The Bridal Path: Ashley Read Online Free PDF Page B

eagerness that belied the words. Riding on this Harley, her arms wrapped around Dillon’s waist as the wind whipped through her hair, had represented the epitome of excitement and rebellion as far back as she could recall.
    He halted and appeared to waver. “Would you rather go in your car?” he asked, his expression innocent.
    “Oh, for heaven’s sake, let’s just go,” she said huffily, climbing onto the motorcycle.
    Dillon grinned as he swung his leg over the seat and settled in front of her. “You ever been on one of these?”
    “Never.”
    He warned her to lean with him, not against him on the curves. “And hang on tight,” he added.
    The last was unnecessary. As soon as he’d fired up the engine, Ashley circled his waist with her arms and clung.
    For the first hundred yards or so, she closed her eyes against a wave of pure terror. When no bolt of lightning struck as punishment for her decision to climb on the Harley, and when they didn’t land in a ditch straight off, she dared to open her eyes again.
    The rush of wind caught at her hair and tugged it loose from its neat ponytail. Dillon’s sharp masculine scent was mixed with the freshness of outdoors to tease at her senses. His vibrant energy and excitement tugged at her, surrounded her just as his warmth seemed to. The whole effect was…exhilarating, wonderfully, disturbingly exhilarating.
    Old fantasies merged with reality. This was Dillon, every shockingly sensual inch of him. Her fingers were linked across his flat belly. Her breasts brushed against his back. Suddenly, heart-stoppingly aware of every provocative sway of their bodies together, Ashley felt like laughing with pure joy at the thrill of it all.
    Though she wasn’t aware of any sound actually emerging, she must have laughed aloud, because Dillon joined her. He slanted a quick, thoroughly devilish look over his shoulder and winked.
    He said something that sounded vaguely like, “Told you so,” though the wind caught snatches of the words and carried them away.
    He couldn’t have ruined her mood with his taunts if he’d tried. For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, Ashley felt alive again. For once she decided against questioning the cause of this unexpected happiness. For the next few hours or days, she would stop fighting the inevitable. She would simply accept that Dillon had brought something into her life that had been missing.
    And for now, that was enough.
    * * *
    Grocery shopping with Ashley was an experience in pure frustration, Dillon decided as they roamed the overflowing aisles of the small country market.
    For one thing, there was the sway of her hips as she sashayed ahead of him around pyramids of canned goods and bins of fruit. If that motorcycle ride hadn’t already sent his hormones off the charts, watching her cute little tush would have done the job.
    Aside from trying to keep his rampaging lust under control, there was also the little problem of actually getting something he considered edible into their basket. She balked at potato chips. They had an outright row over tortilla chips. They finally settled for pretzels. No-fat pretzels.
    He supposed this obsession she had over the fat content of every little bitty item he plucked off the shelves had something to do with her career, but it was darned annoying all the same. He didn’t think there was anything wrong with her body just as it was. In fact, a few more pounds wouldn’t hurt. It would soften some of those sharp angles that might look great in a photograph, but didn’t look especially cuddly in real life.
    Not that he was complaining. He’d want to cuddle Ashley even if she looked like a damned stick. The truth of that had never been more apparent to him than it had become in the past twenty-four hours. No adolescent had ever been in a more constant state of aching arousal than he appeared to be in.
    He paused beside a crate of potatoes, envisioning them smothered with butter and sour cream or