“Then Let. Me. Hear. You. Beg.” I punctuate each word with a quick thrust of my hips, and Julie whimpers and writhes underneath me, locking her ankles behind my back and pressing her heels into me while she tightens her arms around my neck.
“Please, Ash,” she sobs out. “It’s too much. I can’t…I need…fuck. Fuck me, please. Fast. Hard. Please, please let me come.”
“It would be my pleasure, Juliette.”
I speed up my strokes. My vision is starting to blur, the pleasure overwhelming. Knowing I won’t last much longer, wanting to give her what she needs, I take one of her hands from around my neck, lacing my fingers with hers and pressing our joined hands into the bed over her head. I sweep my other arm under her back, holding her firmly against me as I thrust once, twice, three times before she convulses wildly underneath me, screaming out my name as she comes. My hips jerking out of rhythm, I pound into her twice more before Icome, dropping my head to Julie’s neck and groaning as I pour into the condom.
I slow my hips until we both come down before lifting my head and sealing my mouth over Julie’s, letting my kiss say all the things that I can’t say out loud. It says I love you and I need you and please and forever and always, and never have I wanted to say words more in my life, but right now isn’t about me. It’s about her.
And she has gone quiet on me.
Gathering her close, I pull out and lift her into my arms, carrying her straight to the bathroom. I don’t put her down as I get rid of the condom and flip on the shower. When the water warms up, I step in with her, only putting her down once we’re under the hot spray. I pull her into my arms, wrapping one arm around her waist and tangling the other hand in the back of her hair, holding her against me and murmuring into her ear.
“You did so well, baby. You’re amazing. I’m so fucking proud of you. Thank you for letting go for me. I know that’s not easy for you.”
As I continue to talk quietly to her, I feel her start to shake, and when I look down, tears are streaming down her face. My heart clenches, watching her fall apart under the cascading water, and I wrap her up even tighter, gliding my hand up and down her back as she presses her face to my shoulder.
“Let it all out, Juliette. It’s okay. You’re safe with me. Always and no matter what. You can talk to me about it or not talk. Either way, I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”
When her tears slow, she stands back, and I spin us so she’s under the warm water. “I’m sorry...that was so weird. Like, who cries after sex, right? Especially amazing, best I ever had sex.”
I take one of her hands in mine and lift it to my mouth, kissing her knuckles. “It’s the adrenaline leaving your body.That was intense for you. I knew it would be. That’s why I gave you a safe word, in case it got to be too much.”
“I wish I could use that safe word right now,” she mutters.
I laugh, relieved she seems to be back.
“Amazing, best you ever had sex, huh?”
“Tamp down that ego, Hot Shot. It’s not like I have so much to compare it to.”
“And you never will,” I shoot back.
She stares and me and starts to laugh.
“What?”
“You just got all growly.”
“I did not.”Shit, did I?
“You did, but it’s okay. It was kind of sexy. I didn’t know you could also be possessive Asher.”
I never have been before, but Julie brings out a whole side of me I didn’t know existed.
“Only for you, Juliette. Now let’s get clean and get into bed,” I say, reaching for the shampoo and lathering up her hair.
Chapter Thirty-One
Julie
We had sex and I cried.I cried. God, how embarrassing.
Except Asher didn’t make me feel embarrassed. He just held on to me and whispered into my ear and then he washed my hair. He washed my fucking hair for me, and my heart jumped out of my chest and straight into his hands. No one has ever taken such careful, deliberate care of me, and I’m struggling to process it. What I do know is that what I feel for Asher is enormous—bigger than anything I have felt before for anyone—and that scares me as much as it thrills me.
After our shower, we dried off and tumbled into bed, naked. We’re tangled up under the covers, his arm tight around me and my head on his shoulder. In our little winter bubble in this out of the way town, our silence is comfortable. But tomorrow, it’ll be time to rejoin the world.
“Can you tell me more about your family?”
