Chapter 19
Asher
I take a step even closer as our chests are touching, our breathing in sync. "And that someone, Amelia …" My hand lifts to touch her cheek, to touch any part of her, and her breath hitches when my eyes go from hers to her mouth. "Is you." I admit it to her as well as myself.
"Asher." She lifts her hand and touches my face with her fingertips, and my whole body becomes alive. My eyes look into hers, and my heart soars in my chest. My thumb rubs her cheek, the touch of her skin like silk.
"One chance," I say, and I feel her fingertips move on my cheek. "One last chance." My voice comes out in a whisper, praying like fuck she doesn’t say no. Hoping like fuck I can finally get the kiss that has been haunting my dreams.
My palm holds her face, my fingers in her hair, and our eyes meet one last time before I close the gap and take her lips. My hand drops from her face to go around her waist, my head tilting to the side just a touch as our lips meet. I don’t know if she lets out a sigh or if I do. My tongue slips into her mouth, and I’m pretty sure this is what heaven would feel like. I’m pretty sure that all the shit that life has handed me was done with this as my reward. I would go through it all over again, just for this one second. Just for this one touch.
Her hand falls from my face to my chest as she kisses me back. I turn my head from one side to the other, and I can’t get enough of her. I could spend lifetimes searching for kisses like this.
When I looked around at the barbecue and didn’t see her anywhere, I went into a panic. It was almost a full-on panic attack until Ethan saw me looking around like crazy.
"Chill," he said, slapping my shoulder. "She took off not too long ago."
"Alone?" I asked, pissed since the threat was still out there. It also didn’t help that I hadn’t slept more than two hours last night.
Getting in the truck, I ignored that my body was sore. I didn’t think about all the times today she walked away from me. I didn’t think about sitting down and eating and wishing she was there beside me. I didn’t think of any of that as I drove to her house.
Instead, all I could see in my head was the smile she had on her face most of the day. The smile was fake, and anyone who knew her would realize it. The thought that she was upset with me or at me, I just couldn’t stomach the latter.
It pushed me off the ledge with whatever little restraint I had. Driving back over here, I tried to calm myself. I tried to talk myself down, but coming into the house and seeing her looking like she did, with her hair down and a surprised look on her face, everything I told myself flew out the window.
I let go of her lips, but I quickly grab her face and pull her back to me. My tongue slips back into her mouth as her tongue slides with mine. Round and round, our tongues fight each other. The kiss gets deeper and deeper. She groans into my mouth and arches her back against me. Her hands going around my neck. "Asher," she says my name breathlessly when I let go of her lips, and then her lips come back to mine. She bites my lower lip; my hands go to her ass. My palms on her ass, I pull her to me. Her head goes back as she feels my cock on her stomach.
She brings her mouth back to me again, and the kiss is harder than the first one. When I feel her hand lifting my shirt, my lips leave hers, and I move one step away from her. Her hands drop from my stomach, and my hands drop from her ass. "I’m sorry," I say to her, and her eyes open. Her eyes are a deep blue, her lips plump. "I shouldn’t have done that." My heart wants to come out of my fucking chest as it pounds. "I shouldn’t have just kissed you."
She blinks a couple of times. "I kissed you back," she says, her hand coming up to touch her lips. Her middle finger traces her bottom lip. If you look close enough, you can see little red dots that my beard left.
"If I didn’t kiss you, would you have kissed me?" I ask, and I shake my head. "Don’t answer that." I don’t want to know the answer. Whatever the answer is, I can’t be the man who deserves her.