Chapter Five
Sebastian gathered the executives in the San Francisco office and met up with them in the conference room. The meeting was a bust, every executive from each department swearing they did their jobs, nobody stepping up and taking responsibility for the issues the company was having at Keystone.
He then broke them into smaller groups and even talked to them individually, but he got nowhere. Nobody had a clue why the locks weren’t closing correctly when the prototypes had worked fine.
At the end of the day, Sebastian leaned against the back seat of the limo, feeling defeated as he pulled on his tie to loosen the noose from around his neck.
“Bad day?” Ashley asked him, settling in beside him, the scent of her perfume the first thing he’d noticed when she’d climbed in and slid into her seat.
“Frustrating as all hell,” he muttered. “I got nowhere. I met with the executives in a group and one at a time, and no one has an inkling why our one key part is failing.”
Surprising him, she reached out and placed her hand over his, the soft feel of her skin relaxing him and easing his tension.
“To make matters worse, I’ve been trying to reach Stephan Romano to reassure him I’m here and taking over, but so far he’s not returning my calls,” he said of their eccentric client, the CEO of Keystone. “How did you make out today?” He turned to face her, hoping she’d had more luck than he had in figuring out what was wrong at the company.
She pursed those soft lips, causing him to stifle a groan at the sight of the slight pucker.
“I didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, not at a one-day glance. If the company bought something, it was billed and paid for; if they sold, it was invoiced and accounted for. Everything on the project lined up, as far as I could see.” She shrugged her shoulders, obviously as at a loss as he was.
“Dammit.” He curled his hand into a fist beneath hers.
She smoothed her palm over his, forcing him to unclench and relax. Intertwining their fingers together, she ran her thumb back and forth over his hand in a soothing motion. After last night, he was surprised she was reaching out physically, even if it was just because she was trying to quell his frustration. But he appreciated the gesture, his body responding despite the nonsexual nature of her touch, his cock thickening inside his pants.
“I did spend time with Katherine Downing in Purchasing,” Ashley said, unaware of his reaction. “She’s the one who got me the receipts and bills I needed. She was helpful with everything I asked for but didn’t seem all that keen on talking.”
“Hmm. We’re going to need a new strategy.”
She murmured in agreement, “I’ll definitely have to meet with her again. But you know … I was just thinking. You’ve been talking to all the high-level execs, but the real day-to-day dealings go on with the lower echelon of employees. Maybe you need to have a meeting with them.”
He raised an eyebrow at her suggestion, impressed. “Not a bad idea,” he mused. “In the meantime, what do you want to do for dinner?” he asked. “We can stop anywhere.”
She glanced out the tinted window as the car wound through the city streets, her long blonde hair falling over her shoulders. His fingers itched to wind themselves in the long strands, but despite her warmth tonight, he didn’t act on the impulse.
“I’m really not in the mood to sit down in a restaurant and eat a long, drawn-out dinner. Are you?”
“Hell no.” He thought about possibilities, then had an idea. Leaning forward, he spoke to the driver. “First pizzeria you see, stop, please?”
“What are you doing? Bringing food back to the hotel room?” she asked.
He turned to her and grinned. “We’re going to drive through the city, share a pizza, and just relax.”
Her eyes widened in definite approval. “Oh, that sounds wonderful.” She immediately kicked off her heels and stretched out her legs, wriggling her now free toes, drawing his attention to those long legs. “God,” she murmured in a husky voice. “I didn’t realize how much my feet hurt until I took these off.”
He glanced at the high heels, knew she was in pain, and scowled. “I don’t get why women wear these things if they’re so uncomfortable.”
A smirk lifted her lips. “Are you telling me I didn’t see you staring at my legs in these spiked heels?”
Caught, he thought with a grin. “I didn’t say I didn’t like them.” His gaze drifted down her legs again, deliberately staring at the exposed skin, hoping he was making her squirm.
Before she could react, the car came to a stop.
“Pizza place on the left,” the driver said to Sebastian, interrupting their banter-like conversation.
He knew it was safer that way. Better he hopped out now, before he acted on his baser impulses when it came to Ashley.
“I’ll be back,” he said, his voice a notch lower than usual.
* * *
Half an hour later, they had pizza, paper plates, napkins, and bottles of soda spread across the seat. The divider between the front and the passengers had been raised, giving them privacy, the chauffeur having been instructed to just drive. Instrumental music Ashley didn’t recognize played low in the background.
She ate without self-consciousness, devouring two slices of large plain pizza, sipping Diet Coke from the bottle, and laughing with Sebastian over anything and everything, their conversation easy and fun. He’d collected the plate and piled the box and garbage onto the floor at his feet for cleaning up later.
He glanced at her and patted his thighs. “Put your feet up here,” he said, surprising her.
She narrowed her gaze, hesitantly raising her legs and laying her bare feet in his lap. He wrapped a hand around one foot and began to massage it. Clearly he hadn’t forgotten her complaint about pain.
He pressed his thumb into her arch, and she moaned out loud, the incredible feel of him working his fingers into her sore muscles delicious. And extremely arousing. With every press of the pads of his fingers, her sex pulsed with desire, wetness coating her panties. She doubted that had been his intent, but she also knew he wouldn’t complain if he knew his massage was turning her on.
He worked her muscles in silence, music light and airy around them, allowing her to close her eyes and focus on the luxurious feel of his touch.
“Feel good?” he asked in a roughened voice, letting her know he was just as affected by this moment as she was.
“Mmm. Incredible.”
He worked up her arch and into the skin below her toes, moving upward. She wasn’t ticklish. Instead she found the pull on each toe a balm to her pain.
He switched to the other foot, giving it the same treatment until she was heady with the sensations he was creating inside her. His talented hands slid the opposite direction, down her foot to her ankle, kneading the muscles in her calves and moving slowly up her leg, not skimping on the actual massage. He wasn’t copping a feel, he was working her muscles, and she appreciated every kneading sensation into her skin.
His fingertips slid up the sensitive point behind her knee, slowly traveling higher and higher still, as if testing her approval. She knew where he was headed, those fingers inching ever closer to the place between her thighs that throbbed with need. Her clit pulsed, the desire for his touch there a tangible thing.
Suddenly he stopped, his hand freezing, fingers wrapped around her thigh.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, opening her eyelids and meeting his serious gaze.
“I said I could keep my hands to myself and I meant it.” He released her, and she felt the loss of his warmth against her skin.
Disappointment filled her along with innate understanding. This had to be her choice, her decision. He didn’t want to seduce her into a yes that she’d regret later or have her agree in a haze of desire that left her incapable of true consent. They’d been through too much for that. She couldn’t deny how much she wanted him and wouldn’t lie to herself about that.
But there were other factors to consider before entering into any kind of relationship with Sebastian, including a purely sexual one. She had a life in London, friends there, a job she’d have to go back to. She was only here temporarily, but wasn’t that all Sebastian wanted in life? Ethan had told her he had a habit of entering physical relationships that meant nothing to him in the long run. And as for Jonathan, he might not be willing to take no for an answer, but she’d already declined his proposal. He wasn’t an obstacle to anything she did with Sebastian.
Ashley realized whatever she said now would set the course of where they went from here. While she was in town.
Did she really want to walk away from this kind of once-in-a-lifetime passion?
She drew a deep breath and faced him. “I don’t want you to keep your hands to yourself, Sebastian. Not anymore.”
He remained still, listening to her words, and so she continued. “Back then, we were kids and I understand that everyone shared a role in sending me away. I don’t blame you, despite me bringing it up again last night. But we’re adults now. I swear to you I’ve put it in the past,” she said, hopefully clearing the way to a sexual future between them. She promised herself and silently him, she wouldn’t bring up that time in their lives again.
His intent gaze bored into hers. “I believe you,” he said. “But I need to hear you say the words. Tell me what you want, Ashley.”
It was all up to her.
“You,” she whispered. “I want you.”
His fingers clenched around her so tightly he’d leave marks. And she didn’t care. Then he began to move again, gliding his fingertips up her thighs, no longer focused on massage, clearly on a mission of a different kind. And whereas before, she’d closed her eyes to better enjoy the perks of his massage, now she watched as he pleasured her.
His strong jaw was taut, muscles set as his gaze focused on his fingers, darker and more tanned against her fairer flesh. He slid her dress higher and higher still, crinkling the material above her thighs, revealing her barely there, sexy panties, white lace with a black bow on top. His thumb skimmed along the crease in her thigh, and she gasped, the sensation so intimate, her juices dampened her underwear even more.
“So wet,” he murmured. “So turned on.” He dipped a finger beneath the bow, the pad of the strong digit gliding over her pubic bone, drifting lower.
“Sebastian.” She barely recognized her own deeply husky voice.
“Shh. Let me play.”
He removed his hand and pulled her panties down her legs, not taking them off completely. Just slid them down enough to bare her pussy and, at his urging, bend her knee to the side, opening herself wide for him.
“So beautiful.” His dark gaze stared at her bared and open intimate flesh. Damp and glistening, she knew.
Her cheeks burned at his perusal, but when his fingers slid over the lips of her sex, parting her and beginning to work her over, she forgot to be embarrassed. Instead she was consumed with the pleasure of his touch.
Gliding back and forth, he slicked her moisture over her bare lips and coated his fingers with her wetness. She writhed beneath him, bucking at his sensual touch and exploration until he placed his palm against her belly, holding her in place.
She groaned at the feeling of possession he invoked, then one finger slid inside her, and at the sudden invasion, her inner walls clasped around him.
“You’re tight, baby. You’re going to feel so good on my cock.”
Her insides spasmed at his bold words.
Releasing his hold on her stomach, he slid his hand lower, his thumb pressing on her clit, drawing circles that her hips began to mimic as she climbed toward an explosive climax.
He circled her clit harder and harder, urging her along with his sex-roughened voice. “Reach for it, baby. Come on.” She arched her hips. He pinched her clit. And she cried out, consumed with pleasure, lost in a long spiral that took her over and left her spent and shaking.
She came to herself, her panties around her calves, Sebastian’s hand petting her sex, his gaze hot on hers. And his cock throbbing insistently against her legs in his lap.
“Hey,” he said, a pleased grin on his face.
“What a way to tour San Francisco,” she said.
He burst out laughing before helping her shimmy back into her underwear.
* * *
Sebastian watched as Ashley pulled herself together, lowering her dress and sitting up, his own body still on edge from the pleasure he’d provided her. Shaken by the enjoyment he’d gotten from giving her a climax that clearly rocked her world. He was all about tit for tat, giving and receiving during sex, because it was the gentlemanly thing to do. The obligatory thing to do. But there’d been nothing forced about his need to make Ashley come.
What had started as easing her foot pain had become a compulsion. A need to touch and possess her in the most intimate of places. But not one that had blocked out rational thought – he’d needed her permission, needed her approval after all they’d been through before.
But once she’d given him the green light? Touching her had been as necessary to him as breathing. Watching her come had given him as much pleasure as his own orgasm ever had.
When she reached for the waistband of his pants, she startled him, and he grabbed her wrists, stopping her. “No.”
“No?” she asked, sounding surprised.
He shook his head. “We have a complicated history, you and I. And this? This was about me giving something to you. Not taking anything back in return.”
Holy shit. Who was he and what had happened to his usual MO? Sebastian wondered. In and out. One and done. Mutual sexual acts before moving on … unless the woman he was with understood there was no future to be had.
Because none had been Ashley.
Shit.
He didn’t want her hand on his cock because he needed to fucking think about what he wanted from her. From them.
Before she could reply, her cell phone, which she’d left on the seat of the car, began to ring.
He glanced at the piece of equipment, annoyed by its interruption.
“Ignore it,” she said, obviously still startled by his pronouncement.
So was he.
He glanced at the screen on her phone.
Johnathan.
Fuck. “He doesn’t give up, does he?” Sebastian asked.
Cheeks flushed, Ashley met his gaze. “I told him no,” she said, more to herself than to him.
“No to what?” Sebastian was suddenly on alert.
Ashley sucked her bottom lip into her mouth before answering. “No to his proposal,” she whispered.
He felt his eyes open wide, his heart squeeze inside his chest until he found it hard to breathe. “Well, some guys need to be told twice. Idiots, obviously,” he muttered, shaken by the fact that some other guy had proposed to the woman he was just getting to know again. The woman he wasn’t ready to let go. “Sounds like you need to tell him no again, this time so he hears you loud and clear.”
She narrowed her gaze at him. “What makes you the expert on relationships, anyway?” she asked, the phone having gone silent between them.
“Nothing. I’ve never had one, to be honest,” Sebastian said.
“Exactly.” She straightened her shoulders, sounding triumphant. As if she had him figured out, when, he realized, even he didn’t understand himself at all.
He studied her pretty face. “You sound smug. Like you know all there is to know about relationships while I know nothing.”
“Seems that way, doesn’t it?” she asked.
He let out a low laugh. “Not in the least.” But he wasn’t surprised she couldn’t see the truth for herself.
She crossed her legs, squeezing her thighs together, and glared at him, obviously waiting for him to explain, so he did.
“At least I know if I’m ever going to have a relationship, I’ll have to figure it out for myself. Because my father sure as hell didn’t set a good example. In fact, no woman’s ever been worth the effort to even try, so I go from fuck buddy to fuck buddy.”
“And you’re proud of that fact?” She sounded horrified.
He shook his head. “But at least I know why I do what I do. Can you say the same? Your mother set a shitty example, too, but instead of going from guy to guy, you let one lucky bastard wine and dine you, never letting him get close. Seems to me the end result is the same.” He folded his arms across his chest, certain he’d made his point. And in case he didn’t, he added, “You might date nice guys but your walls are as high as mine.”
“Stop the car.” She banged on the plexiglass separating them from the driver.
The winder lowered. “Can I help you?” the driver asked.
“We’re still in downtown San Francisco, right?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Then stop the car. I want to get out.”
“Ashley–” Sebastian reached for her, but the car came to a halt and she let herself out, as he scrambled to follow, grabbing her heels before exiting the car to go after her.
* * *
Ashley needed air. She wanted to take a walk and not discuss all the ways their parents had screwed up their lives and left them unable to form healthy relationships.
Sebastian caught up with her on the sidewalk, grasping her arm and easing her to a stop. “Hey. At least put your shoes on.”
She hadn’t even realized she was barefoot and she slipped her pumps onto her feet before meeting his gaze.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said.
She knew that. He’d been reacting to Jonathan’s call right after he’d … after they’d … “Yeah. I know.” She ran her tongue over her lips. “My mother loved my father,” she said, needing him to understand. “I just don’t remember those days. What I remember,” she said slowly, “is her going from man to man in search of security. And I never want to be like her.”
He brushed his knuckles over her cheek in gentle understanding. “So you found a man who didn’t demand anything from you. Until he did. And then you broke up with him. Keeping your walls high. Like me.”
She blew out a long breath and sighed. She just wished Jonathan would believe that over meant over. She hated the thought of what she’d have to return to in London, the conversation they were going to have to have again, face-to-face.
“Hey.” Sebastian put a hand on her shoulder, and she tipped her head closer to him. “I know what it’s like to learn truth about yourself that hurts,” he said.
“I knew those things about myself,” she muttered. “I just didn’t appreciate having them thrown in my face.”
He grinned. “Well, me neither. So join the club.”
“Touché.” She sighed. “I want to take a walk.”
“Hang on.” He strode over to the limo driver’s open window and spoke to the man before returning to Ashley’s side. “I asked him to wait for us,” he said as he shrugged off his jacket and placed it over her shoulders.
She pulled the lapels closed, snuggling into the warmth of the fabric and the scent of him with a sigh.
“Ready?” he asked.
She nodded.
With his hand on her back, they started to stroll. They were, she realized, by Fisherman’s Wharf, in Ghirardelli Square.
“Chocolate,” she murmured, looking up at the ice cream & chocolate shop in the retail and dining area.
“I bet it beats Hershey’s.”
She laughed. “Why don’t we find out.”
They walked into the store, the scent of cocoa overwhelming her in the best possible way. And though she could have had one of the famous ice cream sundaes, she opted for her old standby, a chocolate bar.
It hurt her to admit, but the Ghirardelli was heaven in a chocolate bar. “Better than sex,” she said, eyes closed, as the decadent chocolate melted in her mouth.
He met her gaze with a steamy one of his own. “Honey, you are definitely sleeping with the wrong men.”