When she finally met his eyes, the smirk on his face left no room for questions. She had been caught ogling her new client. She blushed like a school girl before turning her attention back to her assistant.
As Rebecca kept talking, Ashlee tried to signal her to stop, but apparently she was shit out of luck. “Oh, come on, you can’t tell me that you’ve never pictured having sex with the hot specimen of man that is Sam Brooks. Between us, Austin is more my type, but still, Sam is gorgeous, Ashlee, and you can’t deny it now because you’ve said the same thing after every event you saw him at…. Wait, why are you looking at me like that? Oh, no. Shit. Please tell me he’s not behind me right now.”
The sound of his laughter coming from the doorway echoed through her office. “I’m afraid he is, but please continue this conversation because I’m dying to hear Ashlee’s answer.”
God, even the man’s voice screamed sex.
Chapter Three
SAM
If someone had told him that he would be listening to Ashlee Daniels talk about him in a way that made the woman blush, he wouldn’t have believed it. Yet there he was, standing in the doorway, watching the woman he’d been dreaming about for months look at him like he was Christmas and her birthday all wrapped into one. He felt her eyes on every inch of him, slowly starting a fire he didn’t think could ever be put out. After the last couple of days he’d had, seeing Ashlee, hearing her soft voice, was like a balm soothing his soul.
A gentleman would have made his presence known to the petite blonde woman talking about him, but his curiosity got the best of him. When Ashlee’s eyes met his, he felt the connection down to his toes; there was something about her that called to every part of him. He smiled when her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, but her gaze never left his. Sam tilted his head to the side and gave Ashlee his best smile, holding back a laugh when she squirmed in her chair.
As her assistant kept talking, Sam found himself desperate to know Ashlee’s answer. Had she ever pictured having sex with him? Hell, that image was a permanent fixture of his imagination.
Her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail, and stray strands framed around her face. Her lips were painted in a light shade of red that brought more than one erotic picture to his mind, but it was the way she looked beyond the point of exhaustion that stood out the most to him.
He was used to seeing her happy and full of energy, but the Ashlee sitting in front of him seemed more delicate, almost fragile. He wanted to carry the weight of her burdens, to do whatever he could to have her feeling light as a feather again. There was no doubt about it—he was a goner for this woman.
“Oh, God, this is so much more than embarrassing. I mean, it’s not like you don’t know you’re really good-looking, and that women have sex-filled thoughts of you on a daily basis, but you probably don’t have women telling you that when you’re standing behind them…. And oh, God, I just told a client that my boss thought he was hot. I’m going to go take my foot out of my mouth now.” The blonde gathered her things from Ashlee’s desk before she whispered, “I’m sorry,” and dashed out of the office at the speed of light. But his eyes never left Ashlee’s.
Whatever she was thinking, she hid it well because he couldn’t make out the expression on her face. “She’s a firecracker,” he told her, pointing out to where her assistant was now sitting, talking to herself. He smiled because what else was there to do? This wasn’t a situation he had ever been in the middle of before.
“Oh, she’s something all right. I’m sorry you heard all that.”
He took a few moments to really look at her. Her cheeks were pink, her breathing a bit heavier than normal, and her eyes were trying to stay on his face but they kept going to his chest. She was attracted to him. Well damn, how had he never seen that before? Suddenly, all his trips to the gym didn’t feel like a waste of time, not if it got her to look at him like she was right then.
“I’m not. You still haven’t answered her question though. So, Miss Daniels, have you pictured having sex with me?” He leaned back, spreading his legs out in front of him, and he caught her eyes drifting down to his dick. Oh, yeah, she’s pictured it. He wondered if she was picturing it right then, because he would have no problem bending her over the desk and fucking her until she screamed his name.
“Telling you that would be highly unprofessional, don’t you think?” She fumbled with a strand of her hair, and he made a mental note that she did so when nervous. He had plans to know everything about the woman sitting in front of him. He might have arrived fighting his attraction to Ashlee, but he damn sure knew that when he left, he was taking her with him.
“Honey, you don’t have to say the words. Your body’s doing all the talking for you.” They were going to be working together, spending a lot of time together, so playing with their mutual attraction was a stupid idea, but he couldn’t help himself. He hadn’t reacted to a woman in a very long time, but the intensity Ashlee evoked in him was something he was quickly realizing he didn’t want to live without.
Her cheeks flushed some more, and he watched her bite down on her lower lip, another tell that her thoughts were right there along with his. “Since you already know the answer, maybe we can pretend like this never happened and move on to why you’re really here.”
If she thought he could pretend for even one second that the last five minutes hadn’t happened, she obviously didn’t know him very well. “How do you know what I’m really here for?”
“I highly doubt you came to Atlanta just to hear me say that I’ve pictured having sex with you, Sam.” Did she really think that? Hell, he’d fly across the fucking ocean to hear those words out of her mouth.
“You highly underestimate what the power hearing those words have over a man.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. It’s good to see you, Sam.”
For a brief second, he was a little hurt that she was changing the angle of the conversation, but when he saw how genuinely happy she was to see him, the hurt was quickly replaced by pride.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t had women in his life who had said those same words to him, but for some reason, he didn’t think any of them really meant them the way Ashlee did right then. There was something about the woman that screamed honesty and pure kindness, a rare combination in his world.
“It’s been too long, Ashlee.” Why the hell did I just say that? He could write a song about love, lust, and romance, but he couldn’t filter his own brain.
“It’s only been about a month.”
It was easy for him to figure out that she was trying to downplay how happy she was to see him, and he didn’t like that at all. He wanted her to be free and open with him; he didn’t want her hiding anything.
He put the brakes on his thoughts; he was getting so far ahead of himself it wasn’t even funny. Yeah, sure, she was obviously attracted to him physically, but there were no guarantees that she would feel the same way once she got to know him. A woman like that didn’t need the kind of demons he was carrying, but he knew he would never be able to stay away. “Exactly… too long.”
She tried to hide the shock on her face as he spoke, but he caught it just in time before she camouflaged it with her “let’s get down to business” face. “Well, looks like that won’t be a problem now.”
“I guess not. You look tired. Everything okay? I heard about your dad and your mom. I’m really sorry.” When he saw her fighting back tears, he felt like a world-class asshole for bringing it up, but he didn’t want her to think he didn’t care, because he cared a whole lot more than she knew. He cared a lot more than a man like him should.
He covered her hand where it rested on her desk with his own. She gasped when he touched her, pulling her hand from under his so fast he didn’t even see it coming. “Thanks. It’s been rough, but I’m okay. But hey, you didn’t come here to hear me talk about my problems. Let’s hear more about this project of yours.”
ASHLEE
; She was going crazy with lust; that had to be the only reasonable explanation as to how she was feeling right then. She couldn’t believe Sam Brooks was actually flirting with her. Sure, they’d always had friendly exchanges and nice conversations, but he had never flirted this much with her. Until today.
She was going to kill Rebecca for outing her, even if she hadn’t known Sam stood right behind her. Things couldn’t get weird between them since they were going to work together, and that meant no sleeping together, no touching each other, and definitely no flirting.
When she’d felt his hand on hers, her skin had come alive. She always thought it was stupid when women said they felt a touch throughout their body—well, the joke was on her because she felt it down to her toes. She pulled her hand away as fast as she could, and when she looked at him, he was just as taken aback as she was. At least I’m not the only one affected.
Not that it meant anything. Sam was her client, and she couldn’t go down that road with him, no matter how much she wanted to.
“The project, right… I just have to ask, did you feel that too, or was it just me?”
Ashlee weighed her options before answering him. She could lie, tell him she had no idea what he was talking about, but she wasn’t a liar. Or she could tell him the truth and put a piece of herself out there.
“It wasn’t just you.” She couldn’t even look at him as she answered.
What kind of coward was she? When he didn’t push it any further, she let out a breath of relief, but the intensity in his eyes when she looked back at him caught her off guard. There was something primal, instinctive in the way he stared at her.
This is not good. Not good at all.
“Good, now that we cleared that up, let’s talk about the project. You already know the band has a strong commitment to philanthropy, and that we do our best to get involved in as many things as we can and donate as much as we can. The last couple of years, I’ve been spending a lot of time volunteering with a network of community centers that operate around the country. They work with at-risk teens and youth to keep them off the streets and away from drugs. They just found out that they’re going to lose their federal funding, and they’re facing the risk of being shut down. We thought we could start our own charitable project that would help fund the centers, and maybe help them expand their activities and reach. Maybe we could even open a few new ones where there’s a need for it.”
The last thing she expected was to see him more passionate than she ever had as he explained the situation to her. It was obvious this project was extremely personal to him, and she couldn’t help but wonder why. In her line of work, she quickly learned that the most passionate people were also the ones with the deepest scars, and she had a feeling the scars of the man sitting in front of her ran pretty deep. From the exterior, Sam Brooks wasn’t the type who came off as having a dark past, but the minute you actually stopped to look at the man behind the rock star, you knew there was a lot more than the eye could see.
“So, what do you think?”
When she heard his question, she realized she had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t said anything yet. She gathered herself, reflecting on what he had just shared with her.
The idea was much larger than anything she’d expected, and she wasn’t sure if he understood the amount of work and the level of commitment something like that would require. “Sorry, I was just thinking about how passionate you are about this. I think the idea behind what you want to do is great, but I have to ask, are you sure you want to do this? A lot of people come into my office with the idea of starting their own nonprofit and then about five minutes into me explaining to them what goes into starting, maintaining, and developing a charity, they run out with their tail between their legs.”
He laughed. He actually laughed at what she was saying, and she didn’t know if she should join him or punch him in the nose. However, she would never forget the sound of his laughter.
She watched as he moved closer to her desk and leaned over so their faces were inches away from one another. If she moved an inch forward, she could find out what he tasted like, what his kiss would feel like. Shit, I really need to get a grip.
“I’m not the running type, Ashlee. When I want something, I don’t stop until I have it.”
She swallowed as she saw the intensity play out in his eyes, and she suddenly felt like they weren’t just talking about the project anymore. “And you want this?” she asked him, scared to find out what his answer would be.
Her eyes were glued to his throat as he swallowed, and then his lips. Oh, God, how she wanted to kiss those lips but she couldn’t… she shouldn’t….
“More than you know.” The sound of his whispered answer was like a velvet touch on her skin.
He moved closer to her, but they were interrupted by a knock on her door. He rested his forehead on hers and sighed.
“Sorry to interrupt, but you have a phone call from the IRS, something about the registration letter for one of your clients.”
Rebecca smiled at her when she saw the position they were in, and it reminded her of why playing with fire meant you were bound to get burned. This was her job, her life’s work, and sleeping with a client would damage her reputation to the point of no return. With her mother’s bills and everything else going on, she couldn’t afford that kind of backlash.
“Okay, thanks, Rebecca.” Turning to Sam, she said, “I’m sorry, but I have to take this call.” And put some distance between us. He looked like he was debating what to say next, and that didn’t put her at ease; if anything, it made her even more nervous.
“No problem. Come to Nashville for a few days. You can stay with me and we can talk about the project, get to know each other and really get started on this. You can meet the rest of the guys, and see Trish. I want you to meet the man who runs the center in Nashville. He’s the reason we’re doing all of this.” He took a few steps back, giving them both the distance they needed to reel in the sexual energy floating in the room.
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.” The words came out of her mouth so fast it was a sure giveaway that she didn’t trust herself to be alone with him. Something she was going to have to get over sooner rather than later.
“I don’t bite, Ashlee. Well, not unless you want me to.”
Is it getting hot in here or is it just me? The image of Sam biting her neck had her squirming in her seat, and by the smile on his face, he knew exactly what she was thinking about.
“See, that’s why I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she told him as she gestured between the two of them. Plus there was her mom to think about.
“I promise to be on my best behavior. This project means a lot to me, and I won’t fuck it up no matter how bad I want to…. And believe me, I want to so fucking much.”
Now that was a feeling she could understand, but she couldn’t let her lust-filled thoughts get the best of her. Her mom would be fine for a few days, right? “Okay, I’ll come to Nashville.”
SAM
Still feeling the high he got every time he was around Ashlee when he reached his hotel room, he quickly changed into workout clothes and headed for the gym. Working out was more than just a way to keep in shape; it was a way for him to exorcise some of his demons. He hopped on the treadmill and set it up for a climb run, desperate to push himself further. Between the memories of his dad and his reaction to Ashlee, he was feeling out of control, and he needed to get it back. He ran as hard as he could, sweat dripping down his face and soaking his shirt. With every passing mile, he felt calmer, and when he reached ten miles, he was finally balanced again. He grabbed his towel and wiped his sweat-soaked face just as his cell phone started ringing.
“Sam Brooks,” he answered, breathless.
“Mr. Brooks, my name is Alexander Smith. I’m calling from the Tennessee Parole Board.”
Sam’s whole body tensed as the man introduced himself, because he could only be calling about one thing
. “What can I do for you, Mr. Smith?” he managed to ask through the cloud of anxiety spiraling around him.
“I’m calling to let you know that Jack Brooks has a parole hearing in two weeks.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Mr. Brooks has had an impeccable inmate record, which has led the parole board to hear his request for early release on good behavior.”
The man spoke with such ease it fueled Sam’s anger. “He tried to kill two people and you’re giving him a chance for early release?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“People can change, Mr. Brooks.”
Sam couldn’t hear any more bullshit. “Not him,” was all he said before hanging up. He rubbed his hands over his face and, after a few minutes of silence, set the treadmill for another five miles.
Chapter Four
SAM
If the anxiety that had been building inside him for the past week was any indication of what was ahead working with Ashlee, this was going to be his own personal hell. He still couldn’t believe he’d invited her to stay with him. He blamed it on a moment of insanity, provoked by being in close proximity to the one woman he wanted, but couldn’t have. As much as he tried to forget the way her body reacted to his, how close he’d come to tasting her lips, he couldn’t get her out of his damn mind.
Having her under his roof, knowing she would sleep in the room right next to his, had him in a permanent state of arousal. He had taken more cold showers in the past week than ever before in his life, but no matter how many times he got off to the image of Ashlee naked in his bed, it didn’t help one bit.
He hesitated as to what car he should take to get her at the airport. He wanted to impress her, but he wanted her to be impressed by him, not by what his money could buy, so he opted for his old Chevy truck, hoping she wasn’t expecting a BMW. Although, he didn’t think she was the kind of woman who could be bought with shiny things. A person didn’t do her kind of work for the money; they did it because deep down in their soul, helping people was a part of who they were.
Saved by the Music (Saints & Sinners Book 2) Page 4
