In order to ensure his admiration didn’t turn into infatuation, he’d kept as far away from her as possible, only it appeared that seemed to be a colossal waste of time. Since she’d continued to ignore him, avoiding him whenever possible, Alex found himself only wanting her more.
Then the years of denying the lust he harbored for the woman he couldn’t have all came to a screeching halt the night of the Christmas party when Alex held Ashleigh in his arms. That night, his need to have her escalated. For a brief moment, he swore he’d seen interest in her eyes, but she had quickly masked it, followed by that sweet, dismissive smile of hers.
Now she was coming back for good, and the timing couldn’t have been better. Alex knew that Ashleigh would be a challenge, but hell, besides having more business than he could keep up with, what else did he have to do?
Chapter Three
Ashleigh pulled into the driveway of her new house in record time, traffic on a Friday afternoon unusually light coming into Dallas. She was never one to enjoy driving, and she couldn’t say she was anxious to have to do that trip again, but at least she’d had some time to think and... sing. Although she was fairly certain what she was doing wasn’t in any way associated to singing. At least not in a good way.
She smiled.
Who cared.
Parking her Tahoe beside a big, black fancy truck that Ashleigh couldn’t place, she wondered who was there. The movers were, she could see them traipsing back and forth across her lawn hard at work. Her brother was there, his all too familiar ranch truck was parked near the street.
Curious, she grabbed her purse, opting to leave the rest of her things until she was certain she had a place for them. If she was right, her house would probably look like that moving truck had thrown up in the middle of her living room because there was no way they would know where to put anything.
She wasn’t halfway up the front walkway when Nathaniel – everyone called him Nate – came bounding out of the front door, a mischievous smile on his handsome face. The boy looked so much like his father, it was uncanny.
“Aunt Ash!” Her nephew exclaimed, coming right at her with his arms open wide like he was seven, not seventeen.
“Nate.” Bracing for the impact, Ashleigh laughed out loud when he stopped suddenly, standing right in front of her and waiting for her reaction.
Ashleigh walked right up to him, letting the much bigger boy embrace her.
“Ummm... Nate?” She smiled, taking a step back. “Did you know you aren’t a little boy anymore?”
Nate’s whiskey brown eyes danced with amusement. “Yep. No more boy. All man.” He said in a Tarzan-like imitation.
“Last time I saw you, I could’ve sworn you were shorter than me.”
“Doubtful.” Nate remarked, looking thoughtful. “I’m having a hard time coming up with anyone who is as short as you are.”
Slapping his arm lightly, Ashleigh laughed. At five feet eight, she was by no means on the short side. It wasn’t her fault that the men in her family seemed to steal all the inches, every one of them, including Nate as it turned out, stood over six feet tall.
“So, what do you think of my new digs?” She asked him, turning to look at her little house.
“Impressive. I’m gonna have to grab my fishing pole and come hang out sometime.”
Grinning, Ashleigh looked up at him. She wasn’t sure the little stock tank behind the house even had fish, but if anyone would find out, it would be Nate.
“Where’s your dad?” Hefting her purse up on her arm, she turned toward the house.
“Inside. He’s talking to Alex.”
His words had her stopping in her tracks, before glancing back at the black truck in her driveway. She should’ve known. Pretending she didn’t care, she forced a smile. “Have you been to your new school yet?”
“No.” Nate didn’t look at her, keeping his eyes on the expanse of water they could see from where they stood. “Dad’s taking me up there in a few minutes.”
“You excited?” She knew he wasn’t, if his expression was anything to go by.
“Anything will be better than where we came from.” He admitted, turning back to the house, but not moving.
Ashleigh knew from talking to her brother Dylan that Nate was having a hard time at school, and it had nothing to do with academics and everything to do with the cruelty of the kids.
Just last year, the Thomas family had been shocked by Nate’s revelation that he was gay. Although not a single one of them had any issues with it, including Xavier, her grandfather, which had surprised the hell out of damn near everyone, not everyone seemed to be as accepting as Nate’s family. Ashleigh wasn’t sure whether it was the small town, or just ignorance that had the kids being so cruel, but either way, Nate seemed to be dealing with it.