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.