He still hadn’t figured out what to say by the time he left the bathroom. In the dark, he searched for his pants, when her voice stopped him.

“Please stay.”

He looked up to see Jasmine sitting in the middle of the bed, holding the sheet over her lap and gorgeous breasts. Jasmine, who’d shown no qualms about revealing her body only moments earlier, was now covering herself. Her eyes, usually so expressive, were guarded. She bit the corner of her lip, her eyebrows creasing the barest fraction.

He shouldn’t stay. This was a very, very bad idea, for so many reasons.

But he wanted to. And she wanted him to.

Wasn’t that enough? Could it be enough? At least for one night.

Ashton dropped his pants back to the floor and slid onto the bed next to her, taking her in his arms. “Sí, me quedaré.”

He realized a second too late that he’d said it in Spanish, but before he could repeat the words in English, her arms came around his neck. She snuggled her face into his shoulder, pressed her warm breasts against his chest, and tangled her legs with his.

It had been so long since he’d fallen asleep with a woman curled beside him like this. A warm, relaxed feeling spread over him, seeping into his bones. He pulled her closer, then drifted off into an easy, dreamless slumber.

Chapter 23

When Ashton’s alarm went off at five in the morning, he shifted to shut it off—then noticed a warm, citrus-scented weight on his chest. Jasmine.

That’s right. Last night, they’d—well, he hadn’t been inside her, but there’d been an exchange of fluids and . . . god, he’d come on her, after humping her hip like . . . he didn’t even know what. What had he been thinking? They’d had their first kiss—their first real kiss—and seconds later they’d been naked. Whatever this was between them, it was going too fast, getting too far out of control.

But it had also felt so damn good, he couldn’t bring himself to regret it.

His phone alarm was still beeping insistently.

Jasmine made a cute little whimper and lifted her head to look at him in the dark. “What time is it?”

“Cinco de la—I mean, it’s five.”

Groaning, she dropped her head back to his chest and cuddled closer. “Why?”

A laugh rumbled deep inside him. “Why what?”

“Why . . . five,” she answered sleepily. “And why . . . the alarm.”

“It’s my daily gym alarm.”

“Ohhh.” Her hands moved, slim fingers tracing his biceps. “Okay then.”

He should get up. Now. He shouldn’t have stayed in the first place. But he felt a tug in his gut as if an invisible anchor kept him rooted next to her.

He ignored it and slid out of the bed. He had commitments. Gym, yes, but he also had a call with Yadiel scheduled, and he’d be damned if he disappointed his kid because he was in bed with a woman.

Even if that woman was Jasmine. Even if all he wanted to do in that very moment was snuggle with her for ten more minutes.

Following the sound of the alarm, he found his phone in the pocket of the pants he’d left on the floor the night before. With the alarm silenced, he made a quick trip to the bathroom. When he came back out, her eyes were heavy-lidded with sleep, but alert. He felt her gaze following him around the room as he collected his various articles of clothing and got dressed.

And then there was nothing more to do but leave. He should say something meaningful, but he didn’t know what. He certainly couldn’t make any promises or plans. But he didn’t have to be an asshole either, so before he left, he went back to the bed and sat beside her.

With gentle movements, he brushed her hair behind her ear and leaned down to press a kiss to her temple. When she lifted up on her elbows, he pulled her the rest of the way, gathering her warm, naked form in his lap and holding her tight. She clung to him, nuzzling her face in his neck. He held her until his alarm went off again.

“That’s my cue,” he said, reluctant to release her. “I’ll . . . be back later.” He shouldn’t, but it was pointless to deny that he wanted to return.

She nodded and started to shift away. “We should go over our lines.”

“We should,” he agreed, as if it would be so easy to go back to their old dynamic after what they’d done in this bed. Since he couldn’t resist, he cupped her chin and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips.

She kissed him back, so sweet, so soft. And although he felt the pull to stay, he left.

Back in his own room, he took off his clothes from the night before and decided on a quick shower before hitting the gym. His skin still carried the scent of her, which made him remember how he’d come on her the night before, and just like that, he was hard again.

Those pesky regrets were creeping closer. The last time he’d had sex with a costar, he’d gotten Yadiel, which was why he had a strict policy against it and hadn’t wanted to have penetrative sex with Jasmine. Not that what they’d done was any less intimate. He’d had his hands all over her, his mouth—well, not on as much of her as he would have liked, but coño, he was trying to observe some boundaries.

Except now he was thinking of putting his mouth between her legs and licking her sweet pussy, of making her quake and cry out with pleasure. Of crawling up her body and sinking deep—

Fuck.

His dick wasn’t going down as long as he kept thinking about Jasmine, and there was no way he was going to the fitness center with a raging hard-on. He turned the shower on hot and stepped in, lathering up his hands and body with shower gel. Then he braced one arm on the wall, wrapped his hand around his dick, and worked himself with quick, short strokes. Behind his closed eyelids, he saw Jasmine writhing naked on a bed, bathed in moonlight. Okay, so last night it hadn’t been moonlight, but the city acting as a nightlight—whatever, it was close enough. The silvery gleam gilded her lush golden curves, her brown nipples peaking in the cool air. The white noise of the shower amplified the memory of her moans in his mind. He visualized her parting her legs for him, her pussy open and gleaming. He would kiss her there if she let him, lick her until she was mindless with need, as he’d been for her.

Groaning, he cupped his balls and gave them a quick squeeze. After adding more soap, he gripped the base of his dick and resumed stroking.

He wanted to touch her again, kiss her again. And damn it, he wanted to fuck her. To slide into her as far as he could go, to hold her close and hear those sexy little noises she made as he pumped inside her.

To kiss her good morning, to make her laugh, to hold her when she cried—

Whoa, where the fuck had that come from?

Didn’t matter. He was on the edge. His muscles bunched, his balls tightened, and as he pictured Jasmine plumping her breasts together for him to spray his load on, he came.

A shudder racked his body, weakening his knees, and he pressed his forehead to the tile. Hot water washed over him, rinsing soap and his fluids down the drain.

This wasn’t like him. He’d had more than his fair share of flings before Yadiel had been born. Since then, he’d focused only on career and family, and as he’d grown more cautious—or as his father said, paranoid—the less he’d let women get too close. A few dates here and there, including a couple of fake relationships for publicity purposes, some fooling around with non-coworkers, but nothing serious. He hadn’t wanted anything serious. Until now.