Page 116 of Little Sunshine

Life wasn’t one of the romance books from Juliet Black’s iPad. I’d learned long ago to keep my defenses high. To never hope or dream for anything.

No matter how foolishly I might want something.

I tried to turn my head, but his hold stayed firm. I pushed against his shoulders, but he simply used his torso to force my legs apart. Traitor that my body was, they wrapped around him instantly, lifting my dress in the process. With the fabric hiked up, I was hyperaware that only a thin layer of cotton covered me.

Hunching to keep our mouths connected, he lowered me down his body and stopped only once his hard-on was pressed to my sex. I gasped at the contact.

The hardness.

The size.

He took advantage of my reaction by deepening the kiss.

And I took advantage by biting his tongue.

Rather than shoving away like I’d expected, Ash’s husky grunt filled my mouth. He ground against me so I could feel him grow somehow even harder. When he finally pulled away, it was just far enough to rest his forehead on mine. “Fuck. Fucking hell. Fuck, Mila.”

They were angry words, but the way he said them was anything but.

“Sorry,” I said anyway since it was pretty much my default.

“Not yet.” His fingers on my face tightened. That time when my mouth opened, his hazel eyes dropped to watch as he smeared his thumb across my lips before sliding between them. “But you will be.”

I wasn’t sure what it said about me, but the goosebumps that spread across my skin weren’t from fear.

Ash lowered me to stand. He kept hold of my waist until he was sure I was steady before moving into the penthouse.

I stayed right where I was as my shoulders slumped in relief that he’d let me go.

And disappointment that he’d let me go.

More the latter, but whatever. I was ignoring that.

“Tell me what happened that made you wanna try out for the track team,” Ash ordered as he shook off his black suit jacket and tossed it over the couch.

“Nothing.”

“Something sure as shit did. What was it?”

“I was just leaving because?—”

“Christ, sunshine,” he cut in, which was good because I had no clue how I would finish that sentence. He rolled the sleeves of his dark blue shirt. “Usually, I don’t mind your secrets. I’m a patient man. I’ve got all the time in the world to wait you out. But not with this.”

Since evasiveness wasn’t working, I switched to deflection. “You need to go back to work.”

“You’re more important,” he said with no hesitation.

And God, just that sentence alone made me waver.

I gathered up my backbone and tried again. “Okay, you need to go because I said so.”

He put his hands in his pockets and stood there.

“Fine. Then I’m going.”

A smile—if it could even be called that—twisted his mouth. “Try it.”

Calling his bluff, I pressed my thumb to the elevator button.

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