What if we got married to fulfill the contract?
Was he thinking the same thing?
“You look gorgeous tonight,” he offered. “You always do, but to see you in a dress for the first time... Wow.”
“You don't look half bad yourself.”
As we moved to the beat, thoughts swirled in my head so fast I couldn't focus on anything else.
Marry Asher. Save the store.
It was so simple, yet the most ridiculous plan imaginable.
With three and a half weeks left till Christmas, it was also the only plan. A horrid idea for so many reasons, but none of those reasons mattered. Saving my Curiosities was the only thing that did.
Something hard pressing into my thigh distracted me. At first, I thought it was his wallet – then he gave me a devilish smile, and I knew better.
“You thinking what I'm thinking?” he asked.
“W-what?”
My heart beat faster. Oh Lord, he was huge. How good it would feel to have him inside me...
“How about we ditch this noisy place and find ourselves a private room?”
He wasn't in the mood to talk business or marriage, and honestly, tonight, neither was I. But we couldn't keep putting it off forever.
“How dare you just assume that I want you.” I pushed him away, flustered by his unexpectedly blatant come-on. “Besides, you're supposed to be here representing Slicker Image and helping score donations. And there was a speech, or so I heard.”
He reached for my hand. I let him take it, stunned and secretly pleased that he could have chosen any of the pretty girls in this club – yet right now, he only wanted me.
“I'm not assuming anything. It's the way you move, the way you look at me. I'm not stupid, Sarah. I only wish you'd stop denying both of us what we so badly need.”
“Sorry, but I need more than just sex. That, and the thought of you screwing a hundred women before me makes me ill.”
“Think of it this way,” he murmured, tracing circles around my palm. “I've got experience. I've picked up some very nice tricks over the years. Aren't you curious, hmm? Even a little?”
I was curious, so much so that my underwear were soaked from listening to him talk.
“I'm one-hundred percent clean, if that's what you're worried about.” He patted the wallet in his pocket. “And you know I always come 'prepared.'”
“As if I'm dumb enough to trust you. You'll say anything to get what you want – in the bedroom and in business both.”
But my resistance was fading, and he damn well knew it.
I'd missed sex so badly, even if the only man I'd ever slept with was terrible at it. What would it be like to have such a skilled lover as Asher?
If not for my pride, and being surrounded by all these people, I'd have probably begged him to fuck me in the nearest broom closet.
“Yo, Asher!” Harry called to him from his office around the bend. “You're up on stage in five. Hope you got a good spiel planned. Something tear-jerking to make 'em open their wallets.”
He sighed and struggled to adjust his erection. “Soon as I'm done with this, you're coming home with me.”
“If it's to talk about you finding that wife – a non-crazy one – then sure.”
“Whatever gets you out of that dress and riding my cock.”
I gaped at him and his filthy mouth. His lips curled into a sexy smile as he made for the stage.
Never had I wanted so badly to screw a man and slap him at the same time.
“Woo-hoo! There you are, Sarah.”
Lana was holding two frosty margaritas as she approached me. She thrust a cold glass into my hands and grinned like she'd won the lottery. It was clear she'd already been indulging in her own drink a bit.
“Check it out. That cute guy over there just bought me a drink,” she gushed. “I told him you were pretty foxy yourself, so he got one for you too. Isn't he generous?”
She pointed to him. A young man with spiked blonde hair and a perfectly tailored suit sat at the end of the bar. He looked vaguely familiar. I sipped my booze and tried to figure out why.
“Thought you were supposed to be keeping an eye on Cole.”
“Oh, he's a big boy. He found a couple of guys and they're playing some nerdy card game.” She rolled her eyes. “I guess he was too distracted to pull you and Asher apart. What's the deal with you two, anyway? He's always trying to get in your pants.”
“Indeed he is.”
I didn't offer more details. Ugh, maybe downing a whole margarita was a bad idea. Now I was even more horny.
“Thank you guys for coming. I'm Asher Carrington, owner of the Slicker Image Toy and Technology Shop. This year, we're donating over twenty-five thousand dollars worth of goods to needy kids across the county.”
Asher had begun his speech on stage. He was donating more than twenty grand? Impressive, but also depressing. That was more than Hazel's Curiosities sold in several months.
“Hey, wait! I know who that guy is.”
Lana grabbed my arm excitedly. I was so distracted by Asher's good looks up on stage, it took me a second to figure out who she meant.
“That's Sam Stein. He's on the local news network. Can you imagine if he did a spotlight on the shop? I bet we'd get all kinds of new customers if we were on TV.”
“It's the news, not a commercial.”
“Any publicity is good at this point, don't you think? That's your problem.” She poked me in the chest with a frown. “You don't market. You gotta get the store out there into the public eye. We're tucked away in a corner. No
