Page 102 of Fireworks & Forehead Kisses

She nodded, and I placed my hand on the base of Ashley’s back and escorted her to the elevators. On the way down, she yawned, and I noticed that there were dark circles beneath her eyes.

“Are you feeling okay?”

Her lids were heavy as she blinked. “I think I’m just still getting over whatever I had. Also, I had a drink, and I’m just really sleepy.”

“Are you sure you want to go back to Firefly tonight? I can get you a room at the hotel, or you can come and stay at my place. I can sleep on the couch if you want.”

The elevator doors opened to the lower parking garage and we walked out to my SUV.

She smiled over at me, but even her smile looked weak. “What kind of wife would make her husband sleep on the couch?”

“Does that mean you want to come back to my house?”

She nodded. “Take me home.”

Those might be the three sweetest words I’d ever heard.

37

ASHLEY

Even before myeyes fluttered open, I knew that I was in trouble. Trouble that surrounded me in the form of a six-foot-four, sexy, muscled man who I’d agreed to share the bed with last night. Declan’s arms were wrapped around me, and something very hard was pressing against my back, and it wasn’t the remote control.

The problem was, this felt right. Too right. So right, I wanted this to be real, and it wasn’t. I only had myself to blame for the pickle of a situation I found myself in, and I wasn’t talking about the pickle pressed against my back.

Staying in Atlanta last night was mistake number one.

Sleeping under one roof was mistake number two.

Sharing the bed last night was mistake number three.

I’d done my absolute best to be ‘on’ at the Christmas party last night. I wanted to impress the people at his company. I didn’t want them to think that Declan had married a dud. He’d been with supermodel Serena. Just like Iman, she didn’t even have a last name, it was just Serena. That was how hot she was. She was known by only one name. It was a lot to live up to.

By the time Declan said we could leave, my Energizer bunny battery had run out of juice. When he suggested I stay in town, I was too tired to even think about flying back home. When we got back to his gorgeous penthouse, I barely had enough energy to change into one of his t-shirts and crawl into bed. When he laid down beside me and pulled me in close to him, I closed my eyes and fell fast asleep.

I was playing with fire, and at this point, I was going to get burned. Not just a little crispy; I’m talking there would only be ashes left of me.

Nothing about being married to Declan was what I expected. The daily texts and calls. The weekly flowers. The random food deliveries. The pharmacy that showed up on my doorstep. The multi-level cat playhouse and tree tower. The new, used Range Rover. The promises he kept. The ones he never made but fulfilled anyway. It was the thoughtfulness, the attentiveness, the long conversations, and the short conversations about everything and nothing that took me by surprise. It was unnerving and, I feared, may have permanently left a Declan-sized hole in my soul.

I’d allowed myself to get too close to a man who was not emotionally available. I needed to shift the power dynamic. To reinstate my independence. For the rest of our designated time together, I desperately needed to put boundaries in place.

First, I needed to distance myself physically; then, I needed to do it emotionally and mentally. The latter was going to be much more difficult than the first objective. The drive back to Firefly was a long one, but I could Uber. I just needed to let Skylar know that I would not be available to babysit.

As I attempted to slip from beneath Declan’s arm, I found myself being pulled closer to him as he tightened his hold on me. His hand flattened against my belly, keeping me in place. A deepgroan vibrated from his chest, and since I was pressed up against him, the sound reverberated through my back.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he rasped, his lips brushing the edge of my ear as his fingertips grazed over the patch of hair at the top of my sex, then dipped between my legs.

A whimper caught in my throat as tingles spread through my core.

Get up, I told myself.Be strong.

Unfortunately, my hormones duct-taped my inner voice. All I could think about was how good I was feeling at that moment. How alive the man whose arms I was in made me feel. How much pleasure I knew he was capable of bringing me.

“I want you, Ashley.” Declan’s deep voice spread through me like a shot of whiskey, sending a tremor of awareness from my head to my toes. “I want to touch you and kiss you and fuck you.”

Every word he spoke spiked my arousal tenfold. He could bring me from zero to a hundred in a single breath. All it took was one touch, one word, one look from him, and my body coiled with sexual tension that only he could satisfy.

“Is that what you want?” he growled.

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