Seduction (Club Destiny) (10 page)

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 little 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.

***
~~ *** ~~ *** ~~ ***

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.