The Wilde Side (12 page)

She nodded, unwilling to let Evan know just how bad her entire day had been. "I'm fine."

He eyed her speculatively, as if he didn't quite believe her, but didn't pursue the issue. "So, where are you off to?" he asked, then opened the door that led to the garage and motioned for her to precede him.

She slipped past Evan and started toward her car with him by her side. He'd asked the question casually, but there was enough subtle prying in his tone that told her his curiosity ran deep, which forced her to fib.

"I'm heading down to The Daily Grind for a mocha frappacino." And before he could invite himself along, she added quickly, "I'm meeting Diana and Heather there."

"Ahhh," he said, recognizing the names of her two good friends from her college days. "Another girls' night out?"

"Nothing too exciting," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, then unlocked her BMW with the press of the remote in her palm. "Just a cold drink on a warm evening and girl talk."

"Sounds entertaining." He sounded disappointed. He opened her car door and waited for her to slide into the leather seat before saying, "Have a nice evening, then."

"Thanks. I will." Ashley exhaled a long, deep breath as they went their separate ways, and she drove out of the parking structure and onto the main street. She headed toward the outskirts of the city and the same out-of-the-way bar she'd discovered last Saturday on her birthday.

God, what was she doing, sneaking around and fabricating excuses to continue seeing Scott on the sly, when there was a huge possibility that he might not want to see her at all, considering the cowardly and abrupt way she'd ended their phone call the other night?

Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel as she recalled the desperation in his tone when he'd asked her not to hang up ... and just how desolate and empty she'd felt after severing the call. But she'd panicked when he'd started asking questions she couldn't answer, and her defenses had kicked in.

She still wasn't prepared to bare her identity to him, wasn't willing to risk yet another scandal. But the fact remained, she couldn't stay away from Scott Wilde. He drew her like no other, made her feel vibrantly alive and sexy and as though she'd found a part of herself she'd lost a long time ago, at the hands of a man who'd used her for his own personal monetary gain.

Scott had become her greatest weakness, an addiction she didn't want to give up, an obsession that dominated her thoughts and threatened to consume her emotions. Her inability to resist Scott was a scary prospect when she had so much at risk, yet here she was, tempting fate and pushing her luck just one more time to be with him.

There was nothing she could do to stop the crazy, driving urge to see him again.

Scott's vehicle wasn't in the parking lot of Nick's Sports Bar, as she'd anticipated. Hoping beyond hope that he was at least home, she headed toward the suburbs and navigated his neighborhood by memory. Fifteen minutes later she pulled into his driveway beside his company work truck.

She was relieved that he was there, nervous as all get out for arriving so spontaneously on his doorstep, and equally anxious to see him again, in the flesh, no phone lines or thousands of miles of distance separating them.

She turned off the car's engine and closed her eyes as a shiver of anticipation coursed through her. She knew what would happen once she left the safety of her car and Scott answered his door, knew that she'd do whatever it took to feel Scott's mouth on hers, his hands on her body, and him stroking deep inside her.

It was what she wanted, what her body and soul craved.

Stepping from the vehicle, she tossed her keys into her purse and made her way up the familiar brick walkway to the front porch, which was dark and shadowed, though she could see that lights were on in the house through the frosted glass on either side of the door. With her heart beating triple time in her chest, she knocked, then waited.

It seemed an eternity passed before the porch light flicked on. Then the door opened, and Scott stood before her, wearing only a pair of soft, faded jeans that were slung low on his hips, nothing else. His features were just as gorgeous as she remembered, but his lean jaw was clenched tight. His dark hair was a disheveled, enticing mess around his head, as if he'd repeatedly combed through the strands with his fingers and left them to fall where they may. He looked so sinfully sexy he literally took her breath away and made her ache in a way no man had ever managed with just a searing, sloe-eyed glance of those devastating blue eyes of his.

The dreams and fantasies of Scott that she'd spun over the past week paled in comparison to the real thing.

With deceptive laziness, he folded his arms across his broad, bare chest and leaned casually against the door frame, his entire demeanor cautious, his guard in place, not that she blamed him for being standoffish with her. She hadn't exactly inspired his confidence the last time they'd spoken, and his indifference was exactly what she deserved, no matter how much she hated being on the receiving end of his aloof attitude when she needed his warmth, his caring, his uncanny ability to make her feel so calm amidst the many burdens that weighed heavily on her conscience.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his husky tone giving away the fact that he wasn't as unaffected by her presence as he'd like her to believe.

She bit her bottom lip and opted for honesty. "I just needed to be with you."

A muscle in his cheek twitched, and a spark of anger flashed in his eyes at her presumption that he'd welcome her so openly, so eagerly, when she'd given him so little to believe in.

"Ashley—"

Her hand shot out, splaying against his hard, virile chest, her impulsive reaction effectively cutting off whatever he'd been about to say ... and Ashley had a sinking feeling that his next words hadn't been an invitation into his house.

"Don't tell me no, Scott," she pleaded, knowing she'd never survive the rejection when she needed him so badly tonight. "Let me in.
Please
."

He must have heard the raw emotion in her voice, because something in his expression softened, and he took a step back, then another, with Ashley matching him stride for stride until they were standing in the dim foyer and the door closed securely behind them.

Without another word, she slid her flattened hand up his taut chest, along his shoulder, and curled her fingers along his nape. Silently, she pulled his mouth down to her parted lips and kissed him – soft, lush kisses that grew hotter, wetter, more daring – until with an unrefined groan of surrender he responded – thank God! – opening the floodgates straight to heaven.

She might have started out as the aggressor, but Scott clearly intended to take charge, and she gladly let him. He backed her up against the nearest wall and pressed his hard, fully aroused body against hers as his mouth claimed and devoured with ravenous greed. He cupped her hips in his hands, his fingers biting into her flesh through the flimsy cotton of her skirt as he shifted her closer, then slid the muscular length of his thigh between her legs, forcing them apart, forcing her to endure the strong, steady rhythm and friction against her sex.

She felt the rush of her immediate moistening, and the heat between them flared with startling suddenness – like a flame touched to dry kindling – making her burn like a wildfire out of control. An orgasm beckoned, but just as her climax began its slow, climbing ascent, Scott pulled his mouth from hers and quit moving his leg, leaving her on the verge of an exquisite release.

Breathing hard, his eyes blazing hot, he held her heavy-lidded gaze with his own and began unfastening the buttons on her blouse, his fingers stroking her skin, the swell of her breast, the deep valley in between, as he slowly made his way downward to her stomach.

He dragged the sides of her blouse down her arms, along with the straps of her bra, until both caught in the crooks of her arms. Then he pushed the lacy cups down, freeing her full, aching breasts to his gaze. Her nipples tightened painfully, and she arched her back until the tender peaks scraped across his naked chest.

The sensation jolted her, teased her, but that brush of contact wasn't enough. "Scott," she moaned, flushed and panting with the excruciating need to experience
more
.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I'm going to give you exactly what you came here for." Lowering his head, he gently bit her plump lower lip, then soothed the sting with the damp, silky caress of his tongue before moving his mouth up to her ear.

"I'm going to fuck you," he said, his voice hoarse and rough and wholly male. "With my fingers, then my mouth, and finally, my cock."

She whimpered at his shocking, thrilling declaration and almost came right then and there, with nothing more than his unrefined words fueling her imagination.

He thrust and gyrated his hips against hers, making the hard length of his erection, and exactly what he intended to do with it, known. "That's what you want from me, isn't it?"

Shamelessly, she did want all that lust unleashed on her. "Yes."

He framed her jaw in his big hands, holding her steady as he tipped her face up to his. The bright flare of hunger in his stare and the dark, edgy beauty of his aroused expression stole her breath and incited another surge of liquid heat between her thighs, priming her for what lay ahead.

"Then say it, Ashley," he demanded gruffly. "Say you want me to fuck you ... hard and fast and so deep you'll scream my name when you come. And if that's not what you want, then leave now, because it's about to get down and dirty between us, and quick."

"Then do it," she dared.

A mocking smile twisted his lips, and it was obvious that he wasn't going to let her off so easy.
"Say it,"
he ordered.

She licked her lips, swallowed to ease her dry throat, and gave him what he asked for. "Fuck me," she whispered, wicked words that had never passed her lips with any other lover, but felt so perfectly right with Scott.

The last thing she saw was the satisfaction in his gaze before he captured her lips with his, and this time the kiss was hard, fierce, and deeply carnal right from the initial onslaught. She felt his primitive need to be in control, to dominate, to possess her completely. It was exactly what she craved, and she gave herself to him freely, without inhibitions, holding nothing back.

He continued to plunder her mouth with the hot, voracious sweep of his tongue, making her melt, inside and out. His hands dropped to the hem of her skirt, which he impatiently shoved up to her waist before curling his fingers into the sheer, lacy material of her panties and tugged, hard, ripping the insubstantial scrap of material right off her hips.

She gasped in shock, and he swallowed the sound as his palm skimmed up her quivering thigh with driving purpose. Two long, thick fingers delved between her slick nether lips and kept right on going, until those same fingers were filling her up and his thumb strummed across her pulsing clit.

Wrenching his mouth from hers with a low growl, he bent his head to her breast and latched on to a nipple, biting her softly. He suckled her, hard and strong, creating a tugging, rippling sensation that spiraled down to where his fingers were stroking and gliding within her. Then his thumb joined in on the foray, so knowing and skillful, and so intent on pushing her to dizzying heights of pleasure.

Feeling as though she needed an anchor from the storm about to break, she pushed her hands through his hair and twisted her fingers into the soft strands just as wild abandon sang through her body. Her head fell back against the wall, and she cried out as her orgasm crested and a blissful warmth shimmied through her in waves.

Her legs turned to jelly, and just when she was certain she was going to collapse to the floor, Scott smoothed his hands over her bare bottom and grasped the backs of her thighs, bending her knees as he lifted her off the ground.

"Wrap your legs around my waist," he told her, his voice strained with his own barely contained passion.

Feeling drugged with sensuality, she managed that much at least and was amazed at his strength and stamina as he hefted her in his arms and carried her down the hallway to his bedroom when she felt as weak as a newborn kitten.

But he wasn't done with her yet, she knew, as he tumbled her unceremoniously onto the bed, then grabbed her ankles and dragged her to the edge of the mattress so that her legs dangled over the side. Absently, she reached up and skimmed her fingers over her engorged nipples, which were still damp from his mouth and tongue. She teased him, teased herself, and he stared at her half-naked body with hungry eyes, seducing her mind and senses right along with the rest of her.

Not so surprisingly, another bout of desire curled within her as his promise of the various ways he planned to fuck her echoed in her mind, along with her acquiescence so far. She prepared herself for the second round of pleasure, certain he'd be just as ruthless in his attempt to make her come as he'd been moments ago in the foyer.

He dropped to his knees in front of her and pushed her thighs wide open with his splayed palms, then used his thumb to spread open her sex, exposing her completely. He leaned forward, and she closed her eyes, feeling a gust of hot breath, then the velvet soft glide of his tongue along her wet, swollen cleft. He closed his mouth over her, kissing her intimately,
deeply
, using his tongue in ways that were wonderfully wicked and shockingly erotic. He manipulated her clit with those clever thumbs of his again, pressing, rubbing, stroking, the dual assault soon more than she could stand.