18
Just walk her to the door and leave, Asher repeated the simple instruction to himself as he and Ava walked down the path toward her cabin.
All night he’d wanted to kiss her. Hell, who was he kidding, he’d wanted to kiss her from the time she’d crashed into him outside of Brewed Awakenings. But that was not going to happen.
When the DJ announced that Group B could leave the dance floor, Asher had thought he was going to make a clean getaway. He’d barely made it through eight hours of temptation without crossing a line he had no business crossing and he was relieved that the night was over. But after Ava spent ten minutes looking for her sister Viv, who was her ride, to no avail, he knew that he couldn’t leave her stranded.
So, he’d insisted on giving her a ride home and now, he was just minutes away from this night being over. All he had to do was walk her to the door and leave. Simple. So why did it seem impossible.
It didn’t help that the sun hadn’t risen yet, so they were blanketed in darkness. The only light coming from the lights that ran along the trail giving the entire scene a very romantic feel. Which was the last thing he needed after the past eight hours of constant physical contact. He’d been hard all night, his balls weren’t blue, they had to be purple at this point.
He feared that the physical agony he was experiencing wasn’t even the worst byproduct of the night spent with Ava in his arms. He’d gotten to know the woman who’d been occupying his mind on a much more personal level. She was smart, funny, self-deprecating in a way that wasn’t insecure but just showed him that she didn’t take herself too seriously. She was also insightful, caring, and always seemed to look on the positive side of things.
After spending the last five years in homicide and seeing the much darker side of life, being around Ava was a breath of fresh air. She was basically fucking perfect and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
When she’d asked him if he could see himself having more kids a flash of Ava pregnant with his child popped up in his mind and that should have terrified him, but it was the opposite. He’d wished that was his future.
But then he reminded himself that he had a daughter and she was his number one priority. That was the promise that he’d made to himself when he’d quit his job and moved them across the country. He needed to focus on Blake, and only Blake. No distractions.
Which brought him right back to the mission at hand. All he had to do was make sure she got inside the cabin and then he could go take a cold shower and put this night behind him.
He’d always been good at compartmentalizing things. Jenna used to accuse him of being able to turn his emotions off and on like a faucet. And that’s exactly what he’d have to do in regards to his feelings for Ava. He needed to shut them off.
“Thank you again for the ride. I can’t believe Viv disappeared like that,” Ava mumbled under her breath, reaching in her purse as she walked up the steps of the porch. “She knew she was supposed to give me a ride.”
“It’s no problem,” Asher assured her. “It’s the least I could do for you filling in for Blake. Thank you again.”
After unlocking the door, Ava turned back around so she was facing Asher. A lock of her hair fell across her forehead and he had to put his hands in his pockets so he didn’t reach up and brush it off.
A wide smile spread on Ava’s face and Asher’s chest expanded with warmth and a feeling that he didn’t want to acknowledge. “It was fun. And I never would have guessed that you had moves.”
Asher had quite a few more moves he’d like to show Ava.
“Um…” Ava licked her lips nervously and his half-chub hardened to three-quarter status. “Do you want to come in for a drink?”
No.
Say no.
He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
“Or coffee?” she asked hopefully.
Her aquamarine stare was filled with raw vulnerability and he knew there was no way he could decline her offer. Even if it killed him. Which was a very real possibility. Death by purple balls.
“Sure.” Asher nodded. “One drink.”
Ava let out a breath that she hadn’t even known she’d been holding and her smile widened. He followed her inside and as soon as the door shut behind him, he felt the energy in the air crackle. He’d never felt so on edge around a woman before. But then again, no woman had ever made him feel the things that Ava made him feel.
She slipped off her shoes and sighed in relief. The sound caused his pants to tighten. His body ached to be the one making her sigh like that.
Padding on bare feet to the kitchen area, Ava glanced over her shoulder and asked. “Do you want coffee? Whiskey?”
“I want…” His words trailed off. He was scared if he kept talking, he’d tell her what he really wanted.
Her forehead creased and she turned back to face him. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”
Asher didn’t know what it was about the woman in front of him that made him throw the rule book he’d always lived his life by out the window—but none of it mattered when it came to her. The rest of the world didn’t exist in this cabin, in this moment. All he saw, all he knew, was Ava and how badly he wanted her.
