Kallie

If Kallie thought the yacht was luxurious, then Ash’s penthouse was something out of Palaces Monthly. His penthouse apartment was huge. Full of expensive furnishings. Everything was top of the line and looked brand new. The smart home technology controlled everything from the locks to the blinds to the tinting of the floor-to-ceiling windows. Even the colors of the dimly lit lamps that bathed the suite in a luscious glow. James’s riches had nothing on Ash. What James lived in and lived with was paltry in comparison. The buttery leather chairs were smooth against Kallie’s fingertips and the blond cedar floors were waxed to perfection. Everything had a place. A time. A purpose.

“You live here?” Kallie asked.

“I do,” Ash said with a nod. “The penthouse used to belong to my father until he and his third wife moved across town. Theirs is larger than this one.”

“Is that possible?” she asked.

“I guess so,” he said with a shrug.

Kallie couldn't imagine anything lusher than his apartment. But she noticed that Ash took it all in stride. Like it didn’t affect him. Like all of this was simply normal for his life. Even the life she led with James, none of this was normal. Having actual silver trim that lined the crown molding of the walls wasn’t normal. Having a minibar in the corner with its own temperature-controlled environment wasn’t normal. Having four decadent bedrooms that each had its own decked-out bathroom wasn’t normal.

Jet tubs and marbled walk-in showers that turned into steam saunas. A private hot tub off the balcony suspended over the city with a glass bottom. A wall in every bedroom someone could touch like the screen of a phone. Or a tablet. To access internet or pull up a movie or stream porn or whatever the heck it was people did with entire walls that acted as touch screens!

None of it was normal.

And it was another thing that painfully set Kallie apart from Ash.

She found herself in the kitchen, eyeing the beautiful granite countertops. Nothing looked as if it had been touched. Used. Opened. Everything glistened in the moonlight streaming through the windows. Kallie was afraid to touch things. To dirty them up with her lower-class flair.

“Care for a drink?” Ash asked.

She whipped her head up and saw him holding out a glass of wine. But she didn’t feel much like drinking. She’d had enough with Eris and the idea of having any more alcohol turned her stomach.

“Could I have some water?” Kallie asked.

“You can have anything you want. All you have to do is ask,” Ash said. “Do you prefer a specific kind?”

“Of water?” she asked.

“Yep. Clear. Osmosis. Perrier. Sparkling? Any preference?”

Kallie stared at Ash with a dumbfounded look on her face before she watched a grin slide across his cheeks.

“You tease,” she said.

Ash threw his head back and laughed as he reached for a bottle of water. He tossed it to her and she caught it effortlessly, catching a glimpse of the island man she’d become infatuated with. She cracked it open before wandering back down the hallway, taking in the very high ceilings of his home. She could hear Ash’s footsteps behind her. Falling in rhythm with hers as she took in his home. Kallie had been a bit excited to see the inside of where he lived when he was in the States. But hearing that it used to be his father’s made her wonder if any of this matched Ash’s personality.

Because it didn’t seem to suit him at all.

She walked over to the massive windows that looked over the lights of the city around them. She sipped her water, taking in the incredible view. It was amazing. Spanned in excess of miles while the city twinkled below with its endless lights. The view alone was worth several million dollars, and for a split second everything seemed surreal. Just her and the night sky with its multiple twinkling stars. The glow of the land below with her suspended somewhere in between.

It was magical.

Ash walked up behind her and she could feel the heat of his body. Hovering behind her. Robbing her of his touch. Her hand began to tremble as she took another sip of her water. She needed to steady herself. She couldn't give in so easily to what her body wanted. This man looked like Ash and talked like Ash. Felt like Ash and sounded like Ash.

But she wasn’t sure if he was Ash.

The Ash she’d come to enjoy anyway.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked.

“How I ended up here,” Kallie said.

“Care to talk about it?”

Kallie took another sip of her water before she drew in a deep breath.

“How I ended up here. In my life. I can still feel the ghost of my engagement ring around my finger. I can still feel the pain of my betrayal. But I can also still feel the pressing of your lips against my neck. The way you comforted me during that storm. And now I’m standing here in your penthouse apartment overlooking the lights of New York City and I wonder how much of this is really you. This apartment doesn’t seem like you. Not the you I know. It seems like James. I’d definitely attribute this to my ex, James. But not you. Not the you I found on St. Barts.”

Kallie felt Ash slide his hand underneath her elbow before he beckoned her to turn.

“You’re here because you feel that pull, Kallie.”

“What?” she asked.

“That pull that yanked me all the way from the island.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can phrase it anyway you want, but I know you feel it,” Ash said. “We’re attracted to each other helplessly. Like magnets. I felt that pull all the way in St. Barts when you ran back home. That’s why I came back to a city I can’t stand. A city I told myself I would always stay away from. Because it held the one thing I knew could draw me back. And I don’t regret it for a second.”

The intensity in his eyes is what won Kallie over. The sincerity of his words. The palpable heat in his voice. She’d longed for him. Yearned for him. But she wasn’t angry at him for being him. She was angry at him for being rich. There was a difference. She relaxed her hold on her water bottle and Ash took her in his arms, and she was helpless against his touch. She couldn’t fight him, and even if she wanted to, she wasn’t sure if she could.

Her mind conjured all those beautiful times in St. Barts. All those times he held her close and made her feel things James never could. Her body was crying out for another night of passion. Another night to feel like a woman. To be swept away by the current of his tongue.

She wanted another night of St. Barts. Even if she had to close her eyes and pretend she was there.

His lips fell against hers and she was weak against him. Water clattered to the floor as her back pressed against the windows. Ash’s hands on her hips. On her waist. Against her ass. Feeling every part of her like he had on the island.

“Ash?” she asked breathlessly.

Like she still couldn’t believe it was him.

“I’m right here,” he said into her lips. “I’ve always been right in front of you.”

Her hands gripped into his hair and he hoisted her against the glass. Her legs wrapped around him while his hands ventured along her bare thighs. She needed his skin against her hands. Needed his lips against her chest. Her tongue crashed with his and electricity shot through her veins. She rolled into him. Felt his cock throbbing against her clothed pussy. Her lips parted from his and she kissed his cheek. His neck. Nibbled at his ear.

“Oh, Ash,” she said with a whisper.

And in response, he peeled her from the window.

She could feel his heart beating against her chest. The way his hands gripped onto her like she was the last thing on earth he was trying not to lose. Her feet stumbled to the ground and she caught herself, her hands ripping at his clothes. Loosening his tie and sliding his suit jacket from his shoulders.

She needed to feel him now.

Piles of clothes ended up on the blond cedar of the floor. Her hands rushed over the strength of his chest and trickled down to the rings of his lean abs. Ash slipped her dress straps from her shoulders, gently allowing the fabric to fall from her body. He wrapped his arms around her and freed her breasts, the cool air of the apartment puckering them to engorged peaks. Kallie watched as he fell to his knees, dragging her underwear from her body with his teeth.

He helped her step out of them, his hands gentle with her heated skin.

But then he picked her up and placed Kallie over his shoulder as giggles fell from her lips.