Chapter Ten
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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.
“Kiss me, Alex.”
Alex didn’t kiss her; he just stared down at her like she’d lost her mind. Did the woman even know what she did to him? Did she know how hot she made him burn?
“Kiss me like you want to kiss me.” She insisted again, not moving her hands from his face.
God she was going to kill him.
“Are you sure?” He needed to know whether she understood what she was signing up for. Alex was not a gentle lover.
“I’m positive.” There wasn’t even a hint of uncertainty in her tone.
“Baby, I can’t promise I can stop once this starts.” Standing in the middle of his garage, Alex knew he’d at least get her into his house, but the second he let loose on her, there might be no turning back.
“Just a kiss, Alex. For now.” Ashleigh grinned, and that little spark she lit with her bold words turned into a full blown inferno. She was going to be a challenge, he knew.
Easing closer, her fingers sliding up the side of his face until they laced into his hair, he closed the gap between their mouths. When she closed her eyes, he slid his tongue over her bottom lip. When she moaned, he damn near lost it.
“So sweet.” He whispered, not meaning to talk at all, but he was doing his damnedest to hold onto an ounce of his control.
Her little pink tongue darted out, meeting his on the edge of her lip and Alex pressed his body against hers. When she pulled his head down closer, he knew he was no longer in control of what was happening. She was.
Then she kissed him and just like the last time, everything came down to this one single woman, and the way she gave herself over to him. He plundered her mouth with his tongue, taking everything she offered, delving deeper, gripping her head and holding her close as though she might try to move away.
Not Ashleigh. Instead, she tried to get closer. Much closer. Until he had no choice except to hoist her up, letting her wrap her legs around his waist, his steel hard cock pressed into that sweet spot between her legs.
Her sensual moans were the music that went along with the light show going off behind his closed eyelids. This was more than he’d imagined, and yes, he’d given plenty of thought to what it would feel like to take this woman. To bury himself deep inside her and make her cry out his name as she came around his cock.
Breaking the kiss, he moved down the side of her neck, inhaling her fresh, sweet smell. He used one hand to pull the neckline of her t-shirt back so he could reach the gentle ridge of her collarbone, licking and kissing as she squirmed in his arms. Latching onto the skin, he suckled, knowing he was going to leave a mark on her perfect skin, but not caring. He felt like a teenager, touching a woman for the very first time and wanting nothing to stand between him and what would be the most pleasure he’d ever experienced.
Writhing in his arms, Alex traced his lips back up over her neck, higher until he met her mouth again, scared to death of what he might do if he let this get out of control. She’d turned on the heat, his body set on broil, and the flames were likely to make him lose every possible good intention he’d ever had.
He didn’t know how much time passed as they made out in his garage, but he finally managed to pull his lips from hers. Staring back at him, Ashleigh’s whiskey colored eyes were now darker, swirling with the passion he could physically feel just beneath the surface of her flawless skin.
He held her against him, pressing his forehead to hers as he tried to catch his breath. She didn’t sound like she was faring any better than he was. Her fingers were still laced in his hair, her nails grazing his scalp and sending tingles down his spine.
“What am I going to do with you?” He said the words out loud, but he didn’t expect an answer.
“Anything you want.”
Oh, Lord have mercy. He was not going to survive this.
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Ashleigh had no idea what had come over her.
Alex made her want things she’d only ever read or written about. She wanted to experience every single thing her brain had ever come up with at the hands of this man. And after that kiss, she knew she was going to be in for the ride of her life.
As strange as it was, she meant what she said. Maybe her alternate personality was more a part of her than she thought. When he touched her, Ashleigh didn’t feel any of the trepidations she thought she would. The way he kissed her, as though he needed it as much as she did just to sustain life, made her legs weak.
When he set her back on her feet, taking a step away, Ashleigh realized where they were. In the moments when they had been pressed against one another, his tongue in her mouth, where they were hadn’t mattered. Hell, nothing had mattered but the sensual taste of him, the urgency in his touch. He had somehow tapped into that other part of her that had absolutely no inhibitions.
Leaning around her, he opened the truck door, snatching her bag from the seat before taking her hand in his and leading her into the house. He didn’t say a word and she was afraid to ask what they were doing because she had an idea.
Would he take her straight to his bedroom?
“Hungry?” He asked when he opened the refrigerator door.
Was that a rhetorical question, she wondered. She was hungry all right, but it wasn’t food she wanted.
“I’m good.” She answered, only a few feet separating them in his open kitchen.
This was the part she had trouble with. She couldn’t wrap her mind around how she was supposed to act. If they were, in fact, going to have sex, would he just take her to the bedroom and get it over with? That’s not how it happened in the books she read, or the ones she wrote, but hell, those weren’t real. Were they?
“You can change in the bathroom.” Alex said, pulling her brain back to present.
Change? What was she going to change into?
Oh, good grief. Her mind was in the gutter. They had come to his house to go swimming and apparently that was still his intention. Letting her gaze rake over him, she noticed the hard outline behind the zipper of his jeans. He obviously still wanted her, so why was he thinking about swimming?
“I’ll meet you out back.” Alex said, a small smile teasing his lips before he turned away.
Ashleigh grabbed her bag from the counter and went in search of the bathroom. The last time she’d been at his house, she hadn’t seen much of it, other than the dining room and the kitchen. Now, with the chance to explore for a moment, she was curious as to how Alex lived.
As it turned out, the guest bathroom was off the living room, down the same hall that led to what appeared to be the master bedroom. Feeling a little bold, Ashleigh glanced into his room, taking in the warmth that greeted her.
Just like the rest of the house, the bedroom was rich with dark colors and wood accents. The bed was made, which wasn’t surprising for a man who always needed to be in control, and there was no clutter. The heavy wooden furniture fit nicely in the oversized room, and all of it tied together to fit the man perfectly.
For a brief moment, she could imagine herself sprawled out on his bed, his gloriously naked body above her, as he drove his cock relentlessly into her, over and over until she couldn’t contain the orgasm that would skyrocket her into another world.
Jerking from her reverie, Ashleigh glanced around nervously, praying Alex wasn’t standing beside her, watching as she fantasized about what it would be like to... well, what it would be like.
Sneaking back the way she came, Ashleigh slipped into the bathroom to change. She was a little nervous about donning a bathing suit in front of Alex, especially after what had happened a few minutes before. Nervous, yet excited.
Stripping off her clothes in record time, she pulled on the hot pink bikini and looked at her reflection in the full length mirror on the door. Well, the good news was that her skin wasn’t as bright as the bathing suit. The bad news was that her skin was flush, and she was pretty sure she was glowing.
She felt like a different woman than the one who woke up that morning. Her body was alive with all sorts of feelings, sexual tension coursing through her veins. Could this be it? Could today be the day when she finally succumbed to the overwhelming urges that had been building in her for years? If her body had anything to say about it, she would.
Glancing in the mirror, Ashleigh smoothed her hair down and smiled. “Stop smiling, you goof.” She told the reflection staring back at her.
Despite what had happened in the garage and the emboldened way she felt, something seemed off about Alex. She knew he couldn’t be nervous. The man had probably been with a thousand women... and didn’t that thought make her sick to her stomach.
With the smile successfully wiped away, Ashleigh pulled her clothes back on over her swimsuit before wandering through the house and into the backyard. From her spot on the patio, she had a perfect view of the perfect man. And she only thought seeing him in gym shorts and a t-shirt had been riveting. That’s only because she hadn’t seen him without a shirt.
Alex was standing by the pool, wearing a pair of swim shorts that were longer than the running shorts he had worn, but the absence of a shirt made her mouth water. With his back to her, Ashleigh outlined every hard angle and toned muscle with her eyes. Across his back, from shoulder blade to shoulder blade, from his neck down to just above his waist was a tattoo of what looked like a tiger’s face, the eyes a brilliant teal blue.
As if the guy could get any sexier. Holy crap!
His shoulders and arms were corded with well used muscles while his back was brawny and ripped. A narrow waist and trim hips caught her eye right before she stopped and ogled his extremely fantastic behind. The man was masculinity in its finest form.
“You going to stare all day, or are you going to join me?” He called out as he stepped into the pool, never looking back at her.
Oh good grief. She’d been busted, and now her face was hot with embarrassment. Sucking in a huge gulp of oxygen, Ashleigh steeled her spine and committed herself to whatever happened next.