I followed along, reaching up to grip her hips a few times, which brought her ass to my chest.
The staircase twisted twice, and by the time we reached the top, I realized we were on the third floor. It was a small room, no bigger than a nursery or an office. The only light came from a dormer window overlooking the backyard. Aspen quickly informed me that when Autumn and Colton lived here full time, they used this as the office. She gestured toward the hidden door that led to the living area my mother now resided in. There were two chairs and a coffee table in the space. It looked like a nice private place to get away and relax.
Aspen stepped toward me, and my hands settled on her denim-clad hips.
“Why’d you bring me here, cricket?”
“Because I won’t see you for a while, and I want to make sure you’ll be thinking about me when you meet with Kelsey later.”
“Jealous?” I asked, smiling as she placed her hands on my chest and slowly trailed them downward.
“A little. She’s quite beautiful.”
Leaving her hips, I rested my hands on both sides of her face, drawing her attention to me. I waited for her eyes to meet mine. “You’re the only one I see, Aspen. I told you the other night that this thing between us didn’t feel fake anymore. I meant every word. This is as real as it gets for me. Understand?”
“Yeah,” she whispered. “It feels real for me too, and that… scares me.”
“Why?”
“Because then it makes everything I’m feeling real. It makes the hurt real.”
“I won’t hurt you, cricket. Not intentionally. I can promise you that.”
It was clear she didn’t quite believe me, and not because she’d been hurt before, but because she didn’t trust the idea of relying on someone else.
Her hands lingered around the waistband of my jeans, and when a single finger dipped just inside the elastic of my boxer briefs, my cock jumped in anticipation.
“You know what I find interesting?” she prompted, nuzzling her nose against my jaw. I’d never felt so weak in the knees as I did when she sensually ran any part of her body against mine.
“What’s that?” My breath caught when her teeth nipped at my stubble-covered chin as her fingertip ran across the head of my cock.
“Even with the girls flocking around you when you’re in town, and the social media posts that have shown our pictures—”
I interrupted her immediately. “Grainy pictures in which no one could tell who you and I were.”
“Regardless, the articles say I’m just a fling and a way to get back at Vanessa. But you know what?”
Her sultry voice wafted over me in waves of lust, and I was drunk on her words.
“What?” I growled.
Her mouth moved over to the other side of my face, nipping the skin. “I wasn’t jealous of any of that. Not a single woman or picture made me jealous… until today.”
“Kelsey?”
“Yes. Kelsey. I’d never felt that before.”
“Yeah? And what does that mean?” I could barely hold my eyes open as she lightly stroked the mushroom head of my cock.
“I don’t know. Maybe I need to mark you somehow.”
The thought of Aspen branding me as hers turned me inside out. I was itching to feel her on me and meinher.
“Mark me, cricket, and I’ll put it on my skin permanently.”
“Hmm…”
My brain had entered a lustful haze at this point, but I was doing what I could to pay attention to Aspen as she stroked my cock inside my pants.