Undeniably Asher (The Colloway Brothers Book 2) (9 page)

Aren’t you?

Shit, not only do I need the money, having CFC as a reference would be a huge coup for me. Maybe I’d be able to actually execute some of the long-term business plans I put together so long ago now. “I want the job.”
I
need
the damn job.

He lifts his head and pins me with his beguiling eyes. “And I want
you
, Alyse. I want you so fucking much I can hardly think straight. I’ve thought of nothing else but you for the last two goddamn months.” God. His words steal the very breath from my lungs. Lungs that have been oxygen starved since he walked into my office yesterday.

“What if this doesn’t work?” I respond quietly, nervously. Christ on a cracker.
Why are you even considering this, Alyse?
This could be emotional
and
professional suicide.

Grabbing my face again, he replies passionately, “What if it does? There’s something here. I
know
you feel it, too, Alyse. Give me a chance. Give
us
a chance.”

I can’t think when he’s touching me, so I stand and walk to the bay of windows, my back to him. I stare into the tree-lined estate, watching two squirrels pillage for food, taking advantage of the warm weather to tuck away more nuts before the snow falls.

I try to recall my pros and cons list that I created last night, but all I keep remembering is number three on my pros list.
He makes you feel alive.
Everything else seems to be quickly fading away, like it was written in disappearing ink. I’m at the edge of a cliff getting ready to jump. No parachute. No harness.

I’m tumbling headlong into a complete free fall.

Dammit
.

I feel his heat at my back and watch his reflection in the glass as he moves my long hair off of the right side of my neck. The graze of his fingertips makes me shiver, my eyes falling involuntarily closed. I’ve worn a tank underneath a lavender cardigan sweater and the unfettered access he has to the sensitive flesh on my neck has my body on high alert.

“I’ve never had to work this hard to convince a woman to go out with me,” he says roughly against my ear. His lips on my skin make me moan. Lithe fingers trace the exposed flesh against the trim of my cardigan, edging downward toward the top of my low-cut tank. I wish like hell we were alone so he could push it off me and take me right against this damn window.

His presence alone spins me completely off balance. His touch, though…it totally obliterates every last trace of common sense I possess.

“Maybe it’s good for your ego to be denied once in a while,” I pant as his lips travel down the expanse of my throat. Teeth nip gently and my breath hitches. The air thickens impossibly with desire and I’m lost to everything he’s doing to my mind, my senses, my body. “Asher…you’re not playing fair,” I breathe, trying to protest. It sounds more like a plea to continue instead.

“No point playing unless you play to win. Say yes, Alyse,” he demands against my heated flesh.

His left hand has hooked around my waist, pulling me flush against his erection. By now my head is leaning back against his broad shoulders and the fingers of his right hand dip into the top of my cami, brushing against the lacy cup of my bra, while the thumb on his left has worked its way under the hem, circling the sensitive flesh underneath.

Oh God.
I can’t form a coherent thought. This is so inappropriate. I’m in Asher’s mother’s house, for the love. I’ll never be asked back.

“Say yes.”

“Yes to what?” I have no idea what he’s talking about. I just need him to continue putting his hands and lips all over me.

He stills, then spins me so my back is pressed against the cold glass and my front is pressed against one hundred-ninety-plus pounds of taut, toned, virile man. My face is once again in his hands. I’ve quickly determined this is a position of dominance for him.

“Possibilities, Alyse. Say yes to possibilities.” His eyes plead with me to agree. Without even thinking, I find myself nodding before his lips are once again on mine, our tongues dueling wildly. I wrap my arms around his waist and pull him close. My resolve slips, and I finally give in to what I’ve wanted since I laid eyes on Asher Colloway over eight years ago.

Him
.

Moments later a throat clearing in the background freezes us. I would have jumped a mile away from Asher given the chance, but he has me pinned in place. He doesn’t move a muscle, except to slowly pull his mouth from mine. Heated eyes bore into my panicked ones like he doesn’t have a care in the world.

There is so much he’s trying to convey to me in that moment, but the only thing I hear is
you’re mine now
. The thought makes my core practically weep with joy and my heart race in sheer terror.

“Everyone’s ready to go,” Conn jibes in almost a singsong voice. “You two lovebirds coming or you going to pussy out on me this year, Ash?”

Asher’s eyes never leave mine when he leans in for a final quick peck before turning toward his twin. “Game on, little brother.”

“By four minutes. Jesus H, are you ever going to let that go?”

“You know I’m not.” Asher laughs.

I’m so incredibly embarrassed to be caught making out that I can’t even look Conn in the eyes, my gaze falling anywhere but on him. I have no doubt in less than a minute Asher’s hand would have been down my pants, and,
oh God
, I would have let him. I only hope no one else has walked by this secluded part of the house, especially my sister. I roll my eyes in disgust, unable to believe I’m acting so wanton in someone else’s home.

“You goin’, babe?” Conn asks me, forcing me to look at him. The smirk on his face almost makes me laugh. He’s enjoying goading Asher. Immensely.

Asher pulls me to his side, growling at his brother. “Call her that again and I’m going to fuck up that pretty face of yours.” Conn laughs loudly at that, but Asher is not amused.

My mind is a jumble of racing thoughts. It feels like it’s been stuck in a blender and someone has pushed the pulse button. I need to go home and take a cold shower…or a dozen of them. Or maybe an ice bath. I need time to breathe, think, pound my head against the wall so I knock some sense into my stupid self. I need time to work on my pros and cons. Correction, I need time to work on my cons. Why does it seem like I’ve made a deal with the devil? Surely I can still change my mind. I start to answer that no, I’m absolutely not coming, when Asher interrupts.

“Yes, she’s going.”

Caveman much?

“Hey, shouldn’t
I
get to decide?”

He turns, pressing me against the glass once more, completely indifferent to the fact that his brother’s watching every move, listening to every word. “You said yes.”

“I—are you delusional? You don’t own me. I make my own decisions.” Jesus, this man infuriates me as much as he sexes me up.

His eyes glitter with mirth. “You remember what I said last time you said those words to me?”

“Fuck you. You don’t own me.”

“Not yet I don’t, sweet Alyse.”

I could only nod. Not only did I remember, I replayed those six words constantly, especially in the dark of night when I used my vibrator. We’re becoming besties lately. I may have even named him AJ when I found that Asher’s middle name is James. Pathetic?
Maybe
. But I’m not ashamed, though I wouldn’t go around renting a billboard advertising it either.

“Are you always so disagreeable, Alyse?”

“Are you always so dominating, Asher?”

Leaning toward my ear, he lowers his voice so only we can hear. Hot breath tickles my lobe and travels downward between my thighs. “Yes, I am. You love it, Alyse. Your eyes dilate and your breath hitches with every dirty, demanding word. And the thought of owning every inch of not only your gorgeous body, but your heart and soul has me so fucking hard, I’m having to fight myself not to make you mine right here.”

“Asher…” My voice is barely audible. My pussy now has its own heartbeat. I have no idea if Conn is still standing there, watching the show we’re putting on, but he could sell tickets and I don’t think I’d protest, because I don’t want this fluttery feeling in the pit of my stomach to stop. God, I have never felt like this before.

“Tell me you’re wet.”

“Asher, God.” My eyes drift shut. All I want is for cool glass to be pressing against my flushed naked skin while he moves inside of me.

“Tell me.” His tongue darts out to trace the shell of my ear. I have to bite my lip not to voice the moan hovering in the back of my throat. I think I actually draw blood I bite so hard. “Tell me, Alyse. Fuck, tell me how soaked you are right now for me.”

I can’t deny it. I can’t deny
him
. “I am.” Pulling me flush to him, he curses low in my ear and it jumps straight to my sex. I’ve never wanted to strip my clothes in front of an audience before, but damn if that thought isn’t just running wild through my fuzzy, sex-addled head. Damn, he is good.

“Come.”

Oh God, I
could
come. If I just rub my thighs together a little bit, I could be moaning his name so loud the whole house would hear it, but then I realize that’s not what he meant. I somehow find my voice. It’s squeaky when I force it out.

“Why, so you have someone to beat? I suck at bowling and I’ve never played laser tag.”

He takes a step back, finally letting the oxygen that was sucked out by our sexual vortex circulate back in. I gasp for the breath I don’t feel I’ve taken in long minutes.

“You can be on my team.”

I think about it for a moment, but I’m really trying to push every second of the last ten minutes into my memory bank so I can pull it out later when I’m alone. Ultimately, I give in, as I knew I would the second his lips met mine, begging. Deciding to play with him a bit, however, since he’s coerced me into embarrassing myself even further today, I finally respond.

“Okay, but I think I want to be on Conn’s team.”

“Like hell,” Asher practically yells.

“I’ll take her.”

Well, that question’s answered. Conn has apparently been intently watching our little carnal interlude. I wonder if he could hear me panting all the way across the room.
God
. Kill me now.

“Well Conn
is
the five-time reigning champ,” I tease. My breathing is finally starting to calm slightly, but I’m sure my face is as red as a beet. Asher is still blocking my view of Conn. For that, I’m grateful.

“Alyse.” His voice is rough and growly and while I’ve kept a straight face until now, I can’t any longer. I start laughing.

“Fine, you big baby. I’ll go. I’ll be on your team. I’ll do whatever you want.”

The fierce look of lust on Asher’s face at my last comment makes the laughter die in my throat. “I’ll remember you said that.”

“Can we get going now or are you guys going to eye-fuck each other some more.”
Oh. My. God.

“Connelly James Colloway! Watch your language!” I hear Barb Colloway yell.

Unnngh. This is seriously worse than death.

Minutes later as we all funnel out the front door, I ask myself for the hundredth time in the last twenty-four hours:
Just what in the hell do you think you’re doing, Alyse?
And each time I come up with the same answer.

I don’t have a goddamn clue.

Chapter 8

Alyse

It’s Sunday night and I walk into the quiet restaurant asking for Livia at the hostess desk. I’m the first one to arrive so she takes me back to a table for four, leaving menus, along with a wine list, around the square glazed oak top.

Finally deciding on a glass of house Zinfandel, I’ve just placed my order when I see Livia walking toward me, being directed by the cute young blonde working the front. My sister has an armful of magazines and folders along with an iPad.

“Hi,” she says, setting everything down just to my right.

“Hi. That’s a lot of stuff,” I reply, eyeing the three-inch thick stack she’s trying to keep from spilling all over the floor.

She laughs. “Well, we have a lot of stuff to get done. The wedding is in four weeks now.” The waitress comes over to take Livia’s order and she sticks with water.

“How are you feeling?” I ask. She looks good.
Really
good. Deliriously happy. I haven’t seen or talked to her since Thursday night—the same night Asher took me home directly from the bowling alley and kissed me senseless on my front porch before he drove away, leaving us both aching.

I can still feel his lips imprinted on mine, and his hard, sinewy body pressing me against the wood siding. I didn’t ask him to come in this time and he didn’t push for it either. Though the racy texts he sent me later, and all weekend long for that matter, left no doubt we both want to be in each other’s pants. Big time.

“I feel really good today. I was only nauseous this morning and I’ve actually had an appetite.”

“I’m glad.”

After she gets organized, she turns her piercing gaze to me. If there’s one thing that hasn’t changed about Livia and me, it’s that she can read me like a damn good book. I wish I didn’t have these feelings of lingering bitterness toward her. I so want to let them go, but I just…can’t. I want to let her in, but I don’t know how.