This whole day had felt reckless like that. He was sweeping me up into something before I was sure I was ready.
And my bad, but I wanted him to.
His last, penetrating thrust had burned. And now the burning was, well, not gone, but overlaid with this shimmering delight.
It was all new to me.
All I'd had before was sex with Reggie. Ironically, I'd thought my boyfriend was adventurous. Over the years, we'd done it practically every way ever invented. Ever done it doggie style in a bathtub? No? Well, you're clearly missing out. Ever been licked all over? Check. Who's shaved a man's bush? I have.
All that sounds way better than it was.
We'd had sex weekly like clockwork. Reggie's interest was less about attraction to me and more of a clinical thing. Literally clinical—he was getting his PhD in psychiatry with a specialty in human sexuality.
Each week we'd use a different sexual position, try something different. Every session lasted exactly one hour. (Yes, "session" is his term.)
At first I found it intriguing. Then I found it weird. Then I went along with it because I'd concluded he was doing it as experimental research and it seemed bad sportsmanship not to participate.
You wouldn't think kinky stuff like anal and bondage could be boring, but yep, we managed it. Amidst all our games I managed to achieve the occasional mediocre orgasm, and each time he'd roll away and start making notes.
I found our sessions funny more than anything, but he didn't. So after each session I tried to keep a straight face and answer his questions candidly. I mean, I didn't begrudge him his area of interest.
But did I ever crave him…get turned on by his dirty mouth…fantasize about him…anticipate ecstasy…yearn for his weight…feel taken care of? Not even close.
All of that happened with Asher.
Asher Norrell, who teased me, debated with me, treated me more like a dude than a girl when we hung out. The cheeky man who was now nipping my skin and twitching his hips in those tiny, rapturous penetrations.
It was just surreal.
"That's quite a display of ego," I gasped out.
"It's not ego if it's fact," he said, and then he moved his hips in a smooth circle, and oh. Fucking. Yes.
Suddenly I couldn't process a single critical thought. He could brag all he wanted if he just kept moving the way he was moving.
His sparkling eyes said he knew what I was thinking.
"I like how your blushes start in your chest," he murmured, and immediately my nipples tightened. His member withdrew almost all the way, making a sucking sound, and eased forward in a thrust so deep I moaned.
It happened again.
And again.
I heard a woman cry out.
That would be me.
More rotations.
Another thrust. Faster.
Oh, God.
"That's the way, Char."
His voice hardly penetrated, and when it did I didn't know what he was talking about. I didn't know much of anything.
My brain made a valiant effort to capture a mental picture of what he did in my mind, to understand it on a technical level. All I got was that he moved, that he used his whole body, that I was stimulated everywhere, that he seemed to know what I was feeling before I did.
Everything was…great.
Like, if I believed in a heaven on earth, this would be that place.
In Asher's arms as he made love to me.
It was wild. Frenetic.
Other-worldly. A virtual reality come true.
I don't want to give the impression he was the only participant here. I did stuff, too. It was just, nothing felt deliberate.
I've always been fascinated by the concept of free will. How much of an act is your intention and how much of it is just you along for the ride?
Right now, I can say with total certainty that nothing I did was intentional. I embraced him, I fondled him wherever I could reach, I moved as vigorously as he did, but the amount of it I did with conscious thought?
None.
"Shit, I'm sorry," he huffed in my ear.
I blinked, abruptly aware we'd somehow relocated to the head of the bed and one of my legs was hanging off, and I'd banged my shin on his night stand.
"Ouch," I muttered, but to be honest the pain hardly registered.
"I'll make it better," he promised. He rolled us to safety without separating us, and even that felt amazing. His hands on my ass were huge and strong. We ended up in the middle of the bed with him on top again.
"You want another one?" he asked, while I thought, I love him on top. Reggie had wanted me on top a lot, and it had started to seem a helluva lot like work.
"Another what?" I slurred idiotically.
"Orgasm, sweetness."
Oh.
Yeah.
I'd been having those. One after another, delicious, incredible spasms, without even straining or trying.
Did I mention everything felt so good?
"I'll be straight with you," I managed. "I have no idea."
His laughter sent marvelous shivers through me. "God, you're sweet to fuck. So sweet, Char."
His tender words intensified everything I was feeling. "You are, too. You're wonderful, Asher."
"All grown up?"
My laugh was also a sob. "Yes."
"Good. How sore are you?"
"Zero sore." I felt no soreness. All was bliss.
"Then it's all right if I keep going in your beautiful…wet…pussy?" Kiss. Kiss. Kiss.
"Yes. Yes, oh, yes. Keep. Going. Do whatever you want. To me."
I wiped my sweaty brow and gave a greedy sigh as he started to move again. I never wanted this lovemaking to end.
Asher
FUCKING CHAR WAS OFFICIALLY the most fun I'd ever had in my life.
I should have known my girl would give her all to this. It was like wrestling with her, only a zillion times better.
I was way off about the inhibitions, by the way.
She threw herself into fucking with a complete lack of restraints. She sweated, heaved, moved like an angel on steroids. Her body twisted with lithe, sexy grace—like she had more than a little of her mother's dancer in her.
It was hard to be gentle. Not just because she was taking an athletic approach here, but the things she did. Like turning her head and using her teeth on my arm. That made me forget how new her pussy was to this kind of workout and pull out all the stops.
No way she wouldn't be sore from this, but I didn't spare her. This was too good. And some of it was ego. I wanted to show her what she'd been missing. That what she'd called a relationship before had been pathetic, that I could give her what she needed. That we'd be incredible together.
What was funny was that I showed myself, too. This connection was what I'd been missing, even with Aura when the sex was volcanic.
My cock took Charis and I knew her.
I kissed Charis and I knew her.
It was some weird kind of time travel, where I was in the moment, and I was also in the past and the future. Being with the girl I'd known and being with the woman she'd become and setting precedent for the days that would be.
Gradually the present won and all there was was the ecstasy of her pussy contracting around me, over and over again.
Coming pussies are a favorite of mine, I may or may not have mentioned.
Finally she slumped back, exhausted. I'd worn her out. Satisfied her utterly.
I slowed, stopped. Lifted up, checking on her. Good, strong breaths, each one making her nipples quiver. Her eyes were shut and her expression was pure happiness.
I bent and licked her mouth and her eyes opened.
And I literally reeled back. Charis…liked me. A fucking lot. I'd never seen such emotion in a woman's eyes.
"Good?" I said tenderly.
"So good," she whispered. "I'm full. No more room." Her hand fluttered up to my cheek and she stroked my stubble down to my chin. "How do I make you feel as fab
ulous as I'm feeling, dude?"
I grinned, feeling like an emperor. "More praise first. I am the one. The only. Say it."
"You're the one, the only. Totally."
"I need my phone. I have to record this."
She giggled. "Come on, Ash. I want to make you feel good. What can I do?"
"Truth, with my dick in you, everything feels good, Sloane."
"Even your hair follicles?"
"Those especially."
"Good. I…"
Her eyelids drifted shut. Her arm fell to her side and she made happy little murmurs.
I didn't want her to pass out. "Char. Watch me."
On an indrawn breath, she opened her eyes. "Yes."
"You don't need to do anything," I soothed. "Just lie there and watch me fuck you. I want you to see what you do to me."
A shiver rippled through her, and she stared at me as I started to thrust again, slowly at first, keeping my gaze locked to hers. Only this time as the need rose, I didn't hold back. This time I let myself go with a harsh groan. I gripped her hips, bruised them no doubt, and drove into her so deep her body jerked with the impact.
The orgasm that washed over me then was a fucking tidal wave, not surprising after how long I'd held back. It was up there among the best of my life, but that wasn't what blew my mind.
It was how safe I felt. How right this was. How absolutely mine she was.
Fucking about time.
CHAPTER 26
One Year Ago—Safe
Charis: Do you believe in emotional polarity?
Asher: So I'm guessing this isn't anything to do with the earth's magnetic charge at the poles.
Charis: Nope. I'm talking about happiness and sadness, love and hate, fear and comfort, that kind of thing. Some people think you need one emotion to experience its opposite. So, do you?
Asher: Sure, sounds reasonable.
Charis: Oh, it is. But I think it has to be balanced and it's usually not.
Asher: Explain.
Charis: Well we learn when we're kids that if we trip and fall, we won't be safe. Safe only has meaning for us after we trip and fall, right? We learn what fear is and then we crave safety.
Asher: Right.
Charis: But then we spend all our time staying safe. We never let ourselves trip and fall again. And that's maybe going too far with the safety lesson. Maybe we'd be better off with a more balanced approach. Say, letting ourselves trip and fall once a year or something. Just to see if maybe there's another lesson there.
Asher: O-kay. And all of this pertains to what exactly?
Charis: I like being safe.
Asher: And?
Charis: I'm just saying.
Asher: All that convoluted shit was to say you like being safe.
Charis: Yeah.
Asher: Fucking pulling teeth here…are you saying you'd rather be unsafe?
Charis: No, well, I don't know. It's just sometimes…you don't know what to do and you get scared and so you stick to the safe route. And other times, you think, if you just take that leap, choose the dangerous route, things could be kinda sorta awesome. But then you realize it's stupid.
Asher: Take the leap.
Charis: No, I don't think so. Because ultimately I know it's stupid.
Asher: You're way overthinking things.
Charis: Yeah, probably…
Asher
"MAYBE I DIDN'T THINK THIS through," Charis said humbly.
Too late.
Yeah, I had no sympathy. No amount of humbleness on her part could make me not be pissed about this. Talk about a radical shift in mood. "Maybe you didn't."
"Well, sorry. I didn't know Mel was going. Look, Asher, there's no reason they have to know we're involved in this thing." Charis played with the rim of her orange juice glass.
We were at the kitchen table, eating breakfast in sleep clothes. Clothes we hadn't slept in, because we'd slept naked.
I'd awakened from our epic first fuck night spooned against her with morning wood and a grin that wouldn't stop. When she stirred, rubbing that baby-soft skin against me, I'd gone and slipped inside her a few inches before my dopey brain processed what I was doing, and with some fairly comical panic withdrew before I was too far gone to stop myself from thrusting.
In. Fucking. Sane.
Where was a chlorine mnemonic when you needed it?
There was no thought of protection. No thought of Aura. Just went right in as if I'd been barebacking with her for years.
Fuck. This fucking-your-best-friend thing was dangerous.
And the sensation of her wetness against my bare skin lingered even after I got the condom. It made that morning fuck even hotter. All from behind, with me connected to that pretty little ass. I also whispered in her ear funny things because I wanted to feel her laughing while I fucked her.
A kind of amazing morning.
We'd decided against day clothes with the idea of spending a day in bed together. Between bouts of hot sex, the plan went, I'd work in bed with my tablet and she'd read. The point was, not leaving the bed except for absolute necessities, eating being one.
And now she had to ruin it at breakfast.
I wanted to shake some sense into her. First she committed us both to going to my sister's party on the basis of matchmaking for our relationship-averse friend, and then she decided we'd go as single people?
My formerly brainy girl had lost her ability to reason.
"Why don't you want people to know about this thing?" I said through clenched teeth.
"They'll quiz us and say embarrassing things."
"Sloane, that's a crock of shit."
"No, it's not. Your family is ruthless and unrelenting. You know they'll put us on the spot."
"They're nice people. They won't do that."
"Sure they will."
"False."
"True. You know it's true, Asher. I don't want them implying I'm…"
"You're…?"
"Cradle robbing! Okay?"
I expressed my annoyance that this was still an issue by knocking my mug loudly on the table. "They wouldn't."
"They would too. Mine do."
"When?"
She waved her hand. "Whenever they see you, they talk about your boyish youth. And then they start right in on what a fuddy-duddy I am. No, really, they do. It's like, hello? Do you even know me?"
"My family is different." All right, they might mention it. But everyone in my family was crazy about Charis. No one would give her a hard time. "Who the fuck cares anyway?"
"Me. Especially if Mel does it."
I considered telling her Mel was the one who'd pointed out my blindness to me. Then again, I wasn't sure if Mel was for or against an Asher/Charis relationship. "Maybe Mel won't be there."
"I thought you said she was going."
"Might go. It depends on Esteban. He's at a convention in Spokane. Last I heard, if he can get away and she finds someone to watch the baby, they're going. Otherwise…"
"Well whether she's there or not, I'd just rather people not know what we're doing yet. Think about it, Asher. Are you looking forward to the questions and to having to give long, drawn-out explanations about how we happened to change our relationship right when…never mind."
"Who cares when we did it? I don't have to explain anything to anyone."
"No, because you'll charm them and turn the tables on them like you always do. But I'm not made that way."
"So you let me handle it."
"Say again? Let you talk for me?"
Clearly that did not compute. Aura would have had no problems with my doing the talking for both of us. I sighed.
"Sloane, you're making this way too complicated. We tell them ahead of time and warn them not to say shit about it under threat of desertion."
"Sure, then later on they all call me for the real scoop. And you know they'll gossip with each other. I know you Norrells. Ryanna will probably be a sweetie about it. Everyone else will make a fuss. There is
no minimizing this."
"There's no hiding it, either," I countered. "Like you said, it's my family. They know something's up. They suspect I'm with someone, just not who it is. You want me to have to make up a story about somebody who doesn't exist?"
She actually stomped her foot. "No. I just don't want them to know about us yet. Not until…" She tapered off and looked away.
"Not until…?
"Not until we've had a little more time with this."
Aha.
That was an evasion if I ever heard one.
"Karl already knows it's you," I pointed out.
"But he hasn't told the others, you said."
"Aura might mention something." Though in all honesty I doubted my ex would volunteer the fact that she'd been usurped in my affections.
"I don't think so. I think the best thing is to not say anything and just act normal, like we normally do."
Fuck. Char was in stubborn mode and not budging, no matter how reasonable the argument.
Clearly there was more to this than she admitted.
I leaned back, locked my hands behind my neck, and studied her. She began to fidget, ripping apart pieces of bacon. I noticed her eyes flashing down at herself.
The gesture reminded me eerily of Aura.
Her clothes?
There was a clue there. I needed to think like a woman.
Fail.
While we sat there, I texted Joel.
Asher: Why do parties stress out females? 3 top reasons.
Joel: 1—Cleaning before 2—Not enough food 3—Cleaning after
Asher: I meant females who are not hosting the party. i.e., guests.
Joel: There is only one reason. Competition from other females. Everything boils down to that.
Asher: Dude you're brilliant. How did you become so wise?
Joel: ma gran aunts
Joel: sisters cousins in laws nieces
Joel: weddings baptisms birthdays
Joel: reunions christmas memorial day
Joel: july 4 labor day easter graduations funerals
Asher: please stop now
I put my phone away and twiddled my thumbs for a minute, thinking. Then I had a sly thought. "What are you wearing for the party?"
She shrugged.
"Change of plan. We're going shopping," I decreed. "Right now."
Unfriended: A Geek and Stud Romance (Love in New Highland Book 1) Page 23
