Page 1 of Ashley
Chapter 1
He was watching her. She knew it.
Turning her head to the side, Ashley Soren bit her lip and squirmed beneath the hot gaze of the stranger staring at her from across the room. She might, under normal circumstances, shy away from an unknown man's gaze, but seeing as she was buzzed on wine and content in the safe space of her friend's apartment, she didn't. Besides, it was Friday night, and didn't that mean little girls should be allowed to be naughty?
She grinned at the thought. Yes, she should be allowed some indulgences and the man staring at her was easy on the eyes. Ruggedly handsome in a way that thrilled Ashley, with thick dark brown hair that skimmed his shoulders and piercing gray eyes she felt transfixed by. He was broad and thick-thighed, just the way she liked her men, with defined arms and shoulders that she wanted to get her hands on. And then there was the scar that slashed across the left side of his face, from brow to chin, only adding to his handsomeness. It wasn't ugly or scary but added another level of mystery and a kind of rough beauty to his features. Without the scar, the man might be pretty, but with it, he was gorgeous.
If she did that sort of thing, which she most certainly did not. She swallowed hard, taking a long swig of her Cosmo and daring to glance his way again. And again, she was met with an unwavering stare that made her hungry and skittish. Hungry for what, she didn't know, but she bet it had something to do with finding a nice, quiet, little corner of the party currently going on around her and surrendering herself to the stranger. He might push her hair to the side, his calloused fingers skimming her neck and collarbones as he slowly kissed her skin, teeth nipping and making her whimper while his free hand dipped lower to pull the short skirt of her sundress up. His fingers would pull at the delicate fabric of her panties before palming against her aching cunt, forcing her legs apart, and he would, he would—
"Holy shit," Ashley whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. How many drinks had she had tonight? She shivered and turned away from the man with a jerk of her shoulders. She never thought this way about men. All of her sexual encounters had been with long-term partners, men she had grown accustomed to and slowly fallen into bed with. Not men she made eyes at from across a crowded penthouse and fantasized about being taken by. She'd either had too much to drink or not enough. She eyed her empty glass suspiciously and decided that it was the latter. A drink would calm her nerves after all, wouldn't it?
Forcing herself not to look over her shoulder at the gray-eyed stranger, she hustled toward the makeshift bar area of the party her longtime friend, Natasha, was hosting. It was in celebration of her engagement to the only man Ashley knew of who could make her friend go doe-eyed and swoony—Silas. She grinned, watching the couple as they danced together in the crowded space. The penthouse was sprawling, but what looked like all of Brooklyn had turned out to wish the couple well. It was beautiful, really, and Ashley was smiling broadly as she watched her friend twirl in her fiancé's arms when a hand appeared beside her on the marble countertop.
"Hey," a voice husked out, and Ashley's hands that had been mixing a drink stopped moving. She bit her lip, instinctively knowing who it was without even looking or having heard his voice. A voice that was just as she imagined it would be, all low baritone and caramel tones. Swallowing hard, she looked up and felt her chest squeeze when a pair of steely gray eyes met hers.
It was him. Her stranger.
"Hey," Ashley breathed for lack of anything else to say. She was still staring at him, speechless, when he reached out and took the vodka she'd been holding from her hand.
"You're drinking Cosmos, right?" he asked, unscrewing the bottle with a flick of his wrist.
Ashley nodded. "That's, ah, right."
He hummed and began to prepare a new drink for her, a drink, she noted, that included a very healthy helping of alcohol. A minute later, he slid the freshly prepared Cosmo toward her with a wink.
"Thank you," she said with a blush as she raised the glass to her lips and took a hasty sip. "It's delicious."
"Not as delicious as I suspect you are, baby girl."
Her eyes widened at that. "Excuse me?" She coughed, trying to make sure she had heard the man right. "What did you say?"
"I said," he leaned closer to her, his eyes dropping to her lips, "that drink doesn't look nearly as good as you do."
"Oh."
His smile broadened. "Oh."
"Thank you." Ashley demurred when she wasn't sure of what else to say. Her words only seemed to make the man's eyes darken with lust.
"You have manners," he observed.
She shrugged, looking down at the drink she was holding. "My daddy taught me to say thank you." The words slipped from her mouth before she was even aware she was blurting them out. She went red at the admission and fiddled with her drink.
"You learned that lesson real good, sweet girl."
The back of Ashley's neck flushed hot at the stranger's words, and she fought back the urge to thank him again. Instead, she nodded and mumbled a quick, "I should go." But the hand on her wrist made her freeze. Her fingers tensed on the glass in her hand and she forced herself to take in a shallow breath before finally raising her eyes to his. Intense, smoldering gray eyes met hers.
"Where are you going, kitten?"
She shook her head, feeling out of her depth. Men didn't look at her like this, didn't call her kitten and sweetheart, didn't make her want to be reckless and ramble to them, and they sure didn't set her on fire with a single touch.
"Quiet," she finally said, still avoiding his eyes. Ashley went to move away from him, but the pressure on her wrist didn't vanish as she had expected. Most men would have let her go, and she would have wanted most men to let her go, but this man didn't, and she was glad for it.
"Mind if I join you?" he asked.
"What?" Her eyes widened in surprise.
"The quiet," he said, rubbing the inside of her wrist gently, his message unmistakable. He wanted her. She licked her lips and felt like the inside of her mouth was filled with sand. What else did one do when an impossibly gorgeous man asked to join them for quiet when they both knew it was just an excuse to leave the crowded room. When she'd said it, the excuse had been just for her, but now… now, it had implications.
