The air is sucked from my lungs when she bites down on my lip. My cock rubs against her thigh, and I pull away, shaking with the last thread of self-control I have. There’s a wet spot forming on the front of my pants, and I’m on the verge of coming just from finally having her against me.
I’ll kick myself in the ass for this later, but I break the kiss and lean my forehead against hers and gasp for air. I’m sweating, my hands are rubbing up and down the curve of her waist, and her sweet breath is tingling my lips. Calming down is going to be impossible after a kiss like that.
Let me say this, I’ve kissed a hundred women, and every tongue tasted the same, but not Heather’s. Her kiss is the first kiss that’s made me hold my breath and hope it never ends. Her kiss is the first kiss that has me wondering if I’m doing it right. Her kiss, her lips, they might not have been my first, but damn it, I need them to be my last.
I need her to be my last.
“Asher,” my name leaves her swollen lips, and I rub my nose against hers, placing another peck on her hot mouth.
“Hey baby,” I finally untwist my tongue. A half laugh-half groan slips from me and then a vice of emotion takes over chest. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too. I’m so sorry, Asher. I thought I’d never see you again. I don’t deserve you being here. I’m—”
“Shh,” I say, taking the sides of her head in my hands. “I forgive you. It’s okay. Let’s just move forward.”
She dives in for another kiss and who am I to deny her? We take our time, rubbing our tongues against one another. She freezes when she feels the hard ridge of my shaft against her. I take a small step away so I’m not scaring her. “It’s what you do to me. I can’t hide it, but I swear, I won’t ever act until you’re ready.”
“No, I…it didn’t scare me… it just surprised me is all. I wasn’t expecting that. I… I like that I do that to you.” She wipes the side of her lip off and glances at the floor, blushing. “Only you, though. No one else. Everyone else…”
“There has been someone since you left me?” Fuck, that sounded jealous, immature, and possessive, but the thought of her with anyone else, when I’ve been waiting so long for her, it drives me to a murderous edge.
“What? No, nothing like that. No one, since…him,” she says, unable to ever say his name. “I mean just everyone else gives me anxiety, but you don’t. I trust you, but I don’t trust the world around me.”
I blow out a breath and take a step forward, leaning my palm flat on the mirror beside her head. Peering down her dress, I see the valley of her tits, and I growl, wanting to slide my finger over the curve
s.
I don’t.
“You trust me?” I bombard her space. “Even when I’m like this.” My chest is aligned with hers. Our pelvises touch, and I know she can feel my erection. I tease my lips over hers, not wanting to kiss her just yet. “And like this?” I drift my hands up her torso, grab her ribcage right below her breasts. “And this?”
“Yes,” she admits, leaning in to try and close the distance.
“Good, baby,” I say, so fucking relieved that I could shout it from the rooftops. “Why?” I’m curious, wondering why she has decided to pick me, when I’m the man she used to hate.
She grazes her hand along my jaw and sparks ignite from the path of her fingers against my skin. I lean into her touch, then decide she isn’t close enough, and place my hand on hers to flatten her palm against my cheek. “Because you’re patient, kind, smart, and strong. You protected me when I didn’t deserve it, but if I want to be honest, I’ve trust you from the moment we met when we were just kids. I did the unimaginable to a good man and I will never forgive myself for what I did to you,” she states, choking up when her eyes water. “You deserve more than how I treated you, but I can be more because I’m not the same woman I used to be. And I know,” she swallows, tickling the side of my neck with the tips of her fingers until she pauses at my chest where my heart is wild, pounding ferociously. “I know what happened to me is terrible and I know you might not have patience for me anymore, or want me as much because I’m… dirty, but—”
Anger and frustration, hurt, despair, every fucking negative emotion bolts through me as if I’ve been struck by lightning. I grab her chin and back her up against the wall once more. “I don’t ever want to hear you talk about yourself like that again. Do you understand?” Heat flares behind my eyes at the threat of fucking tears because it fucking breaks me that she thinks of herself like that. “You are not dirty. You are clean. You are mine, Heather. You’ve always been mine and some fucking sick asshole put his filthy hands on you, took advantage of you, but not once, not ever does that make you fucking dirty.”
“What’s it say that he’s the only man I’ve ever been with?”
This time, I can’t help it, I catch a sob in my throat and lean my forehead against hers, hating that her first time was a nightmare that no one wanted. “You’ve never been with anyone. You haven’t had your first time. He doesn’t count because he stole it from you. You have a choice now, Heather. You can choose who you want to be with, and if that someone doesn’t understand your past, then they sure as hell don’t deserve your future. I don’t care how long it takes to show you that you lived through a nightmare so I can make all of your dreams come true. I’ll wait and if you’re never ready to take that next step, if you’re never ready to have sex, I’ll love you anyway. Sex isn’t important to me. You are.”
“Why?” she asks, as the elevator lights flicker and the wires groan as the pitstop is coming to an end.
“Because you’re the only woman I’ve ever loved and will ever love.” Before she can answer, the elevator starts moving again. I bend down and pick her mask up off the floor, then slip it on her face. It’s black lace and each corner of the eye turns to sharp peaks, giving her cat-like eyes.
I grab my mask too and slip it on and we have ten floors before the party starts. “You don’t have to say anything, but I’m here for work. I was going to stay away from you and give you space, but I can’t do it anymore. My name is Ryan Sinclair. I’m a trust fund brat. Under no circumstance are you to call be Asher. Okay?”
“Okay,” she agrees quickly. “Why are you here? What happened? You only steal from criminals; what criminals are here?”
“The ones that had a hand in killing Grace.”
She gasps and stands in front of me, blocking the doors so I can’t exit.
Five more floors.
“Who? Tell me.”