Between Hello and Goodbye(44)

I could not get enough of him, couldn’t get him deep enough. I clawed his broad back, trying to keep him tight to me, to meld his body with mine. I lifted my hips in answer to his every move, and all the while he kissed me when our frantic bodies allowed it—a wet mashing of teeth and tongues.

“I-I’m close…” I managed.

Asher hooked my other leg on his elbow, bending me in half. He pressed himself up, palms flat on either side of me, driving into me with mindless need. With desire so raw and potent, I could hardly believe it was all for me.

One moment melted into the next, climbing toward euphoria. He sent me over the edge and my orgasm erupted, wiping out all thought. Ribbons of white-hot pleasure coursed through me from my center where his cock still moved in me, drawing my release out longer while taking him closer to his.

“Come,” I breathed, my hands on his glorious forearms, nails digging in. “Come inside me, Asher.”

With a grunted cry and a last few earth-shattering thrusts, he came hard—abs tight, neck corded, his face a pained mask of ecstasy. He had on a condom, but I imagined him spilling his release deep inside me, filling me with him, marking me as his.

A pang of unease lanced through the hot haze of my orgasm.

I can’t feel like this about him. I’m leaving.

And then he was on top of me, skin to skin, warm and heavy, kissing me gently, thoroughly, reverently. So much so that tears sprang to my eyes, and that was definitely not allowed. I did not cry over men. Ever.

And yet, I kissed him back with just as much depth and care, not wanting to do anything else but hold him and kiss him and stay in this moment forever.

Finally, he broke away and gently withdrew from me to lie on his side. “How’s your ankle?”

“I have ankles?” I managed weakly. “My entire body is one pulsating orgasm.”

“Good. Want some water? A nap? But just a short one.”

“Because you’re still not done with me?”

“Not even close.”

God, his smile—a gentle thing on his hard, granite features—made my pulse quicken even more than his words. The pang of unease turned dire. Sleeping with Asher hadn’t fixed anything. It had only made it worse. My body was satisfied—temporarily—but my heart was still clamoring for more.

I reached for him again to drown the unwanted thoughts in the sensations of him. For hours. But when dawn’s light crept in through the window and we lay tangled in each other, I stared at the ceiling in perfect conflict—contentment and belonging making my heart warm while one thought clamored through my mind.

We’ve made a terrible mistake …





Chapter Eleven



A slant of morning light fell over me, pulling me out of a heavy sleep. I peeked an eye open at the woman beside me, and a slow grin spread over my lips that had been everywhere on her last night. Finally sleeping with Faith—touching her, kissing her, being inside her… Fucking bliss.

And it fixed nothing.

My grin faded as I swung my legs over the side of the bed and hung my head in my hands.

“Shit.”

Nothing felt satiated or settled by having Faith all night because it wasn’t just her body I lusted after so desperately. The pure, mind-blowing want of her didn’t begin and end with sex. I felt it in every corner of my heart—neglected, broken corners I didn’t let anyone touch and few suspected even existed. My desire for her felt like a ravenous animal, starved from countless quiet nights and an empty house.

An empty life.

I’d had dozens of women in my bed, but she was the only one I wanted to stay there.

Quietly, I padded in my underwear to the en suite bathroom to brush my teeth and try to get a grip on myself. I had the day off—Friday—then four long shifts. Faith left on Sunday.

What the fuck do we do with that?

The bed sheets rustled, and I watched in the mirror as Faith limped to me, naked but for her barely-there thong and her quartz pendant. My fantasy had come true—I’d had her all night with her wearing nothing but that necklace. It’d dangled between us as she rode me…

I snapped out of it as Faith’s perfect tits pressed against my back when she wrapped her arms around me.

“Mmm,” she sighed and laid her cheek to my skin. “So warm.”

I spat the toothpaste out, rinsed, and then turned around to hold her. I brushed a lock of blond hair out of her eyes. “Hi.”

“Hi.” She cocked her head, studying me. “Something on your mind?”

“Something’s not on yours?”

“Not a thing.” She slapped my ass and then used the bathroom, leaving the door open. “Don’t look so scandalized, Mackey. I sat on your face last night. You can handle some pee.”

I frowned, even as her words instantly conjured the image of her silky thighs on either side of me, my hands on her hips, my mouth latched between her legs, sucking her as if I were dying of thirst…

I coughed. “We need to talk.”

“About what?”

“You know what.”

She nudged me aside with her hip to wash her hands. “About how I’m walking unaided? Pretty great, right?”

“I knew that’d happen from the beginning.”

I also knew getting involved with a woman who lived on the other side of the Pacific Ocean was a bad idea, yet here we are.