“No, she isn’t,” Mom interjected. “I love you, Babs, but you’re as transparent as glass. He’s twenty-six years younger than you. Behave.”
Babs cackled. I shot Mom a grateful look, gave her a final hug, and took off.
“Let’s go.” I captured Joz’s hand and beelined for the stairs.
Luckily, no one stopped us, although Asher’s knowing smile as I passed made me want to stomp on his toe in my pointiest stilettos. He was right, and he knew he was. Worse, he knew that I knew it, too.
Family. Pains in the asses, every single one of them. They knew too much, saw too much, said too much.
I was fucking lucky to have them.
Someone had been in my bedroom and turned down the covers. Not only that, but there were pink and white rose petals scattered all over the comforter, as well as a bottle of champagne, two glasses, and a bowl of strawberries on the nightstand. Next to them was a box of twenty-four condoms with a smiley face written on a Post-it note.
“I’m going to kill Penn.” No one else would’ve done this.
Joz chuckled and picked up the box. “He must think I have superhuman staying power. Twenty-four is over the top, even for me.” Opening it, he took one out.
“Even for you, huh?” I unzipped my dress and let it fall to the floor, then stepped out of it. “What’s your record?”
“I don’t recall.” He crooked his finger, beckoning me. “Besides, I’ve forgotten everyone before you.”
“You have all the right spiel, don’t you?”
“Aspen, shut up.” Snapping a hand around the back of my neck, he yanked me to him. His mouth crashed against mine.
I barely got a breath in before my back hit the wall. His hands were everywhere at once—in my hair, clasping my hips, diving into my panties like he had to have me this second or he’d die.
I felt the same way. I clawed at his clothes, desperate for skin-to-skin contact. He wasn’t gentle, and neither was I. Fumbling with his belt, I finally got the thing open and burrowed my hand into his boxers, wrapping my fingers around his erection and giving it a hard tug. He let me go long enough to push his pants and underwear down to his knees. Batting my hands away, he rolled the condom on with practiced ease, shoved my panties to one side, and drove into me in one brutal thrust.
Groaning, I hooked one leg over his hip, pulling his hair, scratching my nails over his skin, biting his lips. This was how it was with us: raw, a little unhinged, zero to a hundred in less than a second.
“Aspen, fuck. I can’t?—”
“Same. Don’t wait for me.” My voice was ragged as I tilted my pelvis, grinding against him. “There. God, yes, there.”
“Waiting, but hurry up.”
He kissed me again, all hot breath, teeth, and tongue. His wild thrusts drove the air from my lungs. Pleasure and pain merged until I wasn’t sure which was which. I clung to him, my nails driving into his flesh, moaning into his mouth as he fucked me. Hard, fast, no rhythm, just blinding need. It was messy, frantic, fucking perfect.
My orgasm hit me like a nuclear explosion, blinding, sudden, leaving me wrecked in the best way possible. Joz followed almost immediately, ramming into me before stilling, his breathing rough, his fingers digging into the fleshy part of my ass.
I lowered my leg to the floor, and he slid out. For a few seconds, we stood there, staring at each other as though neither one of us knew what had happened, but that we wanted it to happen again, and again, and again.
He cupped my face and tilted my chin up. “I need to say something before I lose my nerve.”
“Oh, yeah?” I rasped.
“You’re my fucking world. Don’t ever leave me.”
My throat literally closed up, but my heart… it exploded. It wasn’t a declaration of love, but it was damned close.
“Aspen? Fuck, I’ve gone too far, haven’t I?”
I shook my head, but still the words wouldn’t come, so I did the only thing I could think of to show him what he meant to me. I threw myself at that man and kissed him until words didn’t matter.
Drizzle was Seattle’s almost permanent state of weather, yet it wasn’t the smattering of rain that woke me the next morning. It was bright sunlight pouring through the windows, and Joz’s erection poking me in the back.
My eyes stung when I tried to open them, so I kept them shut and let myself soak up these brand-new feelings that coursed through me. It must’ve been three in the morning before we were sated enough to curl up in each other’s arms and go to sleep, and although every muscle screamed at me when I tried to move and my vagina protested last night’s rough treatment, I wouldn’t have changed a fucking thing.
