Seduction (Club Destiny) (2 page)

Ashleigh Thomas was
the bane of his existence, and from what he could tell, everyone he knew was
well aware of his infatuation with the woman. Seemed that no matter what he did
or said, those closest to him knew exactly what she did to him.

“Dylan mentioned
it to me.” Alex admitted, knowing he couldn’t get anything past Xavier.

Alex was well
aware that Ashleigh was permanently moving back to Dallas, although he had
thought she would’ve done so months before when the rumors started flying. No
matter how long it took her to get back, he was quite fond of the idea, but he
also knew she didn’t want anything to do with him. Apparently Xavier hadn’t
gotten that memo either.

“I need a
favor.” Xavier leaned against the front of his desk, crossing his arms over his
chest and staring at Alex. For the first time in as long as he could remember,
Alex felt the scrutiny in the other man’s gaze.

Over the years,
he and Xavier had developed a strong working relationship, as well as a
personal one. However, he had no illusions about how quickly that relationship
could turn sour if Alex were to touch one hair on Ashleigh’s beautiful head. It
was a given that if Xavier knew the thoughts that plagued Alex where the other
man’s granddaughter was concerned, he just might not see him the same way.

Not that he
would ever let on, but the way Xavier’s eyes were focused on him, Alex wondered
if the man weren’t just reading his mind.

Patience
undoubtedly wasn’t his virtue, but then again, Xavier knew that. “And that is?”

“I need a
security system installed at Ashleigh’s new house.” Xavier paused without
breaking eye contact. “Today.”

Easy enough,
Alex thought to himself. He didn’t actually install the systems, so he could
possibly stop by the house before she ever showed up, write up the estimate,
and have one of his tech’s back within the hour to complete the job. Or better
yet, he could just have Dylan, Ashleigh’s brother and Alex’s new partner, stop
by and do the prep work.

Not that he
would do either, but those were options.

“That’s easy
enough to arrange. Have you talked to Dylan? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind stopping
by to check it out.”

Xavier shook his
head, before saying, “Dylan’s in the process of helping Stacey move in. And,
honestly, I’d prefer that you handle this one. I’m confident in his ability,
but I prefer to have your experienced eye on this. You understand.”

No, actually, he
didn’t.

Bracing his feet
apart, feeling a tad defensive, Alex had to work overtime not to give himself
away. After the last incident with Ashleigh, Alex had a feeling she wouldn’t
agree with Xavier.

Of course, her
preference would likely be for Alex to fall off the face of the earth. Since
that wasn’t going to happen, and Alex was inadvertently turned on by her need
to avoid him…

What the hell.
Might as well go for broke.

“Alright. I have
a meeting with Sam in fifteen minutes, but after that, I’ll head over. Have
Veronica send me the address.”

“Thanks, Alex.”
Xavier stated, going behind his desk once again, sounding even cockier than he
had moments before. “I’ll have Nate meet you over there with the key.”

Alex glanced at
Xavier suspiciously. Why did he get the feeling Xavier was up to something?

Forty five
minutes later, Alex was walking out of the main doors of XTX, toward the
parking garage. He’d just spent half an hour with Samantha Kielty going over
her update for the XTX project secretly labeled WTF by some of her project
managers. She was well aware of what they said, and she’d started calling it
the same thing, which made Alex laugh. Thankfully she didn’t need much of his
time, and just like last week, she advised that she was on target from both a
cost and a time perspective.

Not surprising.

Alex had taken a
gamble last year hiring Sam on full time as his executive vice president in
order to alleviate some of the tension provoked by a hot and heavy relationship
that Sam and Logan found themselves in. Since that time, she’d married Logan,
and the rumors had stopped, however, her innate ability to drive projects to
completion hadn’t. Alex would be the first to admit, Sam was a force to be
reckoned with, and though skeptical at first, both he and Dylan were excited
about the skills she brought to CISS.

Her reputation
preceded her, making a couple of their other clients interested in bringing her
on to address some of their project issues, but Alex had been stalling. For the
time being, she would remain at XTX, thanks to the contract Logan had insisted
on, but there was no telling what the future held.

Climbing behind
the wheel of his two year old Chevy Avalanche, Alex let the truck’s navigation
provide him the directions to Ashleigh’s new house. If he was lucky, which he
planned to be, he would still be there when she arrived. She might not
appreciate that fact, but Alex was past the point of caring. If she wanted to
play hard to get, he could play along with her.

For now.

Alex wasn’t sure
when it was that he had decided to go after the woman who had made his blood
boil for far too long. For years, he’d managed to stay away from her, despite
the centrifugal forces that always seemed to draw them together. Ever since the
rumors started flying that she was coming back, he’d been hopeful.

Ten years was a
long time to lust after one woman, but Alex had done it. Despite the twelve year
age difference, which he felt made her entirely too young for him, Alex had
recently found it too easy to overlook that one minor detail. Not that her age,
or his, really mattered because Ashleigh had never so much as hinted at any
sort of reciprocated feelings on her side. Not that he’d pushed her. Much.

If it weren’t
for the fact that she’d gone out of her way to avoid him for so long, he likely
wouldn’t have thought anything of it.

The final straw
had been that damn Christmas party.

For some reason,
Ashleigh had gotten him all worked up, although he wasn’t sure she realized it.
He’d asked her to dance, and she had graciously accepted, but when the one song
was over, she had excused herself and then smiled so sweetly, he’d felt the
jolt straight to his cock. Whether or not she intentionally teased him that
night, he didn’t know. Either way, Alex wasn’t about to let her get away with
it.

No, Alex had
something else in store for little Miss Sweet and Innocent, which hopefully,
would end with her in his bed.

That’s where his
current plan went into play. Not that it was much of a plan. Seduction was the
name of the game and as far as he was concerned, the gloves had just come off.

It had recently
come to his attention – thanks to a little investigative work on his part –
that sweet little Ashleigh wasn’t all she pretended to be. He’d stumbled across
a very interesting fact when he was checking out her highly regarded children’s
book series. To be honest, he hadn’t been all that interested in her books... initially.

Some creative
searches resulted in a much more entertaining book series that their sweet
Ashleigh was responsible for. The kind that carried a certain disclaimer on
them – for mature audiences only.

As it turned
out, Ashleigh Thomas was moonlighting as Ashton Leigh, writing some downright
provocative stories that Alex admitted to getting caught up in. It hadn’t taken
him long to recognize the side of Ashleigh that wrote about deep, dark
fantasies and sexual exploits so outrageous, he wondered where the hell she had
learned about them. Had he not experienced a few himself, he might’ve been
blushing by the end.

Gripping the
steering wheel with both hands, Alex tried to rein in the hunger that ignited
in his soul whenever he thought about her and those damn books. At the moment,
the last thing he needed to be thinking about was Ashleigh and sex when he
should be paying attention to the hordes of cars and trucks around him.

Navigating
Dallas’ traffic required skill and total concentration on a good day. Friday
afternoons generally didn’t qualify as good as far as congestion standards
went.

As he sat on the
highway, at a complete standstill, Alex reviewed the directions. Based on his
knowledge of the city, the drive to Ashleigh’s should only take about fifteen
minutes. However, he’d actually have to be driving first.

It had been a
long time since Alex had looked forward to doing much of anything, but
anticipating the reaction on Ashleigh’s face when she saw him was quickly
becoming the highlight of his day.

It’d been ten
long years since he’d seen any hint of interest on her face, but she’d been a
high school senior when Logan McCoy had introduced Alex to Xavier Thomas. At
seventeen years old, she’d captured his eye with her beauty, but not much else.
Over the years, Alex had become close to the Thomas family, building a
friendship with Dylan and a strong working relationship with the family’s
patriarch, Xavier.

Alex had barely
gotten his business off the ground when Logan had introduced him to Xavier, and
it wasn’t long after that Alex landed the largest client CISS had ever known.
So, over the years, Dylan had become a regular fixture at the Thomas home, and
as he’d watched Ashleigh grow up, he’d found himself more and more captivated
as the years went by.

In order to
ensure his admiration didn’t turn into infatuation, he’d kept as far away from
her as possible, only it appeared that seemed to be a colossal waste of time.
Since she’d continued to ignore him, avoiding him whenever possible, Alex found
himself only wanting her more.

Then the years
of denying the lust he harbored for the woman he couldn’t have all came to a
screeching halt the night of the Christmas party when Alex held Ashleigh in his
arms. That night, his need to have her escalated. For a brief moment, he swore
he’d seen interest in her eyes, but she had quickly masked it, followed by that
sweet, dismissive smile of hers.

Now she was
coming back for good, and the timing couldn’t have been better. Alex knew that
Ashleigh would be a challenge, but hell, besides having more business than he
could keep up with, what else did he have to do?

***
~~ *** ~~ *** ~~ ***

Ashleigh pulled
into the driveway of her new house in record time, traffic on a Friday
afternoon unusually light coming into Dallas. She was never one to enjoy
driving, and she couldn’t say she was anxious to have to do that trip again,
but at least she’d had some time to think and... sing. Although she was fairly
certain what she was doing wasn’t in any way associated to singing. At least
not in a good way.

She smiled.

Who cared.

Parking her
Tahoe beside a big, black fancy truck that Ashleigh couldn’t place, she
wondered who was there. The movers were, she could see them traipsing back and
forth across her lawn hard at work. Her brother was there, his all too familiar
ranch truck was parked near the street.

Curious, she
grabbed her purse, opting to leave the rest of her things until she was certain
she had a place for them. If she was right, her house would probably look like
that moving truck had thrown up in the middle of her living room because there
was no way they would know where to put anything.

She wasn’t
halfway up the front walkway when Nathaniel – everyone called him Nate – came
bounding out of the front door, a mischievous smile on his handsome face. The
boy looked so much like his father, it was uncanny.

“Aunt Ash!” Her
nephew exclaimed, coming right at her with his arms open wide like he was
seven, not seventeen.

“Nate.” Bracing for
the impact, Ashleigh laughed out loud when he stopped suddenly, standing right
in front of her and waiting for her reaction.

Ashleigh walked
right up to him, letting the much bigger boy embrace her.

“Ummm... Nate?”
She smiled, taking a step back. “Did you know you aren’t a little boy anymore?”

Nate’s whiskey
brown eyes danced with amusement. “Yep. No more boy. All man.” He said in a
Tarzan-like imitation.

“Last time I saw
you, I could’ve sworn you were shorter than me.”

“Doubtful.” Nate
remarked, looking thoughtful. “I’m having a hard time coming up with anyone who
is as short as you are.”

Slapping his arm
lightly, Ashleigh laughed. At five feet eight, she was by no means on the short
side. It wasn’t her fault that the men in her family seemed to steal all the
inches, every one of them, including Nate as it turned out, stood over six feet
tall.

“So, what do you
think of my new digs?” She asked him, turning to look at her little house.

“Impressive. I’m
gonna have to grab my fishing pole and come hang out sometime.”

Grinning,
Ashleigh looked up at him. She wasn’t sure the little stock tank behind the
house even had fish, but if anyone would find out, it would be Nate.

“Where’s your
dad?” Hefting her purse up on her arm, she turned toward the house.