Page 138 of Chasing Your Ghost

Riley’s back arched, her lips parting with a vocal moan. She hadn’t thought it could get better than the last time, but somehow, it was.

Asher read her like a book, his tongue moving in circles at exactly the right pace and with just enough pressure. He turned her into a writhing mess, and when Riley came, she couldn’t hold back her choked scream.

“Have I made a good enough argument for why I’m better than those flower-sending assholes?” Asher asked after he’d finished working her through her orgasm.

He’d more than accomplished that, but Riley wasn’t done teasing him. “Almost,” she panted out. “But I think I need a bit more convincing.”

Asher chuckled, the sound a deep rumble that was more attractive than any other laugh Riley had ever heard. He moved up her body with hasty kisses until she could feel his breath tickling her face.

“You’re so demanding,” he told her before placing a soft kiss on her lips. He lifted her upper body and unclipped her bra. “And beautiful,” he added. His kiss was longer this time but still too brief. “And incredible.” Still too short. “And fearless.” Another too-fleeting kiss. “And funny.” It was getting ridiculous now. “And you have amazing taste in music.” True, but that didn’t make his next kiss any less frustratingly short-lived. “And have I mentioned that I’m in love with you?”

Riley’s eyes flew open, the heaviness in her eyelids forgotten. “What?” she asked, her voice cracking.

Asher grinned, and his green eyes shone with happiness. “I love you, Riley Anderson.”

Those three words hit Riley’s ears with the force of a tsunami, the eight letters and three syllables washing over her and drowning her in the kind of joy she’d never thought she’d find again after leaving New York.

She felt the same way. Of course, she did. Maybe if they’d met the normal way and hadn’t spent hours and hours together every day trying to figure out what had happened to him, it would have been too soon. But nothing about how they’d met and how their relationship had developed had been normal. The two months they’d known each other felt like a lifetime. So, Riley told him.

“I love you too,” she said before wrapping her hands around the back of his neck and crashing her lips against his without any of the gentleness and restraint he’d been teasing her with.

Asher groaned into her mouth. He returned her ardor tenfold, his kisses near-bruising and his hands exploring her breasts and her waist and her stomach with wild abandon. His fingers left blazing trails in their wake, his touch feeding the inferno under her skin. When he pressed himself against her, his hips moving forward, Riley was reminded of the only barrier that still existed between them.

She made quick work of pushing his boxers down, and Asher finished the job, kicking them aside once they were off. Riley wrapped her fingers around him, and he squeezed his eyes shut, looking almost like he was in pain.

“Fuck,” he hissed through gritted teeth, thrusting into her hand as though he couldn’t wait for her to start moving.

Riley let her fingers slide over him three times before she removed her hand and pulled him down. Asher drew in a sharp breath when they touched, his hard flesh meeting her slick softness. His eyes flared, and he scanned her face.

“I’m sure,” she replied, answering his questioning frown. “I’m very, very sure.”

“I didn’t tell you I love you to get in your pants,” he was quick to assure her.

“I know.”

“I’m happy to wait as long as you want to.”

Riley’s lips curled into a smile. “I know.”

“I don’t want you to feel pressured.”

“Asher, I know,” she said with tender emphasis. “I want this. I want you.”

He searched her eyes for what felt like a hundred heartbeats, the crease between his brows easing with every one of them. “Thank god,” he finally said with a relieved sigh. “Because I’ve wanted this since I saw you in that white bikini.”

Riley laughed, but Asher smothered the noise with a searing kiss. Anything she might have wanted to say was lost, forgotten as the feeling of his bare chest on hers and his length brushing over her core overtook her entire being. Any coherent thought disappeared, lost to the dizzying, heady warmth that suffused everything in the room.

When Asher muttered a swear and climbed off the bed, she wanted to scream at him to come back, but when he began rummaging through his bedside drawer, she relaxed back onto the mattress.

Riley shook her head in amusement when he finally found an unopened box of condoms and held it up triumphantly.

“Knew this would come in handy one day.”

Because, through some miracle and much to Riley’s satisfaction, Asher had never been with another girl. He’d told her that he’d done other things with his one previous girlfriend, but they’d never gone that far.

Riley had just about danced around like a maniac when he’d told her because, much as she didn’t want to admit it, she hated the idea of anyone else having that part of him. Maybe it was possessive and greedy of her, but she wanted to be his first, just like he would be hers.

“You’re sure?” Asher asked breathlessly once he was positioned at her entrance.

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