Tempt Me Like This

Had she been talking in her sleep?

Or, worse still, had she actually moaned out loud?

She’d never had a dream like that before. Not one that felt so real...or that she so desperately wished were real.

But the truth was that embarrassment over talking or moaning in her sleep wasn’t the only reason her body felt overheated. Normally, if she were at home in the small studio in her father’s backyard in Palo Alto, she would have taken a few minutes to fantasize a little longer beneath the sheets in secret. But she couldn’t touch herself on Drew’s bus, could she?

For nearly a week now, she’d been riding the edge of desire, and her dream definitely hadn’t helped. Not one bit. If anything, she was more frustrated than ever. Especially since it had ended before she got to the really good part...

Unfortunately, she couldn’t stay in her bunk forever. Especially since now that she’d looked at her watch, she knew Drew’s workday was due to begin soon. She wasn’t here to hide out in her bunk twenty-four seven, she was here to learn as much as she possibly could.

So even if she’d never been so confused, or so frustrated before, that didn’t mean she could lose sight of her goals. She’d just have to make sure that she didn’t spend too much one-on-one time with Drew. Because that’s when things always got out of control. Like in the elevator yesterday, when it had been just the two of them in the small, pitch-black space, and all she’d wanted to do was—

No. She couldn’t go there again. Couldn’t let herself keep fantasizing about a man she couldn’t have. She was far too pragmatic for that kind of behavior. At least, she’d always thought she was...

Sitting up carefully so that she didn’t hit her head on the bunk above her, she put on her glasses, then did her best to smooth down her hair and clothes. She didn’t sleep with a bra on, but since she was going to head straight to the bathroom for a shower and didn’t hear voices anymore, she figured Drew must have gone into his back bedroom and the coast was clear.

Deciding it was safe to push back the curtains, she had just stepped out of the bunk when he emerged from behind a cabinet door where he’d been kneeling. “Morning, Ash.” She jumped, her hand going to cover her thumping heart as he said, “I thought I’d make us eggs today, but I can’t find the—”

When he finally turned all the way to face her, his words fell away. His hot gaze moved from her face to her light blue tank that didn’t quite cover her hips, then to the soft leggings she slept in, and then back up to her face. He’d never seen her in glasses, and though it shouldn’t matter if he thought she looked extra geeky in them, it did. Simply because everything about Drew mattered to her, whether she wanted it to or not.

But judging by the incredible hunger in his gaze—hunger she knew for a fact that she was echoing right back at him—her glasses didn’t turn him off. And every single sexy moment of her dream came back to her as they stared at each other across the bus.

It was just a dream, Ashley. Snap out of it!

But even as she reminded herself that it hadn’t been real, her body couldn’t help but remember how amazing it had felt to be in his arms on the beach in Los Angeles. All he’d need to do to make the dream real was move toward her, lift her up onto the table, and kiss her. Not even a half-dozen movements, and then she could have everything she wanted.

For a moment, as he continued to stare hungrily at her, she thought he might do exactly that. But then a muscle jumped in his jaw, and he stayed right where he was as he asked, “Did I wake you?”

She opened her mouth to say something short and impersonal. But what came out was, “I was in the middle of a dream.”

Oh no, where had those words come from?

As if he couldn’t stay away another second, he finally moved closer. But she was stuck right where she was, one hand on the wooden base of her bunk, the other still between her breasts over her racing heart.

“What were you dreaming about?”

She shook her head and pressed her lips together. She couldn’t tell him the truth, could she? Couldn’t admit to him that he’d been starring in an X-rated dream.

“I dreamed about you again last night,” he said in a low voice. “Were you dreaming about me, too?”

The heat in his voice swamped her, made her brain even slower than it already was. Her resolve to keep her ever-increasing feelings secret from him dissolved at the same moment the word, “Yes,” slipped from her lips. God, how was she ever going to forget about her feelings for Drew if she kept blurting out things like, I was dreaming about you.