Page 36 of Stud

Honest to God, this woman’s unabashed humor. Every word out of her mouth had me falling harder. “You distracted?”

“I’m not sure I can feel my lips.”

I ran my thumb over those bee-stung beauties. “They feel nice to me.”

She tried to bite me. “What’s this about air?”

Guess she was listening after all. “Unless you want to get arrested for indecent exposure, we need to take a break.”

She removed her hands from under my shirt, then proceeded to smooth the cotton over my abdomen. “Can I touch you over your clothes? Because your body is ridiculous. I mean, I’ve pictured it a lot, like a lot, but you don’t have an ounce of body fat anywhere.”

Laughing again, I sat on the prickly grass and pulled her between my legs—my back against the rough tree trunk, her spine rounding into my chest. Our own slice of heaven. “When we’re alone, you can touch me all you want, wherever you want. The ravaging I promised will happen. But tell me more about you picturing us naked.”

“Aren’t we supposed to be cooling things down?”

Her hair blew into my face, and I inhaled her scent. Chocolate-dipped vanilla ice cream. “Good point. How about telling me why you seemed so sad this morning.” I’d watched her when she’d arrived, couldn’t miss the frown lines sunk into her brow, her uncharacteristic bleakness. Still confused and irked with her behavior, all I’d mustered was a curt wave. Felt like an ass for it.

Turning sideways, she planted her feet on the outside of my thigh, wrapping her arms around her bent knees. “It’s a few things.”

I kissed her temple. Because I could. “I’m a good listener.”

“You are.” She pulled one of my hands into her grasp, traced the dips and curves of my knuckles. Ran her nails over the sparse hairs. I liked the simplicity of it. Ainsley plucking at my skin and calluses.

With my free hand around the back of her shoulders, I pulled her closer and nosed her ear. “Tell me.”

Her shoulder pressed into my chest. “I want to fire ninety percent of my clients, but my folks have unexpected house expenses on top of their usual struggles, so I might be stuck working for assholes for the rest of my life.”

I knew her clients were lawyers and had my own experience with that ego-driven crowd. “Let me guess, they toss their weight around and condescend to you.”

Chewing her lip, she lined up our hands, bottoms of our palms even, like she was measuring me. “Attitude I can handle. These men are lying cheats. Most have mistresses.”

My heart rate sped. Cheating meant they were looking for women to use and discard. Meant they might be hitting on Ainsley. “Are some of them inappropriate? Making advances you don’t want?” The green grass clouded my vision, jealousy and protectiveness surging. If someone had made her uncomfortable or worse, they’d be having a conversation with my fist.

She shook her head firmly. “Nothing like that. I mean, it’s happened. I’ve been propositioned. But it’s never been uncomfortable, and I’d never get involved with a married man. Ever.” Stiffness edged her joints. “I know how damaging that can be.”

She didn’t offer more, but her words were a reminder that, technically, I was still married, and Ainsley didn’t have a clue. Tessa wasn’t part of my life in any meaningful way, but the knowledge weighed on me. I also sensed something ugly in Ainsley’s past. Without even knowing the details, it made me want to rewrite her story. Fill it with nothing but laughter and smiles and success. That wasn’t real life, though. I knew what it was to be discarded, deemed not good enough. My mother leaving her kids wasn’t the same as some prick sneaking around behind his spouse, but it all came down to loyalty.

Cheating was a hard limit of mine, too. Unacceptable. It’s why Tessa’s accusations were such a blow. She should have known me better. Believed I’d never treat my partner with that little respect.

Tired of poking those thoughts, I brushed Ainsley’s hair behind her ear. “So these men you work for, you don’t like being around them?”

Her jaded sigh was dredged from her bones. “It’s more than that. I don’t just buy clothes for them and their wives. They ask me to send gifts to their girlfriends, and I know it’s wrong. Like so wrong. I’m facilitating their affairs, and I get sick every time I think about their wives finding out. I’m friendly with some of these women.” She nuzzled her head under my chin. “I’m sorry. I’m ruining our we-just-found-out-you’re-not-gay time.”

Another laugh rumbled through my chest. “Baby doll, don’t ever apologize. I don’t like seeing you this stressed, but I’m glad you told me. I’ll help you figure something out.”

“Yeah?”

“We’ll brainstorm. Try to find ways for you to expand your client base before making any rash moves. Get you away from those assholes without taking a pay cut.”

“Can we do this brainstorming naked? Like tonight? I’m feeling a wave of insight coming on, but my clothes are distracting me.” She placed two fingers on my chest and walked them toward my belt buckle. “Yours are distracting, too.”

I exhaled a pained grunt. “As tempting as that sounds, I have bad news.”

“You only have four hours left to live?”

“If you keep looking at me like that, I do.”

She screwed half her face into a beastly grimace. “Like this?”