by Amber Malloy
For the last fifteen minutes, Ashe had stayed steps behind Dumb and Dumber. In her present state, she pondered which idiot took on the role of Lloyd and who was Harry.
As they toured the winery, Ashe debated whether to pop another edible or drink herself into oblivion. An afternoon with the girls was morphing her merely bad mood into a straight dumpster fire. Thus far, the whole trip had sucked major donkey balls.
“You can taste the smoky notes in this bouquet,” the guide said, dipping in and out of a fake French accent. “No, no, you must swish it around your mouth, then—” He took his index finger and massaged Veronica’s throat.
When the shady sommelier turned to Ashe, she knocked back her wine before he could molest her larynx. She didn’t want to add felony assault charges to her already craptastic day.
“Maybe next time.” He beckoned the group to follow him.
“Someone’s grouchy,” Walker whispered in her ear before he caressed the middle of her back. A pro at hiding her scars, she eased away from his touch.
“How was golf?” She looped her arm through his.
“Bailed before I could beat the cheating bastards. How was shopping?”
“A freaking nightmare. I wasn’t nearly high enough… What?”
Thorny spindles went up her spine. Walker was staring at her with an unreadable expression. Mystery had clung to the man since the day she’d met him. Now she witnessed something dark in his eyes that eluded her.
“Nice dress,” he complimented her Christian Dior black wrap. “We’d better catch up.”
They trailed the small group from a respectable distance until the tour ended in a private dining room. “It’s about time. What took you guys so long?” Chad called. Already seated at the table, WLK’s CEOs were ahead in the drinking department. “What happened to you, Walks? You missed my hole-in-one.”
Weird dude tension smothered the air.
“I bet it was a sight to behold,” Walker said. “I had an important call.”
As Walker held out Ashe’s chair, she sat down. He took the seat next to her. Driven by the munchies, she reached for the bread basket and picked out the sweet, brown, oat-covered treat. “Sorry.” Ashe held up the basket, but everyone shook their heads. “More for me,” she muttered and put the bread next to her.
“Fattening,” Mickey whispered loud enough for her to hear.
“Yeah, because the wine won’t make a dent, sweetheart,” Ashe shot back before she took a bite out of the warm, buttery loaf of sin.
“Who was on the horn? Grape Ape?”
“I’m guessing you mean Tank,” Walker corrected.
“Look… We wanted to talk about getting someone else to train the newbies,” Dan said. “Tank’s just not getting the job done.”
Walker shot up an eyebrow. Ashe didn’t understand the thread of the conversation but knew it couldn’t be good. Only pervy neighbor Tom usually caught that particular look.
“Training and security are my department,” Walker told him. “Since neither of you breaks a sweat past the golf course, I don’t see how Tank’s performance is any of your concern.”
“We’re your partners. We get a say in all departments,” Dan countered.
Ashe snorted. The fact that they were trying to fire a man who damn near owned the majority share of their business amused her. “Sorry. The bread is delicious,” she said before stuffing more into her mouth.
“Hey, no worries. We’ll get your guy a good severance package.” Chad took over for his puffy-faced friend.
“Come on, boys. No work,” Veronica whined. “You promised.”
“Sorry, babe. You’re right. No shop talk. We’re on vacay.” Chad reached over and pinched her cheek. When his wife giggled, Ashe almost threw up in her mouth. Their vibe oozed 1970s porn-star gross.
“How did you like Santa Barbara shopping? Did you spend all of Walker’s money?” Dan asked in a slick manner.
“Ashe is no fun. She didn’t buy anything,” the blonde said.
She’d forgotten the woman’s name, Vicky or Icky. She honestly didn’t care.
“What is it that you do again?” Chad asked.
“Marketing,” she lied.
“I thought Walker said IT?”
Ashe threw him a tight smile and reached for the glass of wine in front of her. She refused to go back and forth with the jerk.
“Come to think of it, I’ve been wanting to borrow against my stake in the company,” Walker piped in.
“Why? What for?” Dan snapped.
“Ashe wants to start a boutique, one-stop marketing shop, and I want to give her the capital she needs.” Not expecting that sharp turn in the conversation, she choked on her merlot.
“Are you okay?” he asked. She nodded but didn’t believe he saw her. Walker never took his eyes off his partners.
“You can’t be serious? We’re running a multimillion-dollar company and you want to give it away for what? A new piece of ass?” Dan hissed with a bit of spittle.
“Is that like a flyer business?” Chad snorted.
“I thought it was marketing,” Veronica interrupted.
“No, it was a joke. I was being facetious,” Chad growled at his wife.
“Look, buddy. We know you’ve been stressed and we’re just kidding about Tank. Weren’t we, Chad?”
“Sure, sure.”
“But we have big things on the horizon, and now is not a good time to… I’m sorry, hon. What was your name again?” Dan asked.
Before Ashe answered, Walker held out his hand. Confused by the events of the evening, she hurried to slip her palm into his. “Yeah, I’m going to need a look at WLK’s financials so I can figure out how much I want to take out.” He stood. “My fiancée’s name is Ashe, and if either one of you thinks about disrespecting her again, your shitty golf game will be the least of your problems.”
As he helped her from the chair, she bit her lower lip to hide her smile.
“Have the paperwork ready for me in the morning.”
“Come on, man. I didn’t mean anything by it. Like I said, we have big things on the horizon—” Dan whined.
Happier than she had been in days, she intertwined her fingers with his and followed him out of the private dining area.
Chapter Fifteen
For three consecutive years, Delphine’s Winery had held the number one spot on AARP’s Best of Santa Barbara list. Rows and rows of cottage-style stores made up a quaint but phony European village. Clenching her hand a little too tightly, Walker led Ashe into the chaotic shopping area.
Once again, she couldn’t gauge his emotion.
As thousands of white lights twinkled above their heads, he stopped at a gated entrance.
“So I’m guessing no food, huh?” she asked.
Ashe’s complaints seemed to fall on deaf ears. Walker hadn’t spoken one word since they’d left the restaurant. Instead of responding, he took them down a cobblestone path.
“It’s a good thing I had that bread,” she muttered.
Plowing through the brush of foliage, they moved farther away from the crush of the large crowd. He took a sudden right into a field of grapes that hid a single train boxcar.
“Random,” she whispered.
“We did the logistics of the winery’s security years ago. They have these hidden all over the property.” He swiped his hotel key card and opened the door to a low, green light.
When they stepped into the cab, he scooted around her and grabbed a bottle of bourbon.
Decorated in a vintage 1920s style, the cart held a dining booth next to the window and a bookshelf that lined the wall.
“Why are you working at the adoption agency?” Walker asked.
“You really want to do this now?” she asked.
Walker poured their drinks before he stepped past the bar and handed her a glass. “The hotel is too damn far. I needed to take the edge off. Now, please answer the question.”
“Needed the Wi-Fi,” she told him.
>
“You couldn’t use it at the house?”
“International adoptions provided a good cover. My Internet searches wouldn’t have been easily flagged.” She shrugged.
“From?” Walker stared at her over the rim of his glass. “The anonymous killers who murdered your partner?”
The shutdown of emotion roared back faster than a freight train, changing his gorgeous face into stone. He finished off his bourbon before he reached across the bar for the bottle and poured himself another glass.
“What do you really want to know, Walker?” She could tell he had the answers. He merely needed her confession.
“Who’s trying to kill you? How long have you known Eden and was your partner on the take?”
Ashe took a slow sip from her tumbler. The brown liquor burned her throat on the way down but allowed her enough time to figure out her response.
“Not positive to your first question, seventeen years to the second and I think C.T. was in over her head. She paid for it with her life.”
Walker pushed his hand through his hair with a frustrated sigh. “And you didn’t think to tell me any of this earlier?”
“Being referred to as ‘the target’ didn’t exactly bolster my faith.”
“I didn’t know you then,” Walker grumbled.
“You don’t know me now!” she volleyed back. Stuck in a strange boxcar in the middle of vines, Ashe refused to break eye contact with him.
“Whose fault is that? I would love to accuse you of lying, but”—he snorted—“lawyers, right?”
“Playing the victim card? Now that’s attractive. I was a replacement to you, plain and simple. What?” she asked.
Walker’s stern expression slipped a notch.
“You didn’t think I knew about Raven?”
“Hold on—” Walker held up his hand, probably in an attempt to slow down the vitriol he’d unleashed inside her.
“Is she dead or alive? Oh well, I guess it doesn’t matter.” Finally fed up, she went in for the kill. “I’m just the target, right?” With no room left in her head for this mess, she turned to leave.
“It’s not what you think,” Walker told her.
Ignoring him, she fumbled with the stupid door handle.
“Raven’s disappearance turned my world upside down. That’s why I left. I no longer trusted them, but that has nothing to do with us, with how I feel about you.” He eased behind her, brushing his lips over her ear.
“Us?” Ashe repeated.
While the weight of his chest pressed against her back, she clasped the door handle tightly in her hand. They’d never discussed their relationship—or if they even had one. At best, she’d considered them friends with benefits. Of course, the unique circumstances and stress might have elevated them to something a bit more. She honestly couldn’t tell.
As he moved the heft of her hair away from her neck, Walker brushed his fingertips across her skin. “I fought tooth and nail to keep you and it didn’t have shit to do with me obtaining information about Raven’s death.” He placed small kisses near her ear. “So, yeah, we are in this together.”
Once he rubbed the bulge of his crotch against her, she knew their fight no longer mattered. Needy and horny, Ashe couldn’t think of anything else but his dick inside her.
“If I’m not with you, I’m thinking of you,” he said.
While he inched her dress higher, she leaned her forehead against the door. Walker pulled the material over the bubble of her ass and sighed.
“And if I’m with you, I want to be in you,” he continued.
“Lust,” she muttered, well acquainted with the feeling.
“God, I wish. I would have given up by now.” He palmed her ass in his hand. “No underwear?”
“Still buzzed,” she admitted. “You’re lucky I managed to get dressed at all.”
When he traced her pussy lips with his finger, Ashe moaned. He sucked hard on her neck before slipping it into her. Pulling in and out of her pussy, he finger-banged her in that strange trolley. He fumbled with his pants, and the lewdness of their nearly public act heightened her desires.
“All I ask”—he flipped Ashe around to face him—“is that you’re honest with me.” After softly pinching her clit, he made small circles with the pad of his finger. Then, moving her dress out of the way, he cupped her breasts with both hands. “Deal?” he asked, inches away from her face. Without waiting for an answer, he swooped in for her lips, pummeling her mouth with his. She grew dizzy and out of breath.
Ashe needed him inside her.
As he held her right thigh in place, he thrust his cock into her. Ashe rolled her hips to match his rhythm. When he nipped her neck, he amped her excitement by ten. She was closing in on a huge orgasm and every bit of her stress fell away. She dropped her head back and screamed his name.
* * * *
They barely made it back to their suite before going another round. Walker was surrounded by a pack of wolves and Ashe was his only salvation. Allowing her essence to warm his soul, Walker took comfort inside her.
Pumping every bit of emotion he’d bottled up, he released his raw need into Ashe.
“Food,” she moaned, face-down on the bed.
While he got up to hunt for a menu for a late-night restaurant, the phone vibrated on the nightstand. Something told him to ignore it, but instead, he swiped it from the small table. “Walker,” he answered before he struggled into his pants.
“Get out of earshot if you’re with Ashe.”
Eden’s cold tone dashed his hope for food. He picked up the complimentary fruit basket and laid it on the bed on his way toward the balcony.
“Goody,” Ashe cheered.
“Two seconds,” he said. Admiring the soft sheen of sweat that illuminated her perfect skin, he slid the glass door open. He wanted to jump back into bed and ignore Eden, but why put off the inevitable? “What’s up?” Walker stood on the balcony. The five-star hotel had the best view of the city.
As Eden ran down the details of Dan and Chad’s stupid plan after having been given the basics by Tank, he tried to control his steadily rising anger. It appeared that days that started off shitty sometimes ended in the same manner. In her rapid-fire way, Eden supplied him with instructions for what was next. Walker hung up after she’d finished and slid open the glass door to the room.
“This basket is fricking amazing,” Ashe squealed in delight.
She popped a chocolate-covered raisin into her mouth.
Walker’s cock immediately stirred at her sensual moans. “Munchies?” His anger at their circumstances slipped a notch at her reaction to the hotel’s fruit basket.
“We are well past the munchie stage and careening into starving,” she mumbled over a bite of fig.
While he admired the wild curls that streamed down her back, Walker fought to shake off an ominous feeling of dread.
“Problem?” she asked before grabbing a lush cherry.
“Not really,” he lied. “We need to go over a Plan B for tomorrow.” Naked, she sat in the middle of the king-sized bed devouring the fruit. The white sheet draped around her waist made the indecent sight of his dream girl even more delicious.
“Why?”
“Just in case there’s a snag.”
“Shopping with the Doublemint twins is on the agenda. What could snag that?” Ashe tilted her head to the side before she licked the chocolate from the juicy treat.
“J8 wants us to be careful. That’s all.”
During the call, Eden had clued him in more about Ashe’s anxiety and run down a list of her stressors and reactions. Since she’d exhibited several of them already, he needed to tread lightly.
“Any word on my case?” she asked.
“No,” he answered truthfully for the first time since he’d stepped back into the room. “Do you mind showing me your back?” he blurted, unable to wait a minute longer to see what he’d missed.
A hollow smile graced her lovely face. “You saw the video, I
take it.”
He nodded his head, unable to verbalize what he truly felt. “How have you been able to hide it so well?”
“I’m a pro,” Ashe told him. “My hair always has to be down, and the right type of clothes is essential.” She reached for the lamp on the nightstand and switched it to low. The room darkened considerably. Tossing the sheet from her lap, she stepped out of bed. “Now the most important part of the cover-up is—”
Walker swallowed at the sight of all the curvy gloriousness that approached him—round, double-D breasts, a small waist with abs and full hips. His cock tightened in his pants.
“Whenever possible, maneuver away from touch. No one wants damaged goods or the sad story that elicits such tragedy.” Pulling her hair off her neck, she turned around. A full tat of Africa provided an awesome outline for a wild scene of giraffes, lions and springboks.
“Whoa.”
“But wait. There’s more,” Ashe mimicked an infomercial salesman. She tiptoed to the balcony and opened the sliding glass door. The room’s dim light coupled with the overhead from above caused a prism of colors to twinkle along the top of her back near her shoulders.
“Holy shit.” He closed in the space between them. “What is that?”
“Diamonds.”
Jewels were embedded in the high peaks that were tattooed into the mountains. Walker ran his hand across her scarred skin.
“That’s brilliant,” he whispered. “You could have—”
“Told you I was beaten and tortured?” She turned around slowly. “On a daily basis, no less.” Ashe’s face slipped into a twisted mask of pain before she caught herself and put her sunny front back up. “Trust me, not the best ice-breaker.”
“But the news report on you—”
“Was exploitative, at the least, and a tool by one of the companies that sold out my family. They needed something to make themselves look halfway decent in court.”
“Oh shit,” he said. “They wanted the patent and made it seem as if they were helping you.”
“After a few months, Eden was able to get conservatorship over me. She filed a cease and desist against the news corps from ever airing that episode again.” Ashe shrugged. “Whoever sent it to you must be one hell of a hacker.”