“But you’re okay? Truly? I’m so worried about you.”
“I’m fine. I can’t wait to be home. It’s been too long without you.”
“Hurry back to me, Asher. Please.” I don’t think anything will feel okay until I see him and touch him and make sure he’s real.
“I will, baby.”
We hang up, but I still can’t calm my racing mind. Unable to stand another minute of pacing between the living room or our bedroom, I walk out of the front door and stand in the foyer that divides the front door from the elevator entrance. I want to see Asher the second he’s home.
A round white table is the only piece of furniture in the space, and a large floral arrangement sits atop it, changed weekly by Ms. Graham. She always chooses something extraordinarily beautiful. This week it’s pink peonies with greenery and some other white flowers I don’t know the name of. I climb onto the table to sit while I wait. I cross my legs and lean forward slightly, trying not to crush the flowers as I watch the minutes tick by on my phone.
I almost manically chuckle to myself as I think about whatLucy would say if she saw me waiting on a table like this. She would scold me for sure, but it doesn’t matter. I meant what I said to her and Zahra: I’ve fallen for Asher, and there’s no going back. I haven’t dared to speak the words to him, but it doesn’t change how sure I feel them inside my heart. There is no one else for me, and I know now that I have to do everything in my power to keep him. I’ll take on the board, the Antonovs, the Volkovs, and anyone else that threatens him. Because I know now that to live without him would be the worst kind of torture imaginable.
Finally, the elevator doors open. Asher’s eyes meet mine, and I practically launch myself off the table. I scramble toward him, and he lifts me into his arms. I wrap my legs around his waist, bury my face in his neck, and let out a sob of relief.
“Ella,” he breathes.
“Never scare me like that again,” I gasp out.
Before he can say another word, I take his face in both my hands and press my lips to his. He kisses me back, fiercely, ignoring the men who enter the foyer behind him.
“I need you,” he murmurs against my lips. “I need you so fucking much.”
His lips meet mine again and never leave as he carries me into the penthouse and straight toward the bedroom. I’m running on practically no sleep and am exhausted, but a shot of adrenaline races through me at the happiness and relief of being in Asher’s arms again.
There are no words spoken as the two of us tear at each other’s clothes, as if we both know that nothing will feel right until there’s nothing between us—until we can feel one another skin to skin. So many things in our relationship are complicated, but this, this is where everything is clear and simple. When it’s just the two of us, everything makes sense, and it’s like the outside world doesn’t exist.
And right now, that’s what I desperately need.
I fall onto my back, and Asher lies on top of me. I welcome the weight of him. I’ve always loved the feel of his large body pressing down on mine, but after the hell of the last twenty-four hours, this almost feels like an answer to a prayer.
I lace my fingers through his hair as he kisses his way down my jaw, to my neck, and across my chest. But then his lips leave my skin, and he pulls away, hovering above me. He looks at me, his blue eyes filled with fire, but also relief.
“I can’t believe I’m here, and you’re real,” he whispers.
I trace my fingers down his cheek. “I’m real.”
He buries his face in my neck as his hands grip my shoulders, almost bruising me with their intensity.
“I missed you so fucking much. And then I thought I may not make it back to you.”
“I know,” I choke out, my voice quavering. “I can never go through that again.”
He nods into my neck and then kisses his way up along my jaw again.
“I need you. I need to be inside you.”
Without another word, he thrusts his cock inside me, and I moan at the feel of him stretching me. Filling me. I could live with this man inside me and never tire of it.
He moves slowly at first, but then his thrusts grow faster, almost frantic with need. He sucks my breast into his mouth, teasing my nipple with his tongue, as he kneads my other breast in his hand. I move my hips, meeting him thrust for thrust, lost in the haze of need right along with him. His mouth and hands trace and worship every inch of me as he pounds into me, and I cling to him like my life depends on it. I might be panting and gasping for air, but it feels like I can breathe properly for the first time in two weeks.
Asher reaches down, circling his finger over my clit, and sparks shiver down my spine. Pleasure pools low in my core,and every thrust of his cock hits that perfect spot inside me, over and over again.
“Don’t stop,” I gasp out. “Please, don’t stop.”
Asher answers my plea by thrusting harder, deeper, and I can’t fight the moans and whimpers that leave me. Nothing compares to this man. Nothing.
I cling to him, digging my fingers into the flesh of his back, but if it hurts him, he doesn’t complain. I couldn’t lessen my hold if I tried to, anyway, and I’m sure I’ll be left with my own marks as Asher’s teeth graze my neck, biting and sucking and claiming.
