Scandal: A BAD BOY Romance Novel (10 page)

"Your heart is pounding," he growled in my ear. I shivered in response, biting my lower lip as I tried to stifle a moan. "Do you need to get fucked, Natalie?"

He hadn't even started and he already had me breathless. "Please," I whispered. My clit was throbbing. All I needed was one finger, one stroke, and I would burst. I continued squirming underneath him in an attempt to reposition his bulge against my clit. I was teetering so close to the edge that I was close to begging him.

Without warning, Asher rolled himself off me and sat up.

"What..?" It almost came out as a wail as I also pushed myself up. My clit was still aching and swollen, but now it almost hurt because of the abrupt change in simulation. The need to come was almost unbearable.

Before I could say anything else, Asher spoke again in a dangerously low voice, "If I wanted to fuck someone, I would." He raked his eyes over my body one last time before pushing himself up onto his feet. "The difference would be that they'd want me to fuck them even more."

Asher stalked off into the forest, and I was left sitting by the fire, the horniest I had been in my life with a gaping hole in my heart.
Why did this hurt so much?

I counted to one hundred and back four times before I decided to get up and search for Asher. I realized now that he was probably right--he could seduce the pants off of almost anyone. Especially if they were single. It just didn't make sense that he'd get convicted for a crime he didn't commit, but I clearly didn't know the full story. Reluctantly wrapping the blouse I'd found washed up on the shore around the end of a stick, I lit it after making the stick fire-resistant.

The forest still scared me, especially in the dead of the night. With each step, I would hear twigs cracking and strange animal noises I couldn't recognize. My pulse was racing and I just prayed I would find Asher and bring him back. I wouldn't be able to fall asleep knowing he'd stormed off because of accusations that weren't true, particularly because he'd been dealing with them for ages.

I didn't know where I was going, so I wandered aimlessly for a while until I heard the sound of running water again.
The waterfall
, I thought, and my gut pulled me there. I didn't really know that he'd be there, but my instincts were kicking in. Plus, if I was chased by some animal or another that couldn't swim, at least I'd be able to hop into the lake and wait it out there.

Don't think scary thoughts, Nat,
I scolded myself, picking up my pace as I waved the makeshift torch around.

Crack
. The sound came from behind me and I whirled around, holding my torch out in front of me.

"Asher?" I whispered. Nothing.

Alarmed, I picked up my pace towards the waterfall until I was half-running. The cracking behind me sped up, too, and within moments I heard pounding footsteps approaching me from behind. They were getting closer and closer, but then they stopped as soon as I cried out fearfully. I didn't wait to see if they were just catching their breath or what the animal was, so I continued speed-walking until I saw the shimmer of the moonlight against the ripples in the lake.

The flame was almost out as I approached it, and my heart sunk. I couldn't see Asher.
He's not here.
I was all alone at the lake with some creepy thing stalking me and no light to aid me back.

Just as I was going to turn back towards the beach, something caught my attention. In the corner of my eye, I could see movement near the falls. I turned towards it and my breath hitched. Asher was standing underneath the waterfall, the ripples of his hard body glistening in the moonlight. Beads of water clung to the inked perfection and I was left gaping at him.

Mesmerized, my eyes finally adjusted to the initial movement that had caught my attention and I blushed. His big hand was stroking his thick shaft, and somehow his cock looked like it was too big to fit in his hand. My body tingled as I watched him. My tongue flickered at my lower lip, licking it and wishing it was his flesh I was tasting.

"Would you like a closer look?"

His voice jerked me from my dirty thoughts and a patch of red crept up my neck. Fortunately, he couldn't see my blush in the dark.

I met his eyes and he turned to face me. He wasn't stroking himself anymore, and I was irritated with myself for looking at his manhood again. Even flaccid, it was impressive. Large enough to make me wonder how much I would have to stretch to accommodate him.

I swallowed to moisten my dry throat. "I was looking for you."

"Well, you've found me. Here to accuse me of more felonies?"

"No," I blurted and took a step towards him. "Asher, I wasn't trying to accuse you of anything. I just needed to know what's going on."

Asher barked out a laugh as he stepped out of the water, not bothering to cover himself up. My eyes shifted to the side to stay focused on the topic rather than
him
. Maybe not looking at him would give me a clearer mind.

"Alright. I'll tell you."

The waves of the ocean tickled my feet, waking me. My talk with Asher from the previous night was still pounding at my head. It was information overload.

It also made sense. I should have known from the get-go that he wasn't the type to assault someone, but I had no idea why someone would accuse him of it. Now it made sense: money and jealousy. While it was true that Asher slept with his secretary at the other Harding & Co location, she hadn't revealed everything about their indiscretion to the press.

The reality of it was that she was pressing to have a relationship with Asher, and Asher is not the kind of guy to want a relationship. He just wanted a fuck. It still stunned me that she tried to insert herself into various parts of his life, trying to force her way into it. When he rejected her and moved on to another, no strings attached lay? That's when she came after him.

His words echoed in my head and it disturbed me that there were people out there like her--people who would stalk and spread lies at any cost, just for petty vengeance. I blushed when he told me he likes to fuck hard and rough and that's how his secretary liked it, too. That, combined with fake tears and Asher's sperm, gave the cops just enough evidence to arrest him.

It made my blood boil that someone could get away with something like that. It angered me on behalf of all of the women out there who actually have to recover from assault that she would toss it around as a threat. I hated her immediately.

"Good morning." Asher's rich voice interrupted my thoughts as he dumped an armful of a pink and green fruit beside my feet. "I found breakfast."

"What is it?" I asked, pushing myself up into a sitting position. I picked one up between my thumb and middle finger as I inspected it.

"Dragonfruit." He pulled out his swiss army knife and sliced it in half. "That isn't all I found..."

Taking half of it in my hand, I held it to my nose and inhaled its sweet scent before eyeing him curiously. "Oh?"

He probably found the other half of the jet
, I thought, then frowned. If he'd found the jet, then why didn't he bring back more than exotic fruit?

Asher sat beside me, his leg briefly brushing against mine. A pang twisted in my chest and I watched his chiseled face cautiously, wondering if we could go back to our brief moment of passion on the flight.

We locked eyes, and he looked more serious than I had ever seen him.

"I found these on a tree. Outside of a hut."

"You stole these fruits?" I gaped at him. Then the words registered. "Wait. Slow down. You found a hut?"

He nodded solemnly. "That's what I was trying to tell you yesterday when I gave you the cacao pod. There are several huts if you go deeper into the jungle. They don't speak much English, but they gave me-"

"Wait, what?!" I blurted in surprise as I shot up to my feet, dropping the fruit in the sand.

I didn't know where I was going, but I was already moving towards the jungle and Asher matched my stride.

"Where are you going? Natalie, slow down, I already told you they don't speak much English. I tried getting help from them yesterday."

"How could you not tell me there are people living here?" I snapped at him angrily. "How could you keep something like that from me? They could be our ticket out!"

My mind was racing and my feet kept up as I half-jogged, half-ran towards the opening of the jungle. The fact that there was a man-made opening made complete sense now and I mentally kicked myself for not considering the fact that other people could be living here. My hair whipped my face as I looked around frantically with each step, as if I would miss the hut if I didn't glance over every inch of this path we'd walked a few times already.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to disappoint you, Nat. When I asked them for help they just kept shaking their heads and saying things in their tribal language. One of the older ones gave me the food. All he said was, 'Food. Go.'"

Asher matched my pace effortlessly. With each three steps I would take with my petite frame, he would take one. No wonder he was able to find them so quickly.

"Well, I'm sure you didn't get to talk to every single one of them,
Ash
. You don't know if they were hiding one of their better English speakers or not."

"If they were, then wouldn't it be strange that they didn't lead me to them?" The corner of his lip turned up in a small smile. "It's been a while since someone called me a nickname that badass."

Deja vu
. The sensation struck me so strongly that my body jerked as if suffering from whiplash. Ash.
Ash.
The dream I had after the crash came back to me in waves.

I stumbled over a rock in my dazed state and Asher caught me by the elbow, his body immediately closing some of the gap between us to hold me up. My eyes searched his blue ones and they looked so familiar now.

"Do I know you?" I breathed as I studied his face.

Maybe I had seen a picture of a younger Asher somewhere--that would explain how I could envision him in the dream. Maybe I made it up. He was unmistakingly the same guy as in my dream, only he was a man now. His face was more chiseled, even more so now with the 5 o'clock shadow he'd grown over the past several days. His eyes, which usually looked like they were teasing me, were kind. Perhaps they were always kind, and I never saw them for what they really were because I was so jaded after my "first" encounter with him during my first day of work.

"Unless someone else has been working for me the past couple of months..." he joked, smirking that sexy little smirk he always did.

"No." I shook my head as I stood in place, digging my heels into the soil and twigs. "I mean, have we met before? We have, haven't we?" It came out like more of a statement than a question, but I needed to know.

Asher let out a shaky sigh. "I didn't think you would bring it up," he responded softly.

Frowning, I whacked his arm. "Are you serious, Asher? Why would
you
not bring that up?" Inwardly, I was seething at the fact that he'd now hidden
two
major things from me in one day.

"I figured you didn't want to talk about it." He shrugged nonchalantly and continued walking. "The huts are only a little further."

Following him, I explained, "I didn't bring it up because I didn't remember--not until the crash, at least. I dreamt about you. About a party."

Now it was his turn to furrow his brows. "You didn't remember anything about the party?"

"Well, I remember now. Chunks of it, at least. You fought my ex." I grinned. "Thank you, by the way."

Asher's eyes were stormy. "Yeah, I fought Ben. That was the first party."

"The
first?!
"

"I ran into you at one more party after that."

Shit.

"It doesn't matter now, it's in the past. I can't say I'm surprised that you don't remember."

Suddenly, Asher crouched and grabbed my hand, pulling me down beside him. He reached his arm out and pointed to more brushery. "You see that bush? The one beside the stringy-looking tree."

He waited until I confirmed with a quick nod.

"The huts are right behind there."

"So, why are we hiding then? Let's go."

I pushed myself up, but he didn't let go of my hand. It felt good and I almost didn't want to let go, either, but I wanted to get off this island so I wiggled my fingers out of his grasp.