by Faye Barker
I nod and whisper, “I have to go.”
He puts his finger under my chin, making me look into his gorgeous blue eyes as they search mine. “Are you mad about last night?”
I bite my lip and shake my head. “No, it has nothing to do with you. I was supposed to meet my mom, and now I’m late so I have to go.”
Asher’s eyes flick to the clock beside his bed and he lets out a sigh and nods, releasing me. “I actually have to get going myself. Do you want me to drive you home so you can get ready?”
I’m quiet for a minute, honestly shocked he’s willing to take me home. “I’d like that,” I breathe.
His mouth ticks up at the corner. “Wanna shower before we head to your place? I can give you some sweats and a shirt to wear so you’re not stuck wearing your clothes from last night. They probably smell like campfire and beer.”
I wrinkle my nose and nod. “Yeah, that would be great.” Wait, did he mean do I want to shower with him? Or separately?
Asher tugs at the sheet, slipping it through my fingers so it falls out of my hands and into a heap at our feet, leaning down and brushing his lips over mine. “Let’s go shower before I take you home,” he murmurs against my mouth. I nod my head, unable to speak. He smirks and grabs my hand to bring me to the bathroom connected to his room.
He made quick work of turning the shower on to the right temperature, slipping in and pulling me in behind him, pressing me against his slick body. I bite my lip, repressing the shiver that rolled through me at the feel of him.
Asher puts me under the spray and washes my hair, taking his time, massaging my head as he goes. I let out a soft moan and blush when Asher stops and mutters, “Fuck.”
I turn away from him, my face still burning as I face the shower head and rinse my hair. Keeping my eyes closed I finally ask the question that’s been on a loop in my head since he kissed me this morning. “What are we doing Asher?” I figured it was just going to be last night, he’d never shown any interest in me until yesterday so I don’t think my thinking was that unreasonable because it made perfect sense to me.
“What do you mean?” I hear a pop from behind me, I peek to see that he’s putting body wash in his hand before turning back and hear the top click shut.
I gasp, my eyes popping open when I feel his hand grip my hip and lead me away from the majority of the water beating down on me. He rubs his hands over my back and turns me around to start washing my front, just as thoroughly as he did my hair. I bite my lip to keep my gasp inside when his thumb brushes against my hardened nipple.
“What do you mean when you ask what we’re doing, Kitten?” One hand cups my breast, his thumb brushing my nipple while the other trails slowly down my stomach.
“You know what I mean. What are we doing?” I repeat, sucking in a breath when his finger brushes against my clit before running against my opening.
“Are you asking if I’ll be done with you after we leave here?” he asks, slipping his finger inside as his thumb presses against my clit in slow circles. I open my mouth to respond but only a moan escapes. I nod my head, breathing heavy as he continues in his torturous pace. “Not a chance in hell. I’m not finished with you yet Kitten.”
My eyes widen a second before he claims my mouth with his in a desperate kiss. Holy shit. My head spins while I open for him and his tongue meets mine. His words roll around in my head as he plays my body like an instrument that only he knows how to play. My body has never reacted to someone this way. I’ve had a lot of orgasms before last night, they were all just self induced since my ex was a selfish asshat in bed. Well, everywhere really.
Fireworks flash behind my lids as I come on his hand, moaning his name against his mouth before he steps back. The crinkling of a wrapper makes me open my eyes. I watch as he puts the condom on.
“Where the hell did that come from?” I ask with a grin, thank fuck there’s a condom, if there weren’t we wouldn’t be doing this in here right now.
He points to the corner of the counter next to me, on the other side of the curtain where there’s a handful of condoms, and two wrappers on top. “We brought those in here last night, remember?”
I laugh as I remember grabbing the condoms before we came in to shower last night, “Actually, I think that was just me.”
His mouth tilts up in the corner as he strokes himself slowly, watching me. “I had you facing away from me with your hands on the wall in here last night, I want you in my arms, wrapped around me this morning.”
I bite my lip, nodding my head as I blush. He pulls me into his arms, bringing his mouth down to mine, kissing me slowly. His hands go around me to my ass, lifting me up. I wrap my legs around his waist as he pushes me back against the wall of the shower, his cock lined up at my entrance. I wiggle in his arms, whimpering against his lips, silently begging him to get inside me.
I feel him smile against my mouth as his fingers dig into my ass, making me stop my movements. “Patience, Kitten,” he whispers.
“Please, Asher, I can’t wait anymore,” I moan as I scratch my hands through his hair.
He enters me in one hard thrust, stopping when he’s fully inside. “Holy fuck Melody. I can’t get enough of you. I doubt I ever will.”
“Asher,” I whimper while squirming against him again. “Move, please. Quit teasing and fuck me.”
He chuckles and does as I ask, starting slow enough to drive me crazy then picking up the pace. I grab his hair and bring his mouth to mine, nipping at his lip before slipping my tongue into his mouth. My whole body is on fire from the last orgasm and I can feel the next one coming fast.
He groans when I suck on his tongue. “I’m not gonna last long if you do that, Kitten.”
“Oh god,” I moan as he puts a hand between us to flick at my clit. “I’m so close. Come with me, Asher.”
“Fuck yes,” he hisses out, his thrusts frantic now as he plays with my clit, our moans mingling together. Stars dance in my eyes as I come screaming his name the same time he shouts mine.
He pulls out, takes care of the condom and comes back to place another hot kiss on my lips.
“Not done,” he mutters against my lips.
I nod. We finish showering and get dressed in his room, stopping every couple minutes to kiss and touch each other.
After we’re ready he drives me to my place. When we’re parked he grabs my phone from beside me and enters his number. I hear his phone ping in his pocket before he hands it back, pulling me to him to give me one last long and deep kiss, leaving me breathless.
“Now you have my number and I have yours,” he says with a grin. “You better get going or you’ll be even later.”
“Shit!” I give him another quick kiss, say goodbye and hop out of his truck, running straight into my room. It’s still early so Keegan and Flora are either passed out or at work. I strip out of my borrowed clothes and grab a plain blue v neck t shirt and a pair of skinny jeans with rips in the knees, throwing them on quickly.
As I rush into the hallway I crash into another body leaving Keegan’s room, sending me straight onto my ass.
“Ow, damn it. That hurt,” I mutter. My mouth when my eyes take in the person in front of me, looking as thoroughly fucked as I was this morning before my shower with Asher. “Flora? What are you-” I look at my phone as it rings in my hand. I hit ignore and stand up quickly. “I can’t talk right now, I want the full story when I get home, I’m meeting mom and I’m extremely late as it is.”
Flora nods, her face flushed from being caught doing the walk of shame in our own apartment. “I’ll talk to you later then.”
I run out to my car, throwing it into gear and haul ass to the restaurant a few miles away from campus that I’m meeting my mom.
I pull into the parking lot and make a mad dash inside, attempting to catch my breath as I see my mom in the back of the restaurant waiting for me. I walk to her when my breathing doesn’t sound as if I just ran a ten mile marathon.
“Sorry I’m late mom, I overslep
t,” I tell her, kissing her cheek before taking a seat in front of her.
“You couldn’t text me to let me know?” She asks, lips puckered.
“I was in a hurry, didn’t want to waste the time to text.” Not in so much of a hurry that I didn’t get laid one last time before leaving Asher’s but what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.
“I already ordered for you so the food should be here soon.” She wrings her hands together, something she only does when she’s nervous.
“What’s going on mom? Why are you nervous?”
She meets my eyes and sighs. “There’s really no easy way to tell you this so I’m just going to get it over with.” She peeks at her phone, either looking at a text or the time, I don’t know. “I’m getting married.”
I laugh until I realize she’s not kidding. “Are you serious? When did you even start dating? You haven’t dated in at least a year.”
“It was rather sudden,” she admits softly. “Daniel and I started dating about a month ago, he asked me to marry him last night.” She wiggles her left hand and that’s when I notice that there’s a large diamond ring on her ring finger. Jesus, the guy must be loaded if he can afford a ring like that. “We set a date for next month. While you kids are on break from school for Christmas.”
“What?!” I shout, forgetting we were in public. I quickly lower my voice. “Kids? He has kids too? What the hell mom, why didn’t you at least tell me you were seeing someone?”
“I didn’t want to tell you in case it didn’t work out.” She pauses. “I love him Melody. He makes me happy.”
“I think I’m going to be sick. You’re seriously getting married that quickly?”
She nods. “He’s actually going to be here in a -,” she breaks off, noticing something or someone behind me. “Nevermind, he and his sons are here.”
“Sons?” I say dumbly. I don’t even turn around, I’m frozen in shock. I never expected my level headed mother to go off and get married to a guy she’s only been with for two months.
“Yes, they go to school with you.” She stands as three men come to the table. I’m still staring at the table, trying to wrap my head around the information she just dumped on me. His kids go to school with me. What are the chances that I know them? “Daniel,” mom says, moving into the arms of the man closest to her.
“Love,” he murmurs before kissing my mother soundly. I finally tear my eyes off the table and look up, straight into the same blue eyes I was staring into this morning while he was thrusting inside me. Now instead of lust and desire his eyes are filled with shock.
“Oh god,” I mutter, covering my mouth. I really think I’m going to be sick.
Chapter 4
“This is my daughter Melody,” mom says, gesturing to me while I stare at Asher. “Melody, this is Daniel and his sons Asher and Axel. You may already know each other since you go to the same school.”
Jesus, if she only knew that I now know Asher in the biblical sense, I’d probably be disowned.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Melody,” Daniel says, holding his hand out to me. I stare at it for a second before my manners kick in, forcing me to take his hand, shaking it. “Your mother has told me so much about you. She’s very proud of you.”
I blink rapidly, wondering briefly where the hell the black hole is that’s supposed to swallow you up in moments like this.
“Hey, I know you,” Axel says. “You’re the girl that Carmen hates right?”
I snort and give him a smirk. “I think I’m one of many, but yeah.”
“When your mom said she had a daughter named Melody, I didn’t think it was you. I thought she was talking about someone younger.”
“Probably didn’t even know my name was Melody,” I mutter and his eyebrows raise in shock. Guess he heard me.
“Yeah, Carmen calls you Melanie doesn’t she?”
I nod, chancing a glance at Asher to find him staring at me, the shock finally faded from his eyes but now his eyes are as unreadable as his expression and that worries me.
We were done before we even got started it seems.
“Why don’t we sit? The food should be here soon,” mom says, gesturing to the table. The guys pull their chairs out and I stand, excusing myself to the bathroom.
“Is she okay?” I hear Daniel ask my mom while I walk away from the table.
“I think it’ll just take some time,” mom assures him softly.
I stay in the bathroom for several minutes longer than necessary, staring at my wide eyes in the mirror. When I got out of Asher’s car this morning, I never imagined we’d end up here. I don’t know how to do the whole casual sex thing. I’ve never had a one night stand before and that’s what Asher’s going to have to stay. Now that our parents are getting married, we can’t do anything like that again.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t upset. I am. Asher told me this morning he wasn’t done with me, he made me laugh last night. It’s been a long time since someone made me laugh like that and I wanted more of that. I guess now he’ll be a permanent fixture in my life so I’ll still have that but not in the way I want. The way I didn’t even realize I wanted until the moment it all came crashing down around me. I want to go back to this morning, hell, last night and relish in the few hours that Asher was mine and I was his, blissfully ignorant of the shit storm we just created without knowing it.
The bathroom door opens and I hear the chair that’s sitting off to the side of the opening being moved. I turn and see Asher straightening from positioning the chair in front of the door.
“What are you doing?” I ask quietly, my voice shaking.
“You were taking a while, I offered to check on you,” he says, moving to me. He cups my cheek, wiping at a tear that slipped down. “This doesn’t change anything Melody.”
“Are you kidding me? It changes everything.”
“Melody,” he whispers my name, forcing my eyes to rise to meet his. “We aren’t actually related, Kitten. They aren’t even married yet. It might be weird for some people to take, us being related through marriage but it doesn’t matter. None of it does. None of their opinions matter. I want to see where this is going to go with you.”
“Asher, I-I want that too, but,” I take in a shaky breath and close my eyes, “I can’t. I can’t do that to my mother Asher. We just lost my father, and even though they weren’t together anymore my mom is finally in a good place. I can’t take that from her.” Tears fall freely now. I open my eyes to see Asher’s expression pained but understanding in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“I get it Melody, my feelings haven’t changed though.” I let out a gasp when he moves. One second he was watching me and the next he’s got me pushed against the wall, his mouth covering mine, devouring me, claiming me. His tongue slips into my mouth, tangling with my tongue for a little bit before breaking the kiss. “You’re mine, Kitten. I’m going to give you space until after the holiday are over. Once they are, I’m done waiting. Two months babe, to give your mom time to stay in that good place, then you can’t use her as an excuse because you’re scared.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I am not scared.”
“Yeah, babe, you are. I get it, I was a dick. Those times are done and over with now. I don’t want Carmen, I want you, and once the two months is over with, you and everyone else will know it.”
“Asher,” I start, but he shakes his head.
“Brace yourself Kitten. It’s going to happen. We’ve been gone too long so we need to get back at the table.” He slips his arm around my waist and pulls me close, his head tilting down. “I’m gonna kiss you, then we gotta go,” he mutters seconds before his mouth collides with mine in a sweet kiss. He pulls his head away, looking in my eyes he says, “Two months, Kitten.”
I know I won’t win in an argument with him right now and we don’t have time so I just nod my head. “Two months.”
* * *
The rest of lunch was strained on my end. I think my mom
knows that something was up with me but I didn’t give her an opportunity to ask, keeping to myself, answering questions when they were directed to me but not really engaging in conversation unless I was brought into it.
At this exact moment I had no interest in getting to know my new family, my mind was still reeling with Asher and his words, the night before and everything in between. I was on autopilot. My mom and I may not be close but she knows when I’m not really putting in an effort.
I don’t think Daniel minded, I know that Axel couldn’t give a shit and Asher was acting relaxed, but I could surprisingly see through the charade. He was as pissed and upset as me. Probably not as confused as I was but the rest was an exact replica of my feelings.
Daniel is a nice man, relaxed, laid back. He isn’t an asshole. From the looks he gave my mother it is painfully clear he loves her and I just couldn’t believe the sparkle in my moms eyes when she looked at him.
From what I could remember she never looked at dad like that. She loved dad, but I don’t think she was in love with him. She loved him because he gave her me, and having a kid kind of ties you together. I know that mom and dad were dating for a while before they got pregnant with me. Dad did what he believed to be the right thing and married her in a shotgun wedding before she started showing her pregnancy.
The difference was, dad was in love with mom. Completely. She just wasn’t in love with him and I know that ate at my dad for a long time before they divorced. Mom could be a bitch and the divorce was pretty ugly, ended with her nearly hating my dad because I was a daddy’s girl and stayed with him until he died this past summer and I had to move to my moms.
Axel isn’t really an asshole, he just didn’t think before he spoke, at least that’s the way it seems. He can be a dick, I know that much, but he wasn’t ever a part of the whole “pick on Melody” bullshit. He isn’t a dick to people who can’t take it and dish it right back. Usually, anyways. He’s actually pretty nice as I found out during the lunch.
We said our goodbyes after a half hour of talking when the food was gone, since I had to work tonight for a few hours. I avoided looking at Asher, gave my mom a hug and told Daniel it was nice to meet him and booked it out of there.
