AslansStranger-ARE-epub by JenniferKacey

 

Chapter One
     
    There he sat.
    At the bar.
    He had a beer in his hand and the heel of one of his shitkickers hooked on the bottom rung of the bar stool.
    Jeans. T-shirt. Reflective sunglasses sitting on the shiny wood next to his coaster.
    She wanted him. Horribly.
    Several nights in a row, she’d seen him sitting there, talking to the bartender. With his small, wicked grin and sexy voice, he drew her in.
    Thinking of actually approaching him sent a nervous twitch up her neck and her heart lodged in her throat. But she steeled her spine and set off to the edge of the dance floor.
    A fantasy.
    On a single’s cruise ship around the Bahamas.
    Tonight.
    This was it.
    One of her greatest fantasies.
    A one-night stand…with a stranger. Now she just had to see if the sexy guy at the bar wanted to help her fulfill it.
    Was he out of her league?
    Maybe.
    So, she’d brought along her cleavage, which she was trying to contain. Her boobs had always been too big, so she normally erred on the side of keeping them covered. Feeling the need to even out the playing field never hurt anyone. Much.
    Several others had called out to her, but she’d dismissed the attention easily enough on her way to the bar. She only had eyes for one and he was even better-looking up close.
    Closing the distance between them, the last few steps were the hardest to make and the quickest to disappear. The skin-tight, sleeveless red dress hugging her curves was only a tiny portion of what made her hesitate. She didn’t exactly hide in her clothes, but she normally downplayed her figure.
    But…not tonight.
    She had cleavage for days peeking through a strategic keyhole in the dress, and she was trying super hard not to notice everyone else in the room staring at her.
    What if he laughed at her?
    What if he said no?
    What if someone he was meeting showed up and ruined it all? It’s not like her hair and makeup did themselves.
    Ugh .
    All of a sudden, she knew she hadn’t thought this through enough. She hesitated, but then—he turned.
    The double take and the wide eyes could have meant lots of things, but then he set his beer on the coaster in front of him, giving her his full attention.
    “Well, hello there, beautiful.” His voice. Damn. Like bourbon and sex. She felt his stare all the way from the top of her head, to the spikey gray heels she’d treated herself to for her birthday the week before. She’d kind of, sort of, totally planned for this kind of thing to happen. So…here goes nothing .
    “Hi.” It came out a whisper, so she swallowed and extended her hand. “I’m Aslan.”
    He looked at her hand, running his tongue along his bottom lip with a bit of a questioning stare, and then slid his palm along hers and held on. “Zeke.”
    The touch of his hand sent heat racing up her arm. It settled in her chest. And lower.
    “Have we met before?” The look of concentration pulled his brow down. And he looked rough. Sexy.
    Dominant.
    “No?” Yeah. It coming out as a question really wasn’t going to get her anywhere. “I’ve seen you before. Here. Sitting at the bar. Never approached though. Too nervous.”
    His grin. Jesus.
    “Well, I’m glad tonight’s different.”
    Yes. His hand still had a firm hold on hers. His thumb caressed her sensitive skin, telling her brain what kind of lover he might be. She thought about asking for her hand back, but the tiny squeeze he gave her told her he wasn’t finished yet.
    Which was good.
    She wasn’t either.
    Gesturing to the stool next to him, he touched her back with his free hand. “Why don’t you join me? And let me buy you a drink?”
    They were questions. But somehow…they weren’t.
    She normally didn’t drink at all. Losing control wasn’t really something she ever put on her to-do list, but tonight was hopefully going to be very different.
    As if on cue, a bartender smiled at her. “Miss, would you like something to drink?”
    She smiled shyly at the older gentleman, who wore a