Chapter 47

Ashlee slipped her arm through mine and guided me in the opposite direction of the other ladies. It was in a wing of the apartment I hadn’t even inspected. We walked through what appeared to be a second living room, built more for entertainment than the first. There was a pool table, several more couches, a massive bookshelf loaded with books, and a few display cases littered around with what appeared to be fine art. I recognized one of the paintings hanging on the wall as the Raphael I’d noticed in the list of art in my grandfather’s estate. Had the ladies already moved some of my grandfather’s things from wherever they were being stored into this apartment? Again, I was amazed at how quickly they moved.

“This really is a beautiful place,” Ashlee said, breaking the silence as I took in the parts of my apartment I hadn’t even seen. I found that there were two more sets of balconies leading to more rooms and hallways on the second and third floors. Just how big was this place?

“It is,” I reiterated, “Erin and Dannielle did an amazing job picking out this place.”

I felt her stiffen a little next to me, but then she moved on, “Have you decided how you’re going to decorate it?”

She stopped us midway into the entertainment room and let go of me so she could open one of the two heavy wooden doors set into the wall in front of us. She walked in and turned, inviting me to follow her with a warm smile and a glint in her eye. I followed her into what I assumed was my office.

“I haven’t even seen the entire place yet. For now, I think I’ll just keep whatever’s in…”

The room I had walked into was gorgeous. It was surrounded by dark wood paneling and bookshelves that lined two entire walls, leaving enough space for a large television to sit in the middle of one wall. A balcony ran around those two walls, segmenting the bookshelves into two sets – top and bottom. A massive desk carved entirely out of ebony sat in the middle of the office with all of my computer equipment already sitting on top of it in a neat little pile. A large globe sat in a wooden frame like something you’d find in the office of a Victorian detective, and there was an empty display case sitting opposite the globe. The office chair looked like it might have cost as much as a new Honda, and there were three matching, dark leather wingback chairs sitting strategically around a beautiful round table.

The other two walls were nothing but windows, currently displaying a gorgeous view of New York City at night. Between my desk and one of the transparent walls sat a leather sofa, a sofa bed, a small bar complete with a mini fridge, and a set of workout equipment. Another standing mobile desk sat against one transparent wall with a few books stacked on it.

This was my home office.

“Jesus,” I whispered as I took it all in.

“I know,” Ashlee said, slinking up beside me. “It’s amazing.”

I looked back down at her, and she cast a very warm look back at me. Her chin was raised, lips were parted, and there was a clear invitation for me to taste them if I dared.

“The paperwork?” I asked.

She didn’t respond. Instead, she just stared up at me, open hunger written all over her face. I had to look away from her eyes and drop my gaze lower. That was a mistake; the top two buttons of her dress had been unfastened, exposing a considerable amount of the valley between her breasts. I quickly averted my eyes back up to hers and caught her smirking, clearly able to see the effect she had on me. She clasped her hands behind her back and made her chest stick out a little more, and though I wasn’t looking directly at it, I could see the top fastened button strain a little in my bottom peripheral vision.

“Under the laptop,” she said.

My gaze fell to her lips, and I noticed once more that they were parted, inviting me to take whatever I wanted. However, something was preventing me from acting on every hormonal impulse I had with this young woman, and considering how I hadn’t hesitated with anyone else, I couldn’t figure out why. Was it because she was a VanCamp?

Helen had given me an off-handed warning about her in the bathroom that day I’d officially reached an agreement with YPV. Had she meant anything by it? Why hadn’t she told me of their connection sooner? Did she care if anything happened between me and what was likely her stepdaughter? On the off chance that she did, I couldn’t afford to make Helen my enemy. She was too valuable to me. My hesitation could also have to do with the fact that this girl was clearly looking for something long-term, and if I still had room for someone like that in my life, Ashlee wasn’t that person.

No. Ashlee wasn’t worth the possible drama, especially with Emily in the house.

“Cool,” I said as I whirled on my heels and made my way over to the desk. I found the papers where Ashlee had told me they would be and dropped into the chair to sign them. Someone had enough foresight to leave a pen on my desk within plain sight, so I unlocked my phone to see if I had any messages as I laid it down on the desktop, grabbed the pen, and started leafing through the papers to get them signed and initialed.

Ashlee didn’t move at first. She simply stood where I’d abandoned her as I scribbled away at the documents, and I did my best to ignore her presence. After a few moments, I heard her approach and pretended that I wasn’t aware. She placed a hand on my shoulder and simply stood there, giving me the impression that she was simply watching to make sure I was signing in all the appropriate spaces. For the remaining few minutes, we continued like that: me signing away while she stood next to me. No matter how much I tried to concentrate on what I was doing though, I was acutely aware of how her fingers were tracing little patterns on my shoulder.

When the last line was signed, I looked up at her. “Is that everything?”

The smile she gave me was hard to read as she leaned forward and placed her hand on the paperwork, her eyes never leaving mine. She leaned forward a little further, her blouse falling open to give me a perfect view of her perfect, lightly tanned breasts cradled in a pink, frilly bra. Her face was much closer to mine than necessary.

“Is it?” she husked and glanced down at my lips.

After a rejection at the coffee shop and me playing hard to get here, it was clear she was desperate to get something from me. She was trying so hard that it was hard not to notice… it almost felt like we were in a bad movie.

But…

There was no doubt I wanted this woman. I know I’ve probably said this about most of the ladies that crossed my path lately, but Ashlee was among one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. Her combination of cute and seductive kept driving me crazy. The hint of taboo that came with her being Roger VanCamp’s daughter made her even more intriguing.

And she smelled nice, like herbal shampoo and flowers.

My gaze dropped down to her lips once more and I seriously considered kissing those lips. Why couldn’t things be as simple as they’d been this afternoon? It felt like Danielle had never kept a secret in her life. Erin felt like an open book since we met, except for tonight while Ashlee was here. Even Helen, the mysterious temptress that always seemed to be withholding things from me seemed open and frank today. It had been refreshing. Ashlee’s presence seemed to shatter that.

I stood up quickly, our faces nearly bumping, and Ashlee straightened, looking slightly startled.

“What do you want, Ashlee?” I demanded.

She simply looked up at me with wide, expressive eyes. Her breathing became a little more rapid, plump lips still parted.

When she didn’t answer, I asked her again, “What do you want?”

She looked confused, her brow furrowing as she glanced around the room briefly seeming to look for an answer among the bookshelves. “Isn’t it obvious?” she asked, looking back at me, “I want you.”

“I got that much,” I said dryly. “Why? Are you just looking for a good time? Do you want more? Would you have been interested in me at all if I wasn’t rich?”

I witnessed an entire plethora of emotions play across her features as she looked around the room once again for an answer. “I want you to give me a chance!”

“To do what? Do you want to be my girlfriend? What?”

“I could be,” she said. She took a half step closer, her breasts brushing against my chest. “Please. I could be amazing for you. I could be the best thing that ever happened to you.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper. She gently grabbed one of my hands in both of her more delicate ones and slowly brought it up to her lips. She kissed my knuckles as she gazed at me with those green gemstones she had for eyes.

“I’ve had a lot of really great things happen to me lately,” I whispered back. “It’s hard to imagine anything better.”

“That’s because you don’t know what you’re missing, Marcus. Please…” She lifted the index finger of the hand she held and pressed her lips to it in a soft, wet kiss. I felt her increase the pressure until the tip of my finger slowly began to slide between her pouty, pink lips, and I could feel something between a kiss and a suckle as we continued to stare at each other in silence. One of her hands slid to my shoulder and snaked up to the back of my neck. She let my finger fall from her lips and lifted her head another inch as she applied just enough pressure to encourage my lips to meet hers for a kiss. “Just give me a chance. I would be so good to you.”

My head lowered a fraction, the temptation to press my lips to hers growing by the moment. I felt her gently massage my palm, which she still held. “Ashlee, I’ve had sex with your mother.”

“Step,” she hummed, stretching her neck out a little more. “And I don’t care. Daddy wants to put a stop to it anyway.”

I had so many questions, but at the moment, only one mattered.

“And he has no problem with me doing it with his little girl?”

“He does,” she whispered, bringing my head down another half inch so that I could feel my lips brush lightly against hers. At the same time, I felt her other hand release mine as she pressed her palm against my belt, then slid it down over the fabric of my pants until it covered most of the length of my swollen cock. She ground against it, eliciting a small groan from me.

She swallowed, adopted a look of extreme vulnerability, and said, “He wouldn’t like it, but that doesn’t matter. I’m a big girl. I can do what I want. Besides… that doesn’t turn you on? Taking a man’s wife and his daughter?”

Fuck. The thought of that was a turn-on. As far as I knew, Roger VanCamp had never done a damn thing to me, but the idea of taking both the women in his life against his wishes was an aphrodisiac almost as strong as his daughter. I wanted her even more. I wanted to shove all the stuff off my desk like we were in a bad drama and take her right there. I wanted to rip those other buttons loose and stick my cock in the little minx until I coated the walls of her vagina with my seed.

Our lips brushed each other for a full ten seconds, and then I threw caution to the wind. Fuck Roger VanCamp. Who gave a shit if Helen had a problem with it. They worked for me, and if I wanted Ashlee, I could have her. Our lips touched.

And then I heard laughter.

It came from somewhere just outside the office and completely shattered the hypnotic trance Ashlee had put me in. I reflexively backed away from the young woman’s lips as if they were hot coals. Her arm around my neck briefly resisted, but then Ashlee released me so I could back away. I immediately felt embarrassed that I’d backed away so quickly, and ashamed at my embarrassment. Ashlee could tell that I didn’t want the others catching us kissing, and I suddenly felt like I was fourteen and about to be discovered by my mother. I was mentally kicking myself that I’d allowed the moment to be ruined. Why was I having such a hard time remembering who was supposed to be holding the reigns here?