High Strung (Power Station Book 1) (2 page)

I blinked, allowing my eyes to float down his sexy muscular chest and noticed he had a Baby Bjorn carrier with a sleeping infant inside strapped across it, hindering my view. I think my ovaries just exploded. It was too much. Because when Alex wasn’t sending the panty-wearing population into overdrive by being a rock god, he was a new dad to his baby daughter, Grace. I mean, seriously, how could a woman not swoon over that deadly combination?

“Um,” I mumbled like a moron, all my years of education flashing before my eyes, unable to make my mouth function. He was talking to me?

“I’m just going to need a moment of her time, mind if I step in ahead of you?” His smooth voice curled around every word, making love to it.

I nodded wordlessly, feeling compelled to continue the moronic theme I had running. It was better than throwing myself at his feet and worshiping him, a very real danger the longer he stood there. He was more than just good-looking, he was obscenely attractive, and I had this unbelievable urge to lick him, slowly, like a cat.

Taking my wide-eyed, enthusiastic nod as a yes and seeing he wasn’t going to get anything more intelligible out of me, Alex strode into Lexi Reed’s office. I watched as his ridiculously hot body disappeared through the doorway, my eyes straining to catch the last glimpse of his incredibly toned ass before it slipped from view.

“He’s married and a douchebag,” an uninvited voice said, pulling me from my happy place.

“Huh?” I twisted around, ready to disembowel the owner of said voice for ruining my Alex Stone fantasy.

“He,” the owner of the voice pointed to the door Alex had just walked through, “Is. A. Douchebag.” He enunciated slowly before continuing, “Alex. Is. Also. Mar-ried.” He paused before each syllable for effect.

Standing in front of me, marring my memory of Alex, was the owner of the voice – an annoying man. Shorter than Alex, at what I assumed to be roughly six foot, he eyed me with more interest than I was comfortable with. He had a mess of dark hair, smoldering dark brown eyes, and was covered in tattoos, the evidence poking out from the sleeves of his T-shirt. Next to the word badass in the dictionary, I’m sure there was a picture of this guy. Dressed in torn, dark blue jeans, and a Misfits T-shirt, he was the epitome of a rock star, without the finesse Alex possessed. Despite his unkempt look he was strangely sexy, although his smug smile made me want to add ripping out his tongue to the disembowelment I already had planned.

“I heard what you said,” I snapped. “There is nothing wrong with my hearing. I just don’t know why you cared to volunteer that information.” Despite his good looks, I think if either of those two men was a douchebag it would be the one who was still talking to me.

“Oh cool, you talk.” He laughed. “I just wasn’t sure if you were just a star-struck fan or you had a disability. I was trying to be polite.” He moved closer, stretching out his hand. “I’m Dan. Dan Evans.”

“I’m not a star-struck anything. And I don’t have a disability. I don’t know what you are talking about.” I purposely rejected his handshake and instead adjusted my jacket, annoyed he had assumed I was just another one of
those
girls. Who was this guy anyway? Judging by his appearance, I guessed him to be another member of the band, possibly the drummer? He probably needed to compensate about not getting enough attention being holed up behind a drum kit.

“Look, it’s fine, babe. We’re used to it. Girls get crazy over us all the time. You don’t need to be embarrassed.” He pulled back his hand and shrugged, seemingly unfazed by my lack of civility.

“I’m not embarrassed. And I’m not your babe. Whatever you think you saw, you were mistaken. I don’t get crazy.” I was slightly embarrassed, but more irritated I’d been caught staring…
and
called on it.

“Sure. Okay. You don’t want to admit it, that’s fine but I know what I saw, and you were throwing so much heat in Stone’s direction I’m surprised the paint didn’t peel off the wall.” He pulled out a stick of gum and popped it into his mouth, thoroughly enjoying the fact I was irate. Clearly not a gentleman.

“Oh my god. I was not throwing heat. Are you insane?” I hissed, my embarrassment manifested into full-blown anger as I tried my best to save face. No matter how gorgeous this man in front of me was, I was not going to let him get the better of me.

“You can keep denying it all you like, babe. Makes no difference to me. I just thought I’d be charitable and point out it’s a waste of your time.” He chewed on his gum, smirking. “You have a better chance of the Cleveland Indians winning a World Series than Stone sleeping around. Now me on the other hand, I don’t have those kinds of restrictions.”

My face flushed with anger, as I officially wanted to kill him. Yet stupidly, I couldn’t deny how attractive he was as he smugly stood in front of me, his broad chest filling the material of the tee that did little to hide the toned flesh that lay beneath. What the hell was wrong with me? He was rude, arrogant and probably teeming with every STD known to man, and he’d called me babe…twice. I was not going there.

“Did you take some kind of class to learn how to be so offensive or is this a natural ability?” I leaned forward, refusing to allow him the pleasure of knowing he was getting under my skin.

“How did I offend you? I have been nothing but polite. I haven’t even looked at your tits.” Dan stared at me bewildered, actually confused.

“Wow. My
tits
and the rest of me thank you for your lack of interest.” I gave him my best death stare, disappointed I didn’t have some mutant ability that would render him incapacitated. I blamed my pre-teen fixation with comic books for giving me such unrealistic expectations.

“Don’t mention it. They are a little on the small side, it makes things easier.” He shrugged, talking about my breast size like it was no big deal. The edges of his mouth curved as his eyes dipped down to gaze at my aforementioned
tits,
which were thankfully contained by my conservative business shirt.

“Really? You’re not even going to hide the fact you are now staring at my breasts?”

“Well now we are talking about them, I kinda can’t help myself.” He grinned, not even having the decency to be remorseful. “You know, now that I’ve looked at them, they don’t seem so bad. You should maybe pop a button or two though, work with what you got.”

“Dan!” Ms. Reed fired from the now opened doorway startling me from my seething rage. Alex Stone, aka sex god, was standing beside her, looking somewhat amused.

“Don’t harass my candidates.” Lexi turned to Alex, gently touching his arm. “Can you please remove him from my office? I’ll call you later.” She tenderly kissed the top of baby Grace’s head and whispered a soft goodbye.

Alex nodded as he walked over to us. “My apologies for Dan, he has no impulse control.” Alex gave me a blinding smile, grabbing Dan firmly around the arm. “Let’s go.”

“Don’t apologize for me, numbnuts. We’re just talking.” Dan protested against Alex’s grasp.

Lexi rolled her eyes at the commotion before addressing me. “Ashlyn, if you are ready I can see you now.”

“Your name is Ashlyn? Unusual. It’s pretty.” Dan’s eyes lit up with excitement at finally learning my name. Not that he’d asked, clearly he was too preoccupied with being an ass to worry about regular pleasantries.

“My life is a little more complete knowing you approve. Thanks for that. Have a wonderful day.” I gave a forced smile as I pushed past him and strode purposely toward the open door of Lexi’s office.

I needed to get my head in the game and flirty Dan was not aiding my cause. Instead I focused forward as I followed Lexi into her large and neatly maintained office, mentally evacuating thoughts of the tattooed, scruffy rock star I left in the foyer.

“I’m sorry about him. Dan really is a unique human being.” Lexi gestured to the large plush chair opposite her desk. “Please, take a seat.”

Lexi Reed was stunning; a petite brunette with feminine curves, she owned the fitted, bright green shift dress she was wearing. Finishing her look with an impressive black pair of heels and a fancy twisted up-do, her appearance had me feeling slightly underdressed in my Target-purchased jacket and skirt combo.

“He is harmless. Obnoxious, but harmless.” I settled into the chair not willing to admit Dan Evans had unnerved me. After all, if I was going to be Lexi’s assistant I was going to need to be able to handle the likes of Dan.

“Well, that is reassuring.” Lexi smiled as she settled into her leather office chair. “So, Ashlyn. Tell me why someone has a commerce degree from University of Massachusetts, and who previously worked on Wall Street, wants to be an administrative assistant?”

I took a deep breath as I tried to determine the best way to rationalize my position. Damn. This was going to be a hard sell.

“Dan, do you go
out of your way to piss off my wife?” Stone chuckled as we walked back to the car.

“Dude, come on. You know she loves it, her day isn’t complete until she has gotten her daily dose of Dan.”

Lexi and I were cool; she knew the score as far as I was concerned. Granted our friendship had started with me trying to crawl into her panties; she’s a solid ten. Who wouldn’t try for that? But I totally respected she was now off the market and happily married to Stone. I never understood what the attraction was. Sure the man wasn’t ugly but he got
way
more than his share of pussy. At some point when Lexi crossed our path, the two of them had started fucking and somehow managed to keep it from the rest of the band. I was absolutely appalled. If you’re banging a girl like that, then it’s your civic duty to share details with your brothers. Fuck, photos would have been better. Instead they kept that shit on the down low leaving us oblivious and not contributing any new material for my spank bank. Of course they eventually got it together enough to be a couple and did the whole walking down the aisle thing, and as much as I think marriage is for suckers, those two pretty much belong together. Not that I’m getting soft, ’cause Dan Evans does not get soft, but after the amount of shit those two have gone through, to see them happy with a kid was kind of fucking awesome. Oh and the kid, Grace, pretty much owned me. That little girl had me wrapped around her finger so tightly I’d move the world to please her. Between her and Noah, James and Han’s little dude, I was happily playing Uncle to some of the coolest kids on the block. Not to mention the gaggle of nieces and nephews my sisters had given me. Being Uncle Dan was a pretty sweet gig.

“So what was up with the stare down with the redhead? Wasn’t the whole reason you begged to come with us was so you could put the moves on Sydney, despite her telling you there was no chance?” Alex hit the keyless entry on his brand new, fully loaded Escalade. The bastard had caved and bought a family car, leaving his bitchin’ Maserati parked in his garage whenever he had Grace in tow. I guess it could have been worse; at least the Escalade was still pimp. If he’d bought a Dodge Caravan then I’d have had to take him outside, kick his ass, and check his man card. I don’t give a fuck he’s got a kid, Power Station does not do minivans.

“Oh, Syd wants me. She’s just being English.” I watched as my former fellow skirt-hound loaded his daughter into the car seat. Man, times had changed. Back in the day the only time we were utilizing the back seat was to get lucky, now it was being used for its intended purpose. It was just all kinds of wrong.

“What do you mean she’s being English? How is that even a thing?” Alex handed Grace her fluffy pink unicorn as he covered her with a baby blanket. I hoped my balls weren’t going to suddenly shrivel up surrounded by all this pink.

“Really, Stone? Aren’t you supposed to be smart? We totally told her country to go fuck themselves, don’t tell me the fact we’re American isn’t the reason she is blowing me off.” I jumped into the passenger seat, no longer caring about why Sydney wasn’t interested, as I tried to shake off the memory of the redhead who made my junk get tingly. Despite trying to keep her body under wraps in that lame-ass corporate get-up, there was no denying she was hot. She was rocking some killer curves. Granted she spoke way too much—I liked my girls with a different kind of mouth action—but other than that, I would totally be down with her playing naughty secretary.

“Dan, I seriously doubt the Declaration of Independence has anything to do with her disinterest in you.” He slid into the driver’s seat and hit the ignition.

“Don’t kid yourself, Stone. Those bastards are still pissed. Anyway, her loss.”