Instead of waiting for him, Ashleigh leaned in closer, her eyes locked with his before catching a brief glimpse of his perfect lips. Before she knew what happened, she was on her back on the couch with Alex’s impressive body on top of her, pressing against her in the most delicious way, infusing her with heat and longing.
“I shouldn’t want you, Ashleigh.”
For the life of her, she didn’t know why not. They were both consenting adults, and there was something obviously between them. So when Alex pressed his lips to hers yet again, Ashleigh gave into him, pulling him closer and giving back as good as she was getting.
Shaking off the memory, Ashleigh tried to push it away. She would not go there. Not right now. Thinking about that night never did anything more than put her in a bad mood.
~~*~~
Alex tossed his cell phone into the center console, throwing the truck in Drive. Pissed off and in desperate need of a bright spot in his week, he pulled out of the XTX parking garage and aimed the truck toward Ashleigh’s house.
After that phone call, he wanted to simply turn off the ringer, hang out with the one woman who would be able to make him smile at this point. That had been his plan all day anyway, and though the phone call from Jessie had been somewhat expected, he was going to pretend it never happened.
His ex-wife had made it her life’s work to suck him into the mess she called a life, but today he didn’t have the patience, nor the desire to try and rescue her from herself. He’d been spending way too much time with her as it was trying to talk to her, calm her down, or chase off that good for nothing boyfriend of hers.
Not today.
Ten minutes later he was pulling into Ashleigh’s driveway, trying to get his bearings. He was frustrated, and he knew he needed to take a minute to clear his head. The last person he wanted to see his temper was Ashleigh. Having not seen much of her in the last two weeks, showing up at her house unannounced was going to be bad enough.
He needed to see her. Need being the key word.
Ever since their afternoon of horseback riding, Alex had purposely backed off a little bit. She was getting to him in ways he hadn’t expected. The desire was there, but it always had been. It was the other feelings stirring around inside of him that had made him take some time to process exactly what was happening between them.
He wanted her in ways he feared she couldn’t handle. And until today, he’d been able to reason with himself. Today his need for her had intensified, and he wasn’t strong enough to resist it. So instead of doing the right thing, he’d given in to temptation, despite the perfect excuse to stay away for at least one more day.
After a few minutes, his blood pressure had finally reverted to the more normal range, and he exhaled a sigh of relief. It took a lot to get Alex riled up, but today everything seemed to be stacking up against him. Even the thought of seeing Ashleigh was getting him worked up but for an entirely different reason.
Alex exited the truck, glancing at Ashleigh’s Tahoe parked in the driveway. At least she was home. It would have been the perfect end to a shitty day for him to have driven all the way there to find out she wasn’t.
When he made it to the front door, he rapped his knuckles on the wood, pacing back and forth in front of the door while he waited. A good minute later, he figured she wasn’t going to answer. Thrusting his hands in his pockets, he stood on the porch for a minute, wondering where the hell she might’ve gone.
Glancing around toward the side of the house as he walked back to his truck, he stopped. It was worth a shot.
Alex turned the corner and saw Ashleigh sitting at a table on her back deck, her fingers flying furiously over the keys on her laptop. For a brief moment, he just watched her.
She was breathtaking. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a clip, and from where he stood, it didn’t look like she was wearing makeup, which made sense because she was still in her pajamas. He couldn’t ever remember a time when he was still in his pajamas at three o’clock in the afternoon.
“Hey,” he called out, not wanting her to see him standing there staring at her.
Ok, so maybe he startled her. There was a little squeak, a little jump, and now she was staring back at him with her hand clutched over her heart.
“What the hell are you doing?” She asked, obviously not shocked for long.
He grinned. “I could ask you the very same question.”
Alex made his way up the steps, his eyes glued to the woman standing before him, dressed as though she had just crawled out of bed. He’d like to drag her back there.
“What are you doing here?” She rephrased her question, her hands now on her hips.
“Bored.” He lied, but smiled as he said it.
“I find that hard to believe. Dylan said you guys are busy, so I know that’s not it.”
“Ok, I just wanted to see you. That better?”
The smoldering look in her eyes told him that she definitely liked the answer, but he was willing to bet she wasn’t going to verbally agree.
“What are you writing?” He asked, glancing down at the computer that sat on the table between them.
Ashleigh glanced down, her eyes wide before she slammed the lid closed. Obviously she didn’t want him to see what she was writing. If he had to guess, she wasn’t writing about horses and owls like she’d told him before. He grinned again.
No, he grinned still. Since the moment he laid eyes on her, he’d had a permanent smile on his face.
“Nothing.” She covered quickly, looking slightly embarrassed.
“Nothing, huh?” He was tempted to grab the computer, just to see what she’d do. He knew about her pen name, he knew exactly what she was writing about, even if she wouldn’t admit it.
But, he wasn’t in the mood to get slapped at the moment. Ashleigh wouldn’t take too kindly to him intruding on her personal space, so he kept his hands in his pockets.
“Well, since you aren’t working,” he made a point to look back down at the laptop, then back up at her, “I was thinking we could do something.”
“Something?” The skeptical look in her eye had him biting back another grin.
“Sure.” He said, closing the distance between them. “What else you got on that list?”
Ashleigh surprised him when she didn’t take a step back, allowing him to stand close enough to inhale her fragrant scent. She smelled like vanilla and sunshine. It should’ve been outlawed in all fifty states. It was that damn good.
“I’m thinking... swimming.” Because he wanted to see her in a damn bathing suit. Or nude would be fine with him. Either way.
“Swimming?”
Was it him or was she tongue tied? She wasn’t smiling, but nor was she frowning. She looked confused.
“Yes, you know, water... pool. It’s heated and it’s nice out.” And you would be in a damn bathing suit which would be hot as hell in itself.
“Ok.”
He cocked his eyebrow, staring down at her suspiciously. Sure, he definitely liked the idea of getting Ashleigh wet – in more ways than one – but he got the distinct impression she was up to something. His Ashleigh would’ve come up with an excuse to make him leave. Instead of questioning her, because he wasn’t an idiot, he slid the back of his finger down her smooth cheek. “Ok, then. Go get your stuff and I’ll wait right here.”
~~*~~
What the hell was wrong with her? Swimming? Seriously? It was only sixty degrees outside at best. What in the world was she thinking?
Ashleigh grabbed her laptop from the table, turned and darted inside the house as fast as she could. Depositing it on her bed, she turned to her dresser to find a swimsuit.
Ha! Served her right. Staring down into the near empty drawer, Ashleigh took stock of the one and only bathing suit she’d unpacked as of yet. It was a two piece – two very small pieces – and it was bright, neon pink. Admittedly, it didn’t look all that bad on her when it was the middle of the summer and she’d had a chance to get a lit
tle sun. Right now, in February, she wasn’t sure which would be brighter, the bathing suit or her pale skin.
And now she was shaking. Actually, she’d been trembling since Alex had scared the daylights out of her a few minutes ago. Apparently those tremors were causing her to lose brain cells.
She hadn’t expected Alex to show up, so when he walked across her back lawn, her brain had lost some of its functionality. Apparent by her agreeing to go swimming. At his place. Those two things combined were a recipe for disaster. Especially considering her libido was in overdrive after the last couple of chapters she’d written.
Her body didn’t seem to be caught up with her brain’s reluctance because five minutes later, Ashleigh was traipsing across the living room, a small bag containing the neon pink bikini in hand.
“Ready?” Alex asked from his perch on the arm of the sofa.
No, not really. “Yep.” She blurted.
Alex stood, once again towering over her, and she wondered what he was waiting for. Standing there like an idiot, she watched him until a sexy as hell smile tipped his lips.
“After you.” He said, holding his hand up in the direction of the door.
Good grief. Her brain was overloaded, and now she wished she’d reconsidered this astronomically stupid idea.
By the time she was safely inside Alex’s truck, buckled up and staring out the side window, her stomach was a jumble of nerves.
“Do you swim a lot?” She asked, because, at this point, only stupid things were coming out of her mouth.
“No, not really.” Alex glanced at her, then back to the road, “In the summer, I get out a few times a month, but since I’m not home much, I don’t.”
“When I was a kid, Dylan and I would get in the swimming pool at Pop’s house all the time. Even in the winter and sometimes when he didn’t remember to heat it.”
“That’s commitment.” Alex laughed.
“I was on the swim team in high school. For one year anyway. Turns out I didn’t want to be a fish like I once thought.” Actually, it turned out she was way too shy and far too awkward to go out in public and compete in anything. She froze the few times her coach had tried to get her in the pool.
“No?”
“No. I found my writing niche while I was in high school though.” At least writing gave her exactly what she was looking for. Solitude. “Turned out to be a great way to escape. I could become someone else for a little while. Like a fantasy coming to life.”
“What did you write about back then? I couldn’t imagine a teenage girl had much interest in writing children’s books.”
Ashleigh laughed. “There wasn’t much rhyme or reason back then. I’d write short stories and most of them didn’t fall into any specific category.”
Her parents had died before she was old enough to even remember them, and Ashleigh found herself fantasizing about the mother and father she never had, putting their stories down on paper. It helped with the grief.
“And now?”
“And now what?” She asked. Ashleigh didn’t know where he was going with this, but she was half tempted to push him.
She knew, thanks to Sam’s admission, that Alex was well aware of her pen name. Oddly, she thought he’d be more determined to get her into bed because of that fact.
Originally she wondered if Sam had been mistaken, but Ashleigh didn’t think so. There was a gleam in his eyes when he talked about her writing. He knew, he just wasn’t going to bring it up.
“Do the children’s books hold your interest?”
“For the most part, yes.” That was partially true.
“Have you thought about writing something else?”
“Like what?” A knot formed in her stomach. This conversation was going in the wrong direction.
“Oh, I don’t know. Mysteries? Romance, maybe?”
Or erotica? She wanted to say the words out loud, knowing that’s what he was hinting at, but she didn’t.
Before she could answer his question, he was pulling his truck into his garage, shutting off the engine and closing the door behind them. The confines of the truck were intimate enough, but with the outside world shut completely out, the intimacy was almost disturbing.
She sighed, unable to keep up the facade any longer.
“When were you going to bring it up?” She asked bluntly, needing to get this out in the open. As much as she valued her anonymity, it was too hard to try to hide something that was out in the open anyway.
“Bring what up?” Alex’s dark eyebrow rose.
For the last week, Ashleigh had fantasized about how this conversation would go. Never once had she dreamed that Alex would feign ignorance. Turning her back on him, frustrated and still a little shaky, she pushed open the passenger door and stepped out of the truck.
She needed a moment to breathe and although she wasn’t claustrophobic, being closed up in his truck with him was just too much. When she was close to him, his unique scent alone made it hard to think, and that was something she couldn’t afford when Alex was around.
Alex walked around the truck and stood beside her. “Talk to me.”
“I know that you know.” She told him, wishing he would take a step back because he was much too close. It was hard enough to breathe, hard enough to think when he was near, but this close, she didn’t stand a chance.
From where she stood, looking up at him, she could see the darker flecks of green in his already dark eyes. His lashes were long and thick, and there was a day’s worth of stubble decorating his strong chin. The man was beautiful if that was an apt description for someone who exuded so much masculine power.
“What do I know, Ashleigh?” He asked, taking a step closer, if that was even possible, and successfully blocking her between him and the unmoving vehicle at her back.
“You know that I’m Ashton Leigh.” She spouted before she could think better of it.
“So?”
“What do you mean ‘so’?” Putting her hands on his chest, she tried to push him away, but he didn’t budge. “If you’re thinking that I’m anything like her –”
“Shhh.” He whispered, brushing his finger over her lips. “I don’t think anything.”
Didn’t he? Didn’t he think she was wild, spontaneous and openly adventurous when it came to sex? It’s what she wrote about, so it would make sense, wouldn’t it?
“I’ve wanted you since the first day I met you, Ash. Long before you began writing. I don’t have any preconceived notions about who you are or what you want.”
He wanted her?
His admission sent a shockwave of lust rippling through her insides. Without thinking, she glanced down at his lips, then back up to his eyes.
“Stop looking at me like that.” His voice was firm, but he didn’t move away from her.
“Like what?” She almost choked on the words.
“Like you want me, too.”
“I do want you.” There was no reason to deny it.
They might be playing a game, but he knew good and damn well that she wouldn’t have gone to his house to go swimming if she didn’t have a hidden agenda. Friends they might be, but not close friends. And never would she have put herself in this position if she hadn’t hoped for something more to happen between them either.
“Ashleigh.” The way he said her name was a warning, and her body didn’t heed it worth a damn.
In a move totally unlike her, Ashleigh instigated what happened next. With her hands still pressed against his chest, she was no longer trying to push him away; instead, she slid them up, feeling the solid muscle and his strong heartbeat beneath her fingertips. Cupping his jaw, she pulled him closer. She wasn’t sure if it was the weather, or what was sparking between them, but something was making it hotter than hell in that damn garage.
Chapter Ten
*** ~~ *** ~~ *** ~~ ***
Alex didn’t move a muscle. Well, unless his dick counted. He stood as motionless as possible while Ashleigh tortured him with the
soft tips of her fingers against his jaw. Since the moment she’d put her hands on him, he’d been frozen in place, waiting for her next move.
That was no small feat for Alex. When it came to any sort of intimacy, he generally shied away from it. Unless of course it was sex. That was an entirely different story. When it came down to it, Alex ensured he was in control and his partners were always aware of it too.
But right here, right now, with Ashleigh... this was different.
He wanted to crush his mouth down to hers, to press his body to hers, to grind his throbbing erection between the juncture of her thighs and find some sort of relief from the overwhelming lust that bubbled inside of him.
“Kiss me, Alex.”
Alex didn’t kiss her; he just stared down at her like she’d lost her mind. Did the woman even know what she did to him? Did she know how hot she made him burn?
“Kiss me like you want to kiss me.” She insisted again, not moving her hands from his face.
God she was going to kill him.
“Are you sure?” He needed to know whether she understood what she was signing up for. Alex was not a gentle lover.
“I’m positive.” There wasn’t even a hint of uncertainty in her tone.
“Baby, I can’t promise I can stop once this starts.” Standing in the middle of his garage, Alex knew he’d at least get her into his house, but the second he let loose on her, there might be no turning back.
“Just a kiss, Alex. For now.” Ashleigh grinned, and that little spark she lit with her bold words turned into a full blown inferno. She was going to be a challenge, he knew.
Easing closer, her fingers sliding up the side of his face until they laced into his hair, he closed the gap between their mouths. When she closed her eyes, he slid his tongue over her bottom lip. When she moaned, he damn near lost it.
“So sweet.” He whispered, not meaning to talk at all, but he was doing his damnedest to hold onto an ounce of his control.
Her little pink tongue darted out, meeting his on the edge of her lip and Alex pressed his body against hers. When she pulled his head down closer, he knew he was no longer in control of what was happening. She was.
Seduction (Club Destiny) Page 7