by Jenika Snow
The Ash brothers—they know how to handle their wood.
A new smoking-hot Ash Brothers novella from USA TODAY bestselling author Jenika Snow
I’ve been celibate for years, by choice. No woman has held my interest long enough to be worth sacrificing time spent at Ash Lumber, energy spent building the family business.
All that changed when a feisty redhead walked into our job-site trailer.
Andra.
Her skirts drive me crazy and her trying so hard to flat-out ignore me does the rest. Her flushed cheeks when we flirt are enough to send me to bed for a week.
Andra might be supervising this development deal, but there’s no way we’re going to be able to keep things professional around here. My celibate streak is over, and I owe it all to her.
This book is approximately 13,000 words
One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!
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Also available from Jenika Snow and Carina Press
The Ash Brothers
Hard Wood
Knock on Wood
Author’s Note
Touch Wood is the third and last book in the Ash Brothers trilogy. Although it can be read on its own, you may get a better feel for the characters and world by reading Hard Wood (The Ash Brothers, book 1) and Knock on Wood (The Ash Brothers, book 2) prior.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter One
Liam
She thought I didn’t see the way she watched me. She was wrong. And knowing she tried to hide it, tried to fight being with me, only turned me on even more.
From the moment I saw Andra strutting her sexy as sin self toward the construction site I’d instantly gotten wood. I knew why she was here, that she was calling the shots for the new development Ash Lumber would be constructing. This should have only been about work, but one look at her and I knew all bets were off.
Then again the way she looked like she’d eat a man for lunch could have had my balls retreating if I didn’t want her so damn badly.
I knew I wanted her as mine. I knew that I’d have her, too. I hadn’t been with a woman in years. Yeah, fucking years. To say I had blue balls was an understatement, but there had never been a woman who had turned me on the way Andra did. Maybe it was the fact she didn’t throw herself at me like every other woman in this town.
In my younger days I’d liked that, craved the attention. But I was in my thirties now, didn’t do the dating scene, and just focused on Ash Lumber.
That’s where my passion was, the same as my brothers’.
She was the oil to my water, but fuck did I love that. We might not mesh, but I knew we were perfect for each other.
So there I was, a celibate-by-choice lumberjack who wanted a woman who acted like I grated on her nerves. But it was the latter that got me off, turned me on like a fucking fiend. I couldn’t stop staring at her, not when she was bent over the fucking table, her pencil skirt so damn tight it was like a second skin. She was pointing something out to my brother Noah, papers and files strewn about. Her red hair blew around her shoulders lightly when the wind picked up, and I didn’t bother suppressing a groan.
As soon as I get home I’m taking a shower and beating one off to the image of her spread out on my bed, her pussy on display, her moans and cries for me to fuck her filling my head. I’d spread her pretty thighs, see how wet she was for me, how primed. Then I’d eat her out, devour her, and take her flavor into the very essence of my body. She’d be mine, and no other man would touch her.
I shook my head and clenched my teeth, the possessive urge so fucking intense it was hard to even see straight. I wanted Andra, no doubt, but having her as only mine? Hell, that was a forever kind of thing. I didn’t even know her, and if she knew how much I craved her she’d think there was something definitely wrong with me.
And then she looked over at me, her hair falling over one shoulder, her green eyes so fucking gorgeous I could see them sparkling even from where I stood. She didn’t show any emotion, but I could see she was curious, maybe even trying to hide her expression from me. I grinned, a shit-eating one if I was being honest, and she narrowed her eyes at me. I felt a laugh build in my belly, because she was pissed that I got under her skin. But instead of letting it spill forth, I grinned wider and winked at her.
I watched as she straightened and faced me, her hands on her tucked-in waist, her lips pursed. Maybe she was used to men submitting to her? Maybe she was used to holding the cards and being dominant in the big city. Well, here there were no men in suits. There were hardworking lumberjacks that slung logs around for a living. If she thought I could be easily molded, she was sorely mistaken.
But then again, it would be fun as hell to show her exactly how a man really handled a woman...in bed and out.
Andra
I tried to not let Liam Ash bother me, but God, he was so damn annoying.
In the best of ways, in ways that get under my skin, that make me want to see how far I can push him.
I turned away from him and focused on the task at hand, on the work that I was getting paid to do here. I brought my latte to my lips and took a sip of the scalding hot liquid. I was at the job site, observing the Ash Lumber development. This was a big project for the small town of Rockbridge, one where hundreds of new jobs would be available, and where my new office would be located. I wasn’t too happy about having to relocate and start up the new firm in a small town, but with the tourist population in Rockbridge booming, the real estate company I worked for wanted to cash in.
I should have been paying attention to the setup, how things were actually being built; making sure it was to the specifications of the blueprints. But I kept finding my focus drifting to Liam, co-owner of Ash Lumber, and a man who drove me absolutely insane.
And made me wetter than any man ever has before.
I clenched my teeth and set my latte aside, afraid I’d end up curling my fingers too tightly around the Styrofoam and breaking the damn thing. Liam Ash was attractive, tall and big, muscular in the way that a hard-working man was. He was so unlike any man I’d ever come across. He didn’t wear suits, wasn’t in shape from going to the gym every day after the office. He worked with his hands, slinging large pieces of lumber around like they weighed nothing.
He was all man, and so masculine that I actually felt ultra feminine around him.
But he was arrogant, knew he was attractive. And he used that attitude on me like it would make a difference, like it would have me dropping my panties and begging him to fuck me.
And I’d only admit it to myself...but I wanted him to fuck me. God, I wanted him to fuck me like I’d never been fucked before.
Truth was, I was just as stubborn as he was, and even though I wanted him, even if I would have gotten undressed and gotten in his bed if he’d asked, the whole game we played was far more fun. He thought his charm and good looks, his cocky attitude, would get him in my pants. He was wrong.
If he really wanted me, he’d have to wo
rk at it.
But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find it hard to resist him. The bickering back-and-forth over small things regarding the development turned me on more than it frustrated me.
But I could play hard to get really damn well.
Chapter Two
Andra
I stared at the mountain of boxes that filled the living room. The townhouse I was living in for the foreseeable future was one of the newer developments to have been built in town over the last five years. It was in a quiet neighborhood, one I could see myself staying in for a few years before I moved on. There was no homesickness for the bustling city, not when I had the thick forest right outside my back door.
Some people hated city life, and others tolerated it. I, on the other hand, thrived there. The people, the buildings, even the crazy-ass traffic called to me. It gave me purpose, had given me the energy I needed to be a fast-working, hard-as-nails businesswoman. The city could be a very negative place to live, but the architecture, the culture of Denver, all of that balanced out. It had been my home for so long.
Not anymore. This is where I’ll start new, where I’ll build myself up again.
I sat in the center of the living room and pulled one of the boxes close to me. I opened it up and stared inside. There were pictures of friends and I couldn’t help but smile. I didn’t have too many people in my life who I was close with, but the few that meant a lot to me I cherished. I made sure to bring those memories to Rockbridge instead of keeping them in a storage facility like I did with a lot of my shit.
I’m not sure why I didn’t want to bring my two-thousand-dollar loveseat with me, or why I kept all my evening gowns from the company functions I’d attended in that same storage facility. It was as if I knew I would never need them here, that I was, in a sense, starting over.
Denver life was sure of a hell lot different than living here, in this small town, with a certain sexy lumberjack making me wish I could just give myself over. But I was too stubborn, too headstrong in the way I wanted things, in the way I wanted my life to go.
But I couldn’t lie and say I didn’t fantasize about just letting loose, having Liam take over, control the situation. I’d been the one who had always had control in my adult life, and for doing it for so long, it was second nature to me. It was like a tattoo permanently etched on my skin.
Not permanent. You just have to let yourself be free, to experience those what-ifs.
The what-ifs, as if I could just ignore them and go in blind.
But, as much as the unknown scared me, I actually anticipated what the future held, what Rockbridge would bring for me.
Liam was certainly getting under my skin and making me rethink everything, making me want to try something new, break free from my norm. And I didn’t know if I liked that. I certainly wasn’t comfortable with it.
I pushed my thoughts on Liam aside, well as much as I could, and thought about the life I’d left back in the city. It wasn’t like I’d left much, not when I really thought about it.
The friends I’d made along the way had been just as career driven as me, so we’d gotten along very well. There wasn’t any friendly bullshit to be shared, not really. And the few moments we shared, the times we let loose and got a few drinks after work, well we’d still been business focused and our conversations mainly revolved around that.
Yeah, I hadn’t left that much back where the buildings surrounded me, and the sound of cars honking was my alarm clock.
I reached in, grabbed one of the picture frames and stared at it. Meghan had been the first person I’d gotten close with when I started working for the company. The smile on my face was genuine, but also because I’d had three glasses of champagne. Meghan had been the “bad influence” I needed, the one person who didn’t care about being prim and proper, even if shit needed to get done. She was successful because she didn’t give a fuck, because she had no restraints. I, on the other hand, had this wall around me. I smiled at the picture once more before setting it aside. That night had been so much fun, mainly because I hadn’t let myself be the businesswoman who had to keep up appearances.
I leaned back against the couch, stretched my legs out, and looked at everything: the furniture that wasn’t mine, but that came with the place I was renting, the empty walls because I only had a handful of pictures to hang up. I realized how empty it was. It had nothing to do with the fact I hadn’t really unpacked, and everything to do with the fact that I’d isolated myself so much over the years.
I stared at the picture of Meghan and me again, taken so many years ago. Meghan had since moved to New York to pursue a better position at a top-rated firm. Our conversations dwindled as the years went by, until it had been far too long since I’d seen or spoken to her.
Resting my head back on the cushion, I stared at the ceiling. Liam came to mind. He infuriated me with his arrogance, but when I was around him, I didn’t feel so alone. It was crazy to think of, to realize that being beside him made me feel things I never had before.
I closed my eyes and exhaled. I don’t know what was wrong with me, or why Liam got under my skin the way he did. I didn’t know him, but I wanted to, desperately. I said I’d play hard to get, that I’d make him try really hard to get me into bed, but the truth was I was tired of pretending with him. It was exhausting, acting like he pissed me off. He did piss me off, but it was one of the reasons I wanted him as badly as I did.
My alarm on my cell went off and I grabbed it from the couch cushion. I had to be at the building site in half an hour to go over the blueprints once more. Although technically the company should have had the architect deal with it, I was a little honored they trusted me to make sure everything stayed on track and on time. And because I was heading to the jobsite, my heart started beating a little faster, a little harder. I knew who would be there, and it was seeing one burly, sexy lumberjack that had my pulse racing. I needed to keep my cool, though, because acting like a hormonal teenager wasn’t what I was going for. If he could play it cool, so could I.
At least I hoped I could.
Liam
I wouldn’t have given a shit anyway. I had blue balls over a woman who acted like I was gum under her stiletto.
And fucking hell, that turns me on.
I should be working, not checking on a sassy-mouthed little redhead who made my blood boil in the best, if not most frustrating of ways.
I could see her speaking with Noah and Johnny. Truth was it was hard to concentrate when Andra was around. No one and nothing had ever affected me the way she did. I was already obsessed with her. I set my tools aside and walked over to where she stood with my brothers, blueprints spread across the table, as Noah leaned over and was pointing out things to Andra.
“This is where the east side will connect with the rest of the buildings. We already have the frame up.” He straightened and pointed to the area off in the distance.
“How much longer before all the framework is done?” Andra asked, her voice soft yet firm. She came from the city, and her demeanor told me she was used to getting what she wanted. Rockbridge might be a small community, but I sure as hell would show her I wasn’t some weak man who didn’t know how to take control. And I had a feeling she needed that, wanted that even.
I was a patient man, but I was hard as a fuck for that woman. I’d never wanted someone as much as I wanted Andra. She got under my skin, grated on my nerves, but that’s what I desired most in her...that strong will of hers that could drop me to my knees, and have me worshipping the ground she walked on.
Chapter Three
Andra
Having him so close to me, feeling the slight brush of his arm against mine, had my blood rushing through my veins. I was stubborn; I could admit that. And although I fought hard to pretend like Liam didn’t affect me, he did, so much that it was driving me crazy.
He was standing so clo
se to me he ate at my personal space. But to be honest, I liked it, even if I pretended I didn’t. I was used to getting what I wanted, used to not letting anyone step all over me. It was how I’d climbed the business ladder to where I was at now, making six figures a year and starting up a brand-new development.
For many years I’d let other people dictate how things would play out. My father telling me what I should do, where I should go to school, what I should major in. Professors and employers telling me I wasn’t good enough, that I’d never amount to much if I didn’t bend and submit.
There had been a point in my life where I said enough is enough. I’d refused to submit. I was my own person, was successful, and because of that I’d grown a thick skin, built a wall around me. And I would never change for anyone, not even a man who made me desire him in ways I’d never experienced before.
I was only partly listening to what Noah was saying, which kind of pissed me off. I needed to be focused, to concentrate on the task at hand. That’s why I was in Rockbridge, not to slip into bed with some burly lumberjack.
I tilted my head slightly, trying not to be obvious. But when I glanced at Liam I could see he was already watching me. I felt my face heat, my nipples hardening under my shirt, my pussy becoming wet. He held my gaze for as long as I held his. I watched as his pupils dilated, could see he was starting to breathe harder, heavier. I was affecting him in the same way he affected me.
Then both Noah and Johnny cleared their throats. I straightened, my back aching for how stiff I’d become. I glanced between his two brothers, refusing to look at Liam again. I was being unprofessional. I needed to put Liam out of my thoughts. I was here for a job, nothing else.
I say that, but at this point I know it’s a damn lie.
* * *
I rubbed my hand on the back of my neck and closed my eyes briefly. My eyes felt grainy from how long I’d been staring at the blueprints and the paperwork. Going over each detail so I could report back to the higher ups was strenuous at best. I straightened and braced my hands on my hips, arching just slightly so that I could get the kinks out of my lower back.
