Tokyo Heat (Nights Series Book 3)

by A. M. Salinger

  “Nuh-uh,” Joe muttered. He crossed over to Ethan, folded his arms around him from the back, and dropped his stubbled chin on Ethan’s blond locks. “No one gets to watch me and sweet cheeks here do the hot and dirty.”

  Ethan flushed and gripped Joe’s arms where they were wrapped around his waist, his eyes gleaming with contentment.

  Eveline chewed her lower lip, her expression turning thoughtful.

  “How about if I leave a camera in the room?”

  “The camera would explode,” Joe stated, deadpan.

  Cam sniffed. “Yup.”

  Gabe blushed.

  “You fuckers.” Eveline grinned slowly, her blue eyes twinkling with genuine delight. “I swear, you four look so happy, you kinda make me wanna gag a little.”

  “I’m right there with you, sister,” Rhys muttered. He handed Eveline a glass of Scotch and toasted her. “Flaunting their blissful relationships in front of single people.”

  “And their hot bodies,” Eveline said with a nod before taking a sip from her glass.

  “And their big cocks,” Rhys added.

  “Not to mention, their huge wallets.”

  Rhys paused. “Is that a euphemism for giant dicks?”

  “No. I really mean, huge wallets.” Eveline indicated Ethan. “Wonder boy over there is a fucking genius when it comes to the stock market. And his IQ is off the charts.”

  Cam grunted. “She’s right. The brat’s gifted.”

  Rhys blinked slowly at Ethan.

  “Wow. He looks like he barely graduated high school.”

  Ethan narrowed his eyes at Rhys. “That’s it! Next time this asshole comes in here, I’m gonna slip him a laxative.”

  Gabe chuckled. Cam’s chest started shaking behind him. Joe grinned. Eveline giggled. Rhys muttered something rude under his breath, his lips curving in a smile.

  The club patrons stared at them as they dissolved in laughter.

  THE END

  Thank You

  Thank you for reading TOKYO HEAT!

  I hope you enjoyed this continuation of Cam and Gabe’s story and their happy ever after.

  They’ll be back for even more in ONE DAY (Nights Series Book 9) coming late 2018.

  I would be super grateful if you could consider leaving a review of TOKYO HEAT on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Reviews are vital for authors and all reviews, even a couple of short sentences, can help readers decide whether to pick up one of my books. Here are the links:

  Amazon

  Goodreads

  Want to be the first to know about my new releases and get access to exclusive content, sneak previews, sales, and giveaways ? Then sign up to my Reader Group.

  You can also join Ava’s Nights Club, my VIP Facebook Fan Group, where my Muse and I get up to all sorts of smexy stuff!

  About the Author

  Ava Marie Salinger is the pen name of an Amazon bestselling thriller author who has always wanted to write scorching hot contemporary and erotic romance. In 2017, she finally decided to venture to the steamy side. NIGHTS is the first of several sizzling series featuring sweet, sexy men and women with dark pasts and a whole lot of love to give to the ones brave enough to fight for their hearts. When she’s not dreaming up hotties to write about, you’ll find Ava creating kickass music playlists to write to, spying on the wildlife in her garden, drooling over gadgets, and eating Chinese.

  Here are some other places where you can connect with her:

  www.amsalinger.com

  Ava’s Nights Club

  Also by A.M. Salinger

  One Night (Nights Series Book 1)

  The Escort (Nights Series Book 2)

  COMING SOON...

  Sweet Obsession (Nights Series Book 4)

  Sweet Possession (Nights Series Book 5)

  The Proposition (Nights Series Book 6)

  Undisclosed (Nights Series Book 7)

  Hush (Nights Series Book 8)

  One Day (Nights Series Book 9)

  Sweet Obsession (Nights Series Book 4) Special Preview

  Chapter 1

  This asshole!

  Ash Colby scowled at his watch. He took a shallow breath, uncrossed his legs, and propped his elbows on his knees. The motion brought pain surging across his temples. The migraine had been with him for the last two hours. Although he would have loved to blame it on the humidity of Singapore’s late September monsoon season, Ash knew his current circumstances had led to the headache jackhammering against his skull. The fact that he’d just gotten off a seventeen-hour flight from San Francisco wasn’t helping either.

  Ash rubbed a hand across the back of his neck before glaring at the secretary seated behind the modern walnut desk to his left.

  “He knows I’m waiting, right?” Ash snapped.

  John Peace sighed and nudged his smart, black-rimmed specs up his nose.

  “Yes, Ash. Luke is aware that you’ve been waiting a while.”

  “Forty fucking minutes is not a while, John,” Ash said between gritted teeth.

  “Language, Ash,” the secretary murmured.

  Ash looked around the chic marble and wood waiting room overlooking a panoramic vista of the dazzling city and sun-kissed bay beyond the glass wall behind the secretary’s desk.

  “There’s no one else here.”

  John ignored Ash’s acerbic observation and studied him steadily.

  “You look a bit peaky. Would you like some water?”

  Ash scowled. He knew the secretary was only trying to be helpful, but he was past caring at this point.

  “No, I don’t want fucking water, John. I want to know why my lord and master has summoned me all the way here from Stanford five days before term starts.”

  Ash couldn’t help grind his teeth as he recalled the terse phone conversation from two days ago. The motion exacerbated the band of tension gripping his head and raised his ire further.

  “Luke would like to see you,” John had said coolly when he’d called Ash at eight on a Sunday morning.

  Ash frowned as he walked through the front door of his condo. He dropped his gym bag on a chair and headed to his bedroom.

  “What’s this about, John?” he said, irritated. He sat on the edge of the bed, kicked off his shoes, and fell backward onto the sheets. “And when did he get back to San Francisco?”

  John hesitated. “He isn’t in San Francisco.”

  Ash blinked at the ceiling before slowly sitting up, his incredulity quickly turning to anger.

  “Wait a minute. You’re telling me Luke is in Singapore and he wants me to go there to see him? Fuck no!” he growled.

  John sighed. “This is important, Ash. You know Luke wouldn’t make such a request unless it was an urgent matter.”

  Ash rubbed a hand across his eyes and swallowed hard. There was no denying the truth in the secretary’s words.

  Luke Rutherford, Ash’s former guardian and the current custodian of his rather substantial trust fund, was not a fickle man.

  Ash inhaled shakily and tried to quell his rising temper. “Can you at least tell me what this is—”

  Someone took the phone from John.

  Ash froze when Luke came on the line.

  “A car is coming to pick you up in thirty minutes. Pack a bag and be ready. The jet’s already at the airport.”

  Ash stared blindly ahead as the line suddenly went dead. He listened to the dial tone for a stunned moment before flinging the phone across the room and throwing himself back on the bed. A cry of rage left Ash’s lips as he raked his hands through his hair. Despite the fury and frustration burning in his veins at Luke’s outrageous command, Ash could not help the shudder of awareness that raced through him after hearing Luke’s voice.

  It had been over a year since they last spoke.

  For one insane moment, Ash considered not obeying the man who quite literally owned him, body and soul. The man he had been in love with for as long as he could remember. The man who had broken his heart and shattered his dreams five years
ago, on the night of Ash’s seventeenth birthday.

  The thought of the possible reprisals Luke would visit upon him if he did not get on that plane sent a quiver of apprehension through Ash. The guy was capable of anything. Just as Luke had promised, the car arrived promptly at eight thirty and Ash lifted off from San Francisco International Airport an hour later.

  Ash sighed, his thoughts returning to his current predicament as he leaned back on the expensive Barcelona chair and propped his feet on the coffee table. He ignored John’s disapproving stare and indicated the walnut door opposite from where he sat with a jerk of his head.

  “So, who does he have in there? Must be someone damn important if he’s ignoring me for this long.” Ash paused. “Not that the asshole doesn’t ignore me on a regular basis anyway.”

  John pinched the bridge of his nose. “I would really appreciate it if you didn’t keep calling Luke an asshole, Ash. And, yes, he’s got his asset manager in with him right now. Mr. Sorvino flew in from Tokyo yesterday and is heading straight to Japan after their meeting.”

  “Yippee for Mr. Sorvino,” Ash muttered. “Lucky bastard. I hope I’m back on the jet tonight as well.”

  John hesitated. He opened his mouth and closed it soundlessly.

  A tendril of unease shot through Ash as he stared at the secretary’s face. He narrowed his eyes. “What?”

  “Nothing,” John murmured.

  Ash was still studying him suspiciously when Luke’s door opened. A man walked out of the office.

  The stranger was tall and dark, with a commanding presence that had as much to do with his handsome face and his arresting gunmetal eyes as it did with his incredibly ripped body. Had Ash not been unreservedly in love with Luke, he would have found the guy captivating.

  A figure appeared behind the asset manager. Ash’s mouth went dry when Luke stepped out of the room.

  At six foot two, Luke Rutherford’s hard bodied, toned frame more than matched the man beside him. With dark hair that most women would kill to sink their hands into, finely trimmed stubble that framed a strong, angular jaw, and amber eyes that had the power to silence a crowded room, Luke Rutherford was not only sinfully attractive, he was also the embodiment of a successful businessman and billionaire.

  Ash swallowed.

  Sexy fucker.

  Chapter 2

  Luke barely spared Ash a glance as he held out a hand to the asset manager.

  “It was great to see you, Cam. And I’m sorry you had to come all this way to do this.”

  Ash blinked, surprised. It wasn’t every day he heard Luke apologize to anyone.

  Cam Sorvino shook Luke’s hand. “Not at all. I had stuff to do in the Singapore branch of the firm anyway, so this trip killed two birds with one stone.”

  Luke leaned against the doorframe, folded his arms across his chest, and crossed his long legs.

  Ash stared.

  The two men standing close to each other made for a remarkable combination. Even John couldn’t help but gaze at them unblinkingly.

  “When’s the big day?” Luke said. He cocked his head at the fund manager’s left hand.

  Ash noted the white gold and platinum band on Cam’s ring finger for the first time.

  Cam grinned.

  “Gabe and I haven’t picked a date yet. He’s working on this place right now, a new luxury resort in Hawaii. He says it’s gonna be stunning. They don’t normally do weddings, but we’re thinking of asking the guy who owns it if we can get married there anyway.” He arched an eyebrow. “I’ll be sure to invite you.”

  Luke smiled faintly. “That would be fun.”

  Ash almost fell off the chair. He didn’t think he’d seen Luke Rutherford have anything remotely resembling fun in over half a decade.

  His startled movement drew the two men’s gazes. Amber eyes narrowed as they focused on him, sending his pulse skittering.

  “I don’t believe you’ve met my former ward,” Luke muttered. “This is Ash Colby, heir to the Colby Corporation. Ash, this is Cam Sorvino, my fund manager.”

  Cam’s eyes widened slightly as Ash rose to his feet. He exchanged a guarded glance with Luke before crossing the waiting room and shaking Ash’s hand.

  “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

  Ash mumbled a greeting, curious about the secretive look the two men had just traded.

  “Your car is waiting downstairs, Mr. Sorvino,” John said. “And there’s a message from a Mr. Cavendish. He said that if you don’t get your ass back to Tokyo in time for your own birthday, Mr. Skye and Madame Claude will—and I quote— ‘Get Gabe onstage at Saron and help him do a striptease.’”

  Cam groaned. “Those assholes.”

  Luke cocked an eyebrow. “I didn’t know it was your birthday.”

  “I’m not exactly a child anxiously waiting for cake and gifts, Luke,” Cam said breezily as he headed for the exit. “Although I wouldn’t mind one particular blue-eyed gift,” he added under his breath.

  “You want to borrow the jet?” Luke called out.

  “Thanks, but no!” Cam yelled as he entered the lift.

  Silence descended on the waiting room when the elevator doors dinged closed. Luke nailed Ash with an inscrutable stare before turning on his heels and heading back into his office.

  Ash gazed at the open doorway, apprehension crawling across his skin despite his smoldering anger. He didn’t know why he felt like he was about to walk into the lion’s den. He crossed the floor and entered the room, the sound of the door closing behind him a death knell to his ears.

  What the fuck is this kid eating? Miracle-Gro?

  Luke adjusted his suit and sat behind the dark wood and Italian white laminate executive desk, grateful for the partition that hid his growing erection from view. Ash strolled in and plonked himself down on the couch opposite him. He narrowed his steel-blue eyes at Luke, not bothering to hide his resentment.

  It had been over a year since Luke had last seen Ash in the flesh. The young man had shot up another two inches in that time. He’d also filled out in all the right places, his athletic physique toned to perfection while his brown hair shone with sun-kissed highlights from his time in California.

  Perfect face, perfect body, perfect legs, perfect ass.

  Luke’s gaze strayed briefly to Ash’s full lips. He swallowed a groan.

  And a perfect, cocky, sexy mouth I would kill to have swallow my dick.

  That last thought sobered him up.

  Although Luke wanted nothing more than to strip the angry young man seated across from him, bend his delicious body over his desk, and fuck him until neither of them could walk, it was the one thing he would never do. The one promise he could never break.

  He didn’t deserve to lay a single finger on Ash Colby. Not after what he had done. Not even if he’d loved him since the day he was born and been in love with him for over half a decade.

  “Care to tell me why the hell you had me flown halfway across the world?” Ash said without preamble.

  Luke winced internally. He deserved that. He took a deep breath and assumed the cold demeanor he usually displayed when he was with Ash, steeling himself for what was about to go down. It was a carefully cultivated facade, one he had adopted to create and maintain the distance between them.

  It was the only way Luke could protect Ash from his carnal urges.

  “As of right now, you are no longer a graduate student at Stanford. I’ve enrolled you in the architectural design program at the university here, in Singapore. You’ll also be living with me.”

  Ash blinked. His heart started an erratic pounding in his chest as deathly silence descended on the room. He stared at Luke, hoping and waiting for the Fooled you!

  The man opposite him studied him coolly, golden eyes unblinking. That was when Ash realized Luke wasn’t joking. Ash froze for a dizzying moment, disbelief warring with rage inside him. Rage won. Ash jumped to his feet and stormed to the desk.

  “Are you out of your fucking mi
nd?!” he barked.

  “My mind has never been any clearer,” Luke replied steadily. “Your personal items are being packed as we speak and will be flown to our home here in the next twenty-four hours.” He paused. “Your Stanford supervisor was obviously sad to see you go but understood your sudden change in circumstances. He gave you a glowing recommendation. And I’m selling your condo in Los Altos.”

  Blood roared in Ash’s ears as he glared at the man opposite him, too stunned to speak. Hatred surged through him, the feeling so visceral he couldn’t help but dig his nails into his palms. He found his voice a moment later.

  “Why are you doing this?” Ash asked hoarsely.

  Something flashed in Luke’s eyes then. Something Ash had seen only once before in his life. Fury. A rage so deep, it seemed to turn the man before him to stone.

  Ash’s stomach twisted, the pain knifing through him so great he wanted to throw up.

  Oh God! He really hates me, doesn’t he?

  Ash swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat, wondering for the thousandth time what he had done to deserve Luke’s anger.

  “You owe me an answer, Luke. You can’t just ignore me for five years, then barge back into my life and pretend you want to play house.”

  Luke propped his elbows on the armrests of his leather executive chair and dropped his chin on the back of his interlocked hands.

  “What if I told you this was for your own good?” he said quietly.