Page 18 of Age of Shade

I definitely didn’t picture myself marching down one of the most expensive streets in New York, wearing a dress that probably costs more than what I make in a week—I didn’t dare look at the price tag when Ruby made me try it on—preparing to knock on that same dentist’s hotel room door. Asher doesn’t have feelings for me. He isn’t looking for a relationship with the broke college girl who was desperate enough to get paid for a date, and he certainly won’t be falling for the girl who vacuums his office.

This isone night, and I want him enough that it’s worth it.

The doorman standing outside the hotel is thankfully the one who I gave food to only an hour ago. He holds open the door for me, standing back with a cheerful nod in my direction.

I nod back, trying not to make eye contact with anyone as I rush across the lobby to the line of brassy elevators. I can’t shake the worry that I’m doing something wrong by being here, as if I’m trespassing somehow. Places like this are as foreign to me as the moon. It’s almostmorebizarre that no one stops me. Can’t they look at me and tell that I don’t belong?

Apparently not.

The doors to the elevator close behind me just as a hotel employee approaches, and my heart stalls. All he does is smile respectfully, though, stepping back to allow me the lift to myself. The moment the doors close, I collapse against the back wall. Everything seems to be moving at warp speed, and the ride up to the eighth floor takes only seconds. Then I’m in the hall and standing in front of Ash’s door, the final barrier keeping me safe from the unknown.

I could leave right now. He would never know, but—damn it—I would! I would know that I was a big fat chicken who walked away from what she wanted, not once, but twice.

Not giving myself time to back down, I raise my fist and knock.

Every inch of my skin is suddenly humming, sparked to life as the adrenaline flowing through my bloodstream. This wild, restless feeling isn’t me. I’ve never experienced anything even close to this intense, but when I hear the lock sliding out of place and the door pulls open, all concerns about whatisorisn’tme evaporate.

Holy hell.

He just got out of the shower. His hair is damp and tousled, his skin is flushed, and he’s wearing nothing but a towel slung low on his hips. My eyes have a mind of their own, raking overhis broad, defined chest and flat, hard stomach. They follow the trail of dark-brown hair from below his belly button to where it vanishes beneath the towel.

My pulse skyrockets. The feeling of a hook catching low in my belly and dragging me toward Asher is so intense that my hand presses over it.

“Adina.” The way he says my name…God.

Mouth dry, I look back up to meet his eyes, and they seem so much darker than I remember. The heat from the shower seems to be radiating off his skin, warming me even standing two feet away. I can smell the fresh, clean scent of soap on his skin and see tiny droplets on his shoulders that must have fallen from his hair.

I swallow, pressing my hand more firmly against the tugging below my belly button. If I thought things were intense between us earlier, there’s no comparison to how I feel now. It’s like we’re locked in orbit, drawn together by even the air between us.

I’m wound so tight, I think I’ll shatter if he doesn’t touch me soon.

“Adina,” Asher repeats, urgent now, and he seems just as incapable of looking away from me as I am from him. It’s all I can do to stop myself from whimpering when he leans forward, bracing a defined forearm on the doorway. “What are you doing here?” He doesn’t look unhappy to see me, though, and this gives me the shot of confidence I need to tell him exactly why I came back.

“I was wondering… wondering if you’d have sex with me.” Wow. I can’t believe those words just came out of my mouth. Ash’s jaw goes slack with shock, like he can’t quite believe it either. I don’t have time to be embarrassed, though. Down the hall, the elevator chimes and, glancing in that direction, his hand finds mine. He tugs me inside, closing the door behind us.

Admittedly, I haven’t been in a ton of fancy hotel rooms, but this one still seems faintly ridiculous in how nice it is. The shock doesn’t hit me like it did last time, though, because I have bigger and better things on my mind. Mainly, the sight of his nearly naked body silhouetted by the New York skyline in the windows behind him.

Summoning all the brand-new bravery I mustered up to come back here, I step forward and spread my hand over his warm, bare chest. His heart pulses unevenly beneath my hand “Adina.” Asher growls warningly, his pulse thudding erratically beneath my palm. “I can’t promise you anything after tonight. I have—ohfuck.What do you want from me, angel?”

Angel.

Why do I like that so much?

Blowing out a long breath, I draw closer, greedily inhaling the scent of his clean skin. “I don’t care.” My voice has lost some of its bravado. I’ve never done this before, never doneanythingbefore, and the truth is I have only the vaguest ideas of what I want Asher to do to me. All I know is I want him—need him, even—and I’m prepared to beg. “Please?”

We’re so close I can feel the heat radiating from his body. He’shot, scorching me through the thick material of my coat and dress. When I close the last few inches between us to press myself against him, I’m so dizzy with lust I might faint. Like in the elevator earlier, my breasts brush his chest, and his hardness drags against my stomach.

Except now, we’re alone. We have hours and hours ahead of us, and we can do anything we want with it.

Asher makes a rough, desperate sound. “You left, Adina.”

“I came back,” I argue, barely keeping myself from moaning as a muscular thigh slides between mine, pressing directly against my throbbing sex. It’s the same position we were in earlier in the elevator, but this is so much better. The urge torock against him is too much, and I can’t help squirming just a little. “I regretted it, and I came back. I want this—you—even if it’s just this once.”

Without warning, he gathers me closer and I moan, my clit pulsing against the new pressure.

I’m about to lean forward and kiss the hollow of his throat when a big hand nudges my chin up and forces me to meet his eyes. It’s nearly the exact same position we were in before I left. We’re getting a redo, and—

“I can’t give you more than this, sweet girl,” he warns me, his voice a low growl. “I won’t take you on dates or buy you pretty things like Liam does for your friend. We might never see each other again after tonight.Are. You. Sure?”

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