Asa (Marked Men #6)

by Jay Crownover

  She wiggled her arms out of the coat sleeves, which had her breasts doing a shimmy and shake that made me groan out loud. Once she was free, she pulled her legs up where they were bracketing my hips as I leaned over her and curled her arms across my shoulders.

  “If I had gotten pulled over I would have explained why I was mostly naked and probably gotten a high five from the cop. If I was in an accident the first responders would have gotten quite a show, but I’m sure they’ve seen it before. And if I had had car trouble I would’ve just called a cab.” She moved her hand and rubbed the pad of her thumb along the curve of my bottom lip. I snatched the digit between my teeth and caressed it with my tongue, which made her sigh. “With you, the only way to go is high risk, high reward.”

  I had been a risk a lot of people had taken and lost. I had never been anyone’s reward. It made me want to make her promises I knew I could never keep. I wanted to tell her she would never regret taking a chance on me, but that just wasn’t the case. I bent my elbows a little so I could reach her mouth and told her, “I better make it worth the risk, then,” and then I kissed her like it was the only chance I was ever going to get.

  I kissed her like I had to memorize every little taste, every little flick of her tongue, every nip of her teeth, every little whimper that escaped her as our lips pressed together with feverish intensity. One of her hands was in the back of my hair holding me close, the other was scratching across my shoulders, making my skin ripple in anticipation.

  I was still dressed from the waist down, but I could feel her heat blazing between us where our hips were locked together as I hovered over her on the bed. Knowing not only that she was here with me, but that she really, really wanted to be here made me kiss her even more desperately. It felt like being with this woman was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I needed to savor like a delicacy.

  I let her mouth go when it felt like there wasn’t any air left in the room. We both gasped and I moved over to kiss her temple and to nibble on her earlobe. It was a hot spot because she gasped even louder and her hips arched up into mine—hard. I played around with her, kissed her behind her ear, licked across her collarbone, and swept one hand all the way down her side. She was soft and supple everywhere. I liked it that instead of just being pretty, she was also made up of lean muscle and strength. It was an intoxicating combination of beauty and feminine power. I liked that she could not only take care of me in a very delicate and feminine way, but she could also take care of herself.

  I brushed my thumb along the curve in her bent leg where it dipped in toward her waiting center. The lights were still on, so this time I could see every pink and pretty part of her. There was something over-the-top sensual about the way she was laid out on the bed with her fuck-me shoes still on as she waited for me to pay up. Like going down on a girl that looked and felt as good as she did was any kind of chore. Sex with Royal was anything but going through the typical motions to get to the main event. I wanted to do every dirty, wicked thing I could think of when it came to taking this girl to bed and getting her off. Then I wanted to do all of those things again until she was screaming my name and tossing all that burnished hair around in mindless pleasure.

  I followed the curve of her inner thigh and took a step back so that I could drop to my knees in front of her. I saw her chest heave up and her breath shudder as I used my thumb to lightly trace over her bare opening. She was already hot and wet. It had a hungry sound growling up the back of my throat. I saw her hands tangle in the comforter on either side of her restless hips and her eyes were almost black as she watched me. I picked up her ankles and put one of them on my shoulder. The spike of the heel hurt a little when it stabbed at me, but I was surprised that I liked the sting of it. I used the hand that wasn’t dancing playfully around her center to pull her hips closer to the edge of the bed and turned my head so I could kiss her taut thigh that was now resting right next to my face.

  “You’re torturing me, Asa.” Her voice was husky and impatient.

  I laughed against her smooth skin because I was playing with her. I was taking my time with her, which is something I never did when it came to sex. Normally it was about instant gratification and scratching a persistent itch. With her, it was about watching her, gauging her reaction, getting her to respond in all the best ways possible. I think the part of me I tried so hard to keep leashed was loose when I got naked with her, and subconsciously, I was trying to ruin her for whoever it was that might come after me.

  Without warning, I let my fingers sink inside of her heat and used my thumb to stroke her clit. It had her entire body lifting off the bed; she gasped my name and her other leg automatically lifted to my other shoulder as she arched hard into my touch. She twisted the fabric in her hands, writhing out of control as I stroked in and out of her, my gaze locked on the flurry of emotions racing across her face. A pink flush had worked up into her cheeks and she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. She was biting on her bottom lip as she ground her hips into my fingers, and I was sure that I had never felt more powerful, more purposeful, in my life. It was like my only reason for being was to bring this spectacular woman pleasure, and that was perfectly fine with me.

  I felt her thighs start to quake where they were caging my head. I saw her toned tummy tighten and I knew that I could make her come with just my hands, but that wasn’t returning the favor I owed her.

  I pressed the pad of my thumb hard on her clit after circling around and around for a long time. “Royal, look at me.”

  It took a minute and I had to say her name again, but eventually her brown eyes locked on me. She was drunk on desire and so close to the edge I could see her barely hanging on. I wanted to push her over and then be right there at the bottom to catch her.

  I tilted my head to indicate her fisted hands. “Put those on your tits.”

  She blinked at me like I wasn’t speaking English, then slowly moved to do what I told her. Pale hands on pale breasts had my dick trying to escape from my jeans all on its own. There was moisture down there that hadn’t come from rubbing against her, and that never happened to me.

  “I’m going to eat you up, and while I do it I want you to play with your nipples.” Her eyes popped wide in her flushed face and a cloud of uncertainty drifted over her gaze, so I pressed against her clit again until she jerked under my touch. “I want you to rub them, squeeze them, and I want you to hold on to them until it almost hurts. I want you to do it until it feels like the pleasure is too much, that it’s going to break you in half … only then can you stop. Do you get me?” I lifted an eyebrow at her and finally let go of her trapped clit. She moaned a little and nodded, just once, to let me know she understood. I grinned at her and I knew it wasn’t nice. It was the grin I used when I went in for the kill. “Good, because if you stop, if you let go, then I stop, too.”

  She swore at me and purposely dug the edge of her heel harder into my shoulder. It made me grin at her even more. Her fight was as much of a turn-on as the rest of her.

  She didn’t take her eyes off mine as she spread her fingers apart and trapped the turgid flesh between them. The rosy tips peeked out between her fingers and I watched as she squeezed, just like I told her to. That made all the want inside of me ratchet up a hundred degrees. Nothing better than a pretty girl that could get a little dirty when the situation called for it.

  I used my thumbs to spread her open and then licked her from top to bottom. It made both of us groan. She was all kinds of liquid goodness that burst in brightness across my tongue. She was better than the most expensive scotch I had ever had, and just as potent. I swirled the tip of my tongue around her clit, went in closer so I could tug the tender flesh between my teeth all while keeping an eye on her to make sure she was still fondling her breasts. Her grip had tightened the more I worked her over and I could see that she was shaking and panting. She stilled one time, just the barest pause in her motion, and I immediately lifted my head and pulled my fingers out of her. She
screamed a profanity at me, and I think if I hadn’t had her splayed wide open, she would’ve tried to kick me in the face. I just watched her until she pinched the obviously sensitive peaks, making her gasp and twist in my hands.

  I rewarded her by humming in approval against her little center of desire and watched as it forced her higher and higher into the ether of passion. Her hips were all the way off the bed now and I had to slide a hand underneath her backside to keep her level with my mouth. I licked and nibbled. I stroked in and out. I petted her and did exactly what I told her I was going to do—I ate her up like she was my last meal. Her legs quivered alongside my head, her hands moved frantically over her own flesh, and she watched me like she was hypnotized by what we were doing.

  I could see the instant it all became too much for her to handle. I saw her mouth drop open in a silent scream. I watched as her hands lost their grip on her firm flesh falling uselessly to her sides as she suddenly crested and broke into a million pieces of pleasure on my tongue. Her inner walls pulled at my fingers as she vibrated and shattered against me. Her legs clamped around my ears in a desperate bid to hold on to the sensation, and all I could think as she whispered my name over and over again was that she was the sweetest victory I had ever tasted. This was one debt I would never, ever complain about paying off.

  I smoothed my hands along the outsides of her legs and gently set them back down on the edge of the bed and rose back to my feet. She was breathing shallow but her eyes were open and locked on me, slightly dazed but full of contentment and residual passion. I worked my belt open and motioned to the nightstand.

  “My turn.” She reached out an arm and I heard things clattering around in the drawer until she returned with a foil packet.

  She pushed herself up so that she was sitting right in front of me and eye level with the instant erection that was now popping out of the open fly of my jeans. She worked the fabric down over my ass and then fisted my cock and rubbed her hand up and down. It made me grunt and thrust into her grip unconsciously. I liked that she wasn’t afraid to be a little handsy and rough. She let go and rolled the latex down the shaft with quick and efficient motions. Then she leaned forward and kissed me right above the light dusting of blond hair that led to my groin.

  “I love taking turns.” She rubbed her cheek against my hip, which had her silky hair twining around my dick. It was an unbelievable sensation. I threaded my fingers through her hair and bent down so I could kiss her again. We tasted like sex and always.

  When I pulled back she was smiling up at me and tugging me down as she scooted back just enough to give me room to fall into her. Now those spiked heels were digging into my lower back and her breasts were flat against my chest as I buried myself as deeply inside of her as I could go. I kissed her one more time and started to move. She was already slick and supple, so I didn’t bother to take it easy on her. I pounded into her, I rode her hard, and between the way she responded and the bite of her shoes into my back, it didn’t take long until I was ready to release all the coiled-up pleasure inside of me into her. I hitched one of her legs up higher on my side, buried my face in the side of her neck, and drove into her welcoming heat over and over again. Her hands were in my hair and her breath was uneven in my ear. As soon as I felt the tiniest flutter race along the sides of my dick, I was done. I felt my fingers bite into her hips hard enough to bruise and muttered incoherently as she followed me into utter bliss a second later. In a true dickhead move I hadn’t even worried about getting her there again, because once I was inside her, all I could do was chase down all the amazing things she made me feel. She made me sex stupid just by being her.

  I lay limply on top of her for a long minute knowing I should get up and take care of the condom, but she felt so good and her hands were stroking up and down my spine in such a soothing way that all I wanted to do was lean into her touch. I rubbed my cheek on her shoulder and asked her, “You wanna spend some time with me when we aren’t naked and in bed, Red?”

  She shifted under my weight a little and her hands stilled on my shoulders. I knew she liked fucking me. I needed to know if she wanted any part of me outside of the bedroom.

  “Like on a date?” She asked the question quietly and it made my back teeth click together.

  “It can be whatever you want it to be.” I went to roll off of her but she moved her arms up around my shoulders and kept me pinned to her.

  “Yeah, Asa, I wanna spend time with you. I don’t care if it’s in bed or out.” She laughed a little and wiggled under me, which had the part of me still nestled inside of her twitching. “Though I am a pretty big fan of what happens when we spend time in bed together.”

  I snorted and pushed off of her so I could clean up. I shoved my hands through my hair and looked down at her. All those pretty promises I wanted to make to her were screaming at me, trying to force their way out of my mouth.

  “I don’t know why you’re here, but I feel like I need to thank any God that might exist that you are.”

  She blinked at me once and then again and I saw her blush. She moved so that she was on the bed the right way and stared at me with wide eyes.

  “I’m here because you finally let me be here.” Her hair fanned out behind her on the pillows and I wished I could paint so I could capture her beauty for future ages to appreciate. “And I’ll stay as long as you let me.”

  If only that was the case. She would stay until something happened or I did something that forced her to have to go. I needed a minute to get my thoughts back in order after the way she had just owned me, so I didn’t respond to her and disappeared into the bathroom to take care of business. If only figuring out what I was going to do about this girl and all the ways she made me feel was as easy as cleaning up after the best sex I had ever had.

  CHAPTER 10

  Royal

  When Asa’s phone went off the next morning, it felt like it was the crack of dawn instead of nine. Granted we had kept each other tangled up and very occupied until the sun was just starting to come up, so there hadn’t been a whole lot of sleeping going on. He groaned and reached over me to silence the noise with a flick of his finger. His amber eyes were sleepy and the dust of golden scruff on his face made him look even more rakish than usual.

  I stretched out lazily under him and lifted my arms up over my head, which had his whiskey-tinted eyes turning from lethargic to hot and glowing in seconds. I was going to ask him why he had to get up so early since I thought most bartenders slept until noon, but my drowsy movements under him were clearly causing other thoughts to enter his mind. I was totally on board with the plan until I was right on the edge of an orgasm that I just knew was going to turn me inside out when he suddenly froze, went absolutely still, and stared down at me with wide, heated eyes.

  I had my hand wrapped around his biceps and I felt the muscles lock rigidly into place. He was breathing hard and barked at me not to move when I went to lift up to get him back in the groove of things. I scowled up at him and dug my fingernails into his tense arms as he gritted out between his teeth, “If you move it’s all gonna be over and I don’t have a condom on.” His eyebrows furrowed even farther over his nose. “I’ve never had sex without protection before. No wonder condoms get a bad rap. I’m about to lose my fucking mind.”

  His teeth were clenched and his nostrils flared as he torturously started to pull back from my body. I was too close, and even with his stilted movements it still felt too good, and so even though I forced myself not to move an outer muscle, my inner muscles were having none of it and dragged and pulled all along his length, which meant we were both left with a sticky passionate mess to contend with when it was all said and done. I thought it was funny; he didn’t seem nearly as amused as he dragged me into the shower to clean both of us off.

  I tried to tell him it was no big deal, but I realized he wasn’t upset about the situation, he was mad at himself for getting so carried away that he forgot something as basic as protection. He was use
d to being the one running the games and I don’t think he liked it that I got to him just as effectively as he got to me. I had never been on birth control in my life. My sexual partners were too few and far between, and even with the guy I dated long term I had never been into the sex enough to really warrant it. There was no getting caught up in the moment with him. For Asa I would totally do it, but not without a guarantee that it was just the two of us from this point on, and I didn’t think he was ready for that conversation just yet.

  “Why are we up so early?” He was scrubbing my hair and obviously a thousand miles away in his own head.

  “I need to talk to Rome about work stuff. We’re having an issue with Brite’s daughter.”

  I sighed as his fingers massaged my scalp. “Rome really looks up to Brite. That’s got to be tough.”

  He moved behind me and I sucked in a breath as our slick skins rubbed together. He sounded frustrated when he replied, “Yeah. I don’t get why she’s such a brat. I mean, I was a nightmare, but I didn’t have two parents that obviously cared about me or anyone trying to give me a helping hand up from the bottom. She has this loser boyfriend that is obviously strung out and I’m positive he’s used his hands on her more than once. She has lifelines trying to pull her out of shitty situations and she just keeps turning a blind eye to them.”

  His big hands worked around the front of me as the soap cascaded out of my hair and down my shoulders. He wasn’t so much cleaning my chest as he was playing with my boobs and making me pant.

  “Do you think you would’ve taken the hand if one was offered to you when you were younger?”

  One of his hands flattened on my stomach and I felt his lips land softly on the back of my neck. He reached past me to turn off the water.