Seduction (Club Destiny #3)(55)
Author: Nicole Edwards

Another pause and Alex’s gaze returned to hers. “That’s what happened last week. She called. Said she needed me and I came running. Not because I have any feelings for her, but because I knew she couldn’t take care of it on her own. When I showed up, her boyfriend was there and they’d gotten into it. I found her beaten and battered, her wrist broken, and the bastard was drunk and still in the house. So I called the police.”

“So why is she at your house?” That was the part Ashleigh couldn’t wrap her mind around. So maybe Alex was a decent guy, with a heart of gold, apparently. That didn’t explain why this woman was at his house, answering his phone while he was in the shower.

“I brought her home from the hospital, and she said she was too scared to go back to her house. I fell for it, and I took her to mine.”

Made sense even if Ashleigh didn’t want it to. A little.

“I didn’t realize what she was doing until I confronted her about answering my phone. She won’t admit it, and she keeps playing up the scared card, but I think she’s just playing me.”

“So why don’t you kick her out?”

“I told her she needed to leave this morning. I’m supposed to drive her back to her house.”

Ashleigh wondered where her anger was. Where was the disbelief? The hatred for her man seeing another woman? But he wasn’t, was he? Alex didn’t belong to her, and from what he said, he wasn’t seeing anyone else.

At least not according to the story he’d just given her. No, if that was the truth, and she feared it was, Alex was just too kind hearted for his own good. She didn’t know Jessie at all, but she was inclined to agree with him. The woman had a hidden agenda. And her guess was the agenda was Alex himself.

Ashleigh went to take a sip of her coffee, but realized the cup was empty. More caffeine was needed to deal with this situation. Grabbing her empty mug, she got up from her chair and went inside, not saying another word. First of all, she was stunned. What was she supposed to say?

By the time she got to the kitchen, Alex was directly behind her. “Talk to me, Ash.” He sounded… worried.

“What do you want me to say?” She asked as she poured another cup. “You’re a saint, Alex. You’re out to save the world, and I don’t know how I fit in with those plans.”

That was the honest truth.

But when he took her arm and turned her around to face him, effectively backing her up against the cabinet, Ashleigh’s breath lodged in her chest.

“I don’t care about the world. I care about you.”

It sure didn’t sound like it from where she was standing. He couldn’t seem to let go of his past. What did that say about him?

“I need you.” He whispered, not an inch between them and yes, having his body pressed against hers made her forget. About everything.

Her headache.

Her heartache.

Some jealous woman from Alex’s past.

All of it. The only thing that mattered was his warm body pressed against hers, chasing away the cold loneliness that had infused her since the moment that other woman answered his cell phone.

“Let me feel you.” He said, pressing his mouth against the sensitive skin of her neck. “I need to touch you, baby.”

And damn it, she wanted him to touch her. Everywhere. For the first time that morning, Ashleigh put her hands on him, and the electrical current sizzled between them once again.

His smooth skin was warm, and he smelled so damn good. That sultry cologne he favored and the unique scent of Alex. Mixed together it was a heady combination, and she was defenseless against him.

When his lips landed on hers, she tasted his hunger, the urgency in his kiss. And then it all came flooding back. The ache she fought to bury, but lost every time. The need for him to take her – roughly and in spite of everything going on.

But when he started to pull her away, she planted her feet firmly on the tile and resisted going anywhere with him. “What are you doing?” She asked, still rubbing her hands through the spattering of hair on his chest.

“Taking you to the bedroom.” He said, kissing her neck.

“No.” She said, and the warmth he’d infused her with moments before was suddenly stolen from her when he stepped back.

The question in his eyes deserved an answer, and she fought to scrounge up the courage to tell him what she wanted.

“Not the bedroom.” She said, staring into those brilliant emerald green eyes filled with a driving hunger she knew he battled with. “Right here. Right now.”

His left eyebrow cocked as though he were trying to understand what she was telling him, and Ashleigh took the opportunity to get it out in the open. “I won’t break. I think I’ve proven that.” She whispered. “I don’t want gentle and easy all the time, Alex. I see the hunger, and you forget, I know you. I know the real you. The dominant side. Don’t treat me like I’m fine china.”