21. Asher
21
ASHER
I really didn’t want to get out of bed. Having Holly in my arms was the best way to wake up. Not to mention that my dreams didn’t feel quite so fucking bad when I woke up next to her. They were still there, but when I could roll over and kiss her, I realized the worst of the dreams could easily be swept away.
I pressed a kiss to her shoulder as I slid my hand over her soft skin, cupping her breast in my hand as I twirled her nipple between my finger and thumb. Fuck, I was not going to get out of bed without getting a taste of her first.
“Mmm.”
“Morning, baby.”
“Asher, we’ve had sex like…four times.”
I bit her earlobe, sucking it into my mouth. “Not enough,” I grumbled. My hand slid back down her stomach, between her legs to her pussy. “You’re already wet for me.” With two fingers, I spread her legs and slid inside her, slowly fucking her to wake her up the right way. “So fucking wet for me.”
“That’s just from all the times you came inside me last night.”
I chuckled, nipping at her jaw. “Baby, you can deny it all you want, but you like waking up to me inside you. Maybe next time I’ll wake you up with my mouth on your pussy.”
A shudder rushed through her as I flicked her clit. She was ready for me, already spreading her legs to let me in. I rolled her to her back and nestled between her thighs, sliding my cock inside her.
“Fuck, that’s what I needed,” I groaned as my cock hardened from the feel of her strangling me. I kept my body pressed to hers as I slowly fucked her, making sure she could feel every inch of me moving in and out of her. As she wrapped her arms around my neck, I slid my arm behind her and held her to me, not wanting any space between us. I could feel every beat of her heart, every gasp when I fucked her deep, and every tremble as I pressed her into the mattress and ground my cock into her.
“Don’t go to work today,” she pleaded right before I bent down and kissed her hard. “Stay here and fuck me.”
That sent me off like a rocket. I rolled her over and slid into her from behind, grabbing her around the throat as I held her to me and fucked her hard. Her strangled cries drove me insane as I pounded into her, taking what I needed and giving everything I had.
She cried out, grabbing at the sheets as I fucked her harder and harder. I could feel my balls pulling up, my body shaking as my orgasm shot through me. My hand squeezed around her neck for only a second before I released her and kissed her hard.
“Fuck,” I gasped, collapsing on top of her.
She was panting just as hard as me, her arms spread out on the mattress as she laughed into the sheets. “So, what do you think about staying home?”
I pressed kisses to her cheek and down her spine, licking the sweat from her body. “Baby, I would stay home with you if I could, but we both have things we need to do.”
She grumbled wordlessly into the sheets.
“What’s that?”
“I said I hate you.”
“You do not,” I laughed.
“I do, too. And your stupid cock.”
I punched my hips forward, reminding her that I was still inside her. “Do you want to test that theory?”
“No,” she muttered.
I brushed the hair from her face and trailed wet kisses along her neck and over her shoulder. “You know I would stay here all day with you if I could, but I cut out early yesterday. I promised Wyatt I would stay late to help.”
“Does that mean I won’t see you tonight?”
“Do you want to see me?”
She shrugged, not wanting to answer.
“Baby, this is one of those times that you just need to tell me what you want. I’m not going to get mad and tell you you’re being too clingy or some shit. I really want to know what you want.”
She rolled over as much as she could to look me in the eye. “In that case, I want you to pack a bag and stay over here as much as you can.”
The grin on my face was much too wide for six o’clock in the morning. “Be careful what you wish for. You might not ever get rid of me.”
“Let’s hope not. From what my mom tells me, you won’t buy the milk if the cow is free.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “I think you should be offended that she referred to you as cattle.”
“That’s what I said.”
“Well, as much as I would love to stay in bed with you, I have to get home and shower so I don’t smell like sex at work all day.”
“Why? Don’t think you could handle everyone teasing you all day?” she challenged.
“Actually, I was thinking I would be too distracted by the smell of you on me all day, and I might end up getting killed by dropping a car on myself.”
She wrinkled her nose at that. “Then yeah, you should probably take a shower.”
“Probably.”
I kissed her again and reluctantly pulled out of her. She was quickly becoming my favorite spot to be, and if I wasn’t careful, I might never leave her bed again. But I got dressed and headed out to my truck for another day of work. And when I powered on my phone, there were only three missed calls from Chase.
Sighing, I tossed my phone on the seat. It didn’t matter what he wanted to talk about. I couldn’t go back there. Not for anything. Our time together was over, and after what happened last time, I knew talking to him wasn’t a good thing. I had to cut all ties.
“No, I want it delivered tonight,” I repeated, getting frustrated with the guy on the other line. I paid extra for the rush delivery and now he was busting my balls, trying to squeeze extra money out of me.
“Look, I wish we could get it to you sooner, but?—”
“But nothing. I paid for this to be delivered by tonight. I don’t care what you have to do. Get it on the truck and have it delivered by seven o’clock tonight or you can refund my money.”
“Sir, that’s not?—”
“That’s exactly how this works,” I snapped. “Or do I need to talk to your boss and tell him about the scam you’re running?”
Silence greeted me, but I could have sworn I heard him swallow hard on the other end of the line. “I’ll make sure it’s delivered tonight.”
“Thank you.”
I hung up and pocketed my phone, irritated that I had to take so much fucking time out of my day to deal with that shit.
“Got problems?” Wyatt asked, strolling into the break room and grabbing another mug of coffee.
“Just dealing with a delivery issue.”
“For here?”
I shook my head, shoving back my chair to grab another cup for myself. It was too early to deal with this shit, and much too late at the same time. I glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed. It was already pushing three o’clock and we still had a lot of work to do.
“For Holly.”
His comical grin only made me smile in return. There was a time that I would have punched someone for giving me a hard time about being this obsessed over a woman. But that was the old me. The new me didn’t give a shit what anyone else thought.
“So, you’re already delivering shit to her place. Things must be getting intense. Meeting the parents, now deliveries…It’s like you’re already living together.”
“We would be if I had anything to say about it,” I answered, leaning against the counter.
He choked on his coffee, nearly spitting it on the floor. “I’m sorry, what?”
“It’s not that hard to believe, is it?” I asked, taking a sip of my coffee.
“No, but…Asher, aren’t you moving things a little fast? I mean, you met this woman in February, and now it’s March.”
“Your point?”
His eyes slid to my left hand, but my ring hadn’t been on my finger since I started dating Holly. “Look, I’ve never asked, and I’m not asking now?—”
“Yes, I was married.”
He nodded, but didn’t push.
“She died.”
“I figured. That’s why I’m questioning how fast you’re moving.”
“It was a long time ago. It was time to move on.”
“Yeah, but right out of the gate, you fall in love and want to move in? I mean, are you going to marry this woman?”
“If I have anything to say about it.”
His eyes bugged out at the bluntness of my words. “Asher?—”
“Wyatt, I know what I’m doing. I had no fucking clue the first time around. I know with Holly. She’s the woman for me. There’s not a single doubt in my mind.”
“And you married this other woman, but didn’t love her?”
“Not at first. It was…complicated. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.”
He nodded, closing the subject. “Well, good luck with your delivery.”
He held up his coffee mug as a gesture of goodwill and walked out of the break room. I knew exactly what he was thinking. That I was crazy, that things were moving too fast with Holly. I wasn’t insane and I wasn’t trying to make up for something I’d lost. I just knew that Holly was always the one I was meant to be with. She was everything I’d been missing in life, and I wasn’t about to throw away that gift when it had been handed to me.
I got back to work and did my best not to watch the clock. The orders kept piling up, and it seemed that no matter how fast I finished an order, there was always another one waiting. It wasn’t until I finally climbed out of the pit and saw how dark it was outside that I realized I’d missed the fucking delivery at Holly’s.
I strode over to the workbench and grabbed my phone. “Shit.” Five missed calls. No doubt, Holly was confused as hell as to why there was a delivery at her house that she had no idea about.
I dialed her number, sighing as I looked at the clock. Fuck, I was late.
“Asher,” she said, with a hint of humor in her voice.
“Holly Bear.”
“Would you like to explain why I had a delivery of a snowblower, salt, and a snow plow attachment?”
I scratched the back of my neck with a laugh. “Uh…there’s another storm coming.”
“I’m aware.”
“And I wanted to be prepared.”
“Yes, but why is this at my house?”
“Because I wanted to be able to salt your driveway and clean it out. And I wanted to be able to attach the plow to the front of my truck in case we needed to get somewhere.”
“Well…that’s kind of sweet.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to accept the delivery. I couldn’t have it delivered here because we’re so packed, and they needed someone there to sign. I figured we’d most likely be at your place.”
“You know, we can spend more time at your place. We don’t always have to be at my house.”
“It doesn’t matter to me.”
“Why not?”
“Because my house has no personality.”
“Well, that’s not true. You have that giant cock in the bedroom.”
I chuckled, recalling the picture we hung that was way too big for the wall—the same one she insisted she measured correctly with her girl math. “Well, we have the same one at your place. And it’s a little less frightening to wake up to.”
“Still…I feel bad that you always come over to my place.”
“I don’t. If I didn’t want to be there, I would tell you.” A door slammed behind me and I turned around just in time to see Wyatt roll his eyes and make a gagging sound. “Hold on, baby. My boss is choking.” I covered the mouthpiece. “Did you need something?”
“Yeah, for you to get out of here before you induce vomiting.”
“You’re funny.”
“So is this disgusting display of affection I constantly have to witness.”
“I never display my affection at work, but I can tell you how much I love you more often if that would make you feel better.”
He rolled his eyes and yanked his office door open to escape me. Chuckling, I got back to my conversation with Holly. “You still there, babe?”
“Are you being mean to Wyatt?”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because you don’t cover the phone as well as you think you do.”
“You heard that, huh?”
“You’re so mean to him.”
“If I was really mean, I would set him up with Noelle.”
I could practically feel her cringe all the way across town. “You’re right. That would be worse. When will you be home?”
“I have to run home for some things first.”
She groaned loudly, letting me know how displeased she was. “That’ll take forever.”
“Well, it’s either that or I have to leave you earlier in the morning to go home and get ready.”
“Hmm. I don’t like the idea of that either. You could just wash your clothes at my place and wear them again tomorrow.”
“And what about the next day? And the day after that?”
“I don’t mind you wearing the same thing every day.”
I could hear the laughter in her voice, and I would gladly do that for her if I could keep her laughing, but that would be killer on her water bill. “Don’t worry. I’ll pack enough clothes that I won’t have to go home anytime soon.”
“Fine, but I don’t have to like it.”
“I’ll make it up to you when I get home.”
She sighed dreamily. “I like the sound of that.”
“Me making it up to you?”
“No, you saying home. It has a nice ring to it.”
I grinned, unable to stop the words from coming out of my mouth. “Are you dropping hints, baby?”
“What are you talking about?”
“It has a nice ring to it?”
“What? Asher, I would never—that’s not at all—oh my gosh! No, I swear, I was not?—”
I chuckled, finding it way too cute how flustered she got. “Baby, I was teasing you. I knew exactly what you were saying.”
“You jerk. Asher, you’d better watch it. One day, I will not forgive you for teasing me.”
“Yes, you will. You love me too much.”
“You’re right,” she sighed. “I do. Hurry home.”
“Don’t worry. I will.”
I ended the call, still laughing as Wyatt walked out of the office.
“You know, you disgust me with your lovey-dovey shit.”
“You’re just jealous because you wish you were me.”
He leaned back, barking out a laugh. “Desperately in love and unable to function without a woman? Not even a little.”
“One day, Wyatt…just wait and see,” I grinned. I’d set him up with Noelle and then we’d see if he changed his tune.