Burn (Breathless #3)(3)

“It was just an impulse,” she defended. “I draw a lot of people. Things. Whatever captures my attention.”

He smiled, never dropping his gaze from hers. Her eyes were so expressive, capable of swallowing a man whole. And that damn choker stared back at him, taunting him with the possibilities.

“So you’re saying I caught your attention.”

She flushed again. It was a guilty flush, but also one that was telling. She was checking him out every bit as much as he was checking her out. Perhaps more subtly, but then subtlety had never been one of his strong points.

“You seemed out of place,” she blurted. “You have very strong features. I was itching to get them down on paper. You have an interesting face and it was obvious you had a lot on your mind. I find people are a lot more open when they think no one is watching them. If you’d been posing, the picture wouldn’t have been the same.”

“It’s very good,” he said slowly as he dropped his gaze to once more take in the drawing. “You have a lot of talent.”

“Can I have it back now?” she asked. “I’m late.”

He looked back up, lifting his eyebrow in question. “You didn’t appear to be leaving until you saw me coming toward you.”

“That was several minutes ago, and I wasn’t late then. Now I am.”

“What are you late for?”

Her brows drew together in consternation and then her eyes flashed in annoyance. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

“Ash,” he said at her pause at the end. “My name is Ash.”

She nodded but didn’t say his name. And right then he’d have given anything to hear his name on her lips.

He reached forward, brushing his fingers over the collar at her throat. “This have anything to do with what you’re late for?”

She took a step back, her frown deepening.

“Your Dom waiting for you?”

Her eyes widened and her fingers automatically went to the collar where his fingers had been just seconds before.

“What’s your name?” he asked, when she remained silent. “I gave you mine. The polite thing to do is return the favor.”

“Josie,” she said barely above a whisper. “Josie Carlysle.”

“And who owns you, Josie?”

Her eyes narrowed then and she clutched her bag, shoving the remainder of her pencils into it. “Nobody owns me.”

“Then did I misunderstand the significance of that collar you’re wearing?”

Her fingers brushed over it again, and it made him itchy. He wanted to remove it. It wasn’t right for her. A collar should be carefully chosen for a submissive. Something that matched her personality. Something made especially for her. And not just any woman.

“You didn’t misunderstand,” she said in a husky voice that sent shivers down his spine. Her voice alone would seduce a man in a matter of seconds. “But nobody owns me, Ash.”

And there it was. His name on her lips. It hit him deep, filling him with inexplicable satisfaction. He wanted to hear it again. When he was pleasuring her. When he had his hands and mouth on her body, drawing whispery sighs of contentment from her.

He lifted one eyebrow. “Then do you misunderstand the significance of that collar?”

She laughed. “No, but he doesn’t own me. Nobody owns me. It was a gift. One I choose to wear. Nothing more.”

He leaned in, and this time she didn’t back away. Her gaze fixed on him, curiosity gleaming, and even anticipation. She felt it too. That magnetic pull between them. She’d have to be blind and in denial not to feel it.

“If you wore my collar, you’d damn well know you belonged to me,” he growled. “Furthermore, you wouldn’t regret for a moment that you gave yourself wholly to me. If you were in my care, you’d definitely belong to me. There’d be no question. And you wouldn’t hesitate when asked who your dominant was. Nor would you say it was a gift like it was nothing more than a piece of jewelry thoughtlessly chosen on a whim. It would mean something, Josie. It would mean f**king everything, and you’d know that.”

Her eyes widened and then she laughed again, her eyes twinkling. “Then it’s too bad I don’t belong to you.”

With that she turned and hurried away, bag over her shoulder and him still standing there holding the drawing she’d done of him.

He watched as she walked away from him, hair sliding down her back and lifting in the wind, a glimpse of the flip-flops and the ankle bracelet that tinkled softly when she moved. Then he glanced down at the drawing in his hand.

“Too bad indeed,” he murmured.

Chapter two

Ash sat in his office, door closed, brooding over the report in front of him. It wasn’t a business file. No financial chart. No email he had to respond to. It was a file on one Josie Carlysle.

He’d acted quickly, calling in a favor from the same agency he’d used to do a background check on Bethany, which had solidly pissed Jace off at the time. They were good, and, more importantly, they were fast.

After his meeting with Josie in the park, he hadn’t been able to shake her from his mind. Hadn’t been able to shake his fixation with her, and he wasn’t even sure what he’d call it, other than he was acting a lot like Jace had when he’d first met Bethany, and Ash had been quick to call his friend on the stupidity and rashness of his actions then. What would Jace think if he knew that Ash was basically stalking Josie?