Take Me Down (Suits in Pursuit) by Lauren H. Kelley

dinner tonight. I’ll walk back.”
    The muscles in Sebastian’s downcast face tightened. He stepped forward, placed a masculine hand on her arm. “I’m sorry, Ashley. I really do like you. I don’t know how to contain myself at times,” he whispered softly.
    For the first time since meeting Sebastian, Ashley heard a sincerity in his words. She stared silently at him for a minute, remembering that Kerrigan described how well she and Axel had been regarded when they honeymooned in the Keys. The locals knew the impressive beach-side estate and its enterprising owner, Axel Christensen. Ashley smiled and then turned to Blair. “Blair, can you point me in the direction of the Christensen house?”
    Blair pointed to the left, toward a row of tiki torches lined against Croton shrubs.
    A firm grip on Ashley’s shoulder jolted her. “Ashley, again, I apologize. Maybe we can do this some other time when we’re both ready.” His tone begged her forgiveness.
    She nodded her head. Instant regret gnawed at her conscience. “Sure Sebastian, I forgive you. This,” Ashley waived an anxious hand between them, “wasn’t meant to be. Sorry to crush your theory about fate.”
    The night breeze tousled her hair wildly, and her dress danced around legs at flight. Ashley whipped her head around, caught a glimpse of Sebastian’s sullen stare, and darted off toward the beach. She would make the most of the spoiled evening. A walk along the shore would lighten her dampened mood.
    As past experiences had illustrated, Ashley knew that entertaining Sebastian would be disastrous. Escaping his allure, even with all his fineness, had been easy, but damn her lusty hormones. Ashley wanted a taste of Sebastian Stone, and that fact she couldn’t deny.

    Wet sand settled between her toes and clung to Ashley’s feet. She anchored herself to the beach where she sat peering at the glow of moonlit waves swelling and thrashing. The Atlantic Ocean crested on the shore at her feet. Ashley always found solace in the quiet stillness of reflection and meditation. Before long, the minutes became an hour. Her thoughts floated between her very recent encounter with the vilest man whom she had ever met, her past with Chris, and her present-day reality. When Chris died, she couldn’t imagine what would become of her, but the past few years spent hopping from one man to the next wasn’t how she had pictured her life.
    Never one to wallow in defeat or self-pity for too long, Ashley stood, rising from the pit of despair, and dusted the sand from the folds of her dress.
    “Care to share what’s got you in such a melancholy state?” The thick voice jolted Ashley. She spun around to face the handsome grin planted across Sebastian’s unwelcomed mug.
    Ashley’s hand jerked up and landed against her chest. “Where did you come from?” she bellowed with a screech. “Did you followed me?”
    He took a step closer, his bare feet planted firmly in the sand. “Yes. I followed you. It’s not safe for a woman to walk alone on the beach at night. I had to see that you arrived home safely.”
    Her eyes roved his frame gingerly. “I arrived more than an hour ago. Why are you still here? Pretty stalkerish, if you ask me.”
    “I didn’t.”
    She frowned. “You didn’t, what?”
    “I didn’t ask you. I recall what happened the last time that I asked if you needed my help. This time, I decided to take matters into my own hands.” His cool, easy tone made Ashley’s hand twitch. She had the urge to slap the stubble off his dimpled chin.
    She shuffled past him, not offering a response.
    Sebastian’s long fingers wrapped around Ashley’s wrist, halting her steps. She yanked away from his grip with no success. His clammy palm pressed against her pulsating vein, blood coursing faster and faster until her anger rose. “Ouch!” she yelped. “Let go of me, Sebastian.”
    Her demand forced creases to form at the edges of his mouth. A crooked smile. “You’re the