Page 17 of Impulsive Saint
She had made the right choice, she’d known for a while that she couldn’t marry Aaron. Running away may have been a tad bit impulsive but dammit, she’d never done an impulsive thing in her life. She’d done the right thing. She knew she had. But that didn’t mean she was unaware of the mess she’d left behind. She needed this, to get away for a little bit, to find herself and make her own choices and they’d just have to wait for her to get back to yell at her for it.
A loud knock on the door jolted her out of her thoughts and she heard Tyler’s voice, “Hot water will run out soon, princess. Better hurry it up.”
She rolled her eyes even though he couldn’t see her and shouted back a quick, “Okay.”
He was going to end up getting strangled in his sleep if he kept calling her princess. She took great joy in soaping up her body with his gel. It smelled like him, she realized as a wave of heat she hadn’t expected swept over her at the scent. She hadn’t even realized that she had taken note of his masculine scent until her body began to respond to it. Her hands slid over her breasts and her nipples perked up in a way that sent another shot of adrenaline coursing through her, the warmth settling between her legs.
No. She shook off the random jolt of desire and focused on cleaning herself. Nothing else.
Good lord, she’d been engaged to another man a few hours ago, wearing her wedding gown and prepared to walk down the aisle, and now she was in the shower of a complete stranger, lusting after him just because he smelled good and had taken care of her.
Ashtyn held back a manic laugh. She had issues. Serious issues that she needed to contemplate some other time, sometime when she wasn’t naked and soaped up in a shower that she’d already been warned was going to turn cold soon.
She made quick work of rinsing herself off and then washing her hair. There was even conditioner in the shower which made her smile. Tyler had great hair. Of course he conditioned. She knew both her hair and body were going to smell like him until she showered again and despite that curl of warmth in her belly that was more than just adrenaline no matter what she told herself, it was the safety he provided that had the scent of him on her making her smile to herself as she finally flipped off the water and stepped out of the shower.
After she dried her body with the cotton towel, she dressed in the pajamas she’d purchased. She used the towel to scrub her hair until it was barely damp and then she wiped away the steam from the mirror.
She stared at her reflection and took a deep, calming breath again. She looked different. Not just because her face was clear of the dramatic wedding makeup and her hair was down in damp strands. She stared at herself for a long moment trying to figure out what it was that was different before the truth finally hit her.
It was her eyes. They were lighter. Not in color, and not in any way that another person could possibly understand or notice, but she did.
For months as she planned the wedding, maybe even years before the engagement, she’d felt the weight of expectations dragging her down with stress and anxiety. But looking in the mirror right now, for the first time in a long time, she didn’t see that deep, dark well where she stored away all the things she wasn’t supposed to say, think, or want.
All she saw was a girl with her entire life ahead of her and the fortitude and willpower to make her own path.
After repacking her bag with her things and tying her hair up in a messy bun to dry, she opened the bathroom door. Steam slid out all around her. She glanced down the hallway and noticed the light in that back bedroom was on now. She bit her lip, wondering if Tyler was back there, and then forced herself to go back into the living room instead of nosily going into his room to find out.
She dropped her bag beside the couch and was leaning over to see what the pile of blankets and pillows that were on the coffee table were for when she heard his voice behind her.
“I put those out. I was going to make up the couch for you.”
She jumped and spun around, already clutching at her chest and prepared to yell at him for surprising her but when her eyes found him standing there her throat went dry and words escaped her. She blinked rapidly as her already nervous heart thumped too hard in her chest. It took her brain a moment to catch up to what she was actually seeing.
Tyler had changed while she was in the shower. Instead of his suit, he now wore a simple pair of gray sweatpants and absolutely nothing else. He was standing at the end of the hallway and she knew he’d been in the bedroom just like she’d imagined. Only she hadn’t imagined him changing, half-naked, not until now.
Oh my God, her imagination could not have done him justice.
His shoulders were broad. She’d known that. She’d been clinging to his back earlier on that motorcycle. What she hadn’t known was that beneath his suit and jacket, there was rippling muscles and ink that wrapped lovingly around each beautiful piece of him that she could see.
A black raven in flight was tattooed on his right pec. His left arm was completely covered from shoulder to elbow in a complex scene that was hard to make out at this distance. She saw a snake wrapped around his arm, an apple, and a skull. She could just make out letters on the underside of his other bicep but she couldn’t make out the word. But there, on his hip, drawing her gaze down to the impressive cut of muscle that was indescribably sexy, was a banner with a word she could easily read.
Sinner.
“Ashtyn?”
Her eyes jerked back to his face and she could feel the heat of embarrassment creep over her neck, “Huh?”
“What?” He blinked back at her.
“What?”
She paused and tilted her head at him. Why did he look as shell-shocked as she felt? She caught his eyes skating down her body before he cleared his throat and glanced away. She gave herself another once-over but still didn’t understand. Her tank top wasn’t low cut. Her breasts weren’t on display. Her matching boxer short pajamas weren’t anything special either. She flushed a brighter red, realizing he must be embarrassed to have caught her looking at him so blatantly.
“I uh…” Tyler cleared his throat again, “I was just bringing out an extra pillow but I’ll uh, just leave it here. Your sandwich is on the counter. I’ll be back in a minute.”
He turned on his heel and disappeared back down the hallway. Ashtyn watched him go with what she knew must be a dumbfounded look on her face. He disappeared into his bedroom and she frowned at the weird exchange.
If he was weirded out by her looking at him, he really shouldn’t parade around half naked. That was his own fault. She was a newly single woman and he was hot. There was no denying that fact. He should put on a shirt if he didn’t want her drooling all over his place.
