She glanced up at him and went on her tiptoes so she could whisper her reply in his ear. He tightened his hold on her, waiting for her words. “No, but her daughter might.”
He nipped her earlobe and suddenly his hand was on her ass, bringing her closer to him. He was pretty sure he was going to be wearing marks on his chest.
“Um, guys, we’re all still here.”
The second they heard Mike’s voice, she pulled away from Sam so fast his head was spinning. Well, fuck. He was so far gone he’d forgotten they weren’t alone. But she looked so fucking beautiful with her face flushed, her eyes drowning in lust, that he couldn’t force himself to feel bad.
“I am so sorry. Oh, God, that wasn’t supposed to happen. I have to go… make a call.”
He watched her head upstairs, and that was when the guilt hit him. She’d made him promise that he was going to be on his best behavior, yet he’d mauled her the first chance he got in front of the people she was working for. I’m such a fucking idiot.
“Okay, I’m not one for voyeurism, but that was fucking hot. Didn’t think you had it in you, Brooks.” Austin was smiling ear to ear, which didn’t fucking help the situation.
“Shut up, Austin. This isn’t fucking funny.”
“No, but it was hot as hell. Maybe we should have let you two keep going at it right here in your living room.”
It was more than hot. He felt like his skin was on fire, and God knew what would’ve happened if Mike hadn’t intervened when he did. “You’re an asshole, you know that, man.”
“So you got carried away. What’s the big deal?” Tyler asked.
Sam ran his hands over his face, trying to get himself in check.
“The big deal is that Ashlee isn’t that girl. She’s worked hard as hell to build her reputation, and her business. She never mixes her professional and personal life, and I’m getting the feeling that they both collided when Sam went to Atlanta,” Jarrod explained.
“When the hell did you become Yoda, Banks?” Sam asked his best friend, unable to hide the laughter in his voice.
“I married a smart woman, what can I say? Seriously, she’s confused as hell right now. Anyone with a brain can see that.”
“I promised her I would be on my best behavior and then I attack her with you guys around. This is a fucking nightmare.”
“Okay, you need to take a step back, dude. Yes, you got a little carried away, but hey, it happens to all of us. It’s obvious to everyone here that you guys have enough chemistry to burn this place down, and that’s something you can’t fight. But Ashlee’s been hurt in the past, man, and she doesn’t trust easily. Plus, with her mom being sick and her having money problems, the last thing she probably wants right now is to dump that on you. And before you say you want to help her, you have to understand that Ashlee’s the girl who’s always there for everyone else, but when she needs something, she doesn’t ask for help. And the times when she did… well, help didn’t come. All her life, she’s worked her ass off not to be a burden to anyone, always taking care of her family, so having someone as intense as you showing her how the other half lives is scary as fuck for her right now.”
Two questions popped into his mind. First, how the hell did Jarrod know so much about Ashlee, and second, how did she manage to shine a light so bright on others when no one shined it back on her? But the one thing that stuck was something about money problems. Why didn’t he know about that?
He slammed his hand on the coffee table, sending old magazines to the floor. “What do you mean she’s having money problems?” Shit, this woman was getting under his skin, and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
Jarrod looked at him as if debating whether he should answer or not, and that just pissed Sam off even more. “Fuck, my wife is going to kill me for telling you this. Her mom’s hospital bills are getting higher and higher, and the insurance refuses to pay.”
Sam always had a hold on his anger, but thinking about the stress Ashlee was under was making it hard for him not to lose his shit. Why wouldn’t she ask Jarrod for help? Hell, why wouldn’t she just ask Trish? She had to know they would help her.
He felt a hand on his shoulder; looking over, he saw Austin glaring at him. “I’m sorry if I pushed the wrong button earlier, man. It’s clear you have feelings for this girl, and that you’ve been into her a lot longer than we know. I was out of line.”
He patted his friend on the back. “We’re good, Austin.”
The room fell silent, and then suddenly Mike was laughing his ass off.
Fuck, I love these guys.
And then Mike had to go and open his big mouth. “Dude, she’s fucking gorgeous. I mean, Trish is beautiful and sexy—sorry, Jarrod—but this one is like drop-dead gorgeous.”
The words left Sam’s mouth before he could stop them. “It’s her heart.” His eyes wandered over the four men staring at him like he was speaking a different language. “It’s her heart. She has a heart of gold, and this light about her that just draws you to her. That’s what makes her so stunning.”
“Oh, fuck me. You’re in love with this girl, aren’t you?” Tyler sounded so fucking amused with himself, and when Sam looked at Jarrod, he knew it wasn’t really a question—it was a fact, obvious to them all.
“Shut up, Tyler.”
I am so fucking screwed.
ASHLEE
She was absolutely certifiable. That was the only explanation as to why she let herself get carried away with Sam in front of the people she was going to be working with for the foreseeable future. How much more embarrassing could a situation get?
But when Sam’s hand was on her lower back, safety and security spread through her that she’d let her guard down. And then his lips were against her ear and she lost it… until Mike reminded them that they weren’t alone and she ran off like a little coward. But what else was she supposed to do? At least her room had a television to keep her occupied, but she was going stir-crazy not knowing what the guys thought of her.
With Jarrod, it was different because he knew things about her that would never make him think she took this job just to sleep with Sam. But the others knew nothing about her, and she hated the fact that they could think she was just another girl after the rock star. The truth was she was falling hard for the man, not the star, and she was kicking herself for choosing someone so far out of her league.
It was past eleven at night when she realized she was starving. She glanced at her shorts and tank top and decided it was going to have to do; after all, Sam was probably asleep or in the studio anyway.
She was halfway down the hallway when a side door opened and she ran straight into a six-foot-three half-naked and wet body. Her hands landed on his arms, which bulged at her touch. God, I love his arms, so big and strong. Her legs were between his, and when his hands settled around her waist, she let her body go limp. There was no doubt he was the only thing keeping her upright in that moment.
“Are you okay?” She knew he was asking her a simple question, but she couldn’t think of anything except the way her breasts would feel against his chest, how his skin burned under her fingers.
“Hmm,” she mumbled in a cloud of lust.
She traced circles on his arms, and God, she wanted to feel those arms around her.
“Ashlee, are you okay?”
When she heard her name, she managed to make her brain function enough to give him an answer. “Oh, yes… I’m fine.”
She took her time to really look at his body, from his feet to his strong thighs hidden under the towel, up to his broad, muscular chest, and back down to that little trail that went lower to what she could only guess would be a more than satisfying package.
“Enjoying the view, Miss Daniels?”
His voice made her blush, but she found the courage to look at him. She smiled when she saw how amused he was, and she loved that about him—the way he could make any situation feel lighter with just one look. “It’s kind of hard not to.”
I should let go, should turn around and go back to my room. She should’ve done all of those things but she didn’t move, not ready to let him go just yet. “What if I don’t want to?”
“Have a thing for my arms, do we now?” His hands traveled down her lower back, and she wanted him so bad, she thought she might combust in the hallway just from his caress.
“Hmm.” That was the understatement of the century, wasn’t it?
“Ashlee, you have to stop touching me or what happened downstairs will be nothing compared to what’s going to happen next.” His voice was hoarse, and she could see his pulse racing at his neck. She needed to know what would happen next. Just knowing what he would to do her would be enough to satisfy her, right?
“And what would happen next, Mr. Brooks?”
He grabbed her ass and pulled her flush against his chest. She could feel how hard he was. She wasn’t sure who moaned; all she could hear was the ringing in her ears. “I’d push you against this wall, grab your ass, lift you up then slip my hand down these fucking shorts and make you come so fucking hard you’d beg me not to stop.”
“I should have a witty comeback, shouldn’t I? Women always have a witty comeback for these types of things.”
Keeping one hand safely on her ass, the other traveled up her back, wrapping around her neck and forcing her to look at him.
“I don’t care about most women, Ashlee. I care about you.”
How was she supposed to resist the one man who made her feel both like a sexual woman and one who could be loved by him? She had to force her wall back up or else she was going to end up with a broken heart. “We can’t do this, Sam. I’m working for you, and I don’t mix my professional and personal lives. Ever.” She inwardly groaned at her words, knowing she’d instigated the teasing and flirting.
“Do you really think you can fight this?” He gestured between the two of them, and the only thing she could do was be honest with him.
She pulled away and, just before turning around to head back to her room, she whispered, “I have to try, Sam.”
SAM
For the past hour, he and Jackson had gone at it on the basketball court, and it was exactly what he needed to clear his head. His run-in with Ashlee was on replay and there was nothing like a good one-on-one session to free his mind.
After their game, they were both panting, chugging water back in Jackson’s office.
“What’s eating at you, son?” Jackson asked him from the other side of the room. Sam knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid Jackson’s questions for much longer, but he didn’t even know how to answer that one.
His exchange with Ashlee was still fresh in his thoughts. “Just have a lot on my mind.”
“That sounds like a girl problem. Has a woman finally made you fall?”
He looked up at Jackson, smiling at the man he considered to be a father. Jackson had seen him through more stuff than most people could imagine.
“She’s something else. She’s gorgeous, smart, and has the biggest heart of anyone I have ever met. She’s everything I thought I didn’t deserve.”
Jackson walked from around his desk and sat down beside him. “I don’t ever want to hear you talk like that again. You deserve a woman like that, and everything else. You’ve made something of yourself, son, something you should be proud of. Any woman would be lucky to have you in her life.”
“She’s scared of something. She won’t let me in.” He wanted her to share everything with him, which was hypocritical considering there was so much about himself that he was keeping from her.
“Neither are you. You have to learn to let people in, Sam. Bring her around here sometime. I’d love to meet her.”
He was letting her in… slowly. Wasn’t he?
He ran his hands through his hair and looked up at his mentor. “You’re going to love her, Jacks.”
God knows, I’m already falling in love with her.
Chapter Six
SAM
How the woman managed to be up at four thirty and stay up until midnight every night without dropping dead kept surprising him. Not that he should’ve been, of course, because she was full of surprises. But she wasn’t getting the upper hand this morning. When his alarm went off at four, he thought about throwing the damn thing out the window; how anyone could be that happy about getting up so fucking early was beyond him. Maybe it was the accumulation of years spent on the road, and living in the night, but he was a firm believer that no one should be forced to get out of bed before the sun shined its light on a new day. But he had a plan that morning, and that trumped his desire to stay in bed for a few more hours.
The last two days had been crazy, to say the least. Between tour rehearsals, recording studio sessions, and working endlessly with Ashlee on planning the band’s new charity, he seriously considered starting a love affair with coffee for the first time in his life.
The one thing that helped him get through the craziness was his and Ashlee’s workout sessions. The first day she suggested they work out together, he hadn’t put much thought into it, thinking she would do a quick ten minutes then storm out. But when she pushed him harder than he ever pushed himself, he realized this woman wasn’t done surprising him. Just another thing added to the list of why Ashlee was his perfect match.
He dragged his ass to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee for her. If he’d learned anything over the past two days, it was that she wasn’t the most agreeable person before her first cup of coffee—another thing he found adorable. Grabbing the flour and sugar from the pantry, he started the pancake mix. He didn’t consider himself the most domestic guy on the planet, but he knew how to get around a kitchen.
By the time she came down the stairs wearing her trademark jeans and a loose-fitting shirt, he had pancakes and fresh fruit ready, along with some fresh orange juice and a cup of coffee waiting for her on the kitchen table.
“You got up early to make all this?”
He took his time studying her face but couldn’t get a read on what she was thinking, making him a little uneasy. His ability to read people was something that had served him well most of his life, but with Ashlee, the easy road seemed off-limits. He wanted her to feel taken care of and appreciated, but maybe he had gone a little overboard with this whole breakfast idea.
“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I would make us breakfast.” He decided playing it safe was probably his best bet in this situation, but when she looked at him with doubt written all over her face, he knew she wasn’t buying it.
“You couldn’t sleep? Sam, you could sleep through a hurricane.” Her smile was quickly becoming his favorite thing to see.
“Okay, so maybe I set my alarm for four so I could cook you breakfast.”
She looked so damn adorable standing on the other side of his kitchen, holding her coffee cup and smiling like he had just given her the best gift in the world.
When she walked toward him, he was transfixed; he couldn’t move or breathe. When she was close enough for him to smell the orchid scent of her perfume, she rose onto her toes and kissed his cheek. He grabbed the counter behind him to keep himself from reaching for her. “This is really sweet, Sam. No one’s ever cooked me breakfast before.”
“Really?” he asked, in pure disbelief that no one had ever taken the time to give this blooming flower standing before him the attention she deserved. Was she for real? How could someone so sweet and lovable have gone her whole life without having someone cook breakfast for her? For a brief second, he saw a combination of shame and longing in her eyes, and he was pretty sure his knuckles were turning white from holding on to the counter.
When she took a few steps back and sat at the kitchen table, he finally released the counter. “I’m usually the one doing the cooking. Thank you.”
“It’s my pleasure
, honey.” He took the seat next to her, deciding if he could spend his day looking at her smiling like she was right then, he would be a happy man. Jarrod had told him that nothing came close to the high he felt when he was with Trish, which Sam was quickly starting to understand. Being with Ashlee was unlike anything else. He could just imagine how intense their connection would be the day they gave in to one another. She was so different than the other women who came into his life. For her, it wasn’t about private jets and luxury trips; all it took to make her smile like a kid in a candy store were the little things, and he loved that about her.
“Not only did you cook breakfast, but you made my favorite. I love pancakes.”
He watched her stack two pancakes on her plate and sprinkle them with fresh fruit before drizzling syrup. In that moment, he realized how far gone he was over this woman. He was getting hard just watching her eat; it was ridiculous.
He hesitated about telling her how he knew pancakes were her favorite, but he wasn’t much for white lies, so he told her the truth. “Trish might have mentioned that little fact.”
She looked up at him from under her lashes and damn, he wanted to kiss her so fucking bad. But she had made it clear that she couldn’t mix business and pleasure, and he had to respect that. “You talked to Trish about me?”
He laughed because of course he’d talked to Trish about her. His list of what Ashlee liked and didn’t like was much longer now, thanks to that conversation. “Are you going to be mad if I say yes?”
She moaned as she took a bite of her pancakes, and his cock responded to that sound like it was made for him. He kept his eyes glued to her lips as she licked the syrup from them.
This must be what torture feels like.
“Surprisingly, no,” she finally told him, her voice laced with an emotion he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
Saved by the Music (Saints & Sinners Book 2) Page 6
