He couldn’t understand what she was saying. Didn’t she know she was practically naked and making him crazy, lying there on his mattress? Yet she acted as if everything were perfectly fine.
“Use the yard,” he managed to say. “For the eggs.”
“Good. Also, when I talked to Brenda today, she invited us to brunch at her house. I hope you don’t mind that I said yes. So I figured we’d do the Easter egg hunt, then go to church, then over to Brenda’s. Of course if you object to church, you could meet us there.”
He was losing his mind. “Brenda invited the three of us?”
Some of her calmness faded. He sensed her tension. Suddenly Ashley wouldn’t look at him. “Yes, well, I thought that was odd. Then I figured she’d run it past you and you’d agreed.”
Brenda hadn’t said a word.
Ashley slid to the edge of the bed, then stood. She was barefoot and nearly naked.
“The thing is, I’d told myself I was going to be practical,” she said, moving closer to him. Her hazel eyes glinted with humor. “Having an affair with my boss is not only crazy, it’s potentially dangerous. I have goals, you have goals and they’re not the same, right?”
He suddenly wanted to hear all about her goals. Instead he nodded.
“So it would be dumb to get involved.”
As she spoke, she put her hands on his shoulders and pushed off his jacket. The thick fabric slid down his arms and slipped to the ground.
She pressed her fingers against his chest. “But you’re so darned cute when you’re all stoic and soldierlike. I’m not sure I can resist that. There’s also the way you’re patient with Maggie and incredible in bed. All that attention focused on what I want. Call me spineless. One minute I was getting ready to crawl between my own sheets and the next I was here. Want me to go away?”
Instead of answering with words, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. She responded the instant his mouth brushed hers, leaning into him and groaning softly. Desire filled him, making his blood heat and his arousal flex against her belly. He wanted her. He’d been fooling himself by thinking he could share the same house and ignore her.
He swept his tongue against her lower lip. She parted for him, but he waited before entering, brushing back and forth until she trembled. Only then did he slip inside and taste her sweetness.
She clung to him. Bodies pressed, heat flared, need grew. He felt the rapid pounding of her heartbeat and knew that his own beat just as fast. Desperate for more, he broke the kiss so he could nibble his way along her jaw and down her throat. She groaned and arched her head back.
“Jeff,” she gasped. “You don’t have to do the Easter thing if you don’t want to. I mean I won’t change my mind about wanting to make love with you.”
He couldn’t help chuckling as he tugged on her lace nightgown. “I’ll do the Easter thing,” he said softly, pulling down her short sleeves and baring her to the waist. “Right now I’ll promise to do anything you want.”
Chapter 11
Jeff awakened shortly before dawn. He jerked out of a sound sleep only to find himself right where he was supposed to be—in his bedroom. It was nearly a full second before he was able to register two important facts: he hadn’t had the dream and he wasn’t alone.
He didn’t know which startled him more. After he and Ashley had made love the previous evening, they’d slipped under the covers. He’d held her close, fully expecting to spend another night staring at the ceiling, not daring to close his eyes and experience the nightmare. Instead he’d drifted off without being haunted by the specters of his past.
He turned toward the feminine warmth pressing against him, only to find Ashley watching him. She smiled slowly.
“Good morning.”
Her voice was velvet, her body silk. He found himself instantly aroused by her presence and the acceptance he saw in her eyes.
“How’d you sleep?” he asked, turning toward her and touching her cheek.
“Really well.” She hesitated. “At the risk of starting your day with the words every man hates to hear...we have to talk.”
Her hair was a mess. Dark curls teased at her face and shot out in every direction like an uneven halo. Her skin was slightly flushed and the scent of their lovemaking clung to the sheets. Her need to have a conversation didn’t disturb what he considered a perfect moment.
He knew what she was going to say. A casual relationship with him wasn’t her style. This wasn’t sensible; they had to end it. He told himself that he didn’t mind. The past two nights had been more than he’d expected. They would be enough.
“Talk away,” he said easily, propping his head on one hand.
“Oh, sure. Make me be the one.” She flopped onto her back, then turned her head toward him. “Jeff, what are we doing?”
He wanted to say they had been sleeping and now they were having a discussion, but he knew that wasn’t exactly what she meant. “What would you like us to be doing?”
