by Louise Bay
“Like a stalker?”
She started to giggle but turned it into a cough. I couldn’t stop my grin. I brushed my thumb over her cheek. Her eyes sparkled when she smiled. She couldn’t hide it.
“Call it what you want. I know that I want you. And if you’re not ready, that’s fine. I’ll wait for as long as it takes for you to be ready. But I am, and you can’t possibly understand that or see that for yourself unless I’m here, with you. So here is where I’m going to be. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Luke, this isn’t about me . . .” She placed her coffee on the table beside her and waved her hands, as if they were trying to help her find the words. I caught them midair and interlaced her fingers with mine, desperate for a physical connection to her.
“Sure about that?” Ashleigh was scared and although she had made good points about my choosing her, that wasn’t the whole problem, not now. “Perhaps part of you doesn’t trust yourself. And that’s okay because there’s a lot at stake and neither of us have got it right when it comes to relationships so far. But this is different. We’re different, and if you don’t trust yourself then you’ve known me long enough to trust me.”
She tried to pull her fingers away, but I wouldn’t let her. I wasn’t letting her go. “This was about you making a choice, Luke, not me.”
“And I’m telling you that you’re the choice I’m making. The most important choice I’ll ever make.” I slid toward her, our thighs touching, her warmth seeping through to me.
“But—” I pulled her onto my lap, finally having her in my arms, able to breathe in the scent of her, of forever, of home.
“You don’t think I have other options. Maybe you were right. Maybe it seemed all too easy that when Emma and I split, I finally woke up. Perhaps it was. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t the right choice.” Ashleigh would always be the right choice. “And now? You think I don’t have the opportunity to fuck other women? I’ve always known there are other options.”
She winced.
“You’re right; you’ve been right in front of me all these years, and for whatever reason we haven’t happened until now, but I’m not thinking, Ashleigh’s around and available, that would be easy. I’m thinking, what a fucking waste, I’m an idiot. We could have been happy all this time, together.” I scanned her face, trying to read her reaction. Did she understand? “There will never be anyone else for me but you.”
Ashleigh
My head was spinning and my heart was pumping. I’d woken from a dream of Luke to find him at my door less than an hour later. Every sign said it was time. Time to trust him. Time to take a chance. And I’d made that decision before he’d arrived on my doorstep.
Now, sitting so close to him, everything he was saying seemed utterly compelling. He was considered and passionate in equal measures. Part of me wanted simply to fall into his arms, but I was scared. Not because I didn’t believe that he meant what he said, but because I did believe him. This was all I could have wished for from him. Now I was as capable of fucking this up as he was. The thought that I had equal responsibility for this relationship was terrifying. I’d dreamt about this for years. What happened if I messed it up? I had no excuses to turn him away, no more reasons to say no. He was ready. Things felt level between us, which was what I’d wanted.
It was scary as hell.
Luke tucked some hair behind my ear. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I . . .” His hand lowered from my face and I caught it in mine, and his eyes filled with questions. “I’m glad you’re here.” It was time.
Staring at our linked hands, I took in the sounds of our breath synchronizing. Was the impossible actually happening?
“You are?” Luke asked as his fingertips tilted my jaw, forcing my eyes to his. I kept my gaze lowered. “Look at me, Ashleigh.”
Slowly, I did as he asked.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. He moved toward me, running his hands down my neck. “I’m going to kiss you now. Are you ready?”
I was, finally, and I believed he was too.
“Yes, I’m ready.” My breath hitched. This wasn’t to be a drunken kiss at an awards ceremony, or two friends forgetting boundaries for a moment. This was going to mean something.
His lips smoothed across mine, dropping a tiny kiss at the corner of my mouth. I closed my eyes, trying to take it in, but Luke was moving me off him. I blinked and he was standing.
“Here,” he said, holding out his hand. “I’m going to show you how much I missed you.”
My cheeks heated. As soon as I was next to him, his fingers slid around my waist and he buried his head in my neck. “You smell so good. You always do.”
I smiled at his comment. The perfume I wore reminded me of Luke because it smelled of magnolias. I liked that he seemed to drink it in when he was near me. It was as if it bound us together.
He pulled me closer. He was hard against my stomach, and I was relieved not just to hear his words, but to see the evidence of his desire for me. His arms clamped around me, and he began to walk me backward toward my bedroom, bending and kissing my neck at regular intervals on our journey.
We stood beside the bed as he lifted the hem of my T-shirt, skimming my skin with his fingers. Goose bumps covered me as I brought up my arms and he pulled off my top, discarding it behind me. I rested my hands on his chest, feeling the hard shape of him underneath the fabric of his clothes. I looked up to find him smiling. I followed his lead, peeling off his shirt. He gently laid me down, his body over mine.
“Luke?”
As if sensing what I needed from him, he moved to my side, skimming his hand up and down my stomach. “We don’t have to. Not yet if you’re not ready. I just want to be close to you.”
I smiled at him and pushed my hand through his hair. It was floppy, like it had been when he was young. “I’m ready, for you and me, for all of it, I just . . .”
“Ask me anything, I’ll always tell you the truth,” he said, knowing me too well.
“All these women you’ve had the opportunity to fuck . . .” Was it wrong to feel jealous, even though he’d only been doing as I asked?
“I’ve been close, but I’ve not slept with anyone since you.” He dropped a kiss on my chest and then pulled back, giving me time to think.
“Close?”
His eyes closed and he took in a deep breath. “I had a few dates. I mean, you said—”
“I know, and it’s fine. You don’t have to tell me.” I wanted to know.
“I know, but I want you to know everything you need.”
I found his hand and linked my fingers through his, trying to tell him I was okay with whatever he was going to say.
“Fiona and I went out a few times.”
Fiona from work. Fiona the triathlete. I held my breath, waiting for him to fill in the details. “You like her?”
“She’s a great girl, but she’s not you. I don’t feel this,” he said, squeezing my hand, “with her.”
“And she was the one you almost—”
“I realized I couldn’t, didn’t want to. She helped me decide to see you today. To stay until I’d won you over.”
I reached for his jaw, tracing the angles of his face with my fingers.
“What about you?” he asked.
It took me a second to realize what he was getting at. “Umm . . .” I was still distracted by his beautiful face.
“Wow,” he said and fell onto his back.
I leaned across and dropped a kiss on his chest through my smile. “There’s nothing to wow about. Richard and I spent some time together as friends. I think he wanted more, but I was clear that I didn’t.”
Luke sighed as if he were considering whether he could accept what I was saying as the truth.
“There will never be anyone else for me but you.” I repeated his words back to him.
He grabbed my face and crashed his lips against mine. Heat crawled up my skin. He was my best friend but I wanted h
im. My brain, my heart and my body were all competing for his attention.
My body was winning.
He groaned into my mouth and pushed me back, bringing himself on top of me. Showing me what he was feeling, he ground his hips against mine, giving me a promise of what was to come.
“I need to taste you,” he said. I lifted my head to capture his lips again. “No, not there. I want my tongue here,” he said, circling his hips against me again.
He knelt between my legs and looked over my body.
“Luke,” I whispered. What was he doing?
“You’re so beautiful. I’ve been waiting so long for you. I need to savor it, but I can’t wait.” He reached for the button on my jeans and quickly stripped my legs bare, leaving me in just my underwear. “So beautiful. So, so beautiful.” He shook his head as he kicked his trousers and boxers off and crawled over me. Reaching underneath me, he unclasped my bra and pulled it off, then cupped my breasts with both hands. Using the perfect combination of rough and smooth, he alternated palming and pushing each breast, brushing my nipples with his thumbs.
The slickness between my thighs intensified and I brought my knees up, skirting his waist. He fit me so perfectly in every way.
He bent into my neck, the sound of him sucking against my skin sending me wild and making me wriggle underneath him.
I pushed my hands into his hair.
Luke
The feel of her skin under my fingers was close to overwhelming. She felt so good—smelled so good—and now I wanted to see how she tasted. Every inch of her was tempting, trying to divert my attention, but I moved down her body studiously. I wanted to see, smell and taste that she wanted me.
I dropped soft kisses along the top of her underwear, enjoying her gasps as every now and then my tongue dipped below the elastic. When I got to her hipbone, I dragged her panties down, closing my eyes until they were completely free of her legs, so I couldn’t see until I had an entirely unobstructed view.
And there she was. Glistening at her edges.
Waiting, wanting.
It was such a sight, my cock twitched in celebration so hard it was close to painful. It would be some time before I came. I needed to show her what I could do, and why she could never give me up again.
“Spread your legs for me.” The voice echoing in my head was deeper than normal, thick with desire and anticipation. Her eyes darted from my mouth to my dick.
“Spread. Your. Legs.”
Tentatively she parted her knees, and I slid my palms down her thighs, pressing her wider. I had to consciously slow my breathing so I didn’t come right there. She was slick, soaked. I groaned and kissed the top of her slit. My tongue pressed against the nub of nerves. I had to hold her down as her hips pushed against my mouth.
She cried out, my name amongst words that didn’t seem to fit together. The power of being able to make her lose her mind was what I needed. I had to know I could do these things to her.
My tongue trailed lower, between her folds. She was soft and hot and oh-so-wet. Jesus, I couldn’t wait to feel her clenched around my cock. It wouldn’t be long. Her hands pushed violently through my hair and her feet rested on my hips as if she were climbing my body. I started a rhythm, sliding up and down her slit, rounding her clit each time I reached the top. Her breath got shorter and shorter, her sounds louder and louder until her body went rigid and her back arched. The power I felt at being able to do that to her was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. I reduced the pressure of my tongue, but kept up my rhythm until her body went limp, her knees closing around my shoulders.
“I’m going to give up my job and make you come for a living,” I said as I crawled up her body, my cock making her shiver as it trailed up her legs. “It’s the most satisfying thing I could ever do.” I licked my lips, tasting her on me. She grasped my neck and pulled me toward her, unashamedly licking herself off my mouth. Fuck, she was the hottest thing I’d ever known.
“I want you inside me, Luke.”
She didn’t have to ask me twice. I positioned myself at her entrance, checking her reaction. Her lips were open, her eyes wide as she twisted beneath me, trying to get closer, trying to draw me in. I loved seeing the desperation in her eyes, the desire, the need. For me. My heart clenched with the knowledge that I hadn’t lost her. That she was mine.
“You feel this?” I pressed forward. “This is what you’re going to feel for the rest of your life.” I pushed into her in one swift movement, and she let out a deafening cry.
It was as though she was made for me. Her muscles gripped me as if they didn’t want to let go. I dropped my head to her shoulder, growling against her skin. She felt so good. The smell of summer, sex and softness that was unmistakably Ashleigh hit me.
I started to thrust, knowing I was going to have to concentrate if I was going to last longer than fifteen seconds.
“Oh God,” she whispered. I tried to block out the perfect pressure on my cock, her arms gripping my shoulders, her skin beneath my lips, and focus on her words. This. Yes. There. Oh. God. Yes. Oh. Oh. Oh. All that mattered was that she felt good. That I made her feel good. Her nails dug into my flesh, and she thrust her pelvis toward me, calling my name over and over before going limp. I was done for. I picked up my pace, chasing the white light in front of me. How had I waited as long as I had to feel this again? I lifted my head, my eyes meeting hers. In an instant, my orgasm barreled up my spine and split me in half.
I collapsed on top of her, my head in her neck, my body pressing against her. I wanted to feel as much of my skin against hers as was possible. My heart pounded against my chest. I was sure she could feel it. I reached out and laced my fingers through hers, our arms outstretched.
I brushed my lips against her shoulder and was once again intoxicated by her scent. I worked my way to her mouth. “Am I crushing you?” I asked between kisses.
“I don’t know where I end and you begin,” she said.
The idea warmed me. We were inextricably linked.
Worried about my weight, I rolled us over so I was on my back but still inside her. I wasn’t sure if it was conscious, but her muscles continued to pulse around my cock. I started to stiffen.
“You feel so good,” I said, running my fingers up and down her back. “You’re going to have me hard again if you’re not careful.”
She pushed herself up, her hands pressing into my chest, her arms squeezing her tits together. Jesus, all these years and I’d never realized how incredible her tits were. There was so much about her I was still to learn. I shoved one hand behind my head, content just to watch her for the rest of the day, as she lay naked on top of me. She smiled at me and started to tilt her hips, rocking back and forth in tiny movements, maybe thinking I wouldn’t notice. I raised my eyebrows, silently asking what she was doing as her muscles gripped my dick, pulling it deeper into her.
“I need to come again, baby, are you with me? I need you to come again.” She seemed insatiable, and I was happy to spend however long it took quenching her thirst.
I grabbed hold of her hips, and pulled her roughly onto my hardened dick. “I want to know what you like. I want to give you everything you need.”
“I need you,” she said. “Just you.”
Words in bed had never been a particular turn on to me. Like most men, I concentrated on the visual stuff—a nice ass, a good mouth. Everything about Ashleigh was a turn on. But her words, that she needed me, and the way she said them, as if my body were pulling them from her—it was the most powerful aphrodisiac I’d ever experienced.
She continued to look at me as she rocked back and slowly heated the blood in my veins. I’d never felt so relaxed and at the same time so ready to explode.
My eyes kept dropping to her tits bouncing with her movements. “You’re a boob man,” she said as if she were taking note for later. I reached for them, grazing my thumbs over her hard nipples. Her head dropped back as she groaned.
“There’s nothing ab
out your body I don’t worship.” I’d never felt so sure about anything. I’d missed just watching her, seeing every part of her.
She took one of my hands and moved it to where our bodies joined. I loved how she asked for what she wanted. I pressed lightly on her clit and her words got more fervent. I savored every yes, every more, every oh, every there, every please. I wanted every one of her words. I knew what it was not to have them—I’d never take them for granted.
A sheen of sweat coated her as my fingers became wetter and wetter, and her movements became faster and sharper.
“Luke,” she cried. I pulled her down, claiming her mouth and pushing my tongue against hers as I held her hips and thrust up into her. I took over, unable to hold back any longer. She whimpered into my mouth for just a few seconds before I felt her spasm around me, and I poured myself into her.
She lay in my arms, panting and relaxed. I couldn’t imagine being any happier than I was at that exact moment.
Ashleigh
I woke so hot I thought I had a fever. As I opened my eyes, the brightness surprised me. I lay facing the window—my curtains were open. Realization crept up on me. Luke. I must have fallen asleep after . . . Oh, yes, the sex. I could still feel the shadows of him between my legs and over my skin. Right now his arm was across my shoulder, his leg over mine as if he were trying to climb me, capture me. I grinned and cupped my hand over my mouth. No, no grinning. I had to figure out what this meant. It had all been so sudden. Well, maybe not sudden, but the timing was unexpected. He’d been resolute, decisive. His words replayed in my head.
There will never be anyone else for me but you.
I knew that was how I felt about him. But could it really be how he felt about me? I grinned to myself again. Maybe it could. He and Emma had been apart for months now, and as he’d told me, he had an opportunity to choose someone else and hadn’t. Time had helped me as well. Luke was laid back enough that he wanted an easy life, but not so much so that he’d risk the bond Haven, he and I shared if he wasn’t serious about me, about us. I was able to see that more clearly now.