Page 137 of Chasing Your Ghost

“You’re good to have around in a knife fight and a pissing contest,” Asher said under his breath while picking up his own taco. “Who knew?”

“Everyone at my old high school,” she replied with a shrug.

“Noted,” he replied with a chuckle. “I’ll be sure not to get on your bad side.”

She winked. “Wise man.”

???

“So this is your room,” Riley murmured, her eyes raking over the dark blue walls, charcoal curtains, and white bedsheets. Her gaze finally landed on a corkboard above his cluttered desk.

Pictures of Asher with Ella and with Noah and Chris took up most of the space, but there were also what looked like a schedule for the previous semester’s classes and magazine cut-outs of places in America and Europe.

“Are these all places you want to visit?” Riley asked, pointing to a picture of the Colosseum and then to one of the Seattle skyline, the Space Needle at its center.

Asher nodded. “My parents and I went to Paris when I was a kid, and I guess I caught the travel bug after that.”

She smiled and looked at the picture of the Colosseum. “Promise me if you go to Italy, you’ll take me with you.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Asher slowly stalked toward her, closing the gap between them and forcing her back against the wall. His body pressed against hers, and he placed one hand on the wall beside her head and used the other to tilt her chin up.

“We can go to Rome and see the Colosseum, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pantheon…”

Each place was followed by a lingering kiss on her neck, and Riley found her fingers winding into his hair as her breaths became unsteady.

“We can go to Venice, Florence, Verona.” More kisses followed each city name, each one higher on her neck until the last one landed on her lips.

Riley melted against him, her lips parting in a gasp. Asher didn’t hesitate to stroke his tongue between them, and Riley’s body came alive with pleasure. He claimed her with his lips and his tongue and his teeth, every brush and stroke and bite leaving her breathless and dizzy with want.

Not sure her legs could hold her up for much longer, Riley nudged him back, not letting the kiss end as she guided him back toward his bed. They fell onto the mattress in a messy tangle of limbs, but they didn’t stop. Asher’s lips became more insistent, his hands tightening on her waist, and something in Riley snapped.

She tugged off his shirt, her hands flattening against his bare chest and gliding down to the hard plane of his stomach. She kissed a path down to his jeans, her lips lingering there as she worked on his button and zipper. Asher helped her pull them down, leaving him in only his boxers.

Once they were off, he grabbed her hips and flipped them around. It shouldn’t have been as attractive as it was, but Riley bit her lip once she was beneath him, her core clenching and her body humming in anticipation. She rather liked being manhandled by him.

Asher practically ripped off her Journey concert shirt—the one she’d cut a triangle out of the front of—and then he was staring at her beige bra—the one covered in black lace that turned it from boring underwear into sexy lingerie.

He swallowed. “You’re beautiful.”

Riley couldn’t help but smile. “I know.”

He shook his head in amusement. “Every guy at Georgetown University also knows,” he told her. Though people had been nice to her, and she’d made some friends in her classes, he was blatantly exaggerating. The only guys she spent much time with besides him were Noah and Chris. “Would it be too much if I killed them all?”

She threw her head back and laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “If you kill them, they’ll stop sending me flowers. That would be no fun.”

His eyes narrowed. “You better be joking.”

“Obviously,” she replied with a mischievous smile. “They also send me chocolates and love notes.”

Asher started unbuttoning her denim shorts. “In that case, I’ll have to not only kill all of them but also make sure you know that staying with me is a great idea.”

She didn’t need any more reasons to stay with him. She had more than enough. But Riley played along. “Oh really? And how are you going to do that?”

Asher slowly pulled her shorts down her legs, muttering a swear when her lacey underwear was revealed. Then he did the same with that underwear, carefully pulling it off her until her bra was all that was left.

“This is how,” he said before he lowered his mouth between her thighs.

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