Free Ash: A Bad Boy Romance by Lexi Whitlow Page A

danger.
    I’ve told her Cullen is growing more and more impatient, that we need to figure out what happens next. We only have five more days, and he’ll be delivering on his threats—starting the process to reclaim the property he sees as his.
    Summer stirs next to me, and moves to get up, like she can slip out of the bed without me noticing.
    “Where you going, Sunshine? It’s three in the morning.” I catch her hand, and in the dark of my bedroom, she gasps. I keep my tone light, but my heart beats just a little faster.  
    If she’s leaving right now, she’s not going anywhere good . I bet it has something to do with protecting her ridiculous aunt—and that’d be all good and well if Cullen weren’t the threat lurking in the dark.
    A ray of moonlight hits her face. Her eyes are big, lips parted. In the dark, she looks sad and tired and vulnerable.  
    I’ve come to know this side of her too quickly. We should just be fucking, but something deeper has happened, driven by this mess we’re in.  
    And here I am, wanting to leap out of bed after her to protect her.
    If I were just a normal guy and she were a normal woman, I might ask her out. Take her to dinner, wine and dine her, that kind of shit.  
    Instead, I’m going to somehow undermine my boss to save her—even if it means sacrificing myself. This aren’t the kind of thoughts I like to have about a woman, but the primal piece, deep inside of me, needs to protect Summer. The men in the Family talk about women belonging to them. I always thought it sounded like a bunch of pussy bullshit, but when I look at Summer now, I get it.  
    I want it.  
    And it means something deeper than having what’s between her legs—though, my God, that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted—it means possessing her, protecting her, never letting anything bad happen to her.
    She bites her lower lip, and I feel myself stiffen even as I fear losing her.  
    “I’ve got to go back and check on my aunt,” she whispers. “She said your men have been outside of the bar since midnight, and they forced her to close early.” She tries to maintain that haughty attitude she gets sometimes, but there’s real fear in her voice. Her phone flashes in her hand, illuminating her naked body for a second, rosy pink nipples and the curve of a perfect hip. The look on her face conjures a feeling of shame—and that’s not something I’m used to—a crushing sensation in my gut. After that brief flash, the room is dark again, and she pulls her hand away, pulling on her clothes over her round, high breasts and her alluring, pear-shaped ass.  
    When I first met Summer, I wanted to lose myself in her—to forget all the pain I’ve inflicted in my life as a mafia soldier. That’s all she was, a cheap hookup to forget. But with each time I see her, I see something new—the way she purses her lips when she’s thinking, that sharp, helpless intake of breath when I enter her, and last night, when she begged for me to come inside of her, face turned back to me, hair splayed over her shoulder. And I obliged—no woman has ever felt so good, and no woman has ever made me want to keep her, not like this.  
    I don’t want to lose myself in her now. I want to keep myself sharp and sober, so I can remember every detail.  
    “Don’t go so soon, Sunshine. I could help you relieve some of that stress.”  
    The men won’t attack. It’s just a threat on this go round. Let Bianca deal with it.
    “Ash—don’t. This is fun. But I need to go.” She sighs, and I can guess she might be smiling.
    “This is more than fun.” I roll toward her and inch my hand up her dress, cupping her breast and rubbing my thumb across her nipple.  
    “Jesus,” she whispers, and the whimper in her voice gets me harder, ready to take her again.
    “Just pull up that dress and move your panties to the side. I’ve got plenty here for you. Last night you said it was too big, but you liked how it hurt. That