“Ashton,” I groan and tighten my hold, unable and unwilling to hide the need heavy in my voice.
“There was the first time you held Kyrie...” She sighs, and I pull her closer, on edge. “God knows it was there the night we spent snowed in, in the stupid hotel in Chicago.”
“It’s always been there, Ace.” I tilt her chin up and get lost in those big eyes. “You just had to let yourself see it.”
Ashton presses up onto the tips of her toes and brushes her lips over mine. Barely a whisper of a touch. But from this woman, she might as well have hit me over the damn head with the force. “I see it now, Jamie.” She wraps her arms around my neck and clings to me like a lifeline. “I seeyou. But I need you to promise me something.”
“Name it,” I breathe out, fucking vibrating in my own skin. A whole new level of strength I hadn’t realized I had holding me back. Waiting for her.
This needs to be on her time and her terms.
She stares into my eyes for a long beat. Pleading wordlessly. And even if I know what’s coming, I stay silent and wait, giving her whatever time she needs. “Don’t walk away again... I can’t lose another person. I can’t...” Her eyes close for a moment, but damn when they open, it’s there. It’s all there. Everything I wanted to see. It’s staring back at me. “I can’t lose you. Not again.”
Slowly... So fucking slowly, I slide my hands down to her waist and drag her closer, needing her to believe me. To trust me. To feel my words. “Never again, Ashton.”
“Promise?”
“Never again. You and me. We’re endgame, Ace.”
Her lips tip up in the sweetest smile as she laughs. “I still don’t know football, Jamie.”
I erase any space left between us, and Ashton gasps a nearly silent sound against my mouth.
One gasp.
One sound.
That’s all it takes.
The flame fighting for its life in the storm explodes into a wildfire, and any semblance of control I had is incinerated with it. I swallow her moan, my tongue sliding against hers. Testing. Teasing. Learning. Remembering.
Taking my time this time.
I want to know every thing that makes this woman moan. All the ways to make her scream. Every place to lick and suck and bite. I want to claim her. Possess her. Protect her.
She’s mine.
Her body. Her fucking heart . . .
Electricity arcs between us like a live wire sparking along a dark highway, wild and uncontrolled, threatening to destroy us both if we get too close.
Ashton plasters her body to mine and whimpers.
Fucking whimpers.
Fuck control.
Her cold hands slide under my shirt, tracing every line of my abs before she shoves it over my head and licks those pouty lips, murmuring, “A goddamn gladiator, Jamie.”
Our mouths crash together, and I lift her in my arms, deepening the kiss, not bothering to tell her I don’t have a clue what that means.
Running my teeth over her lips, and swallowing her gasps, my tongue slides against hers.
Desperate.
For a deeper taste of this woman who’s owned me for fucking years.
“Hmm . . . So sweet, beautiful.”
