He kept fucking, pumping his rigid cock in and out of me until my thighs were shaking again. I was close, but I couldn’t go over the edge without him. “Come with me,” I pleaded.
“God, fuck,” he groaned, his fingers tangling in my hair. He dropped his mouth to mine, giving me a kiss before pressing our foreheads together. “Yes, Angel. Anything you want.”
It was here. Goose bumps scattered across my skin, every nerve in my body lighting up for him. “Yes, yes,” I chanted, holding his eyes. All I could see was him, all I could feel was him. He was everything I needed.
“Come, Starlight.”
My back arched, his rough, dark command triggering my climax. I cried out his name, my hand falling away. With a growl, his thrusts increased, and he fucked me with abandon as I came all over him. Then he buried his face in my neck and gave me a final, harsh thrust, knocking the wind out of me as he groaned my name. I felt his cock swell inside and I’d never felt so complete.
“Are we going to talk about it?”
The question tumbled out of my mouth, laced with nervousness, as he shut the water off with his foot. Silence followed and I wished I could say it was uncomfortable. Perhaps then it would be easier for me to process. However, this silence was the opposite. Downstairs, after we’d both calmed down and our pleasure subsided, reality had swept back in. It was then I truly became aware that he’d just fucked me on my dining room table in the middle with all the blinds open. Ash didn’t seem to care about the possibility of my grumpy neighbor having seen us. All he cared about was me, how I felt.
“Did I hurt you?” he whispered, kissing me softly.
I shook my head, panting. My thighs had finally stopped shaking. “No, no. It was…that was…” I trailed off, unable to find the words to describe the best sex I’d ever had. Sex I thought I would never have, especially with him.
He smiled through the shadows, his eyes glimmering with passion. “Storm’s over. Take a bath with me?”
That was the easiest yes I’d ever said. He carried me upstairs, set me on the toilet, and started a bath for us. I didn’t have totell him where to find the bath salts or the bubbles. I watched as he commanded my small sliver of heaven on this earth, finding everything we needed. When he started lighting my row of candles on the windowsill, my heart skipped a beat. And though I’d never bathed or showered with anyone else in my thirty-four years of life, I felt comfortable here. With him. It was becoming blatantly clear that Ash could be more than just a lover or a friend to me.
He could also be my safe space.
A deep rumble came from his chest as he shifted behind me, stretching his arms out on either side of the tub. It was a miracle we both fit in here, given how tall we were. His feet were resting on the ledge, giving me the room to stretch out. I watched the water around me gently sway, the sight reminding me of how he’d come back into my life. Not to destroy, but to change it in a way I could handle.
“Like this tub,” he noted.
I looked into the bedroom, starting at the corner of my bed where my journal was. I hadn’t written in days. My brain was fogged, muddled, and I needed to sort it out. A soft sigh left me, knowing his secrets would be kept. “I guess that’s a no then.”
“If you want to, we can,” he answered, surprising me. His large body folded over my back as he sat up, his chin resting atop my head. “Lean back against me. You’re not relaxing.”
“How can I when you told me you went to hell for me?” I whispered. “How can you be so calm after what just happened between us?”
“Because what just happened between us was a gift,” he murmured. “A dream.”
And here I was, trying to ruin it because my brain didn’t know how to shut the hell up.
“I know that.” I needed answers. Agent Masters’ words were still ringing in my head. There were parts of our story missing. His parts. I need to know what had happened to him.
He pressed a long kiss to the top of my head, and my eyes fluttered shut. Deep down, I knew that if he wasn’t here, I’d be a mess, digging myself into holes that would take me months to crawl out of. At this point, I owed Ash Doss more than my life. I owed him my sanity.
He shifted, his lips grazing the shell of my ear. “I can practically hear the gears turning in that gorgeous head of yours.”
“Sorry,” I rasped. “No matter how hard I try, I can never seem to get them to stop.”
“Baby,” he whispered, pain in his voice.
“I’m certain I’m neurodivergent, but I haven’t had the…strength to go and get tested.”
He was quiet for a moment. “Jake has AuDHD.”
“Really?”
He nodded against me. “He got diagnosed before I left. It helped him a lot.”
I swallowed. “I don’t want to do anything right now. Not until things are settled.”
“Then you won’t. It’s your life, Angel. You do what makes you comfortable.” He paused. “You sure you want to talk about all of this? You’ve had a crazy week.”
