Her Secret Valentine - Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Ashton stopped two feet short of the bold redhead staring at him like she hadn't seen a semi-naked guy before. Her big blue eyes roved over him with blatant appreciation and he almost flexed his biceps in a double cobra to tease.
"What interests you about gardening in particular?"
This close, he could see a light dusting of freckles on her nose, their innocence at odds with the knowing glint in her eyes. "The tools? The plants?"
He leaned closer to murmur in her ear. "Or getting down and dirty?"
She sighed, a soft, needy sound that shot straight to his groin. He'd always had a thing for redheads.
"Tease all you like. I've had a bad day." She laid a hand on his chest, the heat from her palm branding him, before she shoved him away.
"Boyfriend troubles?"
She shot him a scathing glare that would've made a lesser man back away. "Wedding troubles."
Too bad. They could've had fun, of the horizontal kind. "You're getting hitched?"
"Oh, no." She grimaced. "I'm not that stupid."
He laughed, liking her more by the minute. "A woman after my own heart."
She stared at him with new appreciation. "Marriage is for suckers."
"You won't get any argument from me. Divorced?"
"I'm a divorce lawyer," she said, squaring her shoulders as if about to enter court for battle.
"Fierce. I like it." An exotic fragrance, like frangipani with a hint of musk, wafted over him and he took a step closer. "So how do you blow off steam after a bad day?"
"Wine. Ice cream. Channing Tatum."
He rolled his eyes. "Everyone knows exercise is the best way to de-stress."
Their gazes locked, his daring, hers startled, like she didn't quite know what he meant.
So he made it clearer by snagging her hand and running it down his sweaty chest, starting at his throat and ending just short of his waistband, where she'd feel clear evidence of exactly what kind of exercise he meant.
"I guess the only questions remaining are exactly how stressed you are and how much exercise you need to unwind."
Tilting her chin up, her lush crimson mouth eased into a wicked grin. "By exercise, you mean a roll in the rose petals?"
He loved a sense of humour almost as much as a curvy body. "If that's what turns you on."
She dipped a finger beneath his waistband and he inhaled sharply. "You have no idea what turns me on, hot stuff, but you're about to find out."