If Lexie forgave him, of course.
Asher should have done it sooner. Hell, he should have gotten over his personal issues and made a commitment to the woman the moment she’d stepped foot inside Marble Protection.
Asher smiled at the memory. His stars had aligned that day, because it had been him standing at the desk when the sassy redhead had walked in. Lexie had literally demanded he hire her.
Not that it would have changed anything if it had been one of the others standing at the desk. Asher would have met her eventually and threatened any asshole who got too close.
He’d asked her straight out why he should hire her. He remembered her response like she said it yesterday—“Why the heck not?”
Asher had fallen for the woman right there and then. It had just taken him too long to realize it.
If he had any luck on his side, Lexie would take his sorry ass back. Otherwise, he didn’t know what he’d do.
Reclining his seat, Asher tried to make himself comfortable. He wasn’t going anywhere. He was staying as close to Lexie as physically possible. Firstly, because she was in danger and it was his job to protect her. Secondly, because there was nowhere in the world he’d rather be than close to her.
Besides, he’d definitely slept in a lot of worse places than the front seat of a Nissan. One time he’d had to sleep in the trunk of a car while in ninety-degree heat.
About to close his eyes, he heard a shuffling noise from outside. It wasn’t the normal rustling of leaves in the wind. This sound was branches snapping beneath footsteps.
Asher listened closer.
There it was again.
Flicking his gaze toward the house, he scanned the area. Even though it was pitch-black, he saw every minute detail. But he didn’t spot anyone. Which meant the asshole was either good at staying hidden or had hightailed it out of there.
Sliding out of his car, Asher made as little noise as possible as he moved forward. The sound had been faint and muffled but it had come from the right side of the house.
As Asher passed the front, the door opened and Luca exited. He would have heard it, too, no doubt.
Asher didn’t stop. Simply signaled with his hand that the sound had come from around the house.
Both men moved at a slow, quiet pace, creeping to the location. No one would hear anything that Asher or Luca didn’t want them to hear.
When they arrived, there was no other person in sight, but there were track marks. Asher crouched to touch the shoe indents in the dirt.
Fresh. And male. Definitely male. By the depth of the marks, Asher would say the man who created them was about two hundred and fifty pounds. If the length was anything to go by, he was tall.
Asher ran his gaze up Luca’s house—and sucked in a sharp breath.
He was standing directly below Lexie’s window.
Lexie was on the second floor, but anyone with training would be able to scale the wall.
Son of a bitch. Someone had been here, and they were here for Lexie.
Eyes darting back to the prints, he noticed they led into the forest behind Luca’s house. The asshole must have seen Asher coming and left.
He took a step toward the woods, intending to pursue the stranger, when he heard it…
The softest of whimpers, followed by a gentle sniff.
Stare shooting back up to Lexie’s room, Asher went still. She was crying.
His heart hurt at the sound of Lexie in pain.
“Go to her,” Luca whispered. “I’ll call some of the guys to come follow the tracks.”
Before Asher could respond, Luca was on his phone.
It took him less than a minute to move through the house, up to Lexie’s room. When he opened her door, Asher’s entire body tightened.
Lexie lay under the sheets, looking small. Her body shook with silent sobs.
This was his fault. He’d done this to her. Made her feel this way. And he would fix it.
Closing the door behind him, Asher quickly stripped off his shoes, shirt, and jeans before sliding between the sheets.
* * *
Once the tears started, Lexie couldn’t stop them. It was like she’d opened a floodgate and all the pain and heartache was bleeding out of her.
She cried for her childhood. The one that had lacked any form of security and support. She cried because she had never felt important enough for anyone to love. Not the people she’d needed it from most.
She hated feeling weak. Lexie tried to be the best, strongest version of herself every day of her life. Bigger than her circumstances. She tried to count her blessings. She was pregnant with a healthy baby; how much luckier could she get? But this pregnancy was kicking her ass.
The biggest reason she cried was fear for her baby. Fear that she couldn’t give him the perfect nuclear family that she’d always envisioned. The one with the mother and father who cuddled on the couch watching Hallmark movies while the kids ate popcorn.
She couldn’t give her baby the family that she had craved growing up.
Holding her hand to her stomach, Lexie willed the tears to stop flowing. Not a day would pass when her baby would feel unworthy. Unloved.
Then, Lexie stilled as the mattress suddenly dipped behind her. She hadn’t heard the door open or a single footstep.
Wondering if it was Evie, Lexie moved her hand to the arm that snaked around her waist. The hairy, muscular arm.
Not Evie.
Her body was pulled against a much larger, hotter body.
“Please don’t cry, Lex. You’re breaking my heart.” Asher’s voice was quiet but pained.
Even though she’d gone silent, the tears still flowed. “I can’t stop,” Lexie whispered.
A voice in her head said that she should push Asher away.
But she felt weak. And Asher was warm and comfortable. His strength made her feel stronger. He anchored her. So instead of pulling away, Lexie pushed her body closer to his. Wanting more. Craving it.
“I’m sorry.” Asher’s lips pressed against her ear.
Sniffling, she let his gentle strokes of her wrist calm some of the turmoil in her chest. “What are you sorry for?”
“Everything. I’m sorry I’ve been an idiot. That I couldn’t admit my true feelings for you. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be the man that you’ve needed me to be. The man you deserve. I’m sorry that I’ve never told you how fucking important you are to me every single day. I never told you that I can’t look at you without losing my damn mind because you’re so perfect.”
Finally, Lexie’s tears began to slow. “What are they?”
Asher was quiet for a moment. “What are what, Lex?”
“Your true feelings.”
“I love you. I love you so goddamn much it hurts. Not being around you hurts.”
Lexie’s breath caught. Asher loved her.
She had been waiting for him to say those words to her for so long that, now that she was actually hearing them, they didn’t feel real. A part of her had thought she would never hear them.
Rolling over in his arms, she could just make out his features in the moonlight. Asher’s hand splayed the whole of her hip as she faced him.
“Are you just saying these things to make me go back with you? Because I’m pregnant with our baby? What you said at dinner the other night—”
“I meant.” Lexie stiffened, but Asher quickly continued. “But I didn’t mean what you think I meant. You and me are going to be constantly changing through life. There’s no way we’ll be the exact same people ten years from now. That’s why love is fluid, because it changes with us. Moves with us.”
Lexie watched Asher’s eyes through the dim light. “And you’ve only just worked all this out?”
She wanted to believe him. There was nothing in the world she wanted more. But if she believed that it could all work out, that Asher could love her as fiercely as she loved him, and then it turned out to be untrue, Lexie didn’t know if she could recover from that.
&n
bsp; Asher reached out and rubbed his thumb over the path where her tears had fallen.
“I’m flawed, Lexie. I knew I loved you before I understood what that meant and required. All I understood was that I needed you. Needed to be close to you. Hear your voice. Touch your skin. That was love. It always has been.” Asher lowered his head so that their foreheads touched. “I know I’m late. So damn late that I don’t deserve you. You should tell me to leave and not come back. But I’m going to be a selfish bastard and ask you to take me back anyway.”
Lexie raised her hand to his cheek, thumb stroking his strong jawline. “I don’t know how not to love you, Asher.”
His mouth crashed onto Lexie’s. His kiss was both perfect and marred. Perfect, because his lips healed her, marred because she didn’t want to come up for air.
Lexie leaned closer, her bump hitting Asher’s stomach.
“I don’t deserve you,” he whispered between kisses.
Hooking her leg over his hip, Lexie felt like she couldn’t get close enough.
Asher rolled her onto her back before climbing on top of her. His lips never left her own.
Slowly, he began to trail his mouth down her neck. Lexie watched his dark head in the moonlight, transfixed.
Pulling down the cup of her bra, Asher lowered his head to her breast, taking her nipple into his mouth. He sucked the peak, flicking his tongue over it.
The heat inside Lexie grew at an alarming pace. Her body quivering with need. She still wasn’t close enough to him, though. She needed Asher. All of him.
When his mouth left her breast, Lexie couldn’t stop the protest that released from her chest. With his mouth still on her body, Asher worked his way down, leaving a trail of kisses as he went.
When he reached her panties, he quickly removed them before separating her thighs.
Asher’s mouth touched her core.
Lexie jolted at the searing pleasure that washed over her.
He began to lick her clit in firm thrusts, leaving Lexie feeling feverish. Soon, he began alternating back and forth between swiping his tongue and sucking her bundle of nerves.
Asher was merciless.
Lexie cried out, her back arching and breaths becoming labored. He reached a hand up to her breast and squeezed the sensitive nipple, pushing her higher.
Thrashing wildly on the sheets, Lexie jerked against his mouth, then erupted in an intense orgasm.
Closing her eyes, she felt weightless.
Not a moment later, Asher had crawled over her body and positioned himself at her entrance.
Lexie’s eyes opened to find him above her. Their eyes caught as he sank into her, stretching her in the most divine way. Her walls were still throbbing.
Finally, Lexie got the level of closeness that she needed. That her body craved.
Asher paused, and Lexie felt something new between them. A new connection. A bond that made her heart swell as her body heated.
Then Asher’s mouth lowered to hers before lifting again. “You’re fucking gorgeous, Lex. I’m never letting you go.”
At the first thrust of his hips, she groaned as a new round of need grew inside her. Then Asher started to move harder, faster, pulling out and thrusting in.
He was intense and fierce above her. Her warrior.
Fingers scraped against his rock-hard chest, every thrust inciting more need.
“Asher…”
Head flying to the side, Lexie whimpered below him. She felt every surge deep to her core.
Soon, their lovemaking became erratic. Both needing to be closer than was physically possible.
A moment later, her body spasmed, and Lexie shattered beneath him. At almost the same moment, Asher’s body shuddered before he let out a deep, guttural growl.
Lexie held on to his shoulders as she came down from her high. Her body still throbbed, him still swollen within her.
“I love you, Asher.” She gasped the words. Feeling at peace that she was now free to say them.
“I love you, Lex. Today, tomorrow, and every day after that. Forever.”
Forever. Lexie liked the sound of that.
23
As the morning light drifted into the room, Lexie peeled her eyes open. They felt swollen and puffy from all the crying she’d done.
The crying that took place before one of the best moments of her life. The moment Asher admitted he loved her.
Heck, she felt like a new woman. A woman whose love was reciprocated.
Rolling onto her back, Lexie reached for Asher, only to realize she was alone in bed. There was no heavy arm slung across her waist. No steamy warmth from his big, hot body.
Pushing up to her elbows, Lexie searched the room. Where would he have gotten to?
She didn’t have to wonder long. A wet Asher walked through the door wearing nothing but a towel low on his waist.
Lexie’s mouth went dry as she scanned his muscular body. Firm muscles rippled across his chest, his arms reminding her of giant tree trunks.
The man was a walking sex god. Lucky he already loved her, because she was pretty sure she’d just drooled a little.
“You keep looking at me like that and we won’t be leaving this room today.” Asher’s voice was husky. Sexy.
Hmm, that didn’t sound like such a bad idea to her.
“I can’t see a problem with that,” she responded, sure she came across as a wanton pregnant lady.
Asher stalked closer with a predatory look in his eyes. “The thing is, Rocket and Evie will know exactly what we’re doing. Plus, Rocket will hear us.”
Small price to pay for an hour of lovemaking with Asher, Lexie thought with a smile.
“Also, I have something to show you. Back at my place.”
Asher sat on the edge of the bed, an arm wrapping around Lexie’s legs. In a very nonsexual way.
Ah, crap. Looked like Lexie wouldn’t be getting any special Asher time this morning.
He leaned his head down so that his lips hovered over hers. “Still love me?”
“Yes,” Lexie grumbled. Although she’d prefer to be loving him naked under the sheets.
Asher’s mouth finally touched hers, causing her heart to speed up. His lips were soft. The only part of him that was soft.
Too soon, he drew his head away, making Lexie want to latch on to the man and drag him back to her.
Asher chuckled as he stood. “You’re trouble.”
“Excuse me, buddy, you’re the one who walked in here looking too sexy for his own good.” Climbing out of bed, she threw on a dressing gown. “Guess I’ll go have a lonely shower.”
Before Lexie could reach the door, she was spun around into Asher’s arms, his mouth slamming onto hers. This time, his lips didn’t simply touch her. They consumed her.
His tongue invaded Lexie’s mouth, her limbs immediately heating before turning limp. Asher’s mouth was insistent. Sure.
Holy heck. There was a good chance she might light up in flames right there and then.
Lexie clung to his solid shoulders, needing an anchor to keep her upright. Just as her heart started to gallop—and other parts of Lexie’s body began to come to life—Asher broke the kiss.
No!
Well, it was official. The man was trying to kill her.
“Don’t take too long,” Asher whispered.
The man wasn’t even breathing heavily. While Lexie sounded like she’d just run a marathon.
Lexie gave a humph, not liking his knowing smile, before turning and leaving the room.
Don’t take too long? What would happen if she did take too long? Would he come in after her? Because if that was the case, she might just break a world record in there.
Once in the bathroom, Lexie glanced at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes wide.
Damn Asher, Lexie thought as she jumped in the shower stall.
As she felt the warm water hit her shoulders, memories of the previous night caused a smile to stretch over her lips.
&
nbsp; He loved her. He had actually said the words that he loved her. And she’d said them back.
Jeepers it felt amazing. Better than amazing, it was the best feeling in the world. She felt lighter today. That heavy feeling in her chest was gone. The worry, the fear, had vanished.
And their lovemaking after had felt different. More meaningful.
Lexie was still smiling a few minutes later when she stepped out of the shower. Drying off, she returned to the bedroom to find no Asher. But there was a set of her clothes lying on the bed. The supersoldier must have run home to get them for her.
Once dressed, she glanced at herself in the mirror, her hands grazing over her bump. She was getting bigger every day, and the movement inside her stomach was getting stronger.
Lexie loved it. Her baby was growing. Getting ready to meet its parents.
Smiling to herself, Lexie headed downstairs.
“Listen, buddy, all I’m saying is, if you’re not gonna organize the strawberries, then why go to the effort of making pancakes?”
Asher’s voice filtered through the house. So did the smell of pancake batter and bacon. Holy cow, that smelled good.
Rounding the corner into the kitchen, Lexie saw Luca flipping a pancake.
“Don’t anger the man with the pancakes and bacon, Asher,” Lexie scolded as she moved to stand next to him.
Luca seemed to be adding the last pancake to the stack while Evie poured some orange juice. Lexie wasn’t entirely sure what Asher was doing, but she was almost entirely sure it wasn’t helpful.
Evie began to usher her friends to the table. “Sit!”
“Guys, you didn’t have to make pancakes.” But she sure as heck was glad they had.
“A pregnant woman deserves to be pampered.” Evie said with a smile as she and Luca carried the last items over. Everyone took a seat around the table.
Asher began loading his plate. “What about the dad? We deserve some pampering.”
Luca laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure watching Lexie be pregnant must really take it out of you.”
“You’d be surprised,” Asher responded, covering his food in copious amounts of maple syrup.
Asher: A steamy contemporary military romance (Project Arma Book 3) Page 18