Ava looked up at Asher, her blue-green eyes brimming with something he thought looked a hell of a lot like desire. “What did you want?”
Asher couldn’t stop himself as he said, “When we were dancing...I wanted to...”
There was a large knot of lust in his throat and it hit him why he couldn’t speak. Somewhere in his subconscious he knew that if he kissed her, he’d never be the same again. It would break the dam that had been keeping his feelings at bay. Not only his feelings for her, but his feelings about a lot of things.
This kiss wouldn’t just be a kiss. There was no way his lips could touch hers and he wouldn’t be branded by them. Not with how he felt about the woman standing in front of him.
He’d never allowed himself to feel the pain of losing his father, or his undercover career and marriage coming to an abrupt stop. Or not seeing his daughter grow up.
He’d pushed it all down. He’d numbed himself to all of it and somehow, someway he knew that being with Ava would bring it all to the surface. All the feelings he’d tried to bury would be unearthed.
“You wanted to what?” Her vulnerability was so raw, so real, so innocent.
The last thing he wanted to do was bring his darkness into her light.
“I shouldn’t have come in. It was a mistake.” He began to turn and leave but her slender fingers wrapped around his wrist.
He froze as primal urges unlike anything he’d ever experienced roared inside of him. The contact was completely innocent in nature, but the caress of her soft touch sent signals to his brain that overrode any sense of self-preservation, or legitimate reason that he was holding on to.
His breathing was choppy, labored as he confessed, “I wanted to kiss you all night.”
“I’ve wanted to kiss you for seven years.” Her eyes widened and he could see that just like the comment about the Hope Falls effect, she hadn’t meant to say that out loud. She licked her lips and he had to suppress a groan as he watched her tongue slide along the seam of her mouth. “Sorry. I don’t have a filter when I don’t get sleep.”
“You’ve wanted to kiss me for seven years?” Asher practically growled, wanting to hear more.
She took a deep breath and her chin dipped in a short nod. “Yes. I’ve dreamed about it, fantasized about what it would be like to kiss you.”
Asher couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How was it possible that he’d taken up any time in this incredible woman’s thoughts?
Whatever self-control, or self-preservation he’d had dissolved like cotton candy in a sauna. He took a step forward, closing the small distance between them and she tilted her chin up exposing the sexy slope of her neck. He lifted his hand and his fingers gently wrapped around the base of her neck. The pad of his thumb traced the outline of her jaw.
At his touch she sucked in a shallow breath and her body quivered.
“This is a bad idea,” he gritted out.
“It is?”
“Yes,” he confirmed as he lowered his mouth to hers.
When their lips touched, he expected fireworks, explosions, eruptions, but it was the opposite. The kiss was warm and tender. He melted into the soft, seduction. It was passionate on a different level than he’d ever experienced before. It wasn’t just his hormones that it affected. This kiss wrapped around his soul.
He captured first her pouty lower, then her upper lip, suckling each between his own. A soft moan escaped from her throat and his body vibrated with anticipation to draw a louder, more primal groan from her.
The drugging kiss enveloped him and he lost himself in the sweet oblivion. He wasn’t thinking about the past, or the future. All that existed was this moment. This kiss was intimate in a way that Asher had no idea a kiss could be and it made him want more.
And that’s exactly what he got when Ava’s lips parted in silent invitation. His hand moved to the back of her neck as his tongue slid into her mouth. He tilted her head back and took his time exploring the deep recesses of her mouth. She met him lick for lick with an innocent sensuality that had his entire body screaming for release.
His dick was growing harder and his balls tighter by the second as he swallowed her needy sighs and moans. Her hands ran up and down his back. At first her touch had been almost timid. But there was a boldness in her caress now. When she moved her hands to his chest, he was surprised when he felt her tugging his dress shirt from his pants and unbuttoning it.
He gripped his fingers tighter around the back of her neck and on her hip. She responded by sliding his button down off his shoulders. He was still wearing his undershirt, but she didn’t let that slow her down. She tugged at the material, bunching it up around his chest. He broke their kiss just long enough so that he could pull his shirt up and over his head.
When the material dropped to the floor, he saw that she was unzipping her own dress. He watched as the material slid down her body and pooled on the floor. Since it was backless, she hadn’t worn a bra so she was standing in front of him in a pair of black lace underwear. He’d never seen anything more beautiful than the pinup masterpiece he saw now. She had the sort of figure that rappers rapped about, and painters used as muses. It was the perfect hourglass. Her waist nipped in and her hips flared out but the real showstopper was her round breasts tipped with raspberry knots causing his mouth to water and his hands itching to touch her.
He reached out for her but when he saw the expression on her face as she stood staring at his chest, he stilled. He glanced down and realized that she was staring at his scar. He lowered his arms back to his side. The only sound in the room was the heavy pants of their breaths and as she lifted her hand the tips of her fingers brushed over the physical reminder of the life altering experience that they shared.
Other women that he’d been with had had reactions to the scar. To be honest most women thought his scars were sexy because it added an air of danger to him. But with Ava it was different. It was something so personal, so intimate that they shared.
His heart was pounding so hard he was sure that she had to be feeling it. Hell, he wouldn’t be surprised if she heard it thudding.
