God, she’s gorgeous. Like she can feel my gaze on her, she looks up and her eyes meet mine. I can see the moment her breath hitches, and she glances down before focusing back on me. She pulls the straw of her drink into her mouth and her cheeks hollow as she sucks in, making my dick twitch inside my pants.
“Hey.” A woman greets me, placing herself unnecessarily close and ripping my attention from the bombshell I was just silently flirting with. “You’re Asher Hawthorne, right?”
Fuck. “No, sorry, I just look like him.”
“Really? I could have sworn you were him.” Her shoulders deflate just slightly.
“Nope. Besides, I hear he’s a major dick.”
She gasps as if I just kicked her damn puppy. “Don’t talk about him like that! I heard he’s a total sweetheart.”
Is that what people are saying about me? Shit. I should really fix that.
“If you say so.” I brush it off, taking another swig of my drink.
I was hoping for this girl to get the hint that I’m not interested, but unfortunately, she’s a bit dense. She comes even closer and places a hand on my arm while bending forward enough to practically shove her tits in my face.
“So, if you’re not Asher Hawthorne, who are you?”
I shrug. “Just a guy having a drink.”
“Oh, mysterious,” she coos. “I like that in a man.”
I’m sure you do, Barbie. I’m sure you do.
The thorn in my side starts blabbering about something I can’t bother to listen to when I find myself once again in a staring contest with the only one in this place to grab my attention. She says something to her friends before biting her lip in a way that makes my cock harden in a matter of seconds. My tongue juts out slightly to moisten my own lips, and she instantly catches the underlying message.
All the girls she was with look confused as she gets up and walks around to me, inserting herself in between me and the blonde who doesn’t know how to shut her mouth. It’s a ballsy move, but doesn’t compare to her next one. She grabs my glass off the bar and downs the rest of it in one fluid motion.
“Tessa Davenport,” she says, returning the now-empty tumbler.
I can’t help but smile. “Asher Hawthorne.”
It’s probably stupid, telling her my real name after I just lied to the chick standing right behind her, but it slipped. In a matter of seconds, this girl has me totally off my game. Confidence radiates from her in waves as she stands tall and lets her eyes rake over me with zero shame.
“I thought you said you weren’t Asher!” whines the pest that doesn’t know how to take a hint.
Tessa rolls her eyes hard before turning around. “He’s a little busy, okay? So, run along and find some other poor soul to torture.”
As if no one has ever called her out before, she recoils like she was just punched in the face then turns to me. “Whatever. You were right, you are a dick.”
With that, she storms away and leaves Tessa and me exactly how I wanted to be in the first place—alone. She chuckles at the dramatics, and the sound is one I wouldn’t mind playing on a constant loop for hours on end. Is there anything about this girl that isn’t perfect?
“How did she know who you are?” she questions, completely surprising me.
“You don’t?”
She raises one brow. “Should I?”
And okay, that’s hot as fuck. It’s not often I come across a woman who doesn’t already know me. Whether it’s because their ex or even current boyfriend watches football or because they’re a straight-up gold digger, they usually all at least recognize me. This one, however, seems to be shocking me at every turn.
“Well, if you don’t know, I’m sure as hell not going to tell you.”
Pulling her lip between her teeth again, she doesn’t seem to mind the fact that I don’t plan on clueing her in. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah.” She shrugs. “I’m not going to hassle you out of information you don’t seem to want to share.”
Wow, all right. So, not only is this chick the most breathtaking woman I’ve seen in a while, but she’s probably also the most down to earth. Maybe Colby was right. This was a fucking brilliant idea.
“Okay, then. Do you want to dance?”
Her gaze meets mine, and I can already see something sinful brewing behind those brown eyes of hers.
“No, because I don’t believe for a second that dancing is what