On top of that, Ashleigh had been hiding who she was as an author, worried it would make people think of her differently. She was beginning to think that was the case with Alex, only he was thinking that she didn’t want any of those things she wrote about. He couldn’t have been more wrong.
She should’ve known better. After that one night at the guest house, Ashleigh should have seen the signs then. He was treating her like she would break if he handled her too roughly. She might break some other things if he didn’t get that out of his head.
A decade ago, Ashleigh had seen the prelude to what they shared the other night in his bed, but Alex had apparently been scared that long ago night. She remembered the argument he’d had with her, the way he had cut her to the bone with his words. Words she was pretty sure he didn’t remember.
“Ashleigh, wait.” Alex’s deep voice reverberated through the room as he pulled away from her.
He was on top of her on the couch, her shirt was unbuttoned, her bra unhooked, and he had been doing wondrous things to her nipples with his skilled tongue. And she had innocently weaved her hand between them, wanting to touch him, wanting to make him crazy with need, the same way she was. And since he was on top of her, she wasn’t so sure why he was telling her to wait. He had all the power.
“What’s wrong?” She asked, staring up into the glowing emeralds in his eyes.
“How can you ask me that? Fuck.” He pushed himself up, a little unsteady, but he finally made it to his feet.
“Did I do something wrong?” She asked, fumbling to get her bra hooked and holding her shirt together, trying to cover herself.
“No. And that’s the problem. You’re doing everything right, but we can’t do this. We, Ashleigh. You and me.”
“Why not?” For the life of her, she didn’t understand, but she knew from the glare he was pinning her with that he was about to tell her.
“Because you’re too damn young for me. Too sweet. Too innocent. You can’t handle a man like me, Ash.” With that, he stormed across the room.
“And what makes you think that?” Fury ripped through her gut. What the hell made him think she couldn’t handle him? From the looks of it, she was doing a damn good job so far.
“I know you, Ash. You need someone to love you. Someone to make love to you. I’m not that man.”
“And what do you need?” She asked, figuring since he thought he’d pegged her it was only fair she understand where he was going with this.
He surprised her when he walked back toward her, roughly pulling her against him. The force of his movements had her stumbling into him.
“Baby, I need a woman who will go to her knees and let me bury my dick down her throat without needing meaningless words.”
A sharp bolt of lust burst from her core, radiating downward. Something about the graphic image he put in her head made her want to do just that. But apparently, according to Alex, she wasn’t that type of girl.
Not that she even knew what type of girl she was when it came to sex. She’d never been with a man before. Not like this.
“You’re not ready for that. And I’m not ready for you, Ash. No matter how bad I want to fuck you, it’d never be enough.”
Ashleigh pulled away from him then, shocked and hurt by his statement. She prayed it was the booze talking, but something told her that the truth was coming out. She wanted him to go, but he was too drunk to drive, so she did the only thing she knew to do.
“I’m taking you home. My brother can bring your truck to you tomorrow.”
“No.” He insisted, but stumbled as he tried to make it to the door.
Ashleigh grabbed her keys from the table; pocketing his while she was at it so he couldn’t get to them, before following behind him. It took a little manipulation, but she finally got him into the passenger seat of her car and gratefully he closed his eyes and passed out.
The memory still pissed her off and made her want to hit him. Apparently ten years didn’t change his mind because Alex was still treating her like fragile porcelain.
She needed to come up with a plan to change his perspective, to educate him a little more. She didn’t want to be the dominate one in the relationship, she wanted to be dominated. She wanted to relinquish control to this man.
The stories she wrote, and the stories that Sam and Sierra had told her were what she wanted. She only wondered how hard she would have to work to penetrate his thick skull.
~~*~~
“Alex?” The timid voice on the other end of the phone had Alex stopping abruptly. He had just walked out of Xavier’s office and was heading to his car, hoping he could stop by Ashleigh’s for a little while when his phone rang.