3. Lilah
3
LILAH
I’m screwed.
The elevator doors shut, providing a momentary respite from the hurricane barreling my way, but I know it won’t last. I’m in the eye of the storm and it’s only a matter of time before I have to face the full force of it again.
I close my eyes, but Asher’s face is seared into my mind. He’s pissed. So pissed. And when I saw him heading straight for me, I panicked. My survival instincts kicked in and I ran. Unfortunately, I ran into the only elevator that doesn’t work.
I stab every button but none respond. My stomach sinks when I realize I need to swipe a card to make the elevator respond.
Fantastic.
I thought I was never going to see Asher again. And when I stole his watch, I sealed my fate. There was no way I’d ever be able to look the man in his eyes again, even after the most unforgettable night of my life. It still makes me sick to remember my mistake, ruining what could’ve been something beautiful.
After I left his suite that night, I rode the elevator down to the lobby in tears. Dirty, ugly, filthy tears. They came hard and fast and there wasn’t a single thing I could do to hold them back. And I didn’t care to hold them back anymore. I’d been doing it for too long. The world was breaking me bit by bit, and I was finally buckling under the weight of it. I never thought I’d do something like that, but I’d never been pushed so far over the edge before.
The ride to the lobby felt like an eternity, and when the doors finally opened, I grabbed the watch from my purse and marched to the front desk. I slid it over the counter, muttered Asher’s name which felt sacrilegious on my lips, and then left. The man behind the counter looked at me confused, as though I were speaking a different language, but it didn’t matter. The watch was no longer in my possession, but I felt the weight of it on me the entire way back to my apartment.
I couldn’t do it. Even though the money it would bring me would solve so many problems, it wasn’t worth the price. I’m not a thief. I’m not a criminal. And I’d find a way to make it work.
But the way Asher’s charging for me right now, I’m not so sure he sees it that way.
There’s a loud beep, followed by a crackling sound, and for a moment, I’m hoping that the elevator magically starts its descent. But the voice that comes out from the small speaker in front of me crushes that hope.
“Ma’am?” The man asks. “What are you doing in this elevator?”
“Uh—How do you know…”
I look around and see a camera directed at me over my shoulder. Oh.
“This is a restricted elevator.” The doors slide open and I hold my breath, refusing to look.“Only Mr. Blacke and his associates have?—”
“That’s enough, Silas.”
My body reacts immediately to Asher’s voice. It’s no less smooth and seductive than the first time he approached me at the Ridgeway. And his eyes, gray swirls on a stormy blue backdrop, are aimed at me like a weapon.
“ Lilah is accompanying me.” The texture of his shirt is like silk as it brushes against me. He swipes his key card, presses a button, and the elevator hums while we head upwards.
Lilah. I can’t help but notice how my name rolls off his tongue. He knows my real name. He knows I stole his watch. And now I’m stuck in an elevator with him.
“Very good, Mr. Blacke,” Silas says.
My throat constricts. I was warned about Mr. Blacke all day even though I wasn’t going to be working directly with him.
He’s ruthless and cold.
Temperamental.
A genius but an egomaniac.
Keep your head down and stay out of his way.
The benefits are great though!
Just my luck that I stole something from the devil himself.
Asher doesn’t take his eyes off of me as he says, “And turn off the camera, Silas.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll cut the feed immedia?—”
Asher presses a button, silencing the intercom. He steps back, squaring himself to me as I take in every inch of him. You’d think that after sleeping with him, I’d be less intimidated. I’ve seen every inch of him. I’ve had every inch of him. Repeatedly. But now that I’m face to face with him again, I feel the same tightness in my chest and fluttering butterflies that I had a few weeks ago but with way more intensity.
We were never on equal footing, but now more than ever, I’m feeling the gap between us.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter, stepping backward until my back is firmly pressed against the wall. The tension is suffocating in this enclosed space. I’d give anything for those doors to open up, but I know that’s not going to happen. My small string of good luck I’ve had over the past week has been crushed. “I was in a bad place.” I try to reason with him, but it doesn’t seem to be doing anything.
Asher steps forward and I step sideways. He doesn’t back down, edging closer to me without saying a word. Why isn’t he acknowledging my apology? I have nowhere to go as I walk backward along the walls of the elevator, delaying as long as I can until we reach wherever he’s taking me. Where is he taking me? My mind races at all the possibilities, none of them good.
I swallow, gripping the metal handrail like a lifeline. “I gave it back.” The words are swallowed up by the air as he finally erases the distance between us.
His scent is doing strange things to me, dredging up memories of our night together. The bar. The elevator. His suite. His lips on mine. His hands all over me, clawing, gripping, kneading. Tangled sheets. Ripped clothes.
“Strange. I don’t recall ever receiving my watch. But it doesn’t matter. You stole something from me that night far more valuable than a watch,” he says, brushing my cheek with the back of his hand.
My throat bobs as I try to ignore the cinch in my belly. “What?” I mutter, but my voice is so soft and brittle I doubt he hears it.
Asher draws a line with the pad of his finger down my lips, along the column of my throat, pausing at the neckline of my blouse. I’m squirming as my body ignites from Asher’s gentle caress. He’s hardly touching me but it’s so intimate and achingly slow. And as much as I don’t want to admit it, I want so much more than he’s giving me right now.
I’ve never had someone so intensely focused on me. I’ve never felt so seen , so turned on by eye contact. But with eyes as gorgeous as his, and a face and body to match, it’s fair to say I’ve never met anyone capable enough before.
I open my mouth, hoping to end the silence between us that seems to extend forever, but the moment my lips part, Asher captures them with his mouth.
Flames lick the darkness behind my eyelids as Asher’s tongue spreads against the seam of my lips. His hands grip my thighs, digging into me as he lifts me, pinning me against the wall. I wrap my legs around him, grinding against him as he kisses me harshly with so much need and hunger.
“You,” he growls against my lips once he finally breaks the seal.
Asher grabs my wrist, shoving it against the wall before gripping the nape of my neck with his free hand and resuming his full-frontal assault on my mouth. He tastes like sin and his lips sear mine like a brand, marking me as his. I lap him up, urging his tongue deeper.
“You stole yourself away in the middle of the night.” He nips my earlobe and then at my neck.
“Thief. Liar,” he snarls into my ear before kissing me harshly along my jaw. “You’re never going to steal from me again.”
Buttons fly off my blouse as Asher rips it in half, unhooks the front of my bra, and buries his face into my breasts before dragging his tongue along my sternum, up my neck, and then back to my mouth.
Oh. My. Sweet. Jesus.
“You’re mine,” he growls, whisking me out of the elevator as it opens to a room even grander than the Ridgeway’s lobby. I hardly have the chance to take it all in before the breath is knocked out of my lungs, the cold leather of the couch sizzling against the heat of my skin.
Asher towers over me, a halo of light around him contradicting the devilish look on his face, as I try to push myself back up but fail miserably at it. I can hardly support my weight with my weak, wobbly arms, jelly under Asher’s gaze.
“Is this how you treat everyone who steals from you?” I ask breathlessly.
The corner of his mouth quirks as he lowers himself onto the edge of the couch. He glides his hand along the length of my leg, looking at me with so much admiration that it’s making my chest clench.
“Never,” he says, finally, his eyes meeting mine. “No one’s ever stolen my heart. Never stolen my breath the way you do, Lilah. No one.” The last words are hardly above a whisper but they ring incessantly in my head.
I’m stunned. Shocked. Unable to think of how this could be. I have no idea how any of this could be true.
“It guts me, Lilah, knowing how easily you left me.” His eyes are hooded and dark as he looks at me. “You make me obsessed. I lose all control around you. I need you, Lilah. I need you more than I’ve ever needed anyone before. My life started the moment you walked into my sight.”
“I-I don’t understand,” I mutter. It’s the truth. I don’t understand how I could have this effect on someone, but it’s clear I do. The way he looks at me. Kisses me. There’s no other way to see it. And I can’t deny that I feel it too.
Asher slides his palms along my thighs, my panties already soaked with need. He skims the hem of my skirt. “I thought our night together was enough, but I’ll show you, Lilah. I’ll prove to you how completely and utterly consumed I am with you. I’ll make sure there isn’t a single doubt in your mind how much?—”
My breath hitches in my chest as he drops the last part of his sentence. There’s something in his eyes, tenderness or something like it, and for a moment I feel so loved. I feel like a part of me that was broken by the world long ago is being picked up and pieced back together before my eyes. But it lasts for a brief moment. Something hardens in Asher and he regains the rough, demanding edge that I’ve been warned about all day.
“I’m going to make you come so hard your back will fucking snap like a twig.”
Okay… I’d prefer my back remain intact, but another part of me is a little curious. More than a little curious because I’m not sure he can make me come any harder than I did with him weeks ago. I thought I was going to burst at the seams.
He wastes no time, slipping his hands beneath my skirt and then shoving it up roughly as it bunches around my waist.
I gasp, as he dives between my thighs, kissing my bare skin as I cling to him. I can hardly breathe as his breath dances across my skin. His lips and tongue press into me. A single finger drags across— “Asher ,” I moan.
“You’re so wet,” Asher growls before taking his finger, slick with me, into his mouth before letting out a rumbling, chesty groan. “I’ve been dying for this, angel. Needing you. Needing this.” He presses his mouth against me, panties still on as his tongue begins to devour every last drop of me.
“Shit,” I moan, gripping Asher’s dark hair as his tongue demolishes every single thought from my head.
The noises he’s making are guttural and animalistic. He’s devouring me like a caveman who hasn’t eaten for weeks and has no desire to share.
“More,” he moans. “I need so much more of you, Lilah.”
He tears off my panties as though they’re paper, tossing them as his tongue swirls against my sensitive nub. Aching and delicious tension builds inside me, begging for release.
“Don’t stop,” I beg. “Do. Not. Stop.”
And he doesn’t. His hands rivet me in place as my body clenches tighter and tighter as Asher’s tongue swirls against me, moans and growls and snarls renting the air as he consumes me.
I take back my previous statement. This man is no devil. He’s a saint, working miracles on me with his mouth, and soon enough he’ll be taking me to heaven.
I’m moments away from cresting when I hear a long, harsh beep cut through the air. I glance toward the elevator, my mind wandering for a brief moment until Asher reels me back in.
“Ignore it, angel,” Asher growls as he slides his hand along my ribcage. “Focus,” he bellows in between his tongue and mouth’s relentless assault against my sex.
It feels so good—even better than the first time. It’s… I never thought I’d feel like this again, but Asher’s taking me to ever greater heights. Everything’s hazy as I feel my body dangling on the precipice.
“Come for me,” he snarls, his warm breath rolling over me. It feels like my heart is beating out of my chest as everything tightens, including Asher’s hands around my waist as my legs dangle uselessly over his shoulders.
“I want to feel you come on my lips,” he moans, lapping at me. “Need to feel it.”His mouth finds me again, and when his eyes flit to mine again, I’m gone.
It’s all over as my body gives way to complete and utter oblivion. No thoughts. No worries. Nothing but Asher and his talented mouth.
When I finally come back down to reality, Asher’s no longer between my legs. He’s arguing with someone on the intercom next to the elevator. It takes me a few moments to recognize Adrian’s voice—my new boss.
I only catch bits and pieces as I try to piece myself back together after Asher’s performance shattered me. But as I readjust my skirt, I catch the most important part.
“And find yourself another assistant.” Asher turns, staring me down as he says, “Lilah is mine.”
I swallow hard and my stomach twists into knots as Asher ends the call and moves slowly but confidently toward me. Measured. Each footfall echoes in his cavernous penthouse and reverberates throughout my body.
Goosebumps flare as I try hard to catch my breath along with my running thoughts.
This can’t work, right? Working for a man like Asher would be hard enough given everything I’ve heard about him today. Throw in our first encounter. Our second encounter… and I’m sure every single encounter after that given how things are progressing, and it’s clear that this will never work.
…Because we’d never work.
But I need this job so I can make sure I’m not living on the streets. The voicemails and messages from my landlord have made it clear that I’m running out of time.
I open my mouth to speak as Asher closes the gap between us but the scent of his cologne disorients me. His imposing presence surrounds me. And when his hand cups my face, every part of me ignites.
“Asher,” I mutter, eyes closed as though not being able to see his handsome face and his eyes burning into me will somehow give me the strength to tell him.
“Lilah,” he rasps, thumb burning my skin as he strokes my cheek.
I let out a soft moan as I open my eyes and receive the full force of his eyes on me. God, he’s so handsome. How can someone be so devastatingly handsome?
He slides a hand around my waist and pulls me against his solid frame. I crumple against him as I breathe in his heady scent all the while the tiny voice in the back of my head keeps growing louder and louder.
“This won’t work,” I say, finally drumming up the courage as I back away from him.
But when I see Asher’s expression, I know he’s not going to accept my resignation so easily.