Until November (Until, #1)(19)

I look at the bed then back at him. He’s watching me the whole time. When we make eye contact again, there is something working behind his beautiful blue eyes that makes me hold my breath. He breaks eye contact and runs his hand over his head. I clench my hands into fist. I want to know if his hair will feel prickly against my palms. “Um…” I say, trying to clear my brain now that it seems to have gone into an Asher fog. He looks up and smiles. I see his dimple and that doesn’t help. Now I want to lick his cheek and taste his dimple. His smile widens and I swear that he can read my mind. Crap, crap, crap.

“Here, let me show you the bathroom and you can change and get ready for bed,” he says.

Thank God for small favors, I think to myself until we walk into the bathroom. There is a large walk in shower that’s made out of rock with a glass door that makes it look like an open cave. Next to the shower is a bathtub that dreams are made of. Well, at least girl dreams. I can’t picture Asher filling it with bubbles and having a soak. Then, I'm bombarded with thoughts of Asher naked and in the bathtub. I'm staring at the tub when I hear him moving behind me so I turn around. He has my bag in his hand and is setting it on the sink.

“Feel free to take a bath and get into bed. I gotta make a few calls.” I would love to take a bath in his tub. Well, I would love to take a bath in his tub with him but I push that thought away.

“Uh, thanks,” I say, feeling strange. He smiles and leaves, closing the door behind him. I stand there for a few more minutes, trying to figure out what the heck is happening. Then I realize that I’ve been standing there staring at the tub so I jerk out of my Asher tub fog and go to the sink. I took a shower before I left my house so I just dig through my bag and find my pajamas. They’re white, cotton, sleep shorts with a yellow drawstring that matches a yellow tank top. I tie my hair in a knot at the top of my head and wash my face. Then, I dig through my bag and find my toothbrush and toothpaste.

After I'm done, I put on some nighttime skin cream. That is one thing my mom taught me. It was good advice to never go to bed without night cream. She would say, ‘No man wants a woman with wrinkles.’ How she would know, this I don’t know. She has been getting Botox since she was twenty and that’s probably the last time her face showed an expression that wasn’t surprise.

I open the door to the bedroom and the room is dark except for one of the bed side lights. I realize that Asher made the bed while I was changing and for some reason that makes me smile. I think about going out and getting Beast but he won’t move if he’s asleep unless I carry him and that’s not going to happen. I wonder where Asher is sleeping. Then I realize that I'm tired and don’t care. I look at the clock on the side table and see that it’s after two in the morning. Without thinking, I crawl into bed. It smells like him so I pull the covers over me and I'm, once again, dead to the world.

******************************

I wake up feeling warm and cozy. It takes me a minute to realize that it is not Beast behind me. Beast doesn’t have arms.  I keep my eyes closed and hold my breath, trying to figure out what has happened? Then, I hear the door open.

“Oh my,” I hear a woman’s voice say and my eyes pop open, and I'm looking into the eyes of a beautiful, older woman and she's looking back at me.  Asher's arm goes tight around me and I look over my shoulder. “Morning, baby,” he rumbles into my ear. I'm so humiliated that I blurt out the first thing that pops into my head when I turn back to look at the woman.

“We didn’t have sex!” I basically yell this at her.

The lady looks at me again and smiles so big that I can see all of her teeth. “I'll just be in the kitchen,” she says and Asher starts laughing as she’s closing the door behind her. I swear I hear her giggle. As soon as I know the door is closed, I turn to Asher. I'm really going to kill him.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

“This is my bed,” he says, smiling. Grrrrrrr. I want to choke him.

“I thought you were sleeping on the couch or, like, in another room or something,” I say and wonder why he thinks this is so funny.

“Why would I do that? My bed is big. Plus, your dog was taking up the whole couch.”

“You should have woken me up. I would've slept on the couch with Beast,” I tell him, trying to shove his arm off me.

“My bed is big enough for both of us. We didn't even have to touch, but the minute I got into bed, you were all over me,” he says, hugging me tighter.

“Oh my God, you're so full of it. I was asleep. I didn't even know you were here. How could I be all over you?” I yell at him knowing full well that my face is turning red.

“When I climbed into bed, you wrapped yourself around me,” he says, watching my face. I can feel it getting redder by the second.

“I didn’t,” I say, even though I most likely did. I have always liked to cuddle.

“You did,” he says, smiling.

“Whatever,” I mumble, trying to hide my face.

“At least tell me that’s not your mother,” I say, covering my face with my hands. He starts laughing and pulls me down in the bed so I'm basically lying under him. Feeling his skin against mine, I uncover my eyes and see that he’s not wearing a shirt. How I missed that, I have no idea. His chest is awesome. It’s wide and you can see the definition of all of the muscles. He doesn’t have a lot of chest hair, just enough that you could feel it against your chest as he moves inside of you. His tattoos start under his collar bone and go around his shoulders and down his arms. They look like fire but it’s all tribal. Running in and out of the flames are names and a pair of military type boots. Then the same design goes down his other arm but with a gun and a military type hat. It’s shaded in black and has bright colors running through. It’s truly a piece of art.