She figured she might as well put all her cards on the table, even if that meant being totally transparent and putting her ego on the line. It was a price she was willing to pay for the chance to be with Asher.
After taking a deep breath, she confessed, “I’ve wanted this from the moment I saw you at the end of the chip aisle. I’ve never had a reaction to a stranger like I had with you. I’ve dreamed about this happening so many times I can’t count.”
His brow creased as he stared down at her. “You have?”
Ava felt her cheeks flush but it wasn’t from embarrassment. It was from need. She was too far gone to be embarrassed by what she was telling him, so she doubled down. “Kissing you wasn’t all that I fantasized about. I’ve had so many dreams about you, about being with you like this. In fact, the morning I was supposed to get married I had a dream about you coming to stop it. You carried me out of the church, pushed me against a wall and we were about to… When I woke up and realized that it wasn’t real, I was...disappointed.”
She watched as his shoulders tensed and she inwardly cringed. She’d exposed too much. She wasn’t sure if her filter being turned off because she hadn’t slept was to blame, or if she would say anything, admit anything to be with Asher.
“I’m not crazy, I just—”
“I don’t think you’re crazy.” When he spoke, his voice held an extra gravelly quality that had her already quivering body trembling with anticipation.
When he took a step toward her, closing the space between them, she lifted her chin and she breathed, “You don’t?”
“No. I think you’re mine.”
Ava didn’t even have time to process what that meant, or how incredibly sexy that statement had been before Asher lowered his head and claimed her in a bone melting kiss that had her legs going limp beneath her.
Ian wasn’t the only person she’d kissed. As a teenager she’d played games like Truth or Dare, Seven Minutes in Heaven, and Spin the Bottle. But no kiss had ever made her weak in the knees. She thought that phenomenon was just something that SWV sang about. Or that romance authors wrote about. Or that rom com movies depicted. She didn’t think it was real. She didn’t think that happened to real people.
But she was wrong because that was exactly what was happening now.
As his tongue massaged hers and his lips pressed with the perfect combination of pressure and tenderness her hands explored his body. She still couldn’t believe that this was actually happening. She hadn’t been lying when she’d said that for seven years she’d fantasized and dreamed of being with Asher. Now that it was happening, she didn’t want to be in her head. She wanted to be bold and present and every bit the wanton woman that he alone inspired her to be. She didn’t want to hold anything back from this man. This might be a one night only event and she was going to give herself permission to surrender to it completely.
As amazing as this kiss was, she wanted more.
Her hands shook as her fingertips ran along the chiseled edges of his washboard abs. When she reached his pants, she began clumsily attempting to undress him. As she fumbled with his button her knuckles brushed against what felt like a steel rod stuffed down in his pants.
At the barely-there graze, Asher hissed through clenched teeth, reached between their bodies and gripped both of her wrists with one of his hands.
Staying true to the promise she’d made to herself she whispered against his lips, “I want to touch you like you touched me.”
Her statement caused the rock-hard bulge straining behind its zippered barrier to twitch. Asher rested his forehead on hers and his heavy breaths fanned against her cheeks. “Give me a minute. I need a minute. If you touch me now, this is going to be over.”
Hearing the desperation in his voice, knowing that he was close to the edge only excited her more. It emboldened her even more.
After just a few beats, she twisted her wrist and gripped his erection through his slacks. “Time’s up.”
A deep groan ripped from his chest and he made quick work unbuttoning and unzipping his pants. Then in one ninja like movement he pushed his slacks and boxer briefs down his legs and stepped out of them.
For a man so tall and bulky, she was impressed by his athleticism.
When he straightened back up her eyes automatically fell on his impressive erection jutting out from dark hair. Ian was the only man that she’d ever been with and he’d been long, but very thin. He’d also manscaped to the extreme and shaved his area completely bald.
Seeing Asher was an entirely different situation and she was a fan. He was long, but also thick. There was a vein that ran from the base of his member up to his engorged mushroom tip. Just seeing him caused her lower region to tingle with excitement.
“Your turn,” he motioned to her underwear.
A grin lifted on her lips as she hooked her thumbs in the sides of her underwear and pulled them down her legs before stepping out of them.
When she straightened, she was about to reach out for him when she found herself getting picked up and then laid onto the couch. The bed was only in the next room but the desperation she felt and saw reflected in Asher’s eyes kept her from pointing that fact out.
Her legs fell open and Asher filled the space with his body. His hips forced her thighs further apart and she loved the feeling of being laid bare, spread wide, and completely exposed to him. It felt exciting and exhilarating.
His upper body hovered above her as he moved his hands between their bodies. Her eyes cast downward and she watched as he took himself in his hand and lined up his head with her opening.
Her inner muscles clenched trying to suck him inside of her, but he didn’t enter her. Instead, he ran his engorged tip up and down her feminine folds. Each pass he made he added just the slightest bit of pressure, and each pass she was sure that he was going to give them both what they wanted and push inside of her. But that didn’t happen.
