LUST: A Bad Boy and Amish Girl Romance (The Brody Bunch Book 2) (9 page)

H
ey
,
I texted Ash the next evening,
wanna come over? I’ve got the house all to myself.

I received a damn near instantaneous reply—
On my way, love—
and I grinned to myself, my head full of thoughts of Netflix and chill.

Beth and Sarah had left not long ago for their respective dates. I had feigned shock when Sarah told me Reid wanted to take her out to dinner and a movie—as if I wasn’t the one who’d suggested it last night—and after a makeover that had left my sister looking both classy and fabulous, I’d recommended that Beth find out if Wyatt wanted to do the same. Maybe not dinner and a movie, though. Something more Beth’s speed. She wanted romance and adventure. Whatever Wyatt had suggested, she’d seemed pretty pleased.

I was way more comfortable giving Beth a wide berth, even though she was the youngest of our trio. Despite her naïveté, the kid could take care of herself. She was a little ball of defiance, that one, assertive and stubborn to a fault. Still, I knew her feelings for Wyatt might change things, and I’d made sure to let her know, in no uncertain terms, that if she chose to get “closer” to him, it should be for her own reasons—not for his.

Miller girls had to be reminded to be selfish every once in a while. We simply hadn’t been raised with the idea that we were actual people with needs that extended beyond homemaking and motherhood. Sure, Beth had an independent streak a mile wide, but she could still be taken advantage of. Infatuation makes people do crazy things.

I should know, because I was starting to think that maybe I was just a little infatuated with Ash Brody.

I found the thought not entirely displeasing. On the one hand, feelings were feelings, and they always made a mess. On the other hand, at least it wasn’t love. Crushes were fine. They were almost to be expected, especially when fucking came into play. But anything more than that was ill-advised, and I could at least take some solace in the fact that of all the emotions I could’ve felt for Ash, this one was definitely one of the safest.

Although, even infatuation has its downsides. I shouldn’t have invited him over—not if I wanted to beat him at his own game. I should’ve made him take me out somewhere, made him jump through hoops for the transgression with the name of
Tanya.
But that would mean going somewhere public, and I was getting damn tired of quick fucks in the dark. I wanted Ash all to myself for a change. I wanted us to take our time together.

Not slow, mind you. I wasn’t the “lovemaking” kind of girl, and anyway, I didn’t want him getting ideas (not that
he
would). I just wanted to be able to fully appreciate everything Ash was bringing to the table. I wanted privacy; sex without the threat of being discovered or walked in on.

And for that, my apartment seemed the perfect place. My turf. My rules.

I was just thinking of ordering a pizza when Ash knocked on my door. I answered in short-shorts and a black tank. Nothing fancy, but I liked the way it looked with my hot pink bra, the one with the straps that always seemed to fall down my shoulders. Why get dressed up when it was all gonna end up on the floor, anyway?

To his credit, Ash didn’t seem to mind. He leered at me from behind his shades, looking me up and down. “Damn. Legs for days, love.”

I laughed. Part of me hated how good it felt to see him. “Thanks,” I said, opening the door wider to let him through. My gaze fell to his hands. “Oh. You brought Chinese.”

“I did,” he confirmed, setting the bags down on my kitchen counter while I locked up. “Figured I’d surprise you. I was thinking about that one time we had to stay extra late at Trick Shots ‘cause you had to file a police report—remember? That super bloody brawl?”

I rolled my eyes and perched up on one of the counter stools. “St. Patrick’s Day. How could I forget? All I wanted to do was go home and get off my feet, but no—some college boys had to hit the green beer a little too hard.”

Ash smiled at me as he pulled the takeout cartons out of the larger bags. “Hey, I did my best to keep the damage to a minimum, but once they started breaking bottles over each other’s faces… well, that called for desperate measures.”

I remembered only too well. I’d never seen someone so adept at cracking skulls as Ash was. He’d put those boys down in a matter of minutes, once push came to shove. Trick Shots still ended up with blood absolutely everywhere—facial lacerations gush like a son of a bitch—but we’d all expected much worse before he stepped in. That was where I’d gotten the idea to hire him as protection, actually. I’d let that thought stew for a while the closer it got to Rumspringa, but any time I tried to come up with alternatives, nothing seemed better than the Brody Bunch. The only price tag he was willing to give me, though, involved a date. I’d said no, that I wasn’t that kind of girl. I didn’t date players. But I
would
fuck him in the bathroom, if that suited him.

And the rest is history.

“That night was the worst,” I mumbled, not at all referring to our first tryst in the bathroom.

Ash opened up a little box of rice. “Well, I was thinking about it earlier. And I remembered… we were all there so long, and we were so hungry ‘cause when the rush came in that night, no one even had time to heat up a burrito, and you pulled out this takeout menu and slapped it down on the bar top and said, ‘This is the best goddamn Chinese food in all of Bright Falls. You fuckers want any? ‘Cause I’m buying.’” He grinned. “You were so pissed off. So
hangry.
It was adorable.”

I glanced at the bags. Shit… I hadn’t noticed before when he’d come in, but now that I saw the logo…

“You remembered,” I said quietly, more than a little surprised. “I… um…” I shook my head and laughed a little. “Jeez, thank you.”

“No problem,” he said, shoving an entrée covered in foil toward me. “Plates?”

“Cabinet to the right of the fridge,” I instructed him, taking a peek beneath the foil. My cheeks burned. “Dude. You remembered what I ordered, too?”

With practiced ease, Ash smirked and shrugged his shoulders. “What can I say, love? It was a memorable night.”

I regarded my General Tso’s chicken and dumplings with wonder. “Yeah. It sure was.”

Besides grateful for some really excellent takeout, I had no idea how to feel about this. It was something of a grand gesture, a level of consideration I hadn’t thought Ash held for me. The fact that he not only recalled the restaurant I’d ordered from that seemingly meaningless night, but also remembered
what
I’d ordered, made me feel like maybe I hadn’t been giving him enough credit this whole time. Maybe what had happened with Tanya really was a fluke.

Ash brought me a plate and I used the chopsticks in the bag to dump a little rice onto it. Carefully, doing my best to keep my voice airy and level, I said to him, “This almost makes up for your girlfriend’s tantrum last night.”

Ash chuckled. “Almost?” Then he went through a few drawers, hunting for flatware. “Well, at least we’re making progress. Although…” He brought me over a fork. Our hands brushed and I looked up at him. “…she’s not my girlfriend.”

“You sure?” I asked him. I didn’t pull my hand away, but I didn’t move to grab his either. “She didn’t seem to know that.”

Steadily, he held my gaze. “Nope. Not my girlfriend. Never was.”

There was such honesty between us in that moment. Simple, almost monosyllabic honesty. There was no need for explanations. No lengthy exposition on the matter. No effusive declaration of complicated feelings. Tanya was not Ash’s girlfriend. They’d never been dating at all. There’d been a mix-up. He was sorry. And as compensation, he’d brought me some of my favorite food. Food he remembered from months ago, without prompting.

For the time being, that was all I needed to know.

“Hey, um,” I began, running a hand through my hair. It was not my strongest start, but Ash looked captivated anyway. “Thanks. For not just saying you’re sorry. For doing something about it.” I shifted on the stool, trying to relocate my composure, my center of gravity. Sentiment was not my strong suit. “It means a lot.”

“Anytime, love,” he said, pressing the fork into my hand. Right. I’d almost forgotten about it. Blushing, I looked away and busied myself with transferring my entrée to a proper plate.

“Thanks, too, for letting Sarah and Reid use your cabin. I think… I think it’ll do her some good. Get her closer to nature. The kind of life she’s used to, without actually going back home. You know?”

Ash was working on a similar task, loading up his own plate with spring rolls and broccoli beef. “The cabin’s not a done deal yet. Sarah still hasn’t agreed to it. He’ll probably ask her after the movie. Impatient bastard.”

I smirked. “Well, assuming all goes well and he doesn’t fuck up royally, it seems I’ll have a lot to be grateful for when it comes to you.” I set my fork down next to my plate. “But you know… maybe I shouldn’t just say
thank you.
I should probably show you.”

Ash, eyes still on his food, arched an eyebrow at me. “And if she says no?”

I hopped down off my stool and walked around the counter to his side. When I drew my nails along his bicep, his back stiffened a little.

“C’mon, Ash,” I said, stepping forward again. He turned toward me, but I had him backed into a corner now. “Let me thank you.”

Ash leaned back against the counter, trying to affect a casual pose as he looked down at me, eyes searching my face. I could see the conflict in his gaze. He wanted to grab me, wanted to assert dominance. He was a big fan of being in control, but my request had been to switch things up—to let me have a chance to grab the wheel for once.

It took him a minute, but eventually, Ash answered me with a wicked smirk and a one-shouldered shrug. “Go for it, love.”

I smiled. That must have taken some trust. I’d just have to make sure he didn’t regret it.

I slid my body up along his, angling onto my toes to kiss his mouth. Ash kept his fingers curled around the edge of the counter, bracing as I eased his lips apart. He gave a soft grunt as I fluttered my tongue along his, slick and warm, the way I might tantalize the tip of his cock if he’d let me. I was pretty sure he’d let me. I could already feel him hardening against my stomach.

Ash took a long, slow breath when I moved my lips to his neck instead, covering the sensitive skin along his jugular with hot, lazy kisses and sharp, toothy nips. He tilted his head to grant me more access to the area, a sound somewhere between a hum and a growl vibrating his throat, and I ran my tongue over his quivering trachea right down to the hollow between his collarbones.

His cock gave an urgent pulse, a request for satisfaction I wasn’t ready to give in to yet. I wound my hips in a tight figure-eight against him instead, smiling when I felt him swell even more.

“This is an excellent start,” Ash murmured against my hair. I loved the way his breath gusted against my scalp, bringing with it a tingling sensation that traveled all the way down my spine. “You have no idea what that mouth of yours does to me.”

I let my hands drop to his belt buckle. “Luckily,” I told him, prying it loose, “we’re about to find out.”

Ash remained still as I worked on his zipper, bringing it low so I could slip the waistbands of both his jeans and his boxers down to the tops of his thighs. His dick sprang in response, bobbing in the air between us as I knelt, nuzzling along its underside with a small, contented sigh. There was nothing I didn’t love about Ash’s cock—its soft, velvety skin; its hardness, girth, and length; the low drag of his balls; the musky, masculine scent of it. Every aspect made my mouth water, not to mention other, more southern regions. I placed the flat of my tongue against the root of Ash’s cock and lapped upward, kissing the underside before engulfing the tip—and half his erection with it—in my mouth.

I sucked, gaining him inch by inch, wetting him down to let my lips glide farther and farther still until I was kissing his hips. Ash’s dick fit snugly in the back of my throat, crammed in until there was nowhere left for him to go, until he stopped my breath even as his own hissed between his teeth, eyes fluttering closed.

“
Fuck,
” he whispered.

Music to my ears.

I bobbed my head, using one hand to caress the slick length of him, twisting my grip down toward his balls with each pass as I twirled my tongue around his width. Ash squirmed and I heard his breath come heavier and more shallow as I sought the spots that would drive him wild, all those sensitive places that would make him stretch my lips even wider. He didn’t disappoint; I’d thought he’d filled out earlier in the process, but as I worked him, Ash grew so thick it was a challenge to keep my teeth from grazing his skin.

He ran his hands through my hair, pulling it away from my face and holding it in his fist so he could watch me labor. I hummed as I looked up at him, and the tiny vibrations made his balls clench.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, dragging his teeth over his lower lip, his expression one of pure concentration. “God, Hannah, that mouth…”

I let him all the way in again, this time keeping my eyes on his, even though they watered. I took him a third of the way out before I repeated the process, encouraging him to fuck my throat, to use me for this pleasure.

This was a comfortable exchange. I was familiar with it. The look in a man’s eyes as he submitted to his needs. The bucking of his hips as he took what he wanted without question or hesitation. The disregard for anything other than his own pleasure. There was something primal about it, something that felt safe and right. Maybe it was because I’d never known anything else.

But Ash wasn’t having it. He refused to make me gag. Instead he leaned down and wiped my tears with his thumbs, then pulled out until I could breathe, rocking gently across my tongue.

“I wanna fuck you,” he told me, squinting a little as he fought to hold back his orgasm. “I don’t wanna come like this. Not yet. Not in your mouth.”

I withdrew and swirled my tongue around him like he was the world’s most delicious lollipop. “Mm, but I’m supposed to be thanking you.”