to sear this night into her memory?
“That’s unfortunate because I want to,” he hesitated, “be with you.”
What the hell does that even mean?
“Be with?” she repeated, blankly, examining him closely — his cheekbones still ruddy from the after effects of passion.
“Yeah.” He reached out a hand and stroked the hair back from her the side of her face.
“But I work for you and we live together,” she sputtered.
“Yeah, that part’s odd.”
She moved her head on the pillow but wasn’t sure if she was nodding or shaking it.
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why?”
“It never occurred to me that you’d want a … a relationship. I mean,” she gestured between them “this is one thing, this chemistry, but, well, do you do relationships?”
His lips twisted. “I thought you’d gotten to know me these last few months.”
“I have. I just … why?
“Why what?” he asked again, impatiently this time.
“Why do you want a relationship with me?”
“The usual reasons. I care about you. I’m attracted to you.” His throat worked as he swallowed, audibly.
Was he nervous?
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“I said, what about you?” he repeated.
“I’m scared,” she blurted.
He settled her against him, until her head was resting on his bicep. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. It was easier than looking at him.
“Of?”
“Of things not working out.” She sneaked a glance. “Of getting hurt. Uh … don’t you like a lot of variety? ‘Cause I don’t think I could accept that.”
He propped his head on his hand. “You think I’m fickle,” he said. “I’m not. At least, not with the people I care about. I’ve had long-term relationships, Maddy. I’m capable of fidelity — ”
“No, I know.” She
bit her lip, then lifted her face to his, running a hand over his jaw. She studied her swollen gnarled hand against the perfection of his face.
“Do you?”
“Yeah, Asher, I know who you are.” Her gaze met and held his; she looked away, shocked by the intensity there. “And, yeah. I like you and God knows, I lust after you. But there’s a lot more at stake than heartache if things don’t work out — ”
“So we’re not supposed to get involved because things might not work out?”
“If Ella weren’t in the picture, I would take that chance.”
He stroked her nude body from chest to hip.
She shivered and caught his hot amber gaze. She arrested his hand. “Stop. When this ends, I wouldn’t just lose you.”
His long fingers played with a lock of her hair.
“We’ll take it slow,” he said.
“We just had sex! How’s that gonna work?”
He grinned and held her against his rapidly hardening body.
• • •
The next morning he found himself reaching for her, drowsily, eyes still closed. His hand met empty space, but the sheets were still warm. Lifting his head, he looked toward the bathroom. The door was ajar, the room dark. He frowned, pushed the covers back and went in search of her. He pushed open the doors to the suite and took two steps into the room before he saw her lying on the floor, wearing his shirt from the night before.
“Maddy?” He went to his knees next to her.
She pursed her lips, attempting to disguise a smile. “Asher, put some clothes on.”
“What are you doing?”
“Stretching.”
“Why?”
She sat up, wincing.
Oh God. He had hurt her, despite her denials last night. He’d have to be more careful with her. “Jesus, Maddy — ”
She scowled. “For heaven’s sake, Asher. It’s like this every morning. I have a hard time because my joints are stiff, so for the last time, it’s not because of the fucking!”
He sat back on his heels.
Maddy glanced down his body, lifting wide eyes to his. “Seriously, Asher, put on your damn clothes, would you?”