“Do four-year olds like the beach?” I saw the glimmer in her eye.
“You’re amazing. Do you know that?”
She smirked. “Why?”
“Because you don’t know anything about it, and you’re already all in. How did I get so fucking lucky a second time?”
She twisted her lips together. “This is going to go straight to your head, but you are a hot dad.”
“Really? I like that title than being a hot billionaire.” I tugged on the edge of her shirt. “Do you know hot I like things?” I winked.
Her hands raised toward the ceiling as I dragged the shirt over her head.
“You’re so damn sexy,” I growled.
I lifted her from the barstool and sat her on the corner of the counter. I shoved my boxer briefs to the floor. My cock sprung free, bobbing between her legs. I saw the hungry look in her eyes when she saw how ready I was for her. My perfect Journey.
I would suffocate if I wasn’t inside her. She was my oxygen. My light.
I spread her legs as I pulled her ass to the edge of the counter. The truth was bringing us closer together. The one thing that had torn us apart was searing our souls into one.
Journey dug her heels into my back as I thrust my cock inside her hot velvet walls.
“Fuck,” I groaned, gripping her lower back.
She leaned back, jutting her tits forward. I never felt anything like her. She clutched my dick like she owned it. Her walls were a vise and I was her prisoner. I was ready to spend the rest of the day fucking her senseless on the kitchen counter.
“Oh shit, Ashe,” she whimpered as I hammered into her. I had a great angle on my feet, pumping inside her with certain strokes.
“You feel so good.” I buried myself inside her. This perfect woman. The woman I’d risked everything for. The woman I’d never leave again.
Her nails clawed into my back as I picked up the pace, driving us closer to our orgasms.
“I-I’m going to…” Her eyes closed and I watched as she came in my arms.
I only wanted to fuck her more. Love her more.
She vibrated and fluttered around my cock as she climaxed with gulps and screams. Her toes curled around me and I felt my spine cinch around the point of no return. The lightning sensation rammed into my balls before I exploded inside her.
“Oh fuck, baby,” I howled, reveling in how fucking fantastic it felt to be inside her like this.
I pressed my forehead to hers. She lowered her legs and I wrapped my arms around her.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“For what?” She panted.
“For understanding. For accepting I’m a dad.”
Her eyes closed. “It’s a lot to process, but I’m excited to meet her, Ashe. Really, I am.”
“You sure you don’t want to stay at Big Bear longer than today?” I teased. “I promise you’ll never stop coming if we stay here.”
She sighed. “Don’t tempt me.”
I lifted her from the counter, cradling her to my chest.
“Now what?” she asked sleepily.
“Now we shower.”
She nodded. “And morning nap?”
“Whatever you want.” I started down the hall.
She took my face in her hands and gazed deep into my eyes as we stopped in front of the master suite. “I want this, Asher. This is what I’ve always wanted. I wanted you to come back to me.”
My chest contorted with the pain I had caused her. The pain I had put us through.
“I’m back and I’m not going anywhere.”
Fourteen
Journey
He had a daughter. A child. A little person in the world with half his DNA. I couldn’t deny the pain the news caused me. I was caught off guard. I was shocked. I wondered how I had managed to exist for two years without knowing something so crucial and important had happened in Asher’s life.
I had wanted that dream for us. Only, when we were together I had never stopped to consider when. The future was such a vague and nebulous concept for me. I handled one project at a time. One script. One movie. I hadn’t penciled in time to have a baby. There was no good time to have a baby in Hollywood.
I knew Asher hadn’t done this without me. It wasn’t as if we fought about it. Or disagreed about the timing. I wanted to have his baby. I did, I just never committed to it. I thought it would happen one day.
Asher’s plunge into fatherhood happened before me. He had a past that was filled with dark memories and mistakes. I had accepted that when I fell in love with him. But this? A little girl?
He walked into the bathroom as I applied the last strokes of mascara.
“All the bags are packed,” he announced. “Are you sure you want to leave? We could stay longer and track that mama bear.”
I laughed. “I don’t believe that for a second.”
“Smart girl.” He strolled toward me. “I won’t let you near that bear.”
I placed the tube of mascara on the counter as Asher’s arms circled my waist. “Tell me something about her.”
“The bear? They eat honey, and insects I guess.”
I slapped him on the chest. “No. About Avajean. What is she like?”
“She’s into super heroes. But she likes all the women. Supergirl. Wonder Woman. Poison Ivy.”
“Poison Ivy is not a hero,” I teased.
He chuckled. “She doesn’t care. She likes the ones who don’t need to be rescued.”
“Sounds a lot like her father. Have you ever been rescued?”
He tilted his head to the side. “Once,” he answered.
“When?” I challenged.
“When I met you.” His eyes darkened. “You’re why the nightmares stopped. You brought me back from the edge and you didn’t even know it.”
“Oh.” I didn’t know how to answer him.
“But yes, I guess she’s like me a little. She also knows how to make a mean mud pie.”
I giggled. “It sounds like you’ve tasted the mud pie.”
“Only in the land of make believe.” He waggled his eyebrows. “I try to leave a lot of that stuff to Nicole.”
“Who is Nicole?” There was that uncomfortable wave of jealousy again.
“Avajean’s nanny. She’s great with her. She travels with her at all times.”
In my mind Nicole was a perfect twenty-something blond with big boobs and a tiny waist. I already disliked her and it was completely unfair.
“Oh, I see.”
Asher tipped my chin forward. “She needs a mother, J. A real mother.”
My heart started to race. I could practically feel the sweat on my palms. We were charging ahead like a runaway roller coaster. Were we about to do one of those spirals where we would flip upside down?
“A mother?”
He grinned. “Someone smart and funny. Gentle and kind. Someone who is down to earth, but confident in designer couture. Someone like you.” He pressed his lips to mine and I fell into the kiss.
“Me?” I mumbled as my arms circled his neck.
He nodded. “Too fast, too soon?”
It was. Everything we did was, but I couldn’t say no. It felt right. Being back together felt like the world was once again in balance.
“No, I want to meet your daughter,” I purred.
“Ok. Let’s get you to the next safe house.”
And that’s when I remembered that with this beautiful new love story we were writing, there was still a nightmare waiting for an ending.
Fifteen
Journey
I knew Asher didn’t like my idea. It was clear from the scowl on his face, but Asher swore this time we’d listen to each other. It wasn’t a one-way street anymore. We were on new footing. This was our second chance.
I felt as if we were in an armored vehicle as we rolled out from the Big Bear cabin. And we probably were. Asher had access to the most elite security devices and systems. During dinner last night, he explained how his first private sec
urity contract landed him a million dollars. After that, he branched out, moving into body armor, weapons, and cyber tech. His experience in the military and stint in celebrity private security, provided him insight few security experts had. He was one step ahead of everyone.
His hand was on my thigh in the backseat of the car. He dug into his suit jacket and held up my phone.
“I get it back?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, yes.” There was a line between his eyebrows. “But I encrypted it. So if any of those emails come in, they automatically alert my phone. Nothing goes through Dante anymore.”
“Did you tell him this?”
“Dante is going to learn there is a new set of rules.”
I eyed Asher. “He isn’t trying to get in your way, you know. He has a job to do.”
“Good. Then we should be on the same page.”
“That means you’re going to my dress fittings?” I teased.
He laughed. “I’ve been to a few of those.”
I saw the glimmer in his eyes. My cheeks heated. He was remembering the same moment I was. The first time we had sex was in a dressing room. The seamstress had left me with a broken zipper and no way out of the beaded fabric. I had called for help and Asher had run in, thinking I was in actual distress. The way he looked at me, I didn’t have to ask for help with the zipper. He was going to devour me. We had been dancing around it for months.
Sexual tension like that was tangible. I knew it was going to get us in trouble when I hired him.
He locked the dressing room door. Within minutes, the designer gown was on the floor and Asher was buried inside me. I’d never experienced anything like him. A man so primal. So raw with his emotion. He was strong and powerful. My heart never had a chance.
“Madame Karina isn’t going to like it if you defile her Oscar dress.”
“What about the dressing room?” His voice was flat.
I swallowed hard. Oh, God. What was he doing? His fingers rounded to the inside of my thigh.
“You don’t want to be responsible for an old woman’s heart attack.”
His fingers ran under my skirt, sliding under my panties.
I closed my eyes, leaning into the leather seat for support.
“No. I don’t.”
He pushed a finger inside me and I squirmed. “Or our driver’s,” I argued.
“The shield is up. He won’t know a thing.”
He sank another finger inside me, curling it upward.
“Oh shit,” I hissed.
He groaned. “Fuck. You make me hard.”
I smiled. “I do?” I reached out, feeling the erection stretching under his charcoal pants. “I can do something about that.”
I moved faster than he expected and landed on the floor between his knees.
“J.” He eyed me.
“What?” I teased.
I reached for the button and zipper on his pants. My hand moved inside until I clasped his cock and freed it. He sighed.
I leaned forward, tasting the tip with my tongue. His hands combed through my hair and settled at the back of my head.
I teased his cock with my tongue, swirling up and down his long shaft as if it were a lollipop. He jerked his hips when my mouth covered the head.
“Mmm,” I moaned, tasting the salty sweetness of his cock.
He thrust forward and I took him inside my mouth, adjusting to how big he was. He wanted to go deep. He wanted to hit the back of my throat, but I was out of practice. I needed to ease into it. I sucked hungrily, hearing him grunt with satisfaction each time I took him farther in my mouth. My muscles started to relax.
“I love it when you do that,” he growled.
My eyes locked on his as I mastered the final stroke and sucked him to the deepest part of my throat. There was a sense of accomplishment spurring me on as I brought him to his climax.
“Fuck,” he groaned. “Oh shit, J.”
He jerked as I latched at the base of his cock and settled in to suck until he came. He pressed his hands into my head and I mewed into his groin, loving that I could do this to him.
His spine tightened and I knew what was coming. He grunted, as I sucked hard and his release sputtered, running down my throat. I drank without mercy, swallowing and gulping until he closed his eyes and sank into the seat.
“Shit. That was incredible.”
I wiped my mouth and crawled into the seat next to him. “I love doing that.”
He grinned. “That makes two of us.” Asher pushed himself in his pants and fastened them.
I looked out the window as the trees from Big Bear faded behind us. L.A. was on the horizon and just beyond that was the beach house. I had argued that before I did anything else, I was going to visit Tristan.
Asher’s phone beeped. He looked at me. “I need to get this.”
I nodded. “It’s ok. I’m going to text Dante we’re on the way.” I had mixed emotions about having access to my phone again. It had been nice to have a break.
Asher answered quickly and launched into a tense conversation about a prototype that didn’t sound like it was working. It would take time, but eventually our lives would blend together again.
Only this time I realized it wasn’t going to be as easy.
Asher had been in every aspect of my life. He was next to me at every event. He was in the car wherever I drove. He slept in my bed wherever I stayed. And it was because I was the center of the relationship.
This new world we were creating wasn’t going to revolve around movie star Journey Tessier. This time I was the one who had to figure out how to navigate him—and Avajean.
I listened to him bark orders on the phone and I realized as much as I loved him, as much as I knew him—there was a side of him that was a stranger to me now. I had to take time to learn. He was a father.
Sixteen
Asher
I didn’t like the idea of Journey stopping at the hospital on the way home. It was too public. The security was too lax, and she was too recognizable. The fact that she had gone into hiding would only make it worse if someone spotted her.
There was a fevered frenzy about her that had grown since the attack. This was not anything I would approve as the CEO of Westbrook Securities or as a bodyguard for that matter.
But I was trying to be the kind of man who was less domineering and more like a partner.
I had my Westbrook Securities driver deposit us at one of the back entrances. Two agents met us at the service entrance, holstered and ready to shield Journey if needed.
I stepped out of the car first and scanned the perimeter. This part of the hospital was secluded. It was a common route for celebrities to use when they were discharged.
The agents nodded at me as they flanked the door.
I guided Journey inside.
“Is all this necessary?” she asked. “It feels a little overboard.”
I folded my sunglasses and tucked them inside my jacket. “If you want to go to public places, then yes,” I answered.
We walked through the corridors and to a side elevator.
Tristan had been moved from ICU and was in a regular patient room. I punched the button for the third floor. He condition had been upgraded. That was the good news.
Journey wrung her hands together.
“It’s going to be ok,” I tried to reassure her. “He’ll be happy to see you.”
She nodded. “I don’t know why I’m so nervous.”
The elevator stopped, but I held the door closed for a brief second. “You and Tristan survived something horrific together. It’s normal that seeing him is going to bring that up. You don’t have to do this until you’re ready. No one is asking you to push yourself. It’s ok if you want to wait a little while longer.”
Her eyes flared. “I am. I’m asking myself. That man deserves a thank you. He deserves a car or a yacht. I don’t know, anything that a person deserves for saving someone’s life. I can put aside my own anxiety for twenty minutes to
tell him that.”
She stuck her chin forward and I knew her mind was made up. I’d seen that look too many times before to try to talk her out of it. If seeing her trainer brought darkness to her, I’d hold her. If the nightmares returned tonight, I’d fight them for her. She wasn’t in this alone.
I let the door go and we strolled into the hallway. Tristan’s room was closest to the nurses’ station.
I saw a flicker of recognition on some of the nurses’ faces as Journey walked past, but they were used to stars. They weren’t the ones I was worried about.
Journey tapped on the door and it swung open.
“Are you up for visitors?” she asked, peeking her head inside.
Tristan grinned. For a second I had to put myself in check and remember this man had almost died saving her. I hadn’t expected him to look like a damn Greek god.
Even in a hospital gown, he was all hard muscle. I frowned as I stood next to the door. I didn’t miss the adoring look on his face when he saw Journey.
“Journey.” He grinned. “Look at you, love.”
She leaned over his bed, kissing him on each cheek.
“How are you? I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner.” She pulled up a rolling stool and planted herself next to him. “What do you need? What can I get you?”
“I was asleep for most of the week so you didn’t miss anything.” He had perfect white t
“But still. I wanted to say thank you.” She choked, and I had to fight the urge to rush toward her and power her through this. “You saved my life, Tristan. I don’t know if I can ever say thank you enough.” I saw a tear land on his hand.
“No. No.” He shook his head. “It all happened so fast. It was just instinct I guess. You don’t have to thank me. Maybe do a few extra squats at the club.” He winked. “You’ve got to keep that body toned. Right?”
Journey giggled.
That was it. I had gone from wanting to comfort Journey to wanting to punch the trainer. I moved slowly, my fists loose at my side. No shit he wanted to watch her do squats. She had an incredible ass.
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