Seduction (Club Destiny #3)(23)
Author: Nicole Edwards

Until that one night.

The week before graduation, Ashleigh had convinced Pops to let her stay in the guest house for a few weeks while she got ready to go off to college.

Since Dylan didn’t live at home at the time – he’d already gotten married to Meghan, and they had even had both Stacey and Nate by then – Ashleigh had wanted to see what it was like to live on her own as well. Reluctantly, Pops had given in to her request.

To celebrate her graduation from high school, Pops had thrown a party the likes of which Ashleigh had never known before. There had to have been one hundred or more people in attendance, yet out of all those people, she’d never seen Alex. Not until he stopped by the guest house a couple of hours after she went home.

Being eighteen and finally out of school, Ashleigh had a misconception of what it meant to be an adult. And adults had visitors, so she’d invited him in.

That was her first mistake.

He was more than a little intoxicated, barely able to stand on his own, but she was all grown up, she could handle anything he could dish out. Or so she thought.

They had talked for a little while, neither of them having much to say because it was blatantly obvious, they had absolutely nothing in common. Likely the dwindling conversation had led to what happened next.

They had been sitting on the couch, not much space between them, when Alex leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips. Her first kiss.

Ashleigh remembered it like it was yesterday.

“What was that for?” Ashleigh asked, shocked by the intensity of her body’s reaction to the feel of Alex’s lips against hers.

“It was just a kiss.”

Just a kiss? There was nothing “just” about that kiss. She knew she shouldn’t push the issue because it was evident Alex was intoxicated, but Ashleigh couldn’t seem to stop herself. “Why’d you kiss me?”

“Don’t know.” He said, leaning in a little more.

Ashleigh knew it was going to happen again and despite the intense feelings that one kiss had ignited she knew she shouldn’t want him. But the intelligent side of her brain was being suffocated by her hormones and she found herself hoping he would.

Instead of waiting for him, Ashleigh leaned in closer, her eyes locked with his before catching a brief glimpse of his perfect lips. Before she knew what happened, she was on her back on the couch with Alex’s impressive body on top of her, pressing against her in the most delicious way, infusing her with heat and longing.

“I shouldn’t want you, Ashleigh.”

For the life of her, she didn’t know why not. They were both consenting adults, and there was something obviously between them. So when Alex pressed his lips to hers yet again, Ashleigh gave into him, pulling him closer and giving back as good as she was getting.

Shaking off the memory, Ashleigh tried to push it away. She would not go there. Not right now. Thinking about that night never did anything more than put her in a bad mood.

~~*~~

Alex tossed his cell phone into the center console, throwing the truck in Drive. Pissed off and in desperate need of a bright spot in his week, he pulled out of the XTX parking garage and aimed the truck toward Ashleigh’s house.

After that phone call, he wanted to simply turn off the ringer, hang out with the one woman who would be able to make him smile at this point. That had been his plan all day anyway, and though the phone call from Jessie had been somewhat expected, he was going to pretend it never happened.

His ex-wife had made it her life’s work to suck him into the mess she called a life, but today he didn’t have the patience, nor the desire to try and rescue her from herself. He’d been spending way too much time with her as it was trying to talk to her, calm her down, or chase off that good for nothing boyfriend of hers.

Not today.

Ten minutes later he was pulling into Ashleigh’s driveway, trying to get his bearings. He was frustrated, and he knew he needed to take a minute to clear his head. The last person he wanted to see his temper was Ashleigh. Having not seen much of her in the last two weeks, showing up at her house unannounced was going to be bad enough.

He needed to see her. Need being the key word.

Ever since their afternoon of horseback riding, Alex had purposely backed off a little bit. She was getting to him in ways he hadn’t expected. The desire was there, but it always had been. It was the other feelings stirring around inside of him that had made him take some time to process exactly what was happening between them.

He wanted her in ways he feared she couldn’t handle. And until today, he’d been able to reason with himself. Today his need for her had intensified, and he wasn’t strong enough to resist it. So instead of doing the right thing, he’d given in to temptation, despite the perfect excuse to stay away for at least one more day.