by Kat Catesby
“I called his place on my last day in Colorado Springs, at a time I knew he’d be in work, and his new girl answered. I tried to warn her as best I could – she thought I was just some crazy ex ranting bullshit about her man. I begged her to stay safe and she hung up on me. I tried. But maybe he’ll treat her better?”
Fucking unlikely but she doesn’t need me to affirm that. Her ex is a piece of work but at least she’s now several hours away from his clutches and she has me and every cowboy on this ranch to protect her if David-the-asshole dares show his ugly face here.
“So that’s why my head is pre-disposed to passing out for longer periods of time,” she finishes and looks exhausted.
I nod at Jack to make himself scarce and he does so, having satisfied himself that Katie is in no further danger.
Once he’s out of earshot, I sit on Katie’s bed but still far enough away not to be intimidating.
“I want you to know that not all men are like that Katie. I’m hoping you saw that from your Dr. Greg and his friends? But I also want to apologize for what you saw earlier – I can understand that it probably brought up some troublin’ memories for you. I also need you to know that Carly one hundred percent consented to what happened in that guest bed. If you want to ask her about it then please feel free to do so.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want you to be comfortable here on the ranch and around me. I don’t want you to be afraid, especially not of me or of any of the things I’ve done. This ranch is a family and we’d like you to be a part of that. That means we’ll all have your back if you give us a chance.”
“Thank you,” she whispers.
“You’re very welcome. There’s one more thing,” I hesitate for a moment, wondering how she’ll take this next piece of information and praying it doesn’t freak her out. “There was a massive leak in your cottage in the upstairs bathroom. There’s a lot of water damage as it flooded the downstairs. Long story short, the cottage isn’t ready and it won’t be for a few weeks. The lodge is fully booked so I can’t put you in there –”
“I can commute from a B&B in town,” she cuts in.
“Don’t be daft, that’s an hour a day just driving to and fro. There’s plenty of space here in the ranch house. There are so many bedrooms and you can choose whichever one you want, as far away from me as you need. Whatever makes you comfortable.”
“Is there a room near you? That sounds like some awful proposition but I don’t really want to be down here with the sex room and spilling my guts as I did has left me feeling a bit raw. I don’t want to be alone in a place I don’t know.”
She’s taking this much better than anticipated and I have to actively try not to look surprised at her request to be near me…although I guess it makes sense that she doesn’t want to be alone after the hour she’s just lived through.
“The bedrooms upstairs are suites so you can take the one next to mine. It’s probably a good idea for you to take one of the bigger bedrooms instead of the smaller guest rooms downstairs anyway as you’re going to be here for a few weeks. Means you can unpack a bit without feelin’ too cramped.”
“Thank you.”
“How about we call your friend Maddie and have her come up here and stay overnight? That way you have your friend to make you feel better and she can keep you company tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? I thought I’d be working tomorrow?” Her face is slightly adorable when it’s scrunched up in confusion.
“You aren’t working until that head of yours is healed. Now, wait here a moment while I fetch you some pain relief for that headache you’re bound to have.”
Chapter Three
Katie
Half an hour later I’m dosed up on pain medication, been relocated to the suite next to Asher’s and Maddie is on her way having been called by the man himself.
The thumping in my head has mercifully been controlled to just a dull ache above my eye; I haven’t dared to look in the mirror yet to see if I have a lump swelling to the size on an egg on my forehead. Even if I do look that horrendous it won’t change anything; my insanely gorgeous and frighteningly kinky cowboy boss has already seen me at rock bottom…at least I fucking hope this is rock bottom.
I can’t see how the past few hours could’ve been much worse, short of being carted off to the ER, and as far as first impressions go, it couldn’t have gone any more sideways. I hum ‘The only way is up’ dryly to myself and decide to take a closer look at my surroundings before I psycho-analyze myself and my situation any further.
My room is gorgeous with an intricately carved wooden screen separating the sleeping area from the door and the sitting area with the most fantastic views of the mountains through floor to ceiling windows. The sun shining in illuminates every detail of the warm timber walls and floor covered with the softest faux fur rug. A gigantic bed dominates the wall opposite the windows so that the occupants can enjoy the stunning vistas in absolute comfort; seriously, it’s the most comfortable bed I have ever had the pleasure of being in. Add to that the fact that I was carried here by the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen and it’s fast becoming my favorite place.
Despite the overwhelming sexiness that is Asher Scott, I am wary of him and the intensity with which my body is attracted to him. I want to pass it off as purely a chemical response to the ultra-alpha-ness of his presence and physicality, but a warning voice is telling me there may be more to it than that.
And that can’t happen.
He’s my boss.
I can’t afford to not have this job because I made a move and the relationship went sideways, or worse, be nothing more than a one-night stand. I know I did the casual sex thing to get over my fear of sex post-David but I’m not the fling sort of girl and if I let Asher Scott into my panties, he’s going to work his way into my heart. I just know it. And no matter how small a piece of my heart he breaks, it’s a piece too far in my current state of recovery.
I’m also not even touching the fact that he likes it rough – how rough and how much of a dominant he is, I don’t know but even a little bit is too much for me.
I get the impression that he likes control from what I saw of him and Carly earlier and I don’t have it in me to give up my control to anyone, least of all to a man in the bedroom.
To the right of my temporary bedroom is a glorious bathroom with a slate flagstone floor, black marble countertops and with matching tiles in the huge walk-in waterfall shower, and a seriously inviting jacuzzi tub set into deep red timber, again positioned to maximize the view of the mountains. There are no other properties at the back of this ranch house so there is no fear of anyone catching a glimpse of nakedness while indulging in this tub.
I run the water and strip off so that I can soak away the crap of the last few hours; washing away all thoughts of Asher and his sex god body.
I need to get the man out of my system and fast.
“Katie?” his low voice calls out.
Shit.
“I’m naked!” I throw my palm to my face, why the fuck is that the first thing I shout out to him? Like its some goddam invitation? “I mean I’m in the bath! Don’t come in!”
“I have fresh towels for you. There are none in there. I was hoping to get them to you before you decided to clean up. Sorry.”
He could just dump them on the bed but making a wet, naked mad dash doesn’t appeal to me. The water is hot so by comparison, the room will feel freezing on my damp body. Not to mention the mess I’ll make dripping water everywhere whilst running for the towels.
I slump lower in the bath, making sure my breasts are well and truly not visible, leaving only my head above the surface.
“Um…okay…you can bring them in but don’t look at me.”
I peer over my shoulder as the door opens and Asher walks in, keeping his eyes to himself and placing one fluffy looking towel on a heated rail within reach of the bath and then storing the rest in a built-in cupboard near the sin
k.
The small gesture of leaving a towel to warm for me chips away at my resolve. I try not to focus on the way his jeans stretch tight around his perfect looking ass and muscular thighs as he bends over.
I don’t fail at many things but I fail in that. I stare…like some sex-starved stalker, I stare at my boss’ astonishing ass and remember what he looked like naked, the raw power of those muscles. Then a strange sensation of jealousy strangles me; why couldn’t it have been me on the receiving end, taking everything that powerful body had to give?
I’ve never had such a visceral reaction to someone I barely know and it’s more than just his looks, although I can’t rightly pinpoint exactly what else it is. No one, not even Maddie, compels me to open up the way I did to him. I could simply have told him that David hit my head repeatedly and left it at that but instead, I told him every sordid detail. As if Jack the doc wasn’t in the room and it was just me and Asher. Anything short of the absolute truth felt impossible. He demanded that level of honesty from me and I’m not even sure how he did it but he provokes something in me. Something responds to him against my better judgment; something that fires off my emotions in every extreme direction imaginable.
Seeing him with Carly ripped painful memories out of me and stoked my green-eyed monster at the same time. Watching him listen to my confession and seeing the rage for David in his molten brown eyes and the small acts of kindness he’s displayed in taking care of me inspire an intense, primitive and carnal desire for him. So powerful it frightens and confuses me.
Perhaps I’ve just hit my head really hard and this is all just in my banged-up mind?
Either way, the emotional extremes I’m being pulled in are exhausting me…not enough to dampen my wild thoughts of Asher though.
Currently, I’m imagining what would happen if I just stood up, glistening wet and naked and invited him to join me in this oversized bath so that he could scratch whatever insane Asher itch I’m hung up on.
I want this man’s mouth on me…his cock in me…his hands teasing me…I want to take it all and come screaming his name. And again, I’m thrown for another mental loop; how could I physically and emotionally want a man so fucking badly after reliving my nightmare only an hour ago?
My body is a traitor to my brain.
I audibly swallow past the thick, raw desire in my throat and Asher chooses that moment to turn and look at me – I know that my cheeks are heated from thoughts of him, my eyes are probably dilated with lust and I’m most certainly just staring at him…and now he’s seeing all of it.
“You said you wouldn’t look at me,” I croak out, my mouth dry.
“Fair’s fair,” he had me there, “plus you only asked that I not look at you, I never actually agreed to those terms.” He winks at me mischievously and I instantly melt, blush hard and smile back.
“Like what you see?”
What the fuck are you doing? My mind screams at me. I should not be flirting with my boss…before I’ve even done a day’s work no less!
Hunger flashes in those swirling eyes of his, making me squeeze my thighs together in response.
“I can’t actually see anything from where I’m standing, that’s why I looked over at you from this vantage point to make sure you’re okay. I’m not a total perv, especially as you did ask me not to look,” the flirtatious glint in his eyes dulls and he looks at me more tenderly. He was trying to be a decent guy and just wanted to make sure I was okay and that makes me want him more.
“Step closer then and maybe I’ll give you permission to be a perv.”
Shut up, shut up, shut up…stop propositioning your boss!
To my total and complete amazement, he takes several steps closer and looks down at me with those heated, hungry eyes and I know he can see my naked body now.
He crouches down and whispers in my ear, “I wouldn’t want to take advantage of a beautiful woman with a head injury.”
I blush crimson because he’s right. I’ve no right throwing myself at him when I can’t think straight. And how many flings with his employees should I really be encouraging. He was already balls deep in Carly earlier, I should not be fantasizing about him doing that to me in the same fucking day!
“Yeah…sorry…not thinking clearly,” I mumble through embarrassment. At least in the morning, I will be able to feign innocence and pretend that it was all my head injury and that I don’t remember a thing.
Just as that thought begins to comfort me, he whispers, “Of course. But if you are thinking clearly and feel the need to…ah…see to your needs, then make sure you’re thinkin’ of me.” His lips lightly graze my ear and I tilt my head involuntarily so that his lips move to the sweet spot where my ear meets my neck and gasp at the feather-light touch. “Maddie will be here soon, so you’ll need to be quick,” he whispers against my skin, setting me on fire as he stands and leaves the room.
What a goddam tease but I suppose he does need to mind his boundaries; how many girls can he take in a single day before he becomes a sexual lothario?
Even so, my fingers drift south to my clit; maybe if I just think of him this once while I climax it will be enough to get him out of my system?
I slip my middle finger inside myself, while my thumb continues to massage my clit, and curl it to rub against my front wall and the tight bundle of nerve endings making up my g-spot. My hips buck and I ride my hand harder and faster, the other hand teasing my nipples, imagining Asher’s fingers fucking my soaked pussy and his mouth on my breasts as his teeth graze and pinch my nipples. In less than a minute, I’m coming. Pleasure splinters through me, my body trembles, my cunt constricts around my finger as it gushes and I gasp Asher’s name.
Asher
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
That’s my name she’s gasping.
She actually did it…while thinking of me.
And now I’m hard.
Seriously hard.
But while my sexual morals are apparently quite loose, I am a man of my word; I will not take advantage of a beautiful woman. Period.
I shouldn’t have suggested what I did or brushed my lips against the silken heat of her neck given that I’m already in a bit of a mess because I screwed around with an employee. I’m walking a very fine line here but something about Katie is drawing me in like a moth to a flame; it’s hot and dangerous but I can’t seem to stop.
Her honesty, her big, innocent and open blue eyes and that pocket rocket body that fires my thoughts to the stratosphere. I can’t stop drinking in the curves of her petite body and the swell of those delicious, voluptuous breasts; the bathwater did little to obscure her insanely beautiful body and I had to crouch down to hide the semi that was starting to strain against my jeans.
Now here I stand in her bedroom, like some voyeuristic stalker, listening to her come while gasping my name. It didn’t take her long to climax either and I can’t help the ego boost I get from knowing thoughts of me got her there that quickly. Given what she told me about her ex an hour ago, I can’t believe she’d be in the mood at all. Again, the thought that I got her that aroused has me feeling smug and…possessive.
I want her pleasure.
All of it.
That’s the sort of dominant I am; I want ownership of her orgasms, to be the one in control of her releases. That’s why I’m fond of bondage – there’s little a woman can do but take the pleasure I give when she’s bound. I get off from the knowledge that I control the woman’s climax, not her. The act of coming is to lose control but to not even have the power over when that loss of control happens?
Pure sexual dynamite.
Watching a woman come undone around me while at the mercy of my body is so fucking erotic that was I a lesser man, I’d shoot my load early. That’s how hot it gets me. Knowing that I gave a woman that much pleasure is my bliss…I just have interesting ways of getting her there.
And I want to get Katie there.
I may not have had control over the orgasm she just had but
I did tell her to think of me…and she obeyed.
Chapter Four
Katie
As my body sags back into the warm bath water, my post-orgasmic glow is cut short when I hear Maddie’s voice calling out from downstairs.
Quickly I dry myself and dress in pajama shorts and a vest top. Asher has also left a sumptuous robe and blanket on the bed for me (more thoughtfulness that melts my heart) – I slip on the robe and sit on the bed with the blanket covering my feet as Maddie walks in.
She eye’s my surroundings, “Nice place you got,” she smirks and raises an elegant eyebrow.
“I bought it with my pocket money,” I laugh.
“Your boss is hot by the way.”
“Like I hadn’t noticed,” I reply dryly.
“Just checking the knock to your head didn’t mess with your eyesight,” her eyes dance with mischief.
Maddie brings her elegant, lithe body towards the bed and sits gracefully next to me. I’ve always admired that about my friend; her grace and elegance but it’s her wicked sense of humor that is a stark contrast to her demure, ladylike appearance that I love the most. She has the body and sensuality that reflects the amazing dancer she is, except her dance of choice is to throw herself acrobatically around a pole in a vision of empowered female sexiness. Maddie is a perfect conundrum, the ultimate ‘lady on the street but a freak in the bed’.
Physically we are quite opposite; her deep chestnut hair to my golden blond, her dark stormy eyes to my sky blue, her tall, lithe body to my petite curviness.
I’m not really petite, just everyone else around me is a giant. Asher is huge, Maddie is above average height and I’m just a bit below average height.
But opposites attract and Maddie and I have been inseparable since we met in college. She’s my rock, my strength and my partner in crime. We’d do anything for each other so, it’s no surprise that she made it here in record time in my moment of pain, need and acute embarrassment.
