by Lila Veen
“Why would you sneak out?” Ash asks. “There are at least twenty people living in this house at all times, there’s no way you’ll manage to sneak out unnoticed. Definitely not the morning after a party. For all I know, it’s still happening.”
“We kind of missed it, didn’t we?” I say. “Sorry about that.” He leans over to kiss me, pulling me close to him and I feel his hot skin against my own. I’m still naked and I feel his erection pressing against me, but I shrink back. “Ash-“
“I’m not doing anything,” he says softly, his lips moving against my own. “But you’re making me crazy with wanting you.”
“You’ll have me,” I say. “I can still make you happy, though.” I reach down to take him in my hand. The moment I touch him, he drags my lower lip in between his own, sucking it in gently. His cock is hot and hard in my hand and I slowly rub the small wet spot with my thumb. I spread the moisture around until my hand can comfortably glide over it. “Feel good?”
“Very,” he whispers. “But it’s impossible not to touch you back. To me, that’s like torture.”
“So touch me back,” I say. In response, his hands snake around my waist and run over my hips, making me shiver and moan in anticipation. I want him, want him to release everything that’s building up inside of me, but every time he looms over me I picture a man in a mask, and then another one, and then I can’t breathe. Suddenly and without warning, I sit up.
“What’s wrong?” he asks me.
“Sit up,” I tell him. He looks confused but does as he’s told. I straddle him and take his cock in my hand. “I want you so much,” I tell him. “And it’s going to happen.” I move him until the head of his cock is resting against me, then I push. I feel his hardness plunge inside of me, making my lower belly burn with pleasure. “Yes,” I whisper. “That’s better.”
“You’re sure?” he asks me, and I nod. We sit as close as we possibly can, our arms each pressing each other closer, foreheads touching. He begins to kiss me with such ardor and I kiss back with the same intensity, as though we’ve waited our entire lives to become one. We have waited our entire lives, in fact. I rock my hips against his and his hands grip my behind, directing my motions gently. I entwine my hands in his hair, pulling his face down to kiss my neck and my shoulders. His hand comes between us and I feel his thumb pressing on my clit, rubbing softly, but hard enough to bring me closer and closer. Finally, I let myself cry out as he brings me to orgasm. I feel him bite gently down on my shoulder as I come, pressing my body against his. He follows seconds later, pulsing inside of me, not making any noise but showing with his face that he feels just as he made me feel seconds before.
We sit pressed and locked together for what seems like forever and no time at all. Outside of this room, there is nothing, and I wish I could stay inside of Ash’s room forever, making love to him all day long. “Why not?” I find myself saying out loud.
“Why not what?” he asks, lifting his head and looking at me curiously with those blazing black eyes.
“Aren’t you supposed to be able to read my mind?” I ask him, teasingly.
He shakes his head. “I’m not a water elemental. That’s never something I’ll be able to do.”
I smile and push that damned lock of loose hair away from his eyes. “I was just thinking about how I want to stay in this room with you forever.”
He grins and takes my hair and tucks it behind my ears on both sides. “That might have to happen, considering you have nothing to wear other than that damned costume that drove me insane last night.”
“Well with twenty people living in this house,” I say, “I’m sure we could scrounge up something.”
“Sure,” Ash agrees. “Just let me know what you’d like and we can have it sent in, along with breakfast.”
“Oh, it’s like a hotel here,” I exclaim, clapping my hands together. He laughs and pulls me down so we are laying side by side against the pillows. He hasn’t pulled out of me yet. “Can we order anything we want?”
“Sure,” Ash nods, pressing his hips against mine one more time, making me inhale sharply. He grins and then pulls out, leaving me empty and feeling his seed leaking out of me and onto my thigh. I don’t care, though, because it’s from him. “But order within reason,” he tells me. “If you want an abalone stuffed duck, you might need to wait a few hours.”
“Yuck,” I say. “How about crepes? And some running clothes so we can tour the vineyards?”
“Easy,” Ash says. He picks up the phone next to his bed. “Hi James. Can you have Michelle bring up some crepes and some running clothes that are weather appropriate to fit Miss Holt? Thank you.” He hangs up the phone, leaving me speechless and impressed.
Twenty minutes later, I’m sitting in bed wearing one of Ash’s t-shirts and boxer briefs and eating crepes smothered in crème fraise and strawberries and powdered sugar. “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
“I think we’re going to need to run a few extra miles just to work these carbs off,” Ash says. “Or we could work it off another way.”
“We’ll do both,” I say, leaning over the lap tray and kissing him, hard. His hands cup my face and his lips trace my jaw, sending shivers of pleasure through me.
“I have a feeling we’re never getting out of this bed today,” Ash says, tracing his fingers down and over my breast. My phone rings in my purse, making me groan with annoyance.
“It’s probably my mother, finding out why I didn’t come home last night,” I say, breaking away from Ash and heading over to my clutch on the coffee table. I feel like I’m a kid again, living at home with my mother and breaking curfew. I slide my phone out of my purse and see it is indeed my mother. “It’s her,” I confirm, rolling my eyes. Ash is lying back against the pillows laughing at my antics. “Hello Mother, I’m fine,” is how I answer.
“I knew you were fine,” she says. Of course she would know. “Leah, I got a call from Heidi. The adoption went through and she is en route to meet her new baby.”
“Well that’s exciting,” I say, sitting down on the couch. I look over at Ash, who is sitting up and looking at me with a quizzical expression. I hold up a finger, telling him to wait. “When does she get to bring the baby home? Is it a boy or a girl?”
“I don’t know anything,” my mother says. “If Heidi were having the baby herself, I’d have a better sense of what’s going on. Isabel is here too and doesn’t know what’s happening either. We feel very lost.”
“You mean you feel like how the rest of the world feels when something like this happens,” I laugh. “Maybe it’ll be nice to be surprised for once.”
“It’s not the way I like things to happen at all,” she replies. “But I wanted to keep you apprised. Jack is home and I’m going over to help him with the nursery setup, and go shopping for things they’ll need, like diapers and formula. They aren’t even remotely ready.”
“No, I guess they wouldn’t be,” I agree, thinking about how Heidi explained the adoption process worked, where they could call you any time and you would need to be ready to go, or they could never call at all. “Do you need my help?”
“I thought you could find a store in town that sells cribs and choose one,” my mother says. “It might be nice to have that be a gift from you. You can bring Ash over to Heidi’s when you’re done. I’d like to formally meet him.”
“Maybe we will,” I say tentatively, looking at Ash, who is still gazing at me and probably wanting to know what’s going on. “I’ll call Eleanor, too. She’ll be so excited.”
“Good idea,” my mother agrees. “I’ll see you over at Heidi’s house later today?”
“Yes, you will,” I agree. We say goodbye and hang up. “Well, I guess I’m going to be an aunt,” I tell Ash.
“What, really?” he says, sitting up and smiling. “Your sister is expecting?”
“No, Heidi is too selfish to ruin her body for a baby,” I tell him. “She’s adopting and going to get the baby right now.�
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“No kidding,” Ash says, grinning. “That’s great.”
I nod. “I think it’ll be good for Heidi. My mother wants me to come help her shop for baby stuff to get everything ready. They need a crib.”
Ash can’t hide his disappointment very easily. “I understand. But I want to see you tonight.”
I shake my head. “Did you have something better to do?”
He lights up like a Christmas tree. “Really? No. Nothing would beat spending the day with you.”
“Okay,” I say. “Let’s get dressed and we can shop.”
Ash gets up off the bed and approaches me. “Just slow down for a second. I think you could use a shower, first.”
“Oh?” I say, standing up to meet his embrace. His hands slide under the black t-shirt I’ve borrowed and over my breasts. “I think I could spare a few minutes to clean myself up.” He pulls the shirt up and over my head and bends down to take my nipple in his mouth. He sucks gently, and it ironically makes me think of Heidi and her baby. I push him away with these thoughts and grin at him, then turn and head to the bathroom.
Ash’s shower is a huge, black marble affair. He turns it on and adjusts the temperature and pulls me inside. I enjoy the nozzles that spray my entire body coming out of the walls, and think of how I could spend a whole day in here. His strong, agile fingers stroke my wet flesh as his lips graze me everywhere. They start at my earlobes and travel down to my neck and over my collarbone. He has to kneel to take my hardened nipples in his mouth and make me moan as he gently pulls with his teeth. He pushes me back to let his lips graze down over my stomach, rivulets of water pouring over my breasts and into his dark hair. When he kisses me between my thighs, my hands press against the sides and I gasp with the electricity he sends through me. His beautiful fingers press inside of me, stroking and urging me to come. His tongue dances circles around my clit, and he pushes two fingers inside of me, making my knees buckle with pleasure. When he sucks gently, I can’t take it anymore. I double over his body as my hands push his head away from me due to the intensity of his mouth against me. I slide down to meet him on the shower floor, and he continues to kiss and stroke me everywhere. “Stand,” I tell him when I’ve recovered. “It’s your turn.”
He does as he’s told and I finally get a good look at his cock, which is standing at attention for me, ready to be lavished with my mouth. I lick the very end where the dab of pre-cum has gathered and taste him, salty and thick. He moans from the touch of my tongue to his tip, and his hands drift down to my shoulders, lightly touching them but careful not to put any pressure on me. With one hand I grasp the shaft of his cock and bring my mouth over the head as far down as I can go. I gag lightly on him, letting the saliva flow down the sides of him and mix with the water from the shower. He moans as I begin to stroke my lips back and forth along the length of him, my hand moving along in a perfect rhythm. I can feel him pulsing inside the warmth of my mouth. “I’m coming,” he whispers, which I can just barely hear over the hiss of the shower stream. I remove my hand from his cock and push him as far into my mouth as he will go and feel his warm liquid gush down my throat, filling my mouth with his taste. I swallow it back and smile seductively at Ash. “You drank it,” he says, almost as an accusation.
“I know,” I say. “I wanted to. Why are you so shocked?”
“No one’s ever done that with me,” he says.
“Oh?” I say, getting off my knees, which are slightly sore from the shower floor. “Not even Erika?” I can’t resist saying.
“Come on, Leah,” he says. “Don’t ruin it.”
“You’re the one who brought up other people,” I say. “How many other people have there been? Should we get that out of the way?” My cheeks feel hot under the shower spray, even though the water is hot, I can tell I’m flushed from my temper rising.
Ash leans back against the wall, arms crossed, looking at me through that half-lidded gaze he’s apparently mastered for the art of intimidation. “You’re the one that’s married.”
My eyes widen. Why does he have to keep reminding me? I push the glass door to the shower open and storm out, wet strands of hair attached to my cheeks and a sheet of my hair plastered to my back. I snatch a dark red towel off of the towel warmer – yes, an actual towel warmer – and wrap it around me, covering my nudity. “Leah, don’t run,” Ash says, practically leaping out of the shower. He doesn’t bother with the towel and grabs me from behind and holds me tightly.
“Let go,” I say through my teeth.
“No,” he says. “You’re really warm and I’m cold.”
“Don’t make me laugh! I’m pissed!”
He laughs. “Look,” he says in my ear. “We’ve both got a past. It’s expected. It’s not like we met when we were young. We’ve lived some of our lives before we found each other. We’ve had to wait for each other, and now that we’ve found each other, let’s not waste any time fighting, okay? If you want to know everything about me, all you have to do is ask, but don’t use it as ammunition or a way to push me out of your life, okay? I’m here and I’m not going anywhere. Understand?” I nod, feeling his words make perfect sense in my mind. He’s right, I think, this is it. Why argue over stupid shit that neither one of us has any control over changing? “Let me dry you off and we can find you some regular clothes and go take care of your errands together, publically, as a couple.”
“I’d like that,” I whisper, turning to gaze up into his eyes. He narrows them and presses his forehead to mine, and I wonder if we’re ever going to leave his room today. “Stop seducing me, Mr. Lavanne, I’m already soaking wet and running late.”
He pulls back and grins, backing away from me with his hands up in a “surrender” pose. “I apologize Miss Holt, but I can’t keep my hands off of you.”
Chapter 14
Ash drives away from Normandy after an awkward escape. I didn’t feel like being confronted by his mother, sister or any of his brothers that might be around during my walk of shame out of his bedroom. I had to promise Ash that I would attend a family dinner in exchange for him sneaking me out of the house. He had to find out from James where his mother was, and when we learned she was having breakfast in the dining room with Olivia, we took a back staircase to avoid running into them.
The temperature has dropped significantly, but it’s a November morning and it will warm up during the day when the sun has had more time out. As we pass by the vineyard driving away from Normandy, I promise myself I will go for a run around the grounds, but it just wasn’t in the stars today. “What are you thinking?” Ash asks me.
“About the run we never had,” I tell him. Something else pops into my head. “I should call Eleanor and let her know about Heidi and the adoption,” I say. “Though I’m sure my mother called Renee already. I told her I would call Eleanor and she gave me her cell phone number the other day when we went to lunch.”
“Eleanor Laurent?” Ash asks me. I recall that Eleanor is no longer a Dubois and I’m startled to hear my ex-boyfriend’s last name paired with hers. I nod casually.
“You know Eleanor?” I ask him.
He nods. “My brother Demetri is good friends with her husband, Andrew.” He looks at me. “Do you know Drew?”
I’m sure I’m completely red with embarrassment. I nod slowly. “Yes, I know Drew.”
Ash glances at me. “So give her a call, unless you don’t want to talk in front of me.”
“Oh,” I say, suddenly nervous. “No, I’ll call her.” I go into my contact list on my phone and find her number and hit the call button.
It rings twice and then I hear a male voice answer. “Leah?” I’m completely speechless for four awkward seconds. “Hello?”
“Hi Drew,” I say softly. “I called Eleanor.”
“Yes, you did,” he says. “She happens to be sleeping right now, though, so I thought I’d pick up.”
“Oh,” I say. “Well, I can call back later. Or I can call again and let it go to voicemail.
” My heart seems to be racing so fast I swear Ash should be able to hear it. “It’s nice of you to let her sleep late on a Saturday.”
“Well, considering she was up all night in labor, I figure she earned it.”
“What? Really?” I exclaim excitedly. “She had the baby last night?”
“Yes, it’s a boy,” I hear Drew say proudly. “Phillip Andrew Laurent.”
“After El’s dad, of course,” I say. “That’s so great, Drew. Both are doing alright? Eleanor and the baby?”
“They’re fine,” he replies, and I can hear the smile in his voice. “Just tired. Come by this evening if you’re free. We’ll be here another day or two, and I’m sure she’d love for you to stop in.” He pauses again. “It would be nice to see you, Leah. I’m glad to hear you’re back in town.”
I glance over at Ash and smile. “I’m glad to be back,” I say. I really mean it. “I’ll definitely stop by to see the baby,” I say. We exchange goodbyes and I hang up, grinning like an idiot. “Eleanor had the baby,” I say, stating the obvious.
Ash nods. “That’s good, though I guessed it the moment you said she had the baby on the phone to Drew.”
“I know, I’m just excited,” I say, leaning back in the leather seat and turning toward Ash. “Today is just full of good news.”
“It seems to be,” Ash replies, taking my hand and squeezing it. “So I’m not going to spoil it by asking why you’re so jittery when you’re speaking to Drew.”
I’m taken aback and once again, speechless. “I-I…we went to school together,” I say. “Eleanor, Drew and I were all friends.”
“And that’s all?”
I shake my head. “We dated.”
Ash nods. “Okay.”
“And I lost my virginity to him in the front seat of my car,” I spit out, keeping my eyes focused on the road.
“Well that’s weird,” Ash replies. “Who does it in the front seat?”
I look at him, flabbergasted. “People with two door cars, obviously.”