Defying Asher (Knight Security 1) Read Online Free Page A

university in Edinburgh and then moved to London to share a flat once they graduated. Stazzi went to work in a hotel, and Lissa’s father had given her the money to open up her own travel agency.
    Everything in Lissa’s life had been running smoothly until she met Asher a year ago.
    That amazing night with him would be forever etched into her mind and body. To a degree she had very quickly realized he had totally spoiled her for other men. No one since had ever attracted her in the instant way Asher had. Not even close.
    So yes, when she decided to get a tattoo after Stazzi and Alexandre’s wedding six months ago, a phoenix rising from the Asher had seemed very appropriate.
    “Care to tell me what’s funny?” he prompted as she smiled self-derisively.
    “No,” she stated. “Why are you here, Asher?”
    “Ash,” he invited gruffly.
    Her eyes widened. “I thought that familiarity was only reserved for close friends?”
    His mouth twisted into a mocking smile. “I don’t think anyone’s ever been as close to me as you have, before or since our night together.”
    “Really?” Lissa’s sarcasm masked her inner surprise. The two of them had been explosive in bed together, but she had always assumed that was the norm for Ash’s sex life rather than the unusual.
    “Yes, really,” he echoed dryly.
    “I find that very hard to believe.”
    “I owned you that night, Lissa,” he rasped. “And before you give me one of your blistering replies, you owned me too,” he added as her eyes narrowed in warning. “In every way.”
    Lissa gave a wince as she easily recalled the depth and intimacy of that ownership. It had been beyond intense.
    “But I didn’t come here to discuss that.”
    “I never for one moment thought you did.” She snorted. “So what did you want to talk about?” Her gaze was guarded.
    “If you let me inside, you’ll find out.”
    “You’ve never married?” She glanced down at his bare left hand.
    He physically recoiled. “Hell, no.”
    So much for his girlfriend and their “special celebration.” No doubt, whoever she was, she had gone the same way as every other woman who had ever been in Asher’s life.
    “You?” he prompted.
    “Hell, no.” She firmly echoed his own sentiment on the subject. “I’m not letting you inside until you tell me what you want to talk to me about.”
    His jaw tightened. “Claudia Reynolds.”
    The tension eased in her shoulders. “I spoke to my mother on the phone last night. She confirmed she’s the reason you and Liam were at Felton Tower last night. She explained there had been some sort of security breach in New York but it was now under control.”
    Asher snorted. “If that’s the case, your mother is a master of the understatement.”
    “And omission.” Lissa still clearly remembered the hurt of realizing she hadn’t been included in her mother’s so-called list of acceptable visitors. Not that she should have been surprised. Claudia had never involved Lissa in her life, so why should this time be any different? “Most of my mother’s life is smoke and mirrors,” she added with an edge of bitterness. “The confident CEO. The beautiful and gracious hostess. The loyal friend. Not many people realize she attained all of them by choosing not to become a wife or by not being a mother.”
    Ash’s conversation last night with Claudia Reynolds had been enlightening, to say the least. She had obviously sacrificed a life as a wife and mother to become the most powerful woman in the fashion industry. Ash had no idea how Jack Forsythe felt about that, apart from the fact he had been married four times, unsuccessfully, but it was obvious Lissa had suffered as a result of her mother’s choices and neglect.
    That she was maybe even more cynical than he was in regard to relationships.
    She gave a defeated sigh. “I can see you’re determined to speak to me, so you had better come in. Close the door behind you.” She turned and walked off down