He ran a hand back through his hair, frustrated about everything that had happened tonight. He had been so…cheery earlier. This Alexa girl had fucked him up.
Luckily, Lacy rounded the corner at that moment. A thankful reprieve from his thoughts.
“Hey, you ready to go?” Lacy asked, stubbing out a cigarette with her high heel and walking up to him.
“Very ready,” he said, helping her into a waiting cab and sliding in next to her.
“Still hungry?”
“Starving,” he told her, resting a hand on her thigh.
The End
Turn the page for a sneak peek of the final Avoiding Series book releasing December 10, 2013!
Avoiding
Temptation
By: K.A. Linde
CHAPTER 1
PRESENT
The phone buzzed noisily on the nightstand.
Lexi groaned. She wasn’t ready to get up and go to work yet. Throwing her arm out to the nightstand, she tried to switch the alarm off, but it continued to ring. Peeling her eyes open, she grasped the phone in her hand.
“Who is it?” Ramsey murmured, pulling her against him.
The screen flashed in her hand. Jack Howard. It was too early for that. She had to be to work and she had far better things on her mind.
“Jack.”
“Too early,” Ramsey whispered, kissing her shoulder.
“You read my mind.”
Lexi clicked the ignore button and let it go to voicemail. “I’ll call him back.”
“Mmm…” His lips traveled up to her neck. “Time for you to get up anyway.”
“No,” Lexi said, pulling the white covers up over her eyes.
“Come on. You’re going to be late to work,” Ramsey said, prying the covers from her hands. She squirmed against him under the sheets, tangling their legs together.
“Can’t make me,” she quipped, burying her face into his toned chest.
“Oh…I can make you late,” he murmured into her mass of curly brown hair. His nose found her ear and he lightly brushed against it, causing her to squirm for all new reasons.
“Good,” Ramsey said, his arm circling her waist and pulling her flush against him. His hand trailed lightly down her spine resting comfortably at the small of her bareback. She hummed into his chest as he kneaded the tight muscles. Lexi’s hands wound up into his hair, and she slowly peaked back up at him. The smile on his face was lazy, comfortable, and so incredibly endearing. She couldn’t believe that after everything they had been through, he could still look at her like she was the greatest prize he had ever won.
“You’re so distracting,” she grumbled, pulling lightly on his blonde hair.
“I’m the one trying to get you out of bed even though all I want to do is keep you in it all day.” He kissed her forehead.
“You’re going to make me late,” she teased, tugging harder on the lock of blonde hair and pulling his lips down to her.
He didn’t argue with her as their lips melded together. She couldn’t figure out how he always tasted so unbelievably delicious. She hadn’t felt him get out of bed to brush his teeth, but the faint taste of peppermint lingered on his breath.
Nibbling slightly on his bottom lip, Lexi sucked his lip into her mouth. His breathing hitched and he grasped her hips forcefully between his hands. She could feel the indents he was making in her lower back, which only fueled her forward. Sliding her leg across his body, Lexi straddled his hips and slowly started grinding herself against him. He assisted her in the movement rocking her hips and pushing her harder against him. She could feel him growing ready for her through his green boxers. She wasn’t far behind him.
“You can’t go into work,” he groaned into her ear. “I’m not letting you.”
Lexi responded by leaning forward and pressing her lips to his. He smiled against her lips encouraging her onward. He tried to push her harder, but she resisted, teasingly licking his lips as lightly as she could manage.
He growled deep in the back of his throat and grabbed her head, crushing their lips together. Lexi opened her mouth allowing their tongues to connect and responded with her own enthusiasm. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she relaxed into his eager embrace.
He broke from her lips to kiss across her jawline, and she happened to take a glance at the alarm clock. “Shit!” she cried, rolling off of him.
Ramsey groaned reaching back for her. “Are you serious?”
“I’m actually going to be late if we continue,” she said, lying on her side next to him. She looked back over and watched his chest heave up and down. A smirk crossed her face as she realized how turned on she had got him.
“If you keep looking at me like that…” he trailed off, running his hand seductively down her side.
She giggled and swung her legs off the bed. “Sorry, I still need to shower.”
“I need a cold shower.” He watched her stand up in nothing but peach lacy underwear.
“Well, you can go after me. Must be nice being your own boss,” she said with a shrug as she walked to the bathroom.
“I’ll let you boss me around.”
Lexi swung around, her hair swishing over her shoulder, to look at Ramsey. Her expression was scandalized as if she could never believe he would say such a thing. She tried to remain serious as long as possible, but the devilish look on his face, as he stared at him like he was going to eat her up, broke her resolve.
“Get your ass over here,” he demanded, scooting up on the bed to get a better look at her.
“You can watch my ass as I walk out the door.” She popped the bathroom door open.
Ramsey’s playful expression faltered then fell off of his face. When Lexi realized what she had said, she pushed her messy hair behind her ear anxiously. She hadn’t meant it how it was said, but with their history it wasn’t exactly the best phrasing. Gulping hard, Lexi ducked her embarrassed face into the bathroom. She knew it was stupid to get so flustered about her statement, but some habits were hard to break. They’d had too many ups and downs to take her comment lightly—even if she had meant it that way.
At least, not with everything else that had happened since then. Especially not with what happened last month…
Sighing at her own thoughts, she flipped the shower on and stepped inside letting the water pour over her head.
The water beat down on her as she tried to block out the heartbroken look on Ramsey’s face. Taking a deep breath, she held it in as she slowly counted to ten and then blew it out. The boiling hot water helped clear her head and dissolve the concerns that she still harbored. She couldn’t beat herself up about everything in her past and his past—their past.
A knock on the standing glass door broke her out of her thoughts. Cracking the door open, she stuck her head out to see Ramsey standing before her still wearing nothing but his green boxers. She smiled at him thinking he was going to join her.
“Jack keeps calling,” he said, holding her phone up to show her the two missed calls on the screen.
“Why is he calling this early?” Her brows furrowed.
“Who knows,” he said with an easy shrug. “I thought you’d want to call him back when you’re done.”
“Yeah, I will. Let me just finish.” Just as she said that her phone lit up again with Jack’s name on the screen. “Dammit.”
“Do you want me to answer?”
Lexi immediately started shaking her head. “Nah, I’ve got it,” she said, reaching back and turning off the water. “Can’t even finish my shower.”
Ramsey smiled at her and handed her a towel. She dried off as fast as she could. “Just answer it.” She knew she would miss the call if she waited any longer.
“Hey,” Ramsey said, answering the phone. “Yeah, she’s right here. Just give me a second to go get her.” Ramsey held the phone out to Lexi as she hastily knotted her towel.