She finished her dinner and put her silverware down. “Is that what you thinkabout when you’re upset in a movie scene? Being rejected by your father?”
“Absolutely.” He recalled going into his father’s office where his father sat in a black leather seat behind a large mahogany desk and coldly gave him a lesson on banking he’d never use.
He also remembered Luke in the school hall, half-asleep because he’d spent the night studying to get great grades back inboarding school.
Luke had found positive reinforcement from teachers. Matt had craved the crowd. Neither one of them… ever… listened to Mitch Morgan.
Ashley’s voice was quiet as she said, “I understand.”
Her tone broke through the spell of the past.
Her brown eyes seemed to be pools of emotion that gazed warmly at him, and it was like she honestly saw him—therealhim.
No one did—they saw what he wanted them to see. Matt sipped his wine and then scooted closer so that their knees touched. “Thanks, Ashley. So, tell me something else I’m not supposed to know about you.”
She pushed her dinner plate away and their elbows also brushed. “I think I’ve spilled enough secrets to make you run for the hills.”
“I wouldn’t run from you.” He decided hehad to be with her intimately.
If he took her, maybe this paralyzing want for her would lessen.
His pulse quickened as he moved closer.
She didn’t object, but folded her hands on the table and asked, “Would you have dated me if you’d known I was the maid?”
He leaned forward until he was so close he could smell her light rose perfume she must have gotten today. “Let’snot go there. Let’s enjoy each other and the night ahead.”
Her lips quivered like she too felt something simmering as she sighed and said, “I suppose it was an unfair question. So, here is a secret…”
“Yeah?”
She was so stiff and unmoving that he paused. Did she want him to sit back and mind his manners? She had every right. It’s not like he’d promised her anything other thana paycheck.
But she pouted her rosy mouth and said, “I’m not acting when you kiss me. I get completely lost in us and wish that it never had to end.”
His heart hammered in his chest. So she felt it too. He brought his forehead to rest against hers. “Me too, Ashley. You frighten me with how much I want you.”
“So it’s not just me?”
He claimed her lips.
She kissedhim back and the rest of the world dropped away.
Everything around them fell to the background as he gave himself in the kiss. It came to an end and he pulled her close. He whispered in her ear, her skin against his creating goosebumps, “Let’s go home.”
“Yes.” She nodded.
Her pink lips were perfect in shape, in texture, in taste. He kissed her again with a need he hadn’t expected.
Maybe this was wrong, but somehow he saw a glimpse of heaven in her and he never wanted to let that go.
Chapter 9
Ashley’s body pulsed as she woke, her muscles well-used and completely satisfied.
Matt put her ex boyfriends to shame so much that she couldn’t even remember their names. She stretched in his bed, he still asleep next to her.
His blond hair was growing out a bit longer for his role as rock star, and as she studied his face she saw that he had bristles alonghis jaw from not having shaved in a day.
