Page 18 of Dirty Like Seth
“Awesome,” I said, equallysarcastic.
He came over and reached for me, drawing me up out of the chair. “I know you guys are struggling to find someone, but you’ll find someone. And, hey, if nothing works out…” He slipped his arms around me, gathering me close. “You can always hire me.” He hit me with his charming smile, and I felt myselfstiffen.
It wasn’t the first time he’d saidthat.
The last few months, Ash had started dropping hints—at least, to me—about joining Dirty. And it wasn’t that he wasn’t talented enough. But in the past, we’d never even considered Ash, since he had his own band. He was lead singer of the Penny Pushers, and while the Pushers weren’t as big as Dirty, they’d been together a long time and Ash was their frontman. It never occurred to us that he’d actually consider leaving them to play rhythm guitar withus.
The thing was, now that I was sleeping with him, I’dneveragree to let him joinDirty.
But how could I tell himthat?
I just hoped and prayed he didn’t take the idea to Dylan. Because if Dylan got all excited about it and brought it to the band that Ash wanted in, and I said no, it would just get awkward. Everyone would demand to knowwhyI was sayingno.
And then I’d have to say something stupid, in front of everyone—in front of Jesse—about how I’d started sleeping with Ash to make myself feel better, when Jesse married Katie, even though I had no intention of actually being his girl… and now he was sniffing around to make me his girl… and he could never join Dirty because of my hornyimpulses.
Fuckingembarrassing.
Not to mention everyone might be pissed at me for ruining our shot at an actually brilliant option for our newguitarist.
I could only hope Ash had thought that all through and planned to keep his mouth shut aboutit.
“Ash…” I started, not even sure what to say. How could I tell him not to say anything to the guys, not to ever ask them if he could join the band? He’d get mad. I knew that now. He’d take it as an insult; professionalandpersonal rejection. Because for a while now, Ash had been trying to turn this thing between us into something itwasn’t.
At least, formeitwasn’t.
“Babe,” he said, his blue eyes searching mine and his hands sliding down my back, “I’m justkidding.”
But just like when he’d first offered to sleep with me to help me get over Jesse—Friends with benefits, he’d said—we both knew he wasn’tkidding.
His hands slid down over my ass and squeezed gently. Then he moved in for a kiss, and I let him. He brushed his lips against mine, and when I closed my eyes, he tilted his head and went in deeper. The kiss was warm and demanding, and I sighed softly as his tongue slid between mylips.
Then his tongue piercing swept over my tongue, and I felt tingles at the back of my neck. Not the kind of sweeping, all-over tingles I’d felt the first time he kissed me—in the dark, out in the woods, the night of Jesse’s wedding—but still… for a moment, I gave in to it. I was only female, afterall.
And Ash was just so…hot.
He was the only man I’d had sex with in a long, long time… and it just so happened that he was really, really good atkissing.
Andfucking.
As I kissed him back, he groaned and gripped my hips, pulling me against him and pressing his solid length against me; his cock, hard and eager in his jeans, jabbed against my groin. I felt the answering surge of lust in my own body, deep in my belly, between my legs. And for the first time ever, it felt off-putting. Alarming,somehow.
Uncomfortable.
I pulledaway.
He tried to kiss me again, but I dodged, twisting out of his grip. His hands fell away. His blue eyes were hazed up with desire, but there was concern there,too.
“Youokay?”
“No,” I said. “I’m not okay. Seth justauditionedto joinDirty.”
He shoved his hands in his back pockets and looked weirdly guilty. “Yeah.”
I crossed my arms and drew back, studying him, as it dawned on me; I didn’t think he could see the guitarists auditioning beyond the screen, but… “Did you know it was him upthere?”
“Yeah.”
“You could’ve saidsomething.”
