Nola furrowed her brow and shook her head. “I’m not expectin’ anyone. If it’s important, they’ll come back. And not use my full name if they know what’s good for ’em.”
Finn’s lips tipped up at the corners. “If he comes back, I sure as hell hope I’m here to watch you hand him his ass for usin’ it. Hopefully not tonight, ’cause we’re outta here.” He placed his hand on the small of Will’s back and guided them toward the exit.
“See y’all later,” Will said with a wave over her shoulder before focusing her attention solely on her husband and baby girl as they left.
“Well, now that the baby’s gone, guess that means I’m up,” Asher said, removing his arm from around Nat’s chair and reaching for his guitar. He leaned toward her, his lips a breath away from hers. “Think you can hold out till we get home, pervert?”
Nat narrowed her eyes, fighting the waging war inside her over desperately wanting to close the distance between them just to get a taste and wanting to teach him a lesson about teasing her. “Watch me hold out till next week.” Nat crossed her arms over her chest and tried valiantly not to melt into the kiss Asher pressed against her lips. The smile she felt curving his mouth told her she failed.
“We’ll see about that…” he murmured. “I bet you next week’s dirty diapers that you’ll be beggin’ for it within five minutes of us bein’ home.”
Without hesitation, she said, “Deal.”
Now, it didn’t matter how much she wanted him or how hot he got her while singing. Proving a point—not to mention getting out of diaper duty for a whole week—was worth more than just a night of sex.
Okay, so it was neverjust sexwith Asher—it hadn’t ever been, and she doubted it ever would be—but she could still hold strong. Right?
* * *
Asher knewwhen he’d made the bet with Nat that he’d come out the winner. Which meant his night was pretty much made. Not only would he be out of diaper duty for the next week, but he was going to get laid tonight. And while any night he got to spend between his wife's legs was nothing short of amazing, the evenings following him playing took things to a whole new level.
Post-show, she was always ravenous for him. There wasn't any other word he could use to describe it. They usually barely got in their front door before she was on him. Hell, half the time, they didn't even make it out of the car. Which was why it was so amusing to watch her try to resist this tug she very clearly felt.
He hadn't intentionally provoked her while he'd been singing, but he also hadn't tried very hard to stop his usual inclination of seeking her out in the crowd and locking eyes with her as he poured out his heart in lyrics that were usually written about her. He didn't know if that was what got her so worked up—the fact that she knew the songs he sang were about her—or if something else had clicked on in her brain when they'd become married. Because God knew she'd seen enough of his shows in the years before that, and she certainly hadn't responded like she'd become accustomed to over the course of the past year.
He shot her a look out of the corner of his eye as he drove them home, a smirk playing on his lips. She sat in her seat, ramrod straight, her knee bouncing in a rhythm far too fast for the song currently playing on the radio. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips parted, chest rising and falling quickly with her harsh intakes of breath. And her nipples… Well, he sure as hell hadn’t missed them greeting him as soon as he’d strode back to their table at The Willow Tree. And the two little gumdrops hadn't stopped screaming hello to him for even a moment in the time since.
Reaching over, he rested his hand on her bouncing knee, and she startled, snapping her head toward him. “You all right, wifey?”
“Fine!” she said in a voice that was far too high and too loud for the confined space.
As they passed under a streetlamp, he could make out that her gaze wasn't focused on the road, or his hand, or even his eyes. She was staring directly at his mouth…fantasizing about what he could do to her with it if only she gave in? Or, maybe, remembering exactly what he'd done that morning before the kids had demanded their attention.
Just for shits and giggles, he licked his lips and watched as her breathing grew shallower. He couldn’t stop a smirk from emerging as he returned his attention back to the road. “Glad to hear it,” he said. “What’d you think of the new song?”
A new song where he'd crooned on about getting lost in the dips and curves of a woman. About swallowing her moans and finding nothing but heaven in all her secret, hidden places. So yeah, maybe he hadn't played fair with that bet, knowing full well what song he planned to debut tonight. But he couldn’t say he regretted it. He only hoped this wasn't going to bite him in the ass. Because as much as Nat got turned on during these nights, he wasn't sure her need for him could rival her stubbornness.
He pulled into their driveway, and Nat had opened her door and stepped out before he'd even managed to put the car in park. He chuckled lowly under his breath as he watched her hustle up the front walk, as if her entering the house before him would somehow make her immune to this electric charge between them.
After grabbing his guitar from the backseat, he strolled toward the front door, shaking his head when he stepped into a completely silent house. She hadn't even turned on a light before she'd made a beeline inside somewhere. And he'd place money on the fact that she was currently rushing through her bedtime routine so she could dive-bomb into their bed and feign sleep just to win by default.
He set his guitar just inside the door and locked up before he made his way farther into the house. The bathroom door was open a crack, the light spilling out into the hallway, and Asher's lips curved up at the corners. That tiny little opening was enough to tell him all he needed to know. He walked toward the bathroom and leaned against the door jamb, slowly pushing the door open with two fingers.
Nat had just finished brushing her teeth, and she immediately lifted her eyes, their gazes automatically connecting in the mirror.
He stepped up behind her and slid an arm around her waist, his hand palming her stomach while the tips of his fingers slipped into the waistband of her jeans. “Figured you’d already have these off,” he said, his face tucked into her neck as he inhaled deeply and took her scent into him.
She huffed out a forced laugh and shook her head. “Nice try. Why would I have my pants off?”
He shrugged a single shoulder. “I assumed they must be on fire with how you hauled ass out of the car. Unless you’re runnin’ from something…”
Asher had to stifle a laugh as he watched the war play out inside her. Nat didn’t run from anything, and she hated being challenged. She also hated losing. Which meant she was now stuck between a rock and a hard place—quite literally as his hardening cock was tucked up against her ass, pressing her into the vanity at her front. But at least one of those options had her coming before the end of the night, probably more than once.
He knew the moment she came to the same conclusion as he just had, because she clenched her jaw, slammed her toothbrush down on the counter, and spun around to face him.
“I hate you,” she said without any heat.
He gripped her by the hips and lifted her up on the counter before stepping in between her spread legs, guiding his hands along the outside of her thighs. “I don't believe that.”
