Down to Ash (#Dirtysexygeeks Book 2) Read Free Page A

cleavage flashed, along with black lace that pushed her breasts up and together in a tantalizing buffet for his eyes.
    As always, he'd ignored her, she’d retaliated. She was baiting him to prove he saw every inch of her and that he couldn't look away even if he tried.
    She was right, because he looked every fucking time. He got a little dizzy at the sudden loss of blood in his head.
    Ash chuckled, likely catching his blanched expression—a sure sign she'd won their silent battle of wills, again.
    “What?” Her voice was pure innocence. “God gave me a built-in purse and it’s called my boobs .”
    Victor clamped his jaw and glared at the sky.
    She was drunk. He wasn't going to make a dirty joke. He wasn't going to make a pass at her. He sure as shit wasn't going to let her bait him any more than she already had. Forty more years to hold out, then he could donate his body to science, because he would have likely died from his perpetual erection.
    Porter's sister.
    One of his best friend' s sister . Hell, damn near a sister to all his friends in the Goon Squad. She was playful and honest with all of them. Easy to love. Too easy. And because of that Victor could say they probably all did love her in their own way.
    Thinking like that won't get me out of this shit show.
    After her third failed attempt to unlock it, he grabbed her keys and did it himself. He would have pushed her inside, but that would have forced him to touch her again.
    “I would have done it,” Ash said. “Eventually.”
    She stepped inside all loose-limbed and carefree and didn't close the door.
    Victor leaned against the doorjamb and called out, “You forgot your keys.”
    She kept walking as though she hadn't heard him, headed toward the kitchen. He should close the door and walk away, but she probably wouldn't lock up once she realized he'd gone. Whenever she realized he'd gone.
    Porter had entrusted him to take care of his sister. If anything happened to her, the fault would be on Victor's head. In her current condition, she could pass out and choke on her own vomit. Hit her head in the shower and bleed out. Death. Death. And more death. Of course, death was the only scenario his mind could offer up, and now that he’d thought about anything happening to her, he couldn't leave.
    He could recite every reason why he should walk away. He could remind himself of every time Porter had saved him, and that the only thing his friend ever asked for in return was for Victor to not cross a line with Ash. Hell, Ash would be pissed if she knew Victor considered her vulnerable and fragile in her current state, or ever.
    With a defeated sigh, he palmed the keys and stepped inside her apartment.

CHAPTER TWO
     
    ~Gamer Truth: Walkthroughs are for pussies...except when you've been stuck on the same quest for two hours. Then use the damn cheats.~
     
    By the time Victor caught up to her in the kitchen, she was munching on an apple. She'd already thrown her shoes underneath the wooden table.
    Her kitchen was neat, spacious, and girly. A glass vase in the middle of the table held pink roses, and somehow they perfectly matched the black-and-white checkered chairs and frilly pink chandelier hanging over the table. That checkered theme ran throughout the kitchen, except for the oven mitts. Hearts decorated those.
    Everything in the kitchen fit Ash…except Victor.
    He didn't belong there, not even for a moment. He was standing in her very feminine space, his hands curling into fists to keep from sullying anything with his touch, and still wishing he could be a part of her world. Fuck—even just wishing he could be a man who didn't only thrive in the shadows.
    “What are you doing?” He sounded more annoyed than he'd meant to.
    “I'm starving.” Ash opened the cabinet, but was standing much too close and ended up smacking herself in the forehead with the door. She pursed her lips and glared at the cabinet as though it was the one in the wrong.
    He could only