by L A Cotton
“Mya, I’m pretty sure I’d walk over hot coals for you.” I gazed down at her, trying to show her just how much she meant to me. But sometimes actions weren’t enough. Sometimes you had to take the simplest approach and tell someone how you really felt.
Pulling her out of earshot of our friends, I brushed a stray curl from her face and leaned down, inhaling a shaky breath. “I know it’s only officially been a few days and I know it’s complicated and we don’t know what the future holds, but I’m pretty sure I’m falling in love with you, Mya Hernandez.”
Her lips parted on a soft gasp only I heard. “You weren’t supposed to fall in love with me, Asher,” she breathed. My heart crashed violently against my ribcage waiting for her to put me out of my misery. “But I’m glad you did.”
“Yeah, and why is that?” I was fishing but I needed to hear her say the words too.
I needed her to feel the same.
“Because,” she sucked in a sharp breath, “I…” Mya swallowed the words I so desperately wanted to hear. But she wasn’t fooling anyone. I saw the truth glittering right there in her eyes.
She felt it, I knew she did.
“It’s okay,” the words came out strained. “You don’t have to say it back yet.”
“Ash…” Mya’s eyes fluttered closed just as Khalid’s Better blasted through the sound system. I turned Mya in my arms, tucking her body close to mine and began dancing. She might not have been ready to say the words, but she was here with me. For now, it was enough.
We moved together; Mya rolling and popping her hips, grinding on me in a way that had my dick straining against my jeans. I ran my hands up the curve of her waist, appreciating how good she looked in the halter top and shorts, how her dark caramel skin glistened under the club mood lighting. Mya tipped her head back against my shoulder, taking one of my hands in hers and pressing it to her stomach as we rocked in synchrony. The lyrics serenaded us like our own private song.
I was uncertain about a lot of things. My future. How the fuck I was supposed to sacrifice everything I loved just to keep my father happy and my mother safe. But this, standing here with Mya, knowing she was going to be in my bed at the end of the night, I was sure about.
In that moment, nothing felt better.
Until she dipped her hand around her back and let it slide down the front of my jeans. “You’re playing a dangerous game, babe,” I whispered against the shell of her ear as I rocked into her hand, groaning into the crook of her neck.
“Maybe I like danger.” She pushed our joined hands beneath the swathe of sequined fabric covering her midriff and the waistband of her shorts.
A quick glance around told me no one was paying us any attention. We were just another couple out enjoying the night. Lingering between one year and the next. Mya slid her hand over mine, moving my fingers higher and higher until they grazed the curve of her breast.
Her very smooth, very naked breast.
Fuck.
I’d assumed she was wearing one of those cleverly disguised strapless bra things.
“Are you trying to kill me?” I groaned again, earning me a soft chuckle.
“It’s almost midnight,” she said, tilting her face so that her lips almost touched mine. “I want you inside me when the clock strikes twelve.”
Fuck.
Fucking fuck.
I almost exploded right there and then. My eyes darted wildly around the room, desperately searching for somewhere—anywhere—I could make her wish, and all her dreams, come true. Because while I wanted nothing more than to sink deep inside of Mya, I drew the line at fucking her in public.
My eyes found Jase over the crowd and he smirked, as if that fucker could read my mind. I flipped him off. He pulled out his cell and typed something, my own cell vibrating to life seconds later. Discreetly, I dug it out of my pocket.
* * *
Jase: The car is out back. You can thank me later.
* * *
Me: Do I even want to know how you know that?
* * *
Jase: I like to be prepared.
* * *
I laughed at that. Smug bastard. Before I could type a reply, the screen lit up again.
* * *
Jase: I know I give you shit but I’m happy for you, man. Now go before I rethink my offer… happy new year!
* * *
Me: Thanks, I owe you.
* * *
Mya brushed my cheek with her nose as I pocketed my cell phone. “Please tell me that was our fairy sexmother?”
Fairy sexmother?
What the actual fuck?
“Who are you right now?” I stared at her with a potent mix of awe and lust.
“I’m just a girl who needs her boyfriend.”
“Come on.” Tangling our fingers together, I led Mya away from the dance floor. We didn’t stop for our friends, or for the DJ as he announced the five-minute warning to the official countdown, and we sure as shit didn’t stop for security as they yelled at us not to go through the emergency exit.
We spilled out into the night, the sleek black limo that had brought us to the club right where Jase had said it would be.
“Seriously?” Mya said, her brow arched. “I thought we’d go to the bathroom or something.”
My lips curved mischievously. “Consider it a gift from your fairy sexmother. Now,” I yanked the door open for her, “get inside before I fuck you on the hood of it.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mya
Asher followed me into the plush limo, closing the door behind him and locking it. His eyes burned with hunger, his hot gaze setting my already warm skin on fire.
“Two minutes,” he rasped as I sat down on one of the leather benches running down either side of the vehicle.
“W- what?”
“Two minutes until the clock chimes twelve.”
“Oh.” The word left my lips on a small gasp, remembering how I’d told him how I wanted to welcome in the new year.
I hadn’t meant to say the words but dancing with him had been so sexy, his hands painting a trail of heat over my skin. Teasing me. Torturing me to the point of needing him so much I couldn’t think of anything else.
I would never forget the way he burst through the crowd, like a knight-in-Henley-armor, with murder and possessiveness shining in his eyes.
“I want to go slow, take my time...” Asher crawled over me, pressing me into the soft leather bench, running his hand up my chest and palming my neck gently. “But I don’t think I can.”
“So don’t.” I dragged my teeth over the lobe of his ear, biting hard. A groan rumbled in his chest as his hand slid up my thighs, finding the waistband of my jeans.
“These need to come off, now,” he said against the corner of my mouth.
Asher rocked back onto his haunches, and I lifted my ass off the bench, letting him pull the shorts off. His eyes went to my lacy black panties, and another groan worked its way up his throat.
“Your turn,” I panted, trying to reach for him. Asher chuckled, staying just out of arm’s reach as he unbuttoned his jeans and freed his dick, pushing his boxer briefs and jeans down his hips in one swift motion.
“What are you waiting for?” I needed him.
Needed him to ease the deep ache inside of me.
He smirked, stroking himself up and down, his eyes pinning me to the spot. We were half-clothed, inside a limo, in some back alley in New York, but it didn’t matter.
Prowling forward on his knees, Asher grabbed my ankles and wrapped them around his waist, pulling me around him so he could nestle between my legs. His hard length nudged up against me, sending sparks shooting through my body. I tried to reach between us to guide him right to where I needed him, but Asher snagged my hand, shaking his head with a dirty smirk.
“Ten,” he said, bumping up against me again, letting the tip of his dick hit my tight bundle of nerves. “Nine.” Asher leaned down, capturing my lips in a slow kiss. “Eight.” Rocking
his hips, he ground against me but didn’t give me what I needed most.
“Seven,” I said, realization dawning on me as I kissed him, almost frenzied, dipping my hands underneath his Henley and raking my nails down his chest, eliciting a low growl from his chest.
“Six.” It was a garbled noise in his throat as he continued dragging himself through my wetness, teasing me.
“Five.” I covered his hand with mine, feeling him hard and heavy and wet between us.
“Four,” we both panted, our breaths mingled with raw lust. “Three...” It was a breathy moan as he pressed closer still but not close enough. “Two...” Asher kissed me again, stealing my breath.
“One.” He thrust inside of me in one smooth glide, my head bumping against leather, my fingers curling around his bicep. “Mya, fuck,” he barked, pulling out and pressing back into me.
Harder.
Deeper.
I hooked my ankles together, careful not to dig the heels of my boots into his back.
“It’s like you were made for me.” Asher kissed the corner of my mouth, dragging his tongue over my lips and plunging deep inside as he continued rocking into me, circling his hips in that perfect way that had me arching off the bench.
“Oh God... Ash... it’s...” I never wanted him to stop. The way his body moved over mine, strong and sure and so damn right. It was the most intense sex I’d ever had.
“Say it,” he whispered against my lips. “Tell me you’re mine, Mya. Tell me you won’t let anything come between us.”
“I’m yours.” The words were caught somewhere between a promise and a breathy moan as I felt the waves of pleasure begin to build inside me.
“You and me, babe.” He flattened his body to mine, pressing deeper. So deep I could feel him everywhere. “It’s you and me.”
Asher hooked my leg higher, his movements slowing as he traced letters of love across my skin. “Ash… what are you…?” I gazed up at him, flushed and breathless and aching.
“I lied,” he whispered. “I need you to say it, Mya. I need to hear the words.” He stole my breath as he slowly inched out of me.
“I…” Sparks of pleasure shot through me as he moved in lazy shallow strokes that had my stomach coiling tight and my legs quivering.
“More,” I cried, gripping his shoulders, arching my body into him, desperate for more.
“Tell me you feel it,” Asher kissed my lips, before dragging his tongue up the slope of my neck. Over and over, licking and nipping. Teasing and tasting.
“I feel it.” My head was clouded with sensation, dizzy with need.
“Mya…” My name sounded like a prayer on his lips as he filled me again in one smooth stroke. “God, you feel so fucking good.”
“Harder, I need you to go harder.” Beads of sweat trailed down the valley of my breasts; Asher’s skin slick against mine, his weight too much and not enough all at the same time.
The limo rocked beneath us. The boom of fireworks exploding overhead. Until soon I saw explosions of my own. My body shuddered, Asher’s name falling from my lips over and over.
“Fuck, Mya,” he let out a guttural groan, lifting his head to meet my sated gaze. “I love you. You know that, right?”
Pressing my lips together, swallowing the emotion clogging my throat, I nodded. Asher dropped his head to mine, letting us ride the lingering waves of pleasure. “You are everything I need.” His lips found mine. “You, Mya. Happy New Year.”
It was a new year.
New possibilities and fresh beginnings.
A chance to carve out a better future for myself.
But there wasn’t only me to think about now.
There was Asher.
The guy who was slowly teaching me love knew no bounds.
“I love you.” The words spilled from my lips in a single breath.
“You love me, Hernandez?” Asher asked around a grin, before brushing his lips over mine. Once. Twice. Three times. As if he needed reassurance this was real—that I was real.
“I love you, Asher,” I repeated the words, teasing the words off my tongue. “I’m in love with you. I should have said it earlier, but I guess I was scared.”
“You don’t ever have to be scared with me, Mya.” Asher pressed his head to mine again, taking a deep breath.
“I know.” A full body shiver worked its way through me as the weight of our declaration settled over us. “Just promise me one thing, okay?”
“Anything.”
“Promise me, you won’t break my heart.”
“Never.”
Our lives were entwined now, the bonds between us weaving tighter and tighter with every moment we spent together. Until I didn’t know where I ended and he began.
It both terrified and exhilarated me. The way we’d fallen so hard and fast, swept up in the allure of each other.
But I was no fool.
Even now, lying there beneath him, his taste on my lips, his love in my heart, I knew that after the fall usually came the crash.
I only hoped my heart would survive.
“What time is it?” Ash dragged my body back toward him.
“Just after nine.”
“Fuck, my head...”
“Yeah?” I snorted. “I told you to lay off the shots.” After we’d finally left the limo we had returned to the club and celebrated the new year with our friends. A little too hard if the throb in my skull was anything to go by.
Leaning over, I grabbed a bottle of water off the nightstand and uncapped it. “Here.” I took a big gulp before passing it to Asher. He peeked an eye open, grinning up at me. “Hi,” he said.
“Hi.”
“Last night was kind of crazy, huh?” His heated gaze went right through me and a delicious tingle worked up my spine.
“It was—”
“Wakey wakey, lovebirds,” someone hammered on the door. “Breakfast is here.”
Asher’s stomach rumbled as if on cue.
“You’re hungry?” I asked incredulously.
“Yeah, but not for food.” He tried pulling me down on top of him, but I resisted, planting my hands firmly on his chest.
“We should join them. I don’t want your cousins to think I’m rude.”
“Fuck my cousins. Did they even come back here with us?”
“You don’t remember?”
“I’m not going to lie; everything is a little hazy. Not the limo though. I remember that.” His eyes flared again, and I knew he was thinking about what we did in there.
“Vaughn dragged some guy back with her. Riley was flying solo though.”
“Huh.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Guess I drank more than I thought.”
“At least you didn’t puke this time.” The corner of my mouth tipped as I teased him.
“I didn’t say anything last night, did I?”
My heart stopped. Blood pounding between my ears.
“What do you remember?” It came out strained.
“I remember some fucker putting his hands on you… the limo… shots. But I definitely have a few black spots.”
Disappointment and dread sat in the pit of my stomach.
He didn’t remember.
Asher didn’t remember our confession to one another.
“Mya, what is it?” He leaned up, brushing my face.
“N- nothing. I should get cleaned up.” I began climbing off the bed but before I got a foot on the floor, my body had been yanked back and Asher was looming down over me.
“I love you,” he said, apology shining in his eyes.
“You remember?” Confusion swirled in my chest, making it hard to breathe.
“Of course I remember. I was joking. It was supposed to be a joke to see if you’d own up to it.”
“A test.” My brow went up. “You mean it was a test?” I batted his chest. Hard.
“No...” The blood drained from his face. “Shit. I screwed up, babe. Forgive me?” His eyes went soft, his bottom lip sticking out.
>
“Don’t do that to me, Asher. Don’t make a game out of how we feel about each other.” My hands glided up his collarbone, looping around his neck. “I might be strong, but it doesn’t mean you can’t break me.”
“I’m sorry.” He covered my face in closed-mouthed kisses. “I’m a dumbass who doesn’t think. I remember everything about last night. Well, the important bits.” Asher leaned down, running his nose along my cheek, his mouth lingering at my ear. “I remember how it felt being inside you in the limo.”
His teeth grazed my lobe and I felt him grow hard at my stomach. “Ash...” I licked my lips. “Maybe we have time to—”
“Rise and shine, lovers. If you’re not out here in five, I’m coming in,” Jason yelled. “Consider yourselves warned.”
“Ugh.” Asher rolled off me and flopped down on the bed. I giggled into his arm.
“We should get dressed.”
“He’s such a fucking cockblock.”
“We have time,” I said, stroking my finger up the cut lines of his torso.
“Time, you think we have time?” His eyes simmered with possessiveness. “I don’t want time, Mya. I want forever.”
I gulped hard. The weight of his words pressing down on me.
On us.
But yet again, I was saved by another knock at the door. “Guys.” It was Hailee this time. “I’m not sure I can keep Jason out any longer.
“Coming,” I called. “We’ll be right there.”
Before Asher could grab me again, I slipped off the bed and grabbed some clothes before disappearing into the adjoining bathroom. The door clicked shut, the sound ricocheting through me. It was one thing to declare our feelings for each other... but to want forever... that was something else entirely.
Part of me wanted to believe Asher was joking; making some flippant spur of the moment comment. But the other part knew better.
Asher Bennet didn’t let people in. He guarded his heart—his truths—with wit and humor. Even his best friends in the whole world didn’t know about his dad.