'Like what?' Ashley wanted to know.
'Well, we both come from families with a strong work ethic. We both majored in business at college. We both started our own businesses and have made them successful. We're careful with our money. You like my mother and Frankie. I love 'em. You want kids. So do I. All boys, though. Well, maybe one girl. And we are incredibly wonderful together in the sack, aren't we, baby?'
He shouldn't have been making sense. But he was. They did have a lot in common, and it was a lot more than just being sexually compatible. Her first fiance, Carson Kingsley, had been a lot of fun-funny, quick, sweet, and with incredible taste. But there had been no sex involved, and it confused her until she learned why. Her second fiance, Chandler Wayne, had wanted nothing but sex. He was fun and he was energetic, but he also drank too much in the off season, and could get nasty when crossed. And then there had been fiance number three. Tall, blond, and handsome. A thirty-five-year-old preppy with a great wardrobe, a wonderful backhand, and perfect manners, who knew just what to say.
But what the hell had she had in common with any of those guys? It shocked her to realize suddenly that she had had nothing at all in common with any of them. But she certainly shared much with Ryan Finbar Mulcahy. And yes, they were wickedly, wonderfully compatible sexually. 'Do you think this fate of yours helped Joe and Ray to get it right for us?' she wondered aloud.
'Could be,' he said. 'Look, we've got the prenups protecting both of us financially. And if we really want it the out is there. But instead of concentrating on that out, why don't we concentrate on making this marriage work?'
'I could do that,' Ashley answered him slowly, 'but there is one condition.'
'And that is?'
'No babies until we're absolutely sure that we can be happy together, and that you want me and a family more than you want to spend time in your office. Okay?' Her green eyes engaged his brown ones.
'I'm used to spending most of my time there,' he said. 'It could be hard at first, but I can try, Ash. I will try. And you've got to help me, because sometimes I don't see the plain truth staring me in the face.'
'You're asking me to nag you,' Ashley said, but a small smile played at the corners of her lush mouth.
He grinned. 'Yes, I am.' Then he grew serious. 'I'm a bit of duh sometimes, but I'm not a complete jerk. I'm discovering you're a very special girl, Ashley. You're beautiful, sexy, smart, kind, thoughtful, and sensitive. I know I'd be a fool not to try to hold on to you. I planned to go into town on Monday, but I'll call in then and tell them I won't be back until the Tuesday after Labor Day. There's nothing at R &R that can't wait.'
'That's ten days!' She gasped.
'Well, we really should have a honeymoon, shouldn't we?' he answered her.
'But I didn't plan anything!' she wailed. 'We should honeymoon on some exotic island, or fly to Europe and stay at a grand hotel.'
'I thought it might be nice if we stayed home, let Mr. and Mrs. Byrnes take care of us, and you show me all around Egret Pointe and its environs. Can Nina handle Lacy Nothings for the next ten days?'
'I suppose so,' Ashley said. 'The catalog is under control for now, and this is usually our quiet season, and I'm here in case of a real emergency.'
'Then call Nina today so she's prepared tomorrow morning when she goes in to work,' he suggested.
'Okay,' Ashley agreed. 'She'll be okay. Brandy can come in five days a week instead of just three. She's saving for college, and this is her senior year. She'll welcome the extra cash. She's been checking at the IGA the days she doesn't work with us, but I pay her more, so she'll change her days there.' She finished the coffee remaining in her china mug. 'That was good. Thank you.'
He stood up and took away the bed tray. 'I think we ought to seal our new agreement with something.'
'A little sex, perhaps?' she teased.
'A lot of sex,' he growled, diving back into the bed.
Ashley squealed and squirmed out of his grasp. 'I need a shower,' she said. 'You had one earlier. And the next one we'll take together, okay?'
'That's fair, but hurry up, baby. I'm getting hot just thinking about you naked again,' Ryan said, his brown eyes caressing her long body.
And then she slid the spaghetti straps off her shoulders and, turning, walked slowly and seductively into her bathroom, her hips swaying as she went. Halfway there the nightgown slid down her frame, and without losing a step Ashley stepped out of it, treating him to the delicious sight of her graceful back and delightfully firm buttocks. He gave a long, appreciative wolf whistle, and she turned slightly to grin at him as she closed her bathroom door.
Ashley let the warm water from the twelve spigots in her glass and marble shower pour over her. She picked up the cake of Florentine olive oil soap and rubbed it over her sea sponge until it was foamy. Then she washed herself thoroughly and rinsed. But she wasn't of a mind to get too quickly out of the privacy of her bathroom. Something wonderful had just happened. Something totally unexpected. Certainly she had never anticipated that Ryan would suggest they try to actually make a go of what had begun as a marriage of convenience. Perhaps she had hoped a little bit that something good might come of their marriage, eventually. Yet they had known each other only two and a half months. But the day after the wedding? He had no reason she could think of to make the suggestion. Unless, of course, he thought he might be able to actually care for her. That he believed she could learn to care for him. Now she really did know how the heroines in romance novels felt when put into marriages not of their own choosing.
Ashley turned off the shower and, stepping out, wrapped herself in a large bath sheet. She took a towel and rubbed her arms and legs dry. Then, going to the sink, she brushed her teeth and swished a bit of mouthwash around her mouth. Picking up her hairbrush, she ran it through her hair, fluffing it up.
Ryan was sprawled naked on the bed. He held out his hand to her. Ashley dropped the bath sheet and, coming across the room, took his hand, letting him pull her down onto the bed with him.
'You've got a body like the Venus de Milo,' he said softly, reaching up to caress one of her breasts. 'Last night it was hard and hot, Ash. Now let me do it to you slow and sweet.' He didn't wait for her to answer, but pressed her down onto the mattress and began to kiss her. His mouth was firm and warm. His tongue ran along her lush mouth, encouraging it to open, sliding in when it did to play with her tongue.
Ashley let herself relax completely, putting herself into his care without any reservations. She had learned last night that he was a skilled lover, and he had given her no reason to distrust him. The kiss melted into another, and another, and another, until her head was swimming. The sensation of her breasts against his bare flesh was exciting. And then his mouth began to move from her lips, going beneath her chin, sliding easily down her throat. He kissed her shoulders. His tongue traced a line between her breasts. He kissed those pale mounds of flesh, sucking briefly on each nipple. She didn't see his smile when she sighed with appreciation.
His mouth moved down and across her long torso. The flesh beneath his lips was soft, and faintly perfumed with an elusive scent that set his pulses racing with the odd sensation that the fragrance was familiar, but he couldn't place it. He kissed her down one long leg, reaching her foot, nibbling on her toes, pushing his tongue between them suggestively. Ashley sighed again, and made small noises of pleasure.
He moved up her other leg, this time using his tongue on her skin. Her legs fell open, and he teasingly nipped at the soft, tender flesh of her inside thigh. Her pussy was a full thicket of mahogany-colored curls, and he wove his fingers through it. He could see she was already growing slightly moist. He slipped two fingers between the lips of her labia and, finding her clit, played with it, smiling again as it swelled beneath his ministrations. Then, carefully, he pushed those two fingers into her vagina, and she whimpered and began to encourage him by moving her hips. His fingers pushed as deep as they could, moving gently, but with increasing rapidity. He felt her tense and bedew his hand with her juices. 'Tell me what you want,' he whispered in her ear.
She was silent for several long moments, and then she said, 'Lick me, Ryan! Please! And then fuck me! I want you inside of me.'
