Sweet Obsession (Nights Series #4)(26)

“Um, Ash. Could it be that he’s your cou—”

Ash cursed internally at his lack of presence when a knowing expression flared across the young woman’s face.

Rebecca clapped a hand over her mouth, her shock turning to uninhibited delight.

Ash swallowed a groan.

“Don’t you dare breathe a word about this to anyone. I don’t want the whole campus talking about my relationship with Luke.”

Rebecca nodded wildly, her bright-eyed gaze telling him that she would keep her promise. She stared in Luke’s direction, cheeks flaming.

“Whoa,” she said hoarsely. “I bet he’s dynamite in bed!”

Ash blinked before bursting out laughing. Rebecca joined him, their laughter echoing to the sky.

“I’m saying nothing,” he eventually managed.

“You lucky bastard.” Rebecca touched his shoulder lightly. “You’d better go. Otherwise, the look he’s giving you is gonna make my panties melt.”

Ash was still chuckling when he reached the Bentley.

“Who’s that?” Luke said curiously as they climbed inside the vehicle.

“A friend,” Ash said. He waved at Rebecca while Luke guided the car into traffic. “She recognized you.”

Luke raised an eyebrow. “Did she?”

“Yup.” Ash grinned. “There was talk of panties melting.”

Luke’s lips twitched.

Ash settled back in the leather seat and gazed at his lover. “How was your day?”

Luke smiled. “Good. Yours? How did the presentation go?”

Ash raised an eyebrow. “I aced it, of course.”

Luke chuckled.



Luke leaned on his elbow and watched Ash’s sleeping face in the soft light washing through the terrace doors. They had just finished a two-hour marathon of mind-numbingly great sex, and sweat was still cooling on the young man’s body.

He gazed at the graceful lines of Ash’s spine and butt where he lay chest-down on the bed beside him and resisted the urge to sink his teeth in the firm twin globes. Although Luke had wanted to fuck Ash for another hour still, he’d promised himself that he’d let him sleep tonight. The young man had another big day ahead of him tomorrow.

Luke’s thoughts drifted to the girl he’d seen Ash with that afternoon. The way they’d looked as they laughed together had shocked him and sent a fresh bout of doubt bolting through his mind, joining the host of others that had been there for the past few weeks. Luke couldn’t help but think that things were progressing too fast for them. They had gone from being virtual strangers for five years to suddenly living and sleeping together.

Although Luke didn’t doubt Ash’s sincerity when he said he loved him, he couldn’t help but linger on the age gap between them. At Ash’s age, Luke had still been sowing his wild oats and had slept with more partners than anyone in his circle of college friends. There was also the fact that Ash had never gone out with anyone before.

Luke had been ignoring the small voice inside him, the one that had been niggling at his subconscious for some time. The one that said this was too good to be true. That Ash couldn’t really belong to him. That he was still young. That he could fall in love with someone else.

Seeing Ash with that girl had brought that reality sharply into focus for Luke. Although Ash had admitted he hadn’t managed to get hard the first time he tried sleeping with a girl, it could be that he just hadn’t met the right one yet. A woman who could fill him with desire. Someone he could marry and settle down with.

Someone who could give him children and a family.

With Colby Corporation—Ash’s inheritance from his deceased parents—now a subsidiary of Rutherford Industries, the Colby trust fund meant Ash would never have to work a single day in his life if he so wished. But Luke knew Ash wanted more for himself than to be one of those useless rich kids who wasted away their parents’ hard-earned money. He’d always aspired to bring his design skills to his family’s construction business one day and take over the reins his father had abruptly left him all those years ago—hence why he’d insisted on trying out for Stanford.

That Ash would enter the working world with the reputation of being in a same-sex relationship was something that was starting to weigh heavily on Luke’s mind. Although being bisexual had never affected his own business dealings, Luke knew his presence and reputation preceded him everywhere he went.

Ash had yet to achieve the same stature in the business world and was bound to be the subject of hot gossip. However open society pretended to be about the gay community, Luke feared it might affect the young man’s business ventures when he took over Colby Corp.

Even though it physically hurt Luke to admit it, he knew he needed to give Ash some breathing space. It was the responsible thing to do under the circumstances.

Luke stared at the young man beside him and felt his heart twist.

Fuck. I know this is for his own good, but God, it hurts!

He curled an arm around Ash and dropped a loving kiss on his head before settling against him, knowing sleep would be hard to come by that night.