Before she could answer his question, he was pulling his truck into his garage, shutting off the engine and closing the door behind them. The confines of the truck were intimate enough, but with the outside world shut completely out, the intimacy was almost disturbing.
She sighed, unable to keep up the facade any longer.
“When were you going to bring it up?” She asked bluntly, needing to get this out in the open. As much as she valued her anonymity, it was too hard to try to hide something that was out in the open anyway.
“Bring what up?” Alex’s dark eyebrow rose.
For the last week, Ashleigh had fantasized about how this conversation would go. Never once had she dreamed that Alex would feign ignorance. Turning her back on him, frustrated and still a little shaky, she pushed open the passenger door and stepped out of the truck.
She needed a moment to breathe and although she wasn’t claustrophobic, being closed up in his truck with him was just too much. When she was close to him, his unique scent alone made it hard to think, and that was something she couldn’t afford when Alex was around.
Alex walked around the truck and stood beside her. “Talk to me.”
“I know that you know.” She told him, wishing he would take a step back because he was much too close. It was hard enough to breathe, hard enough to think when he was near, but this close, she didn’t stand a chance.
From where she stood, looking up at him, she could see the darker flecks of green in his already dark eyes. His lashes were long and thick, and there was a day’s worth of stubble decorating his strong chin. The man was beautiful if that was an apt description for someone who exuded so much masculine power.
“What do I know, Ashleigh?” He asked, taking a step closer, if that was even possible, and successfully blocking her between him and the unmoving vehicle at her back.
“You know that I’m Ashton Leigh.” She spouted before she could think better of it.
“So?”
“What do you mean ‘so’?” Putting her hands on his chest, she tried to push him away, but he didn’t budge. “If you’re thinking that I’m anything like her –”
“Shhh.” He whispered, brushing his finger over her lips. “I don’t think anything.”
Didn’t he? Didn’t he think she was wild, spontaneous and openly adventurous when it came to sex? It’s what she wrote about, so it would make sense, wouldn’t it?
“I’ve wanted you since the first day I met you, Ash. Long before you began writing. I don’t have any preconceived notions about who you are or what you want.”
He wanted her?
His admission sent a shockwave of lust rippling through her insides. Without thinking, she glanced down at his lips, then back up to his eyes.
“Stop looking at me like that.” His voice was firm, but he didn’t move away from her.
“Like what?” She almost choked on the words.
“Like you want me, too.”
“I do want you.” There was no reason to deny it.
They might be playing a game, but he knew good and damn well that she wouldn’t have gone to his house to go swimming if she didn’t have a hidden agenda. Friends they might be, but not close friends. And never would she have put herself in this position if she hadn’t hoped for something more to happen between them either.
“Ashleigh.” The way he said her name was a warning, and her body didn’t heed it worth a damn.
In a move totally unlike her, Ashleigh instigated what happened next. With her hands still pressed against his chest, she was no longer trying to push him away; instead, she slid them up, feeling the solid muscle and his strong heartbeat beneath her fingertips. Cupping his jaw, she pulled him closer. She wasn’t sure if it was the weather, or what was sparking between them, but something was making it hotter than hell in that damn garage.
Chapter Ten
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.