The Thrill of the Chase (3 page)

"
Yeah, well you were thinking it.
"

"
You don
'
t know that,
"
Gibson argued.

"
Bullshit. Christ, man, isn
'
t that
all
you think about? Getting laid?
"

"
Usually. Not always. Getting laid and making money. In that order. Na. Maybe not in that order.
"

"
Yeah, well, there
'
s a million fucking women in Houston. She
'
s Ashley
'
s cousin. Did you know that? She
'
s younger than Ash and Monica. Bet that chick
'
s barely twenty-one. Don
'
t be a douche
--"

"
Since when do you give a fuck?
"

"
It would upset Ashley if you fucked over her cousin. There
'
s plenty of other pussy. Leave Julie alone.
"

Ryan waited for a moment while Gibson was unusually silent.
Finally, his friend spoke.
"
Are you serious?
"
There was a pause on the line.
"
Are you seriously asking me to back off? Dude, she
'
s hot.
Crazy hot
. Are you telling me we
'
re going to have a problem if I go for her?
"

Ryan recognized the tone and heard the real concern in Gibson
'
s voice.
"
I
'
m serious. Don
'
t fuck this up for me. Ashley
--
Ashley means something to me, man. It
'
s been a bad week. She already thinks you
'
re a player. You fuck with her little cousin and she
'
s gonna take it out on me. She won
'
t give me the fuckin
'
time of day. I
'
m asking you, man. Find another girl. Don
'
t mess with that chick.

Silence came back at him until finally Gibson spoke in a flat tone, all the enthusiasm gone from his voice.
"
Right. We takin
'
your truck?
"

"
Yeah.
"

"
Later.
"

****

Ryan sat at the bar nursing his beer. Gibson was being a jack-ass out on the dance floor clowning it up with three women. His eyes drifted away from that spectacle and landed once again on Ashley, sitting demurely with her girlfriends and surrounded by four loud-mouthed fuckheads.

His teeth gritted and his hand clenched the brown bottle in front of him. Thank God she was sitting at the table again. She had danced with a guy earlier and he had almost come unglued right then and there. The only thing that kept him on the barstool during that agonizing dance was knowing he
'
d wind up in jail if he stood to his feet. If he wound up in jail, he couldn
'
t be there to stop her from making a worse mistake.

He had silently simmered and waited for the slow song to be over. It was hands down the worst three minutes of his life.
Absolutely the worst
. When the music had segued into another slow piece, he thought he might have to stand up and cut in. He couldn
'
t have lived through another full song. But he saw her shake her head, pull away from the loser, and walk back to her table. His hand slowly unclenched from the death grip on his beer bottle. His heart rate had slowly recovered. That had been close. Too fucking close for his peace of mind. Since then, she had stayed at her table.
Thank God
.

His eyes slid over her, taking in the hair that flowed down to her waist and ending there in bits of loose curls. Her legs were crossed and her high-heeled platform shoe wrapped all the way behind her calf muscle and hooked around her other ankle. Her skirt was short and her legs were smooth and silky and messing with his head in huge way.

It was fucking distracting to say the least.

A blonde bimbo barfly flitted up next to him and said something in his ear. Her words didn
'
t register because Ashley
'
s eyes were finally meeting his and the blood started pumping through his veins even faster. It had been a fucked-up week. A
goddamn
, fucked-up week from hell.

He shooed the bimbo away and continued to watch Ashley, whose eyes were still on him. He took a pull of the beer as the music went from grinding to slow. As the opening strains of the slow melody came on, the couples on the dance floor either left or moved together to begin a slow drag.

He remembered this song from before. He and Ashley had danced to it the night they met.
Did
she remember that?
Her eyes continued to stay on his and a ribbon of territorial lust fueled his brain.

Monica stood up and blocked Ashley from his view.

He tried to see her as Monica walked toward the dance floor with one of the dudes surrounding their table, but all he could see was Julie sitting still, looking in the general direction of where Gibson was. Gibson had chosen one of the three women, snagged her around the waist and was pulling her into the slow dance.

Ryan took another pull from the bottle and finally the crowd parted and he had a clear view of Ashley again. He had a
clear view
of the asshole that picked up her hand and tried to get her to go on the dance floor with him.

Ryan saw red.

Pure jealousy and searing anger hit him in the gut. It came down a notch as he watched her shake her head and pick up her drink and glance over at him. Ryan held Ashley
'
s eyes as the asshole didn
'
t take her hint and picked up a long strand of her hair, tugging on her.
Touching her fucking hair
. His guts tied in knots of rage when the guy didn
'
t let up.
The guy fucking wouldn
'
t let up.

Ryan stood to his full height, walked over to Ashley
'
s table and came to a halt in front of the guy.

"
She said
no
, buddy.
"
Ryan
'
s voice was low, threatening.

"
What
'
s it to you, asshole?
"

From the corner of his eye, Ryan saw Ashley
'
s face blanch of color. Maybe he was out of line, but he didn
'
t really give a fuck.

"
You want to dance with him, Ash?
"
Throwing the question at Ashley, Ryan narrowed his eyes on the asshole, squared his shoulders and waited to see how this would play out.

Ashley
'
s heart was beating so hard she thought she might faint. Ryan looked good enough to eat, and she was seriously questioning where her brain had been when she blew him off. He also looked ready to kill somebody.

She slowly shook her head
no
.

Ryan reached across the table and snatched up her hand with his. Sending the other guy a pointed look to
back off
, he laced his fingers through hers, pulled her off the stool and began walking to the dance floor.

Ashley
'
s heart went haywire. She hadn
'
t danced with him since
that night
. That awesome, incredible night they had met and he had picked up her hand exactly like now, not bothering to ask, and walked her to the dance floor and held her in his arms, song after blissful song.

His arms wrapped around her now and enclosed her in his embrace. He smelled awesome. His scent always drove her crazy. It was one of the sexiest things about him. Her pulse began pounding and her body trembled against his.

Her head came under his chin, and his zipper pressed into her stomach. Her heart raced. He wasn
'
t like so many of the other tall guys she had danced with who tried to lean down on her. No. Ryan stood tall and erect, and held her to him in a tight clasp as he swayed to the music.

She sighed.

Jesus Christ
. Who was she fooling? The last five weeks had been the most intense of her life. She was falling in love with him already. There was no use lying to herself. That
'
s why she was so scared. That
'
s why she wouldn
'
t sleep with him. Her protective instincts had kicked in and made her run scared. The realization had her jerking from him and looking up at his face.

Ryan registered the fear in her face at the same time he understood she was trying to get away from him again.
That wasn
'
t fucking happening
. She felt perfect in his arms and he tried to calm her fears. His hand slid to the side of her face and cupped it.
"
Hey. It
'
s okay.
"
He pulled her back to him and ruthlessly wrapped his arms around her again.

He slid his mouth down to nuzzle her ear.

"
What do I have to do, babe?
"
His hand slid to her butt and tightened on her.
"
All you have to do is tell me what you want.
"

He felt her shiver, but she didn
'
t attempt to answer him.

"
I want you so much. I want you to let me take you to bed, hold you, love you, wake up with you in the morning. Babe, I want that so much I can
'
t concentrate on anything but you.
"
His arms tightened around her and he breathed hotly in her ear.
"
But baby, I can wait if I have to. Just don
'
t blow me off again.
Please.
Don
'
t do that to me again.
"

He let out a deep breath, his arms clenched her tightly and he shuddered. Ashley felt the ripples go through him. He lifted her face to his and stared down into her eyes with liquid pools of
tormented
heat. Their eyes tangled and held as he reiterated his words.
"
Don
'
t make me go through that shit again.
"

Ashley sucked in a breath, closed her eyes and leaned into him as his words and touch seduced her. God, she wanted him, too. Not just wanted to go to bed with him, she
wanted him
. But she
'
d been hurt before, and as bad as that had been, she instinctively knew that if she got burned here, she might not come out of it whole.

Her body shivered with both fear and arousal.

"
Let
'
s go somewhere we can talk.
"
His voice was deep.

She hesitated, and his voice became beguiling.
"
I won
'
t hurt you, baby. Please, let
'
s talk about it.
"

She nodded softly in agreement.

The music segued into a faster beat, and Ryan pulled her over to the table where she told Monica she had a ride home. She looked around for Julie, but couldn
'
t find her.

Monica glared at them, but Ashley was like a robot, following Ryan
'
s commands.

He spoke to Monica.
" y'all
give Gibson a ride home, okay?
"

Monica
'
s eyes became glacial and she stared at him accusingly. She waited a heartbeat to answer.
"
Whatever.
"

Ashley let Ryan lead her to his truck and before she knew it, they were on the interstate heading south.

"
Where are we going?
"

He glanced away from the road for a second and watched her small figure, trembling beside him.

He looked away and answered,
"
Some place we can talk in private without a million people around.
"

It was an evasive answer, and for once, Ashley didn
'
t call him on it.