the side and allowed him to pass.
She took an appreciatively stroll over his body with her eyes, and a laugh escaped me when she bit her knuckle as if to hide a moan.
Ashton looked back over his shoulder and caught her mid-fantasy. He cleared his throat, and she straightened up quickly, her cheeks reddening in embarrassment.
“I’ll just, um,” she said, trying to regain her composure, “leave you two to it, then.”
When the door was closed and Ashton turned back to face me, he cocked an eyebrow and I could no longer hold back. I covered my mouth to hide my laughter, and he shook his head in amusement. “I’m pretty sure she was seconds away from reaching her peak,” I told him. “Don’t you feel bad for interrupting her?”
He stepped forward and took a seat on the edge of my desk. “Not at all, but I would like to see you at your peak, Ms. Masterson.”
“Not here you won’t,” I said matter-of-factly. I knew then that I had actually just challenged him.
He didn’t say anything more as he stood and rounded the corner of the desk.
“Ash,” I said in warning, but it didn’t faze him in the least. “Ashton,” I said, a little louder this time in hope that he would listen.
“You should know, sweetheart, that I do not back down from a challenge,” he said just before gripping my wrist and tugging me up from the chair. My body crashed against his as I stumbled forward, and he wrapped his arm around my waist securely.
I looked up to find him staring back at me with a look of pure intensity.
“I’d love nothing more than to bend you over this desk and hike up this skirt of yours just to prove a point.”
My heart raced as my core tightened in anticipation. Would I fight him if he chose to go forward with that threat? No, I didn’t think I would. Because the excitement that raced through my body at his words had me wanting him to prove he would do it.
He traced my jaw with the tip of his nose and leaned in closer to nip at my neck. “I know you’re thinking about it. I can tell by the way you’re panting with desire.” He brought his lips closer to the shell of my ear. “Instead of giving you what your body is begging for, I’m going to make you wait, because nothing makes me hotter than knowing you want me that bad.”
When he released his hold on me and stepped back, disappointment washed over me. And that must have shown in my expression because Ashton chuckled.
“Don’t worry, baby,” he said as he took another step backward, still eyeing me with that cocky arrogance he oozed. “I’ll make up for it later. In fact you may want to call in tomorrow so you’ll have adequate time to recover.” And when his gaze dropped to where I still had my thighs pressed tightly together, he grinned, knowing I was aching for him.
I had a feeling he was going to torture me, very slowly, almost making me crazy with need, before finally giving me what I now wanted so desperately.
And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
Dinner was torturous. The carriage ride through Central Park even worse. When we arrived at his penthouse hours later, he decided to take a few work-related phone calls. As he walked away without a backward glance, I felt like I was going to combust. He knew damn well what he was doing to me.
Ashton Montgomery was about to see that I too could play a mean game of torture.
I hurried off toward his bedroom and stripped out of my evening clothes. I entered his bathroom and flipped on the shower, and the warm water from the multiple showerheads rained down.
Did I mention just how much I loved his shower?
After washing my body in record time, I towel-dried and then rushed to his bed to plan my own form of attack.
I propped my head up on the feather-soft pillows behind me and positioned my body so the first thing Ash would see upon entering the room would be my parted legs. I lay perfectly still as I waited for the smallest sound indicating he was about to join me. I wanted to be ready.
As the moments slowly ticked by, I grew more impatient. I was just about to get up and grab one of his T-shirts so I could go search for him