Ashley was right. He was glorious.
Ashley introduced him around as Xander. Then he told Xander my name, and Daniella’s. Xander did that contrast/comparison thing that most guys did, his eyes moving from me to my twin sister and back a few times.
Then they parked on Dani.
Ooooh boy. If he was a rock star, he was so barking up the wrong tree.
“This is Nikki,” I said, pointing out my sister’s friend, and finally Xander looked at her. Nikki gave him the biggest smile I’d ever seen on her face. Dani was super pretty, but she was understated about it. She’d never really had to work for it, so to speak. Nik was less pretty, objectively, but she had the big boobs—in a low-cut black dress—and the glossy red lips and big smile.
And all of it seemed to be doing its job.
“Hey,” Xander said, and offered her his hand. Nikki took hold of it across the table, then leaned in toward him, boobs on display… and they were off. Deep in some conversation/flirtation that no one was getting them out of anytime soon.
“Come here often?” A low, sexy voice slithered into my ear. I glanced at Ashley. He’d shifted closer to me, and I could feel the heat of his body against mine. We weren’t touching, but close.
“I come here sometimes, yes. It’s kind of my favorite bar.”
He’d spun his black cap backward so it didn’t jab me when he leaned in, close to my ear, and said, “You look gorgeous.” Then his gaze slid down the front of my slithery dress. It was silver. Short, with narrow straps, a drapey front and low back that didn’t allow for any kind of bra. Dani had convinced me to wear those stick-on cup things that made it look like you were naked but still had flawless support under the slinky fabric.
Total party dress.
“So do you,” I said, scanning his bare arms.
God, he looked edible this close-up. I’d never been this close to him before.
Well, except when he kissed my neck…
“Have you been here before?” I asked him. I couldn’t imagine it was his scene.
“I’ve been a few times. Summer plays here sometimes.”
“I know,” I admitted. “I’ve seen her here. She’s amazing.”
The waitress appeared, and the guys ordered up some beers and a round of shots. Then my sister excused herself and slipped out. I stared at her, just trying to keep my jaw from dropping open.
Sure, I hadn’t exactly been paying her any attention since Ashley arrived, but what did she expect?
She knew I wanted him.
She gave me a look back, like, Serves you right for downgrading me. Then she smirked and walked away.
Damn.
I took a sip of my cider and glanced at Ashley—who was looking at me like he wanted to rip my dress off with his teeth. Then I glanced over at Nikki. She’d slid in next to Xander when Dani left.
What to say to Ashley, now that we were pretty much alone? In a bar. And I was…
I sipped my drink and considered.
Yup. I was drunk.
“Anything I should know?” I asked him, nodding toward Xander. He was turned sideways in his seat, leaning into Nikki, and whatever he was saying in her ear had her smiling like a loon.
“About what?” Ashley said. “Xander?”
“Uh-huh. Any warnings I should give her later when she asks me for the scoop?”
He shrugged. “He’s a drummer.”
“Hmm. I don’t know what that means.” Clearly, it was supposed to mean something.
“It means every drummer I’ve ever met enjoys female company, let’s put it that way. And they’ve got the attention span of gnats.”
“Ah. I see.”
“If she’s looking to have her world rocked for a night or two, though, she’s probably in good hands,” he added, just as Xander laid his hand on Nikki’s arm. Her eyes glazed over and she pressed in closer to say something in his ear, so I supposed she wasn’t exactly looking to be rescued.
“Where’d everyone go?” Carter appeared, sliding into the booth next to me.
Crap.
Dani really dropped the ball on her winglady duties.
“I think they hit the dance floor,” I told him, as Melody slid in next to him, reluctantly.
The waitress returned with the guys’ drinks, and unfortunately, Carter put in an order. Apparently he was planning to stay a while.
When the waitress was gone, I told Ashley, “This is Carter and Melody.” Then I told them, “This is Ashley and Xander.”
Xander didn’t even look up. He was too busy talking in Nikki’s ear, his hand buried in her hair.
“Hey, man,” Ashley said, offering his hand. He gave Carter pretty much the same blank-yet-annoyed look he’d given me when I’d arrived at his apartment for our first consultation.
“Hey.” Carter shook hands, but he definitely scoped out Ashley in a weird way. Then he leaned into my space and said in my ear, “You need me to get rid of this guy for you?”
I almost laughed. First, at the suggestion that Carter was my savior or something. Second, that he actually thought he might be able to “get rid of” Ashley.
I had no idea if Ashley was a brawler or anything, but all you had to do was look at the two of them to know he could clean the floor with Carter if he wanted to.
They were about the same size, but you could just tell Ashley was stronger. Carter sat at a desk all day. Ashley was athletic and kickass.
Plus, he had Xander as backup.
And two bodyguards.
I looked at Ashley. There was probably no way he could’ve heard what Carter said to me, but the look on his face was, for once, pretty easy to read. He didn’t like the vibe Carter was sending my way anymore than Melody did.
Carter, for his part, still hadn’t backed the hell out of my space. His arm was on the back of the seat behind me.
Then just to make matters more awkward, Nikki slid out of the booth. Xander leaned over to say something to Ashley, then he slid out, too, and he and Nikki disappeared into the crowd with one of the bodyguards on their tail.
Ashley looked at me. Then he looked at Carter. Who was still in my space.
“So how do you know Danica?” Ashley asked bluntly.
“We used to date,” Carter answered, just as bluntly.
“Just for a few months,” I put in.
“Eight months,” Carter said.
“It was more like seven-and-a-half.”
Ashley’s blue eyes flicked to me. And I could pretty much feel Melody glaring daggers at the side of Carter’s head.
Awkward.
“Ashley’s a musician,” I offered, feeling the need to fill the awkward space between us all. “And I’m redecorating his place.”
“You’re a client?” Carter said, still scoping out Ashley.
Ashley said nothing.
“I thought I recognized you,” Melody said, leaning in. She was eye-groping Ashley’s tattoos, or maybe his toned arms. “You’re the singer in that band. What’s that song…? ‘Vasoline’…?”
“‘Gasoline,’” I corrected her. “You’re thinking of the Stone Temple Pilots song.”
“Oh.” She frowned at me a little. “Right.”
I glanced at Ashley and his lips quirked. Maybe I’d impressed him that I knew his song. But honestly, everyone knew that song. It had to be the Penny Pushers’ biggest hit by far. It got so much radio play in Vancouver you couldn’t help getting kinda sick of hearing it. But it was still a great song.
“You’re a singer?” Carter asked, sounding skeptical, jealous and dickish all at once.
“I am,” Ashley said.
“What’s your band called?”
“The Penny Pushers,” Melody supplied.
“I don’t have a band right now,” Ashley said evenly. “We broke up.”
“Too bad,” Carter said, like it wasn’t too bad at all.
“Excuse us,” Ashley said. Then he grabbed my hand and hauled me with him out of the booth.
Than
k God. I was way too tipsy right now to know how to referee the battle of male egos that was brewing in that booth.
“Danica,” Carter called. I glanced back, even though I didn’t really want to.
He had his arm around Melody now, and he was holding up my phone with his other hand. Damn. I’d left it on the seat.
“Thank you.” I took it and stashed it in my purse.
“Nice meeting you,” Melody said—to Ashley.
Ashley didn’t say anything, at least not that I heard. He just tugged me away into the crowd. And… wow. Holding his hand? It made my whole body flush with heat.
I almost fell on my face.
Funny how sometimes, when you’ve been drinking, the floor doesn’t end up being exactly where your high heels seem to think it is. Especially when you’re not paying any attention, because the hottest man you’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting is holding your hand.
Luckily, he had quick reflexes. When I stumbled, he wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me into his hard, hot body. Then he steered me through the crowd, deeper into the club… and right into a dark booth in the very back corner.
“I didn’t even know there were booths back here,” I said, as he nudged me into the back of the seat. The booth was underneath the stairs to the upper level, next to a partial wall that led to the men’s washroom. I’d never really had a reason to come this far back here before.
Ashley wedged in right next to me, his whole body turned toward me. His knee rested on my thigh, one arm up on the back of the seat and the other on the table. Kinda trapping me in.
I didn’t exactly mind.
I smiled at him, mostly because I was so nervous. I sipped the cider I’d brought with me, though I probably didn’t need any more booze.
His eyes bore into me as he watched me set my bottle, carefully, on the table. What was it about being drunker than someone else that made you want to pretend like you weren’t?
Then his gaze moved deliberately down my slinky dress. He was totally undressing me with his eyes again.
“You like my dress?” I blurted out.
That was the liquor, definitely.
No flirting with the unicorn when you don’t intend to follow through!
“I love your dress,” he said, his eyes meeting mine. “Also, I really enjoyed meeting your ex-dick.”
“Uh… you mean, my ex-boyfriend?”
“I can’t bring myself to say it.”
I laughed a bit. “You didn’t seem to hit it off all that well.”
“That a problem?”
“No. I guess not. I mean… He’s just my friend.”
He made a snorting sound, like he either didn’t believe me or he was mildly disgusted with the idea. Both?
“Thanks for making it so clear to him that I’m just your client,” he said. He tipped his beer into his mouth. “You really know how to make a guy feel special.”
“You are my client. And I mean, I told you we should just be friends…”
“Well, since we’re just friends,” he said, staring at me in a very non-friend way. “As your friend, I should probably tell you what I think of that guy.”
Uh-oh. I knew that look. Not the hungry one he was giving me and my slinky dress two seconds ago. The one he was giving me now; it was the same one my sister gave me whenever Carter came around.
“He’s a douche,” he informed me.
Aaaaand that’s pretty much what Dani would say.
“Have you met my sister?” I asked, taking a leisurely sip of my drink. “Because you seem to have similar thoughts on the matter.”
“Because we both care about you,” he said. “And that dude does not.”
“You don’t know him,” I said. “That’s not fair to say…”
Then I actually heard what he’d said, and my heart did that fluttery thing.
He just said he cares about me.
“That dude,” he said, “cares about getting his dick wet. End of story.”
Okay. I didn’t love that. It was harsh… but there was also a small part of me that knew it might be true. I’d definitely come to see Carter in a different light since we broke up. When the pheromone fog cleared, maybe the truth was I finally saw him as he really was. As he’d always been.
Still. It wasn’t easy for me to turn my back on someone.
“Kind of like your friend, Xander,” I replied.
Ashley narrowed his eyes at me, but he didn’t dispute it.
“I’m not criticizing,” I clarified. “Nikki seems to like him. I just want to make it clear I’m not a total idiot when it comes to reading men.”
“Never said you were.”
“People can change, Ashley. Everyone deserves a second chance.”
At that, his blue eyes hardened. His whole face hardened, actually. “Second chance?”
“Oh. I mean… not like that kind of second chance. I don’t mean I’m giving him a second chance to be my boyfriend or anything. I just meant… I’m not just gonna totally write someone off because they made a mistake. If everyone did that, how many friends would I have? How many friends would you have?”
He didn’t answer that one.
“We all make mistakes,” I said. “We all have… issues. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Uh-huh. And what issues do you have?”
Before I could answer that, he set his beer down and pulled me right into his lap like I weighed zero pounds. With his strong, sexy arms.
His hot, hot lap.
The heat was steaming off him. His body was hard against mine as he draped his heavy arm around my hip.
I looked right into his face, which was an inch from mine.
I could taste his breath. Alcohol and delicious man.
“Uh… I kind of have this issue with this guy I met recently,” I said.
“That so?”
“He, um, keeps stalking me and doing stuff like, you know, kissing me and pulling me into his lap, when I told him we should just be friends…”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to be friends,” he said in a sexy-low voice as he stared at my mouth, “and he’s just gonna keep trying to change your mind.”
“That’s ridiculous. And sexist.” I giggled nervously, but made no move to get off his lap.
“This dress is ridiculous,” he said, the heat in his eyes practically melting it off my body. “I can practically taste your skin…”
I could practically taste him, too. His lips were so close to mine, and I could feel his breath on me. I could feel him, everywhere. I felt incredibly naked in his lap.
Then he shifted his hips, kind of lifting me up, and dipped his head at the same time—and caught my nipple in his teeth. Right through the fabric of my dress and my stick-on bra cup. He bit down, lightly.
Ohmygod.
That was impeccable aim.
“Ummmm…” I shifted my hips as desire shot through my body. I wasn’t even sure what I was doing. Trying to make some feeble attempt to wriggle away… while actually seeking friction for my throbbing pussy?
Because oh yes, I was throbbing.
He didn’t let go.
My mouth dropped open.
He grabbed my hips, tugging me closer… and that’s when I felt the unmistakable ridge in his jeans. His very hard dick was jabbing me in the butt.
My body heat kicked up a few more degrees.
I was sweating.
And my greedy, drunken pussy so wanted me to wiggle my way right on top of that hard dick and swallow it whole.
Right now, please!
My pussy was always extra greedy when I was drunk.
He released my nipple, finally, but the damage was done. That aggressive, forward move had sent all the exactly right signals to every part of my body. I was now horny, drunken putty in his capable hands.
His hands… One of which was sliding over my bare thigh… and right up under my slinky dress. His fingers brushed my clit through my panties… and I melted.
I re
alized what I probably should’ve said, right then. No thank you, you’re my client and we are just friends and this can’t happen right now. Or some version of that.
What I said instead was, “Auugh,” or some version of that—and buried my face in his neck.
“I wanna make you come,” he said in my ear.
“Oh my God…”
He smelled so good. My lips found his skin. All I wanted to do was lick him, taste him… Eat him.
So I did. I brushed my lips over his skin. I licked his throat. I nipped his skin and sucked on him… as his fingers drifted over my clit in a repetitive, increasingly insistent rhythm.
I wrapped my upper body around him like a leech.
“You taste good…” I groaned in his ear, before nibbling on his earlobe, then dragging my tongue back down his neck and kissing him again.
He nuzzled his face into my neck and kissed me, just under my ear. His fingers tightened on my hip. He was still holding me tight, locking me in his lap. I imagined I heard him groan in response to what my mouth was doing, but the music was too loud.
I definitely felt his hot breath on my neck, felt his chest rising and falling against me.
And his fingers between my legs.
Slipping inside my skimpy panties…
I always wore the skimpiest panties beneath my slinky ladies night dresses. Ladies night always made me feel sexy, because I could dare to wear something risqué, knowing I was safe with all my wingladies.
But I’d never ended up in a man’s lap in a nightclub on ladies night before.
Despite the fact that my sister claimed that the point of ladies night was to hook up, that had never been the point for me.
Yet here I was, with Ashley Player’s hard-on digging into my ass… and most of his hand inside my panties.
Holy. Fuck.
I spread my legs a bit, because he was touching me down there and I couldn’t think. Plus, he was so hot. Like magic man, special unicorn, edible hot… the kind of hot my clit was telling me I couldn’t afford to let slip away.
Anyway, his body was hiding me from the rest of the bar. I could be spread-eagle and no one in the room would see my pussy.
Except maybe Ashley.
And Haz…?
Was he nearby?
Was he watching this…?
And why did that very possibility make this even hotter, somehow?
Hot Mess: A Players Rockstar Romance (Players #1) Page 23
