Chapter Two
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Alex McDermott was pacing the floor for the hundredth time, and based on the glare he was getting from Veronica, Xavier’s assistant was running out of patience. Alex could relate. He’d run out of patience first thing that morning when he woke up to the shrill ringing of his cell phone. Damn that Logan McCoy. For some reason, that man lived to irritate him.
Just because he had found a woman didn’t mean Alex deserved the other man’s constant harassment.
Ever since the night of the XTX Christmas party, Logan had been ribbing him every chance he got. Apparently Logan didn’t get the memo. The one that said back the fuck off.
Obviously Xavier Thomas didn’t get the memo either because he had summoned Alex about an hour ago. And now he was making him wait.
“He’ll see you now.” The irritation in Veronica’s sultry voice was evident, and Alex shot her a glare.
Pushing open the massive wooden door, Alex stepped inside, his eyes landing on Xavier sitting behind his lavish desk, a mischievous grin tipping the corners of his mouth.
“Thanks for stopping by on such short notice.” Xavier said, his severe Texas drawl coming out aloof and disinterested.
Alex knew better. Xavier Thomas was anything but.
“Not a problem. Is something wrong?” Alex didn’t know whether to stand or sit, so he opted to stand.
“As a matter of fact, things couldn’t be better.” Xavier stood from his chair and walked around the desk.
At seventy, Xavier was an impressively fit man, dressed impeccably in slacks and a crisp white shirt, accented by one of his many favored ties. Today’s was a shiny red.
“I just got off the phone with Ashleigh. She’s on the road as we speak and the movers should be here within the hour.”
Alex did his best not to give away his thoughts, especially to Xavier.
Ashleigh Thomas was the bane of his existence, and from what he could tell, everyone he knew was well aware of his infatuation with the woman. Seemed that no matter what he did or said, those closest to him knew exactly what she did to him.
“Dylan mentioned it to me.” Alex admitted, knowing he couldn’t get anything past Xavier.
Alex was well aware that Ashleigh was permanently moving back to Dallas, although he had thought she would’ve done so months before when the rumors started flying. No matter how long it took her to get back, he was quite fond of the idea, but he also knew she didn’t want anything to do with him. Apparently Xavier hadn’t gotten that memo either.
“I need a favor.” Xavier leaned against the front of his desk, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at Alex. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Alex felt the scrutiny in the other man’s gaze.
Over the years, he and Xavier had developed a strong working relationship, as well as a personal one. However, he had no illusions about how quickly that relationship could turn sour if Alex were to touch one hair on Ashleigh’s beautiful head. It was a given that if Xavier knew the thoughts that plagued Alex where the other man’s granddaughter was concerned, he just might not see him the same way.
Not that he would ever let on, but the way Xavier’s eyes were focused on him, Alex wondered if the man weren’t just reading his mind.
Patience undoubtedly wasn’t his virtue, but then again, Xavier knew that. “And that is?”
“I need a security system installed at Ashleigh’s new house.” Xavier paused without breaking eye contact. “Today.”
Easy enough, Alex thought to himself. He didn’t actually install the systems, so he could possibly stop by the house before she ever showed up, write up the estimate, and have one of his tech’s back within the hour to complete the job. Or better yet, he could just have Dylan, Ashleigh’s brother and Alex’s new partner, stop by and do the prep work.
Not that he would do either, but those were options.
“That’s easy enough to arrange. Have you talked to Dylan? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind stopping by to check it out.”
Xavier shook his head, before saying, “Dylan’s in the process of helping Stacey move in. And, honestly, I’d prefer that you handle this one. I’m confident in his ability, but I prefer to have your experienced eye on this. You understand.”
No, actually, he didn’t.
Bracing his feet apart, feeling a tad defensive, Alex had to work overtime not to give himself away. After the last incident with Ashleigh, Alex had a feeling she wouldn’t agree with Xavier.
Of course, her preference would likely be for Alex to fall off the face of the earth. Since that wasn’t going to happen, and Alex was inadvertently turned on by her need to avoid him…
What the hell. Might as well go for broke.
“Alright. I have a meeting with Sam in fifteen minutes, but after that, I’ll head over. Have Veronica send me the address.”
“Thanks, Alex.” Xavier stated, going behind his desk once again, sounding even cockier than he had moments before. “I’ll have Nate meet you over there with the key.”
Alex glanced at Xavier suspiciously. Why did he get the feeling Xavier was up to something?
Forty five minutes later, Alex was walking out of the main doors of XTX, toward the parking garage. He’d just spent half an hour with Samantha Kielty going over her update for the XTX project secretly labeled WTF by some of her project managers. She was well aware of what they said, and she’d started calling it the same thing, which made Alex laugh. Thankfully she didn’t need much of his time, and just like last week, she advised that she was on target from both a cost and a time perspective.
Not surprising.
Alex had taken a gamble last year hiring Sam on full time as his executive vice president in order to alleviate some of the tension provoked by a hot and heavy relationship that Sam and Logan found themselves in. Since that time, she’d married Logan, and the rumors had stopped, however, her innate ability to drive projects to completion hadn’t. Alex would be the first to admit, Sam was a force to be reckoned with, and though skeptical at first, both he and Dylan were excited about the skills she brought to CISS.
Her reputation preceded her, making a couple of their other clients interested in bringing her on to address some of their project issues, but Alex had been stalling. For the time being, she would remain at XTX, thanks to the contract Logan had insisted on, but there was no telling what the future held.
Climbing behind the wheel of his two year old Chevy Avalanche, Alex let the truck’s navigation provide him the directions to Ashleigh’s new house. If he was lucky, which he planned to be, he would still be there when she arrived. She might not appreciate that fact, but Alex was past the point of caring. If she wanted to play hard to get, he could play along with her.
For now.
Alex wasn’t sure when it was that he had decided to go after the woman who had made his blood boil for far too long. For years, he’d managed to stay away from her, despite the centrifugal forces that always seemed to draw them together. Ever since the rumors started flying that she was coming back, he’d been hopeful.
Ten years was a long time to lust after one woman, but Alex had done it. Despite the twelve year age difference, which he felt made her entirely too young for him, Alex had recently found it too easy to overlook that one minor detail. Not that her age, or his, really mattered because Ashleigh had never so much as hinted at any sort of reciprocated feelings on her side. Not that he’d pushed her. Much.
If it weren’t for the fact that she’d gone out of her way to avoid him for so long, he likely wouldn’t have thought anything of it.
The final straw had been that damn Christmas party.
For some reason, Ashleigh had gotten him all worked up, although he wasn’t sure she realized it. He’d asked her to dance, and she had graciously accepted, but when the one song was over, she had excused herself and then smiled so sweetly, he’d felt the jolt straight to his cock. Whether or not she intentionally teased him that night, he didn’t know. Either way, Alex wasn’t about to let her get away with it.
No, Alex had something else in store for little Miss Sweet and Innocent, which hopefully, would end with her in his bed.
That’s where his current plan went into play. Not that it was much of a plan. Seduction was the name of the game and as far as he was concerned, the gloves had just come off.
It had recently come to his attention – thanks to a little investigative work on his part – that sweet little Ashleigh wasn’t all she pretended to be. He’d stumbled across a very interesting fact when he was checking out her highly regarded children’s book series. To be honest, he hadn’t been all that interested in her books... initially.
Some creative searches resulted in a much more entertaining book series that their sweet Ashleigh was responsible for. The kind that carried a certain disclaimer on them – for mature audiences only.
As it turned out, Ashleigh Thomas was moonlighting as Ashton Leigh, writing some downright provocative stories that Alex admitted to getting caught up in. It hadn’t taken him long to recognize the side of Ashleigh that wrote about deep, dark fantasies and sexual exploits so outrageous, he wondered where the hell she had learned about them. Had he not experienced a few himself, he might’ve been blushing by the end.
Gripping the steering wheel with both hands, Alex tried to rein in the hunger that ignited in his soul whenever he thought about her and those damn books. At the moment, the last thing he needed to be thinking about was Ashleigh and sex when he should be paying attention to the hordes of cars and trucks around him.
Navigating Dallas’ traffic required skill and total concentration on a good day. Friday afternoons generally didn’t qualify as good as far as congestion standards went.
As he sat on the highway, at a complete standstill, Alex reviewed the directions. Based on his knowledge of the city, the drive to Ashleigh’s should only take about fifteen minutes. However, he’d actually have to be driving first.
It had been a long time since Alex had looked forward to doing much of anything, but anticipating the reaction on Ashleigh’s face when she saw him was quickly becoming the highlight of his day.
It’d been ten long years since he’d seen any hint of interest on her face, but she’d been a high school senior when Logan McCoy had introduced Alex to Xavier Thomas. At seventeen years old, she’d captured his eye with her beauty, but not much else. Over the years, Alex had become close to the Thomas family, building a friendship with Dylan and a strong working relationship with the family’s patriarch, Xavier.
Alex had barely gotten his business off the ground when Logan had introduced him to Xavier, and it wasn’t long after that Alex landed the largest client CISS had ever known. So, over the years, Dylan had become a regular fixture at the Thomas home, and as he’d watched Ashleigh grow up, he’d found himself more and more captivated as the years went by.
In order to ensure his admiration didn’t turn into infatuation, he’d kept as far away from her as possible, only it appeared that seemed to be a colossal waste of time. Since she’d continued to ignore him, avoiding him whenever possible, Alex found himself only wanting her more.
Then the years of denying the lust he harbored for the woman he couldn’t have all came to a screeching halt the night of the Christmas party when Alex held Ashleigh in his arms. That night, his need to have her escalated. For a brief moment, he swore he’d seen interest in her eyes, but she had quickly masked it, followed by that sweet, dismissive smile of hers.
Now she was coming back for good, and the timing couldn’t have been better. Alex knew that Ashleigh would be a challenge, but hell, besides having more business than he could keep up with, what else did he have to do?