Page 25 of Moonlit Thorns

His head dips in my direction and meets my gaze. “The day he was murdered was the best day of my life.”

My eyes widen.

Everyone knows that Ramsey Voss was murdered, but it was never proven by whom. All four brothers were suspects at one point or another, from what I’ve been told, but there was never enough evidence on any of them to lay charges.

Could Asher have murdered his father?

What kind of monster does a father have to be to have been murdered by his own child?

What kind of beast does a child have to be to murder his father?

I don’t know what drives the impulse to open up to him. It might be how forlorn he looks and what a contrast that is to his usual self, but I can’t help the truth coming from my lips. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why you feel that way, but I know what it feels like to have the love of a good man… even if my father was hiding things from me. I’m sorry you didn’t get to experience the same.”

I don’t dare ask why he feels the way he does. I guarantee he wouldn’t tell me the truth anyway.

His expression is a mixture of confusion and disbelief, but it’s almost as though he doesn’t see me. He’s looking through me. “It’s all changing. It’s changing, and it’s going to come crashing down.”

I frown. “What’s changing?”

He shakes his head as though he’s back from wherever his mind was. His attention goes to my ear that still has the AirPod in it, and before I register what he’s doing, he crouches and retrieves the one on the path.

“What are you listening to?” he asks as he straightens.

He brings the AirPod to his ear. The audiobook I’m listening to automatically starts playing again in my ear, as well in the one he’s holding. My face heats as the words reverberate through my skull.

“Let me see that tongue, bella.”

She opens her mouth, sticking out her tongue. Still fisting the base of my cock, I step close enough that her tongue is on the underside of my balls. Without me having to tell her, she licks and worships them, pulling one into her mouth and sucking gently, then the other. It feels phenomenal.

I decide to reward her for her efforts and bring the vibrator to the juncture of her thighs. She jolts from the surprise, moaning instantly. Her back arches, and her head twists, so I pull the vibrator away.

Instead of lunging for the AirPod, I’m frozen to my spot. His lids become heavy as the book continues.

Aria makes a disappointed sound. “Please don’t stop.”

“You stop, and I stop, understood?”

“Yes.” The word is desperate and breathy.

“I’m going to tuck this in your underwear, between your pussy lips. Do you think that will feel good, cara?”

“Oh god, yes.” She moans as though she can already feel it.

“And then I’m going to fuck this mouth. And if you stop, it stops, got it?”

His blue eyes don’t leave mine as we listen to the characters in the book play out the scene. They don’t leave mine as he pulls the AirPod from his ear. And they don’t leave mine as he asks, “You enjoy that, do you?”

Part of me wants to deny it, pretend that I could take it or leave it, that it doesn’t get me hot, but I refuse to cower in front of him again. Not anymore. “I do,” I say with confidence.

His nostrils flare, and his entire body goes taut before he takes a small step toward me, closing the distance between us to mere inches. I arch my head back to look at him.

“What do you like most about it?”

I swallow. Admitting I like to listen to steamy romance novels is one thing, but admitting to this man what turns me on sexually is another. He’ll most likely use the information against me somehow at a later date.

Asher takes my hand, moving his thumb back and forth over the inside of my wrist. It’s such a small thing, but I swear he might as well be running his thumb over my clit for the way my body reacts.

An electric current races up my arm and settles between my thighs. My nipples pebble in my sports bra. His eyes dip as he notices.

---