With my weight braced on one elbow, I slid my free hand through her hair. Pulling her head back and exposing her neck, I ran my tongue over her creamy flesh, goose bumps rising in my wake.
“Slow,” she murmured. “We have to slow down, Aston. This is crazy.”
But her pelvis continued to lift to meet mine, seeking friction, her chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. My hand stilled her hip.
“Okay, Bex, but you’ve got to stop that grinding. I’m going to do something I’ve never done if you keep that up. I swear, I never even blew in my pants when I was a teen. Christ Almighty.” The last part was a whisper, but she eyed me anyway.
Her hand ran through the hair at the back of my neck, and she gathered me close for a closed-mouth, yet sensual kiss. It felt like a promise, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.
I’d made a lot of promises at one time too.
Bexley
Aston and I lay there together on my couch like his world wasn’t potentially crumbling. This was Nevada, and I’d read drug trafficking convictions came with a stiff sentence here. But in this moment, that harsh reality didn’t touch us.
Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I knew he could be taken away from me all over again, and this time I wouldn’t survive. Yet I shoved it way down, ignoring that possibility.
We were playing a dangerous game, or maybe only I was? In my mind, for this one fleeting moment, we were back together as if we’d never been separated, and all was good and right.
I knew none of it was reality, but I couldn’t let that permeate my brain. My heart was the stronger of the two organs.
Longing glances, gentle caresses, our fingers exploring, our lips tasting ... our passion was still there, hanging heavily in the air.
Finally, we both stilled, taking in our surroundings, and I spoke first.
“This is surreal.”
Aston rested on his side, cramped in next to me on the couch. “Yes.”
“I’m not sure what’s happening, if there’s something even happening. It may not be such a good idea ...”
He brought his lips to my neck, sliding my shirt away and kissing the top of my shoulder. The heat from his lips prickled against my chilled skin.
“It’s—” was all he said before his phone rang. “I’ve got to grab this.”
He rolled over me and stood up, swiping his finger across the phone. “What’s up, boo?”
His gaze glued to the carpet, his expression was serious as he walked back toward the front door. In a matter of seconds, his demeanor changed and his voice turned gruff.
“What? Put your mom on the phone.” A few seconds later, he stepped into the adjoining room, sputtering, “You’re kidding, Cass? You can’t be serious.”
I wasn’t sure what I should do. Should I stand and go to him, or hang back? Instinct begged me to wrap my arms around him, but experience told me to stay away. These were his kids and wife, hisex-wife, matters I wasn’t involved in.
“I have to go.”
Aston walked back into the family room, looking his usual nonplussed self in his dark-wash jeans and white oxford rolled up at the sleeves. He didn’t look rumpled or shocked or overwhelmed like me, didn’t appear to be stressed like I was.
“I’d like to come back, but I’m not sure how long this will take.”
I swallowed a cocktail of confusion and regret. I’d let him back into my life and my heart like nothing had ever happened, as if he hadn’t rocked my world in the worst way possible years ago. If we’d gone on a few more minutes, I probably would have been on the floor, carpet burn on my back.Crass but true.
Cass, his wife, ex or not, needed him, and he was going.
Cass, who came with all the trappings and the right family name.
Cass, who wasn’t me.
“I don’t think you should,” I told him. Protecting myself came first. “Come back, I mean.”
