by Vivian Wood
“I’m a bigger, badder predator than anything else out here, I assure you,” Asher told her.
“Asher, I can’t swim!” Kira said, her apparent terror growing by the moment.
Asher faltered for a moment, wrapping an arm around her waist to steady her.
“What do you mean?” he asked, astonished.
“I mean I can’t fucking swim! If you let go, I will drown!” Kira howled. “Take me back to the shore!”
“I got you,” he said, shocked to his core. “It’s okay. I won’t let you go.”
“You promise?” Kira asked, her face pressed against the side of his neck.
“Of course,” Asher said. “Look, I’ll bring you back to the shallow water, okay?”
He waded back toward the shore where the water was only waist deep, and convinced Kira to climb down and stand on her own.
“This isn’t so bad,” she said after a while, scrunching up her face as she stared out across the water.
Asher could only laugh. Kira, ever full of surprises.
They passed several hours like that, standing in the water for a while then returning to their chairs for more champagne. When the bright afternoon sun started beating down on them, Asher suggested that they return to the gazebo for lunch.
They trudged back up the beach, Asher steadying Kira against the bottle-and-a-half of champagne they’d each consumed. When they got back to the gazebo, a gorgeous lunch tray awaited, full of finger foods and fresh fruit.
They fell on the food, famished from their morning of play. Once they were full, Asher spread out a bunch of blankets on one of the big futons and pronounced it time for a rest.
“Yeah, all the champagne and fresh watermelon really wears you out,” Kira said, rolling her eyes. Still, when Asher sprawled out on half the futon, she lay down next to him without complaint.
“This is nice,” Asher said, sliding his gaze over to Kira. “It could be like this all the time, you know.”
Kira huffed a laugh.
“This is like… a fantasy day,” Kira said. “We had to make a truce just to hang out together, Asher. This isn’t real life.”
“What if we make this real life?” Asher challenged, propping himself up on his elbow. “We could just… buy a place on the beach somewhere. Start fresh.”
Kira studied him for a full minute without speaking. Her lips pressed together hard, and Asher knew she wasn’t going to make things easy for him.
“Have you changed your mind, then?” Kira asked, cutting right to the heart of the matter. “Decided that suddenly you want a mate, that you want to be tied to someone? Ball and chain?”
Asher opened his mouth, unsure how to respond, and Kira arched a brow.
“Don’t talk around it,” she warned him. “Just tell me. Yes or no, Ash. Do you want a mate? Do you want me?”
“It’s not that simple,” Asher sighed.
Kira gave a growl of frustration and started to get up, but Asher reached out and snaked an arm around her waist.
“Come here,” he demanded.
“Asher, no! We know where this leads. You just said you don’t want me, and I don’t want my heart trampled again. I don’t even know why you’d bother with all this if you don’t… You know what, it doesn’t matter. Just… take me back to Baton Rouge.”
Asher didn’t listen. He never did, not when it came to Kira. Dragging her atop his body, he settled her to straddle his hips. He surged up and pulled her head down until their lips met, capturing her in a searing kiss.
Kira gave a soft sigh and rolled her hips against his, their tongues meeting in a soft moment of exploration. Asher moved boldly against her, letting her feel every inch of his thickening erection, showing her with his body what his mouth never seemed able to say.
Without even knowing his own actions, Asher tugged aside the skimpy bit of fabric covering Kira’s left breast. Her full, creamy mound felt so perfect in his hand, the lush pink tip pebbling as he laved it with his tongue.
Asher moaned against her soft flesh, his need quickly rising, his bear roaring for the chance at release, desperate to sink deep into Kira and claim her forever.
Though it nearly killed him, Asher slowed and pulled back. Kira bit her lip and pulled away further, covering herself. Her skin was flushed, her lips swollen and damp. Fuck, it hurt not to take things further, physically hurt.
“It’s not a matter of want,” Asher said after a moment, his voice gone to gravel. “Obviously.”
“Oh, Asher,” Kira said, shaking her head. “I didn’t mean physical want. God, if only it was that. I can change what’s on the outside, but I can’t change who I am. How does the song go? ‘I can’t make you love me, if you don’t’…”
“It’s not about you,” Asher growled, reaching out and trying to bring her closer. Kira pushed his hand away. “You don’t understand—”
“And you can’t explain! We’ve been through this before, Asher. There is no point.” Kira got up and grabbed the tote with her clothes. “I’m going to change. I want you to take me home.”
Asher watched the bathroom door slam, cursing to himself. The day had been so nice, until he’d taken things too far. Though she’d given him the perfect opportunity to tell her just why they couldn’t be together, Asher couldn’t do it.
Clenching his jaw, Asher stood up and began to pack up their belongings. It was going to be a long, silent drive back to New Orleans.
Kira stirred, her sleep restless. She woke gradually, responding to something that had penetrated the wild depths of her dreams. When she opened her eyes and sat up, the guest bedroom was perfectly still.
What had awakened her?
Just as she was about to roll over and try to go back to sleep, she heard a muffled sound. Low, quiet… but certainly a man’s voice. It came again, and again, then went dead.
It was Asher; the sound of his voice was deeply ingrained somewhere in Kira’s heart. He’d sounded… anguished.
Slipping out of the bed in her oversized sleep shirt and bare feet, Kira moved out into the hallway. There was no sound now, and Kira wondered if she’d imagined it. After all, she hadn’t seen Asher in several days. After their fight at the beach, Kira had sought him out. Cairn, Mere Marie’s gossipy black cat, had seemed more than happy to inform Kira that Asher had volunteered for double patrols, meaning he was out of the Manor for fifteen hours a day, every day.
Kira turned to head back to her room, figuring Asher was gone again and that she was hearing things. Before she could take another step, the sound came again. Soft but urgent, his voice pulled at her like a magnet.
She crept up to Asher’s door and pressed her ear against the wood. There, she could hear it… Asher was calling out in his sleep, but she couldn’t quite make it out.
Mouth gone dry, Kira turned the knob and pushed the door open. His room was dark, with only a little moonlight coming in the windows, and there was no way to check on him from the doorway. Sucking in a breath to calm her nerves, Kira tiptoed toward his bed.
Soon she was looking down at Asher, tangled in the sheets, a few strips of moonlight illuminating his face.
“Kira, no,” Asher whispered, making her flinch. She started to back away, but Asher mumbled something else.
Biting her lip, Kira leaned in to see him more closely. He was dead asleep, from what she could tell.
“Asher?” she asked softly. “Are you okay?”
He shifted, face turning toward the sound of her voice.
“Don’t go, Kira. Don’t go,” Asher gasped. His voice was strained, his pain evident, and it made her heart clench.
He reached out a hand blindly, grasping… and Kira put her hand in his, like a perfect fool.
“Kira!” Asher cried. In the next moment, Asher yanked her hand and brought her tumbling down onto the bed in an awkward pile. Face to face with her supposed fated mate, Kira struggled to breathe as Asher wrapped his arms around her and gave her a crushing hug.
“Ash—”
“I love you,” Asher declared, his lips descending onto hers.
Kira stiffened in his embrace, but Asher was oblivious. His kiss was hungry and demanding, though he likely had no idea that she was even present. And the declaration of love…
Asher loosened his grasp on her, sliding his open palm up her thigh, her hip, under her night shirt. Kira was too surprised to resist as his tongue worked against hers. His hand cupped her breast, fingers teasing her nipple, sending bone-melting waves of heat through her whole body. A distinct ache formed between her thighs, her core dampening as Asher touched her, kissed her.
Half of her mind was caught up in the wrongness of it, of letting him do this in his sleep. The other half was on fire, and wanted more of his touch. God, did she ever want him to touch her, make her explode in the way that only Asher ever could.
Asher’s hand left her breast and trailed a blazing path down her stomach, fingertips trailing over her thin cotton panties. A single thick fingertip teased her lower lips through the fabric, setting her aflame.
“Fuck, Kira, you’re so hot,” Asher groaned. “I’ve waited for you, baby.”
Kira bit her lip and watched him closely, trying to determine whether he had any notion of what was happening. Was this just a pleasant dream for him?
Curious, she pushed back the sheet covering his torso and legs. Kira startled when she found him buck naked and fully aroused, his cock jutting proudly up toward his navel. She’d seen it before, of course, but when she was younger she’d been much too timid to explore his incredible body. She’d only touched his cock a few times, and even then Asher usually pulled away, wanting to wait.
For what? She wondered now.
Asher continued to tease her, alternating between licking and pinching her nipples and running his fingers over her sex through her panties. Licking her lips nervously, she reached out and ran her fingertips along the hard length of him, grinning when he hissed and thrust up toward her hand.
Closing her fingers around his thick girth, Kira moved her hand up and down his length in slow, lazy strokes.
“Fuck!” Asher said, going rigid. “Feels so good.”
He pushed her panties down, abandoning his teasing touch, and sought her mouth for another kiss. Kira shuddered at the sensations slamming her body: Asher finding her clit and tracing soft circles, driving her crazy; the feel of his cock in her hand as she stroked him, thinking of what it would be like to have him inside her body, stretching and filling her completely, making her cry out with the pleasure and the pain of it; his insistent kiss, tongue thrusting against hers, lips working their magic.
Asher’s body grew taut, the thick crown of his cock slicking with precum, and Kira loved it. Wanted him to come, or maybe to fuck her, or…
Asher growled and grabbed her hand, pulling her away from his body though he was clearly on the brink of release. He dragged Kira’s hand up over her head, pinning it there with his, making it clear that he wanted her to be still.
When Asher pressed two long fingers into her core, Kira cried out. She hadn’t been touched like this in a long time, so long that she’d forgotten how good it could be. Asher filled her and withdrew, over and over, his thumb circling her clit.
He drove her upward, upward… Kira rocked her hips into his touch, biting her lip to hold in the scream that was building up in her throat. She was burning. Molten heat radiated through her veins, threatening to consume her, ruin her…
Kira bucked as she came, her body clenching and tightening and spasming around Asher’s fingers. She was lost, falling, free… It seemed to go on and on.
When her release finally faded, Asher dropped hot kisses against the curve of her neck, making her shiver. Already, the barest touch from him and she wanted more.
“Asher, are you awake?” Kira asked, her words sounding like a plea. She needed him to be awake, needed him to complete her in the most basic way. She wanted to be beneath his big body, nails raking his back as he filled her with his seed. “Asher?”
Asher mumbled something, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close. He was still hard, his cock thick against her thigh, but Kira could sense that he wasn’t seeking anything more from her.
“Mate,” Asher ground out, his lips brushing her collarbone. “Mmm. Mine, my Kira.”
He rolled onto his back, settling Kira against his side. Kira heaved a sigh, unwilling to think of the implications of what had just passed. He’d given her pleasure, but she wasn’t sure how present he’d been during the act.
“You’ll be my first.”
Kira frowned and looked up at Asher. What the hell had he just said? Her mouth twisted as she tried to figure it out. She must have heard him wrong.
After what he’d just done with his fingers, Kira was dead certain that Asher had more than his share of experience with making women come. She laid her head on his shoulder, careful not to fall asleep. Soon, Asher relaxed, seeming to slip into a deeper slumber. He didn’t make a sound, presumably satisfied on some level.
Only when the moonlight receded in favor of the stark gray light of dawn did Kira slip from his bed and return to her own, drowning in a thousand questions and uncertainties.
7
Chapter Seven
Asher lay on his back, staring up at his bedroom ceiling. At the moment, he was trying to have a little tete-a-tete with his raging libido, some half-hearted attempt to calm himself enough to sleep. He rolled onto his side with a groan, the silk sheets caressing his bare skin, tormenting him.
Not just the silken slide against his body, either. His sheets smelled like Kira, specifically the way she smelled when she was aroused. It was impossible to sleep with that scent filling his nose, making him think of all the ways he wanted to fuck her. For the last week he’d managed to run himself ragged between patrolling and sparring with the other Guardians. So much so that Rhys had ordered Asher to take the whole day off and rest.
Now, Asher wished he’d ignored Rhys’s command. He’d slept all afternoon, giving his sleep-starved body what it needed. Now that need was filled, and Asher’s whacked-out mating hormones were in control.
Making his life total hell, basically.
Letting out a pent-up breath, Asher wrapped his hand around his cock. Since Kira arrived at the Manor, he’d resisted jerking off. It felt lame, knowing that she was so close by. But now he was genuinely starting to worry about the state of his balls, since he’d basically walked around hard and ready for two weeks straight.
He had to blow off some steam somehow.
Clenching his jaw, Asher worked his fist up and down his length, his touch fast and angry. Asher’s desires were rough and primal, one more reason why he’d never taken Kira back in Union City. Sweet little virgin that she was, she hadn’t deserved the kind of fucking that Asher so desperately wanted to give her.
The thought of Kira sent Asher into a deep spiral, imagining all the ways he wanted to fuck her, how hard he wanted to pound her tight body, the way he’d make her scream his name.
Asher heard a sound and cracked open one eye, wondering if Cairn had snuck into his rooms again. But no… Not twenty feet away was Kira, staring at him like he’d grown six heads and spoken Aramaic.
Asher’s hand stilled, and for a moment he genuinely felt ashamed. His bear knew that Asher should only get off when Kira did, and Asher gave a disgusted sigh.
Then he snapped back to reality, where Kira was in his room, in the middle of the night, unbidden. Something wasn’t right here, and the fault lay squarely with his sexy blonde mate.
“S-sorry,” Kira sputtered, turning. “I’m leaving.”
“Wait a second,” Asher growled, rising from the bed still butt naked. “Get back here.”
“No, it’s okay—”
Kira let out a yelp when Asher grabbed her and dragged her back to his bed, tossing her on the mattress. He remained standing, crossing his arms and glaring down at her.
“Why are you in my room, Kira?”
Kira bit her bottom lip, distracting him for a moment.
“Well… I kind of thought… well, I hoped…” She paused, looking guilty. “You don’t remember anything, do you?”
Asher cocked his head, trying to understand.
“What am I supposed to remember, exactly?” he asked, temper flaring. Kira was right here, in his bed. Her gaze kept dropping to admire his body, and he could smell her interest. And yet, they needed to have this stupid conversation instead of doing what they both obviously wanted to do. Needed to do, at least in his case.
“Ummmm…” Kira avoided his gaze.
“Does it have something to do with why your scent is all over my sheets? Hmm?” Asher knelt on the edge of the bed, reaching out to grasp Kira’s wrist.
“Yes,” she said, unshed tears blooming in her eyes. “You have… dreams. You call out for me. So… I come in here. And we… you…”
Asher wasn’t sure whether to laugh or rage at her cringing expression.
“What is it that I do, exactly?” he asked, though he had a good enough idea. The thick layer of Kira’s aroused scent made some of it pretty damned clear.
“You kiss me. Touch me,” she said, pulling from his grasp. She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them, her cheeks burning bright red. “You won’t let me… release you. I thought… I thought maybe this was the only way you could be with me. I guess even in your sleep you don’t want me that way.”
She reached up and brushed away a fat tear that broke away and rolled down her cheek, looking like the very definition of misery. Asher rose from the bed with a groan, trying to take in all the craziness at once. Kira was so insecure about him, it was painful to watch.
The worst part was that she had good reason to be; Asher did that to her. Broke a little piece of her, early in her life, left her like a butterfly with a damaged wing.
He turned and grabbed a pair of dark boxer briefs, stepping into them before returning to the bed. This wasn’t a good conversation to have completely naked.
“Kira, come here,” he said, sitting down next to her. She flinched and turned her head away, so he reached out and took her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. “Look at me, sweetheart.”