Asher bends down, nips my lower lip, kisses me long and slow under my jaw. “I think you mean,Do that again, Asher.”
“You want to tell me what to do?” I scoff.
“I want you to say my name,” he says.
I think back to how he smiled up at me from the field when I called him that yesterday, different from the subtle flinch he got every time I said his last name. “Fine,Asher, kiss me again.” The words are barely out when he does, mouth fierce against mine, hips grinding against each other until we’re both moaning from friction.
Time goes syrupy, not the jagged flashes like from when I was drinking but like the clock has stopped mattering altogether. And we’re still kissing when there’s a noise from outside—the sound of the electronic lock as it disengages.
I roll myself away from Asher just as the door swings open and Savannah comes in, dressed for drinks in sky-high heels and a short dress.
For some reason, my heart won’t stop racing like Asher and I have been caught doing something we shouldn’t. Should I apologize? There’s no denying what we were doing but maybe herhavefunmeant something else. I thought I knew what a relationship was—what marriage was—everything clearlydefined. Not this wild messy feeling like I’m fumbling around in the dark. “Sav, hey. We were just—”Kissing.Somehow that sounds worse than if she’d walked in on us fucking.
Savannah glances between Asher and me. Taps her foot like she’s considering something. Then she reaches behind her, tugs down her zipper. Slowly, she steps out of her dress.
Chapter Forty-Six
Savannah
The third timeI check my phone in as many minutes, Lexi laughs at me. “Girl, you got somewhere else to be?” she asks knowingly.
“I’m worried about Asher. His head, I mean.”
“Uh-huh.” Lexi winks. “And this has nothing to do with wanting to wear out the mattress in another hotel room?”
My face goes warm. There’s no easy way to say that Asher is in that room too, on that mattress, with Brayden, if Brayden’s last text is anything to go by. “I—” I start, then stop, “I’ll cash out.”
Lexi gives me a little push on my shoulder. “I got it, you can Venmo me later. Now go on before you do something you shouldn’t.”
I’m already doing something I probably shouldn’t.But I grab my purse, down the rest of my drink, and hustle out of the restaurant to the sound of Lexi’s delighted laughter.
When I getin the hotel room, Brayden and Asher are on the bed. Brayden rolls off. His chest is flushed, his short, dark-blond hair messily rearranged by Asher’s fingers. Both of them are shirtless, in sweatpants, decorated by a few bruises they didn’t have last night.
“Sav, hey,” Brayden gasps out. “We were just—” He goes an even deeper red, like he’s embarrassed to be caught. I told them to have fun, but clearly that wasn’t enough to soothe whatever guilt Brayden is currently experiencing: that he’s with a man, that they were together without me. Part of me wants to reassure him—to sink onto the bed and pet his hair. To call up every person at that fucking church of his and tell them to go to hell for making him feel like this.
Asher is lying on the other side of the bed, away from Brayden. His eyes cut from me to Brayden to me again. He gives a small explanatory shrug like maybe he’s already tried intervening in whatever’s going on in Brayden’s head.
Sometimes, a situation doesn’t call for more words.
I reach behind myself, grasp the metal pull of my zipper. Ease it down, the click of it loud in the quiet room. My dress slips off me, puddling at my feet, leaving me in my bra, panties, and heels. I walk over to the bed, climbing on carefully so the soles of my shoes don’t touch the bedspread. Brayden reaches for me, then stops himself, like he’s suddenly gone shy.
“I cut dinner short,” I say.
Brayden looks over to the coffee table where several takeout boxes are stacked. “There’s food if you want.”
“That’s not why I was in a rush to get back.” I lean, kiss him lightly on the lips. “Did you have a good time without me?”
For a moment Brayden holds himself still. Then carefully he nods and there’s something embarrassed and hopeful about the sweep of eyelashes on his cheeks. “Better now that you’re here.”
I motion for Asher, who rolls toward us, coming up to rest his weight behind Brayden. “How’s the head?” I ask.
Asher grins. “Still attached.”
“You up for—” I raise my eyebrows meaningfully.
“There are very few ways you could end that sentence where I won’t say yes.” Asher’s smile goes wider, then he turns my question back at me. “Is there something you need, princess?”
For this to be real—not something fake or fleeting.Tomorrow, we’ll get on a plane back to Atlanta, back to our real lives and then who knows what will happen. Brayden’s looking up at me. Asher’s doing the same, uncertainty below his normally cocksure expression the longer I go without answering. “Both of you.” My voice comes out no louder than a whisper, something that barely makes it across the distance between us.
