by Lexy Timms
“I thought you worked from your apartment?” he asked.
“Sometimes. But a small room in this office building came up for rent and it was within my price range. It’s just a small room with my desk and a couple of chairs, but if clients want to meet with me, it’s safer than going to my place of residence.”
“Makes sense,” he said.
Ash reached over and captured her lips one last time. And again, she melted into him. Her hands fisted his shirt and pulled him closer as his hand supported the back of her head. Fuck. This woman was going to be the death of him.
And he was ready for death to meet him at his doorstep.
“Have dinner with me,” Ash said.
Kallie pulled back, her lips pleasantly swollen from their kiss.
“When?” Kallie asked.
“Anytime. Anything you want.”
“You can't ask me to dinner and then not tell me when it’s going to be.”
“How about tomorrow night?” he asked. “We can go anywhere you want. Or I’ll come over and cook. Or you can come over to my place and I’ll cook. Or order in.”
Ash watched her giggle and he reached up to kiss her neck. Her giggles turned to moans and he had half a mind to tell the driver to take off for his place. He wanted to kidnap Kallie and take her with him. Up to his penthouse so he could press her against every surface of his apartment.
“Okay,” Kallie said breathlessly as she pulled away. “Tomorrow night for dinner.”
“Let me know what you want to do. And this time, don’t forget.”
“I won’t,” she said. “I promise.”
He got out and opened Kallie’s door, then kept his eyes on her all the way into the building. And the entire ride home, Ash was in heaven. The domesticity with Kallie was not something he ever thought he would want. But with her, it was all he wanted. More than he ever thought possible for his life. A beautiful, intelligent, independent woman who wanted him for other reasons besides his money. It was almost too good to be true.
Ash rattled off his address to the driver and they pulled away from the curb.
But not before Ash admitted a truth to himself.
He was falling for Kallie. He’d never felt this way before about any woman, but he knew that was what he felt. He loved her. Every inch of her. And he wanted to spend as much time as she would allow him to make her feel that love.
He had to make dinner special.
Kallie deserved nothing less.
Chapter 18
Kallie
Kallie couldn’t stop thinking about her dinner date with Ash. She’d called him after work the other day and told him that going out sounded like a wonderful idea. He told her he’d make reservations and to wear something that made her feel beautiful, so she had every intention of getting off work early and buying a new outfit. She had a little bit of money saved away, so she figured she could splurge.
She felt like a lovesick little schoolgirl, and she adored it.
She hunched over her desk and worked on a few quotes. She’d had a busy morning and she needed to get them done before she could go shopping. She scribbled down some notes and recalled the places she had stepped into, then wrote out the official quote and stuck them in envelopes. Most people sent quotes with email, but Kallie enjoyed the paper trail. Having an official copy as well as a carbon copy for her records was a lot harder to dispute in court than an email that could be altered at any given moment.
She sealed the last envelope before her cell phone rang out in her purse.
“Kallie Semple.”
“Kallie. It’s Eris.”
“Eris?” she asked. “You sound panicked. What’s wrong?”
“Have you seen the Daily News today?”
“Uh ... no. I don’t make it a habit of reading the tabloids.”
“Well you should. You need to pull it up. Now.”
“Why? What does it say?” she asked.
“You,” Eris said. “It says you.”
Kallie had no idea what the hell that meant, but she figured someone might’ve snapped pictures of her and Ashly in the park. She recalled the incident with one of his exes at the restaurant that day and figured maybe she had tried to orchestrate something. Kallie figured a woman like that would try to pull something in order to sway the cards in her favor, and it had been obvious how much that woman wanted Ash.
But it was obvious how much Ash wanted Kallie, and that was all that mattered.
Not some stupid tabloid that—
Kallie gawked when the front page of the Daily News finally loaded on her computer. And it was worse. So much worse than she could’ve ever thought. Her face was splashed all over it, and on the front page she was holding hands with Ash in Central Park. But a picture right next to it was one that made her stomach sink.
One that made her want to vomit.
“What the fuck is all this?” Eris asked.
It was a picture of her and James. Kissing in front of that damn restaurant.
“They did take pictures,” Kallie said with a whisper.
“What did you say?” Eris asked. “Kallie, are you at your office?”
“Eris ... I ... I ... I—”
“Start at the beginning. What the hell am I actually looking at?” she asked.
But Kallie didn’t know how to answer her. What was she doing, being plastered all over the gossip magazines? And the Daily News wasn’t the only one reporting it. They were simply the first. Article after article, dragging her name through the mud and calling her things she could’ve never dreamed in her wildest imaginations were actual phrases people called other people. Her hand began to tremble and tears brewed behind her eyes. It was hard to breathe. Hard to speak.
“Ash,” she said breathlessly.
“Kallie, you have to talk to me. What’s going on?” Eris asked.
This would be her life with Ash. People would be constantly following him and taking pictures of their time together. Even when she didn’t realize it. Kallie’s life was now news, especially when she was wrapped up in the wealthiest man on the East Coast.
At least, the article called Ash that.
When had that picture been taken? Of her and Ash? And how in the world did she stop it from happening again?
“Kallie!”
“I’m sorry!” she exclaimed. “It’s just ... I didn’t know people were—”
“The picture of Ash. Where were you?”
“It was the day after the club. We spent the day together walking in Central Park and getting food.”
“So when the hell was this picture of James taken? Please tell me that’s from before you guys split up,” Eris said.
“No, it’s not,” Kallie said with a sigh.
“So you’re just serial-dating rich men now?”
“What? You know me better than that. No,” Kallie said. “Look, James sent me a necklace at work, and I told him I couldn't accept the gift. He said if I returned it to him, he had the receipt and he would take it back for me. I returned the gift. I didn’t even stay to eat dinner with him. He followed me out of the restaurant and tried to keep me from getting away, and then he just kissed me.”
“So he set you up.”
“I don’t know. I know there was a possibility photos were taken. Some idiot guys standing in the parking lot,” Kallie said. “But I didn’t think they’d gotten anything because it happened so quickly. I mean, I shoved him away, Eris. He grabbed my wrist so hard and wouldn’t let me leave and then he followed me all the way out to the sidewalk and he almost didn’t let me get into the cab.”
“That son of a bitch. If the tabloids come at you, that's exactly what you tell them, okay?” Eris asked. “You paint that son of a bitch in the limelight he fucking deserves.”
“They’ll come after me?” she asked.
“They’ll want a quote or something. That’s why I asked you where you were. For all I know, they’re at your office or something.”
Kallie slammed her
chair back and got up before peering out the window. It didn’t look like anyone was outside, but her window was on the side of the building. Not at the front. Her hands were shaking and her heart was racing.
Dinner.
She had to cancel her dinner plans with Ash.
“I have to go,” she said.
“Kallie, wait—”
But she hung up on Eris before she could get in another word.
Kallie pulled up a text message to Ash and quickly typed him a note. She was in no condition to talk with him on the phone. Tears were seeping from her eyes and, for all she knew, he’d already seen the articles and was ready to unleash on her. She sent off a quick message telling him she couldn't get together tonight, and he called her phone.
He called and he called, and he called some more.
“Ash, I’m at work. I can’t talk right now,” she said.
“What’s going on?” Ash asked. “Talk to me.”
“I can’t. I have quotes to send out and a meeting to get to soon.”
“Kallie, don’t do this. Something’s wrong. I can hear it in your voice.”
“I’m in my office, Ash! It doesn’t matter if I’m my own boss, my hours are my hours!”
Then she hung up the phone and placed her shaking hands in her lap.
Kallie rushed down to the Post Office drop box in the front of the building. She peered out the front doors and didn’t see anyone congregating in front of the building, but she could see some of the looks people were giving her. Snickering at her. Shaking their heads at her. Looking upon her in disgust.
She rushed back up to her office and closed the door behind her, but she should’ve known Ash wouldn’t have left it alone.
Kallie put her head in her hands just as her office door opened. She whipped her red gaze up to whoever was coming in and she saw him slip into her office. Ash, with his comforting stare and his freckles that made him look as boyish as he acted somedays. He had a scowl on his face as he locked the door behind him, and Kallie leaned back into her seat.
“What part of ‘I can’t talk right now’ don’t you understand?” she asked.
“Then clear your schedule and talk to me,” Ash said. “Explain to me what’s going on right now.”
“You don’t command my life.”
“But I do care about you. And when you cancel a dinner date on me and then pick up the phone with tears in your voice, I make it my duty to make sure that whatever’s going on with you can be fixed. Now clear that damn schedule of yours and talk.”
“Do you really not know?” she asked breathlessly.
“Know what?” Ash asked.
Kallie pulled up the Daily News on her computer and turned the laptop around to Ash.
His eyes fell to the screen and Kallie held her breath. She watched his beautiful hazel eyes brew with anger as his gaze dropped to the screen. She watched him take in the sight. Take in the picture of her kissing her ex. She had no idea where to start. No idea how she was going to explain this to him without him getting upset with her. She brought her trembling hands to her mouth and closed her eyes, her breathing becoming unstable. Her chest hurt and her legs locked up, and suddenly her heart started beating wildly in her chest. The room tilted. Her chair felt unstable. She gripped tightly onto the arms of it and held on for dear life. She felt like she was on a roller coaster she had never consented to getting on, and she wanted off.
She wanted out.
She wanted Ash gone.
Chapter 19
Ash
“What the fuck is this?”
Ash saw red dripping through his vision. That picture, clear as fucking day, with his hands and his mouth on his beloved Kallie. His beautiful, wonderful, Pretty Kallie. His eyes whipped up to her and he saw her struggling in her chair. Struggling to breathe. Struggling to cope. Struggling to stabilize herself.
Tugged between anger and fear. An irate heat that consumed his entire form. He slammed her laptop closed and he watched Kallie jump, her eyes whipping over to his. Her entire body stilled, and he raked his hand through his hair. He was going to strangle that pointless little asshole.
“It wasn’t consensual,” Kallie said breathlessly. “It wasn’t. I went there and gave him the necklace and words were exchanged. I told him it was over, then I stormed out of the restaurant, but he caught me and pulled me in for a kiss. I shoved him away and tried to get away, but he kept pulling me back to him. I thought he was never going to let me go, Ash. You have to believe me. I hailed a cab and the driver helped me get in. He was out of control that night, Ash.”
Her voice sounded far away. He could hear her, but only in spurts. His anger was getting the best of him. He wasn’t used to feeling like this. So out of control and possessive and filled with a rage he didn’t know how to dispel.
“Is that why you didn’t call after dinner?” he asked. “Because you were too busy fucking your ex?”
His eyes whipped over to Kallie and she recoiled. Physically stood from her chair and backed away from him. The grimace on her face and the redness of her cheeks. It was like he had reached out and slapped her. Instantaneous guilt pooled in his chest, furthering his conflicted emotions. Why the fuck did she have to go to that damn dinner anyway? Why the hell couldn't she have pawned the necklace? Donated it? Regifted it to a friend of hers? Why did she have to meet that asshole for dinner and give it back to him?
Oh yeah. To fucking tell him it was over.
But had she done that? Told him it was over?
The guilt didn’t make his angry thoughts go away. He was angry at the situation. Angry at her bullshit ex. Angry at her for feeling like she had to take the high road with a man who obviously didn’t give a shit about the high road. Or the middle road. Or any fucking road. No woman had ever meant to him what Kallie did, and the jealousy within him was too much to bear. Seeing her lips on another man. Watching the way he had a grip on her wrist.
Her wrist.
Holy fuck, that man had forced himself onto Kallie.
“Are you okay?” Ash asked.
Kallie pressed her back into the wall and didn’t respond to his inquiry. This was why he only hooked up and never saw the girl again. This was why his vacation romances were short-lived. He couldn't handle it. He couldn't handle not being chosen by the woman he’d given himself over to. He raked his hand through his hair and turned around, facing the wall before whipping back around to face her. She wouldn't meet his stare. She wouldn't take a fucking step toward him.
Kallie was so much more than just a simple vacation romance.
And the knowledge that another man had touched her like that. Forced her around like that. A man she was set to marry. A man who had cheated on her and broken her fucking heart.
Ash wanted to beat the shit out of that asshole.
“Get out,” Kallie said.
Her soft voice pierced his raging thoughts and his vision focused onto her.
“We aren’t done talking,” Ash said.
“We aren’t talking at all. You’re accusing me of doing the same thing my ex did to me. That kiss wasn’t consensual. It never was and it never will be. And if you don’t trust me now, you’re never going to, Ash. I broke up with James. I went there, looked him dead in his eye, and told him it was over. I gave back that necklace and I tried to leave, but he wouldn’t let me, Ash.”
He watched tears well in her eyes and it tugged at the small part of him not soaking in frustration.
“He grabbed me without my permission and kissed me without warning, and I shoved him away. Left, despite his insistence that I come with him. That’s what happened, regardless of what any articles say. I’m not the kind of woman who cheats. We’ve already had this discussion. For Pete’s sake, Ash. I ended things with my fiancé because he was a cheater!”
Ash’s mind wafted back to the island. Back to those flowers sitting on her bedside table. He hadn’t trusted her, and he’d been wrong then. Was it possible he could be wrong now? Since he�
�d found Kallie and gotten her back, she’d been in high spirits. Better than the spirits she’d showed him on the island. She was happy. Giggling. Laughing. Curling into him and kissing his lips again. Enjoying his presence.
Yes, Ash decided.
He was wrong now too.
He walked across her small office, no bigger than half the size of his own bathroom. His hand brushed a tendril of hair away from Kallie’s face and he tucked it behind her ear. She stepped away from the wall, just enough for him to slip his arm around her waist. He pulled her body close to his. Felt her heat against him as her hands slid up his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and stared into those beautiful eyes. Fiery with righteous indignation and unforgiving of whatever his opinion of her was. And in that moment, he knew she was telling the truth.
Which made him want to strangle her ex.
Ash took her chin within his hands and brought her lips closer to his. He pulled her tighter into his body as his cock began to throb to life. His thumb stroked her skin and his eyes fell to her lips, and he left out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding until that very second.
“I believe you,” Ash said.
He pressed his lips to hers gently, nuzzling their noses together as she melted into him.
“I’m sorry for assuming the worst,” he said with a whisper.
Kallie’s hands curled into his suit coat and she pulled him closer. Their gentle kiss deepened until her tongue was swiping across his lips. She wanted him. He could feel it. His hands untucked her shirt from her pencil skirt and planted into her waist. He took in the heat of her skin as her arms wrapped around his neck, backing her into the wall.
He slid his leg between her thighs and he felt her grind down onto him. Her panties were damp and her heat was fierce, and the angry animal within him rose up.
He ripped her clothes off, sliding her shirt down her shoulder. He sank his teeth into her, marking her as his own. Her moans filled his ears as his hands commanded her body. Tossed her around like a rag doll as he tried to find the best spot to take her against.
He twisted her around as his arm reached out. He slid it across her flimsy desk, watching as everything piled onto the floor. He bent her over her own damn desk and cracked his hand against her ass, watching as she jumped. Over and over, until he knew her skin was buzzing. Her legs trembled, and he watched as she bucked her ass against him. His cock strained against his trousers. A pulsing ache he needed to relieve. He grabbed the small zipper of her pencil skirt and slid it down, then pulled her skirt all the way to her ankles.
