Page 137 of Between Hello and Goodbye

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I drove us back to the house and waited in the kitchen while Asher had a few quiet words with Chloe. The rain had stopped, and she didn’t live far, so he felt it was safe enough to let her go. I don’t think she would’ve stayed anyway. The look she gave us when we came in said everything.

I felt bad for her. I couldn’t think of a greater torture than loving Asher Mackey and him not loving you back.

Asher took Kal upstairs to give him a bath and put him to bed while I made use of the downstairs shower and washed all the cold rain and mud off of me. I was covered head to toe thanks to my little foray under the porch.

After, I wrapped myself in a towel and went to the living room where Asher was waiting in sleep pants and an undershirt, having freshly showered too, his hair still damp. His eyes widened when he saw me and my almost-nakedness. I sat on the armrest of the couch, my palms on either side of me, as if bracing myself. For him.

“Faith…”

I shook my head. “Later,” I said, my voice thick, my entire body flooded with a hundred different emotions, one stronger than any other—pure, unadulterated love for him.

Asher read my meaning and his eyes darkened. “I didn’t touch her,” he said, his voice hoarse.

“I know,” I said and leaned back a little, my legs parting. “Come here and put your hands on me.”

Because I knew what he needed, and it wasn’t to have to rehash all of his pain and his reasons for doing when he did. We’d have time enough to talk later. Right then, in that moment, he needed relief. He’d let himself go with Kal in the rain, but I was going to give him another kind of release and show him he wasn’t going to have to do this alone. Not anymore.

Asher took a step toward me and then another until he was right in front of me. My heart pounded but I felt calm at the same time. Serene.

He raised his hands to my face, holding me reverently. But it wasn’t time for that, either.

I moved his hands down to my shoulders, to the edge of the towel. I watched him swallow, his Adam’s apple bobbing and then he sucked in a breath, and with one hand, undid the tuck in the terrycloth. The towel fell open.

Asher’s eyes flared again and then the next second, his mouth was on mine, kissing me with a need so powerful, it stole my breath. But I could take it. I wanted it. I wanted everything he had to give, so I grabbed him by the hips and pulled him to me. His erection strained against his flannel sleep pants, brushing against my nakedness. He grunted and kissed me harder—biting, deep kisses and I responded in kind. Mauling him. The need and want that had been simmering for so many weeks all poured out at once, turning us frenzied. We devoured each other whole.

He filled his hands with my breasts while I tugged at the waistband of his pants. I reached in and wrapped my hand around the huge, hard length of him. But there was too much clothing between us.

“Take it off,” I breathed.

He released me long enough to take off his shirt. As soon as he did, my mouth was on his skin, warm from the shower and hard—hard abs of pure muscle, hard pecs, hard pounding of his heart for want of me.

He stripped out of his pants and then lifted me and carried me around to the front of the couch and laid me down. The weight of him on top of me… I never wanted to forget what that felt like. I never wanted to be without these touches, the heat of his kisses, the power of his body moving on top of mine. He slipped inside me with one easy thrust and made a sound that was half sob, half growl of pure need.

“Faith…” he breathed into my neck.

I clung to him, my arms wrapping around his broad shoulders, while he spread my legs another few inches to get at me better. Deeper. To drive into me harder when I was already delirious and on the verge of an orgasm. A few heated thrusts was all it took, and it crashed over me.

Asher felt the pleasure shuddering through me and gripped my hip, driving hard and slow to draw it out. After a few moments, with the aftershocks still running along my limbs, I pushed against the hard wall of his chest till he was sitting. Then I straddled him, reached between us, and guided him back inside me.

He gazed up at me, exhausted to the bone but still fighting. His eyes were darkly beautiful and full of love for me but swimming with pain too. I silently vowed to take as much from him as I could. For the rest of my life. Starting that night.

“Give it to me,” I whispered hotly in his ear, writhing on top of him, rolling my hips. “Give me everything.”

I felt his answering grip on my hips tighten as he pressed his face into my neck. He knew what I meant. I began to ride him harder, and he moved me up and down on him, using my body.

“Yes,” I breathed. “Just like that.”

His jaw clenched and his eyes turned black as I craned down to kiss him, a biting, sucking kiss. He grunted into my mouth, and then the suddenness of another orgasm burst through me with his relentless thrusts. The wet sounds of arousal, the scent of our bodies, the heat of the breaths we shared all created a delirium, a fever dream I never wanted to wake up from.

“Yes, Asher,” I said, feeling him close, feeling his body tense against me as I rode him with intensifying urgency.

He made a sound deep in his chest but couldn’t contain it. A pained grunt issued from his throat as he came. He emptied himself inside me, his face a mask of relief, his fingers on my hips holding me into his release. I felt it surge through him and into me, and then he sank back on the couch. I continued to roll my hips, making sure every last drop was mine. Only when I was sure he was spent, did I let myself fall against him, sweaty forehead to sweaty forehead, both of us breathing hard. He wrapped his arms around me, lifted his chin to kiss me, and brushed away the strands of hair that stuck to my cheek.

“I love you,” he whispered. “I don’t know much of anything anymore, but I know that. Whatever is left of me, is yours.”

“I love you,” I said against his mouth that I was still kissing, his tears and mine mingling. “I’m never going to walk away from you again.”

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