Page 49 of Restrictions

I hear his footsteps on the stairs coming up from the basement, and my breath catches in my throat with the anticipation of seeing him.

Don’t be stupid.

I take the ceramic bowl containing my favorite maple and brown sugar oatmeal out of the microwave and place it on the counter as he walks in, wearing only a pair of gray sweats. His hair is tousled and messy from his slumber. He looks absolutely flawless, and I try not to notice the deep cut V as his sweats sit low on his hips.

Okay, Vivienne, show him that this is no big deal. That you can be a casual girl, you can do this.

I clear my throat after my mental pep talk and smile at him as he approaches. “Good morning. I made some oatmeal, but you can have it, and I’ll make another one if you’d like.”

He tilts his head to the right, his thick eyebrows drawing together and his lips in an angry pout. “Really?”

I shrug my shoulders and grab another bowl from the cabinet. “It’s really no trouble.”

He walks to me, taking the bowl from my hand and placing it on the counter. Then he places both of his palms firmly on the granite countertop, caging me in as he leans into me. “We aren’t going to talk about last night?”

“Since when did you become so talkative?”

I won’t lower my eyes from his. I don’t want him to see me as weak. “Viv...”

“Stop. We don’t need to talk about it, Asher. It’s no big deal.”

He looks shocked as he stares into my eyes, studying me like I’m a stranger to him. And maybe I am. Maybe he doesn’t really know me.Maybe no one really does. “No big deal?”

I gnaw nervously on my bottom lip, and his eyes dart to them, darkening with something before they flick back to my gaze. “It’s not. You caught me doing something very...” I straighten my shoulders, “normal.”

“You’re not normal.”

“Thanks for that.”

He keeps me in his cage, trapped and at his mercy. “Did you plan that?”

“What?” Now I’m the surprised one.

“You heard me. Were you waiting for me?

“Oh my God, Asher. Get over yourself.” I’m irritated that he could even think that. “I was home alone. You told me you were going to begone most of the night. Do you really think that I was just waiting there with my hand down my shorts until I heard you come in?”

I watch him swallow the tension as he mulls that over. “Maybe. I don’t know, Viv. Is this your plan? To seduce me. First that fucking bikini and then...”

“Then what?” I stare him down, refusing to be embarrassed even though part of me wants to die, choking on the humiliation creeping up.

“Then you give me the fucking hottest show of my life.” His face nears mine, his lips creeping toward me. “I’ll never get the vision of you coming in front of me out of my head.”

I gulp, the sound audible between us, knowing that when I close my eyes, I see the bulge in his jeans and his hand moving inside them, his eyes watching me unwavering as he came. “Good.”

“What is this, Viv?”

“What do you want it to be, Asher?”

He looks tortured as he stares into my eyes. “It can’t be anything.”

Instead of my usual argument, that I am in fact a woman and not just Sebastian’s mom and that I am capable of a casual hookup, I remain strong and take a deep breath, letting it slowly expel from my lungs. “Okay, then. That’s all it was.” He pulls back, dropping his hands, but not moving his body, and I lean in closer to him, poking my fingernail into his hardened steel-like chest. “And that bikini wasn’t for you.”

“No, then why not another one-piece?”

“It was for me.” He looks confused, and I clarify, “I’m twenty-one. And I’m hot.” I push past him and grab my oatmeal, carrying it to the island and turn to get a spoon, but gasp when I run into his hard body.

“You are.”

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