20. Emma
TWENTY
Emma
One moment, Maisie was laughing at Stella dog-paddling in the creek. And the next, the little girl had fallen beneath the surface.
“Maisie!”
I rushed into the creek, ignoring the icy pull of the water on my pants and boots. Stella started barking at a rapid, fearful pitch. Reaching for the dark shape under the surface, I grabbed hold of Maisie and yanked her upward. She came up coughing and sputtering.
Ashford was suddenly there next to me. He wrapped his arms around me and Maisie both. “Daddy!” she screamed, terrified.
“I’m here.” He took her and put her against his shoulder like she was a much smaller child. His worried gaze connected with mine, and then he reached for my hand as he carried her to the bank.
Once there, he lay her on her side on the soft grass. She kept coughing. Thank goodness she’d only been under the water for a second or two, and the current had been weak in that spot.
Ashford’s hands were steady as he checked his daughter over. But from the concern in his eyes, I could tell that he was shaken. “How you feeling, monkey?” He rubbed her arms to warm her up.
“My nose hurts. Water went in there. And in my mouth. I was scared.”
“I know you were. I would be too. But Emma grabbed you, didn’t she?” Ashford looked gratefully at me.
“I just got there half a second before your dad.”
“Thank you, Emma.” Maisie reached out to hug me. I returned the embrace. Poor thing was soaked and shivering. Stella edged in and gave Maisie kisses to help warm her up too. In no time, the little girl was giggling again.
But Ashford didn’t seem the same. Like a dark cloud had descended over his mood.
I took his backpack, and he carried Maisie all the way back to the car.
When we got home, I toed off my damp shoes. Maisie bounded off to her room to change, though our clothes had mostly dried. Stella followed. Ashford stopped in the kitchen and braced his hands against the counter, taking a breath.
“You okay?” I rubbed my hand over the thick muscles of his back.
“I know she’s fine. But close calls like that get to me. Hard not to think about what-ifs.”
“You’re allowed to worry.”
“Am I? Callum loves to tell me how useless it is, and he’s probably right. But if I lost that little girl…”
I didn’t tell him that he’d never lose her. Because we both knew that loss was always a possibility. So instead I dug my thumbs into the knots between his shoulder blades. Ashford groaned.
“Is this okay?” I asked.
“Amazing.”
I worked on loosening his tight muscles for a while. Until he stepped to the side and pulled me in front of him, trapping me against the counter. “That felt great. I want to return the favor.” His fingers searched out the points of tension in my upper back. But he added soft kisses to my neck. His tongue swiped the juncture where my neck met my shoulder.
“I’m sweaty from the hike.”
“I know. You taste good.” Those strong fingers kneaded down my back to my butt cheeks, digging into my soft curves. “Can’t wait to have you spread out and at my mercy,” he whispered. “I am going to make you come so hard. Harder than last night.”
I bit into my lip so I wouldn’t moan. I’d never been with any guy who could turn me on this quickly. Not just interested but raring to go. If he had unzipped my hiking pants and let those fingers wander inside my panties, he’d find me dripping.
“Stop,” I said, keeping my voice low.
His hands instantly lifted away from me, going to the counter instead. Though his body still caged me in. “Too far?”
“No, not far enough, but we can’t right now. Anybody ever told you you’re a shameless tease?”
He chuckled and leaned to kiss my neck again. “I enjoy teasing you. It’s fun for me.”
“Mean.” I kissed him firmly on the mouth, just once, before pushing him away. “No more of that. We need to make dinner.”
He boiled water for the pasta and chopped vegetables. To a big pan, I added olive oil and garlic to start a quick, lemony tomato sauce. Shrimp and fresh greens would go in last. We’d had this dish last week, and it had been a hit.
“I can’t believe you can get Maisie to eat shrimp,” Ashford said. “And spinach.”
“Anything covered in lemon-garlic sauce is a crowd pleaser.” Though I’d subbed in penne instead of linguine. Much easier for a six-year-old to eat without making a huge mess.
Ashford poured us glasses of white wine and a cup of milk for Maisie. The three of us ate at the dining table, Stella sitting dutifully beside her new best friend. Ashford smirked as his socked foot nudged mine. But I got him back by teasing my foot along his thigh. Until he grabbed hold of it and wouldn’t let go.
“Why are you laughing, Emma?” Maisie asked, delicately spearing a cherry tomato on her fork.
“Just thinking about how much fun I’ve had today.”
“Me too. Daddy is smiling a lot, and that makes me happy.”
I locked eyes with Ashford, my heart doing a dance in my chest. “I like when he’s smiling too.”
We sneaked more kisses while doing the dishes. Then Maisie brought in her favorite board game, a Disney-themed version of Monopoly that I’d played with her only two dozen times before. Give or take a few.
“Can we play this? Please?”
“If Emma wants to.”
“I’d love to. You set it up, Maisie-doodle, while your dad and I finish loading the dishwasher.”
Ashford leaned over to murmur in my ear. “Sorry. This is probably not the most exciting date you’ve ever been on.”
“I disagree. I wouldn’t change a single thing about it.”
I took a quick shower while he was getting Maisie ready for bed. Ashford hadn’t minded earlier that I was sweaty, but I did. I had hopes for tonight, and I wanted to be ready.
In my room, I changed into a pair of leggings and my favorite oversized sleep shirt, a vintage Pixies concert tee. Through the wall, I heard Ashford and Maisie talking, and it made me grin. I loved that bedtime was a special ritual for them. He never missed it if he could help it.
His voice changed to a steady, soothing tone. It was time for her bedtime story. The past few days, Ashford had been reading her The Mouse and the Motorcycle .
I sat on my futon and grabbed my journal, jotting down what had happened today. Aside from the brief mishap in the creek, I couldn’t imagine a more perfect summer date.
I’d been relieved that Ashford didn’t want to keep us a secret. I’d had enough of that in my past. We hadn’t defined our relationship, but I didn’t need labels either. We were exclusive. That was enough. I just needed to feel like he was proud to be with me, even if we kept things quiet around Maisie.
I hadn’t known them very long, yet our connection felt natural. It was so tempting to think of us as a unit. But my pen stopped, hovering above my journal page.
I had to rein myself in. I couldn’t latch on to ideas that were simply impossible.
Ashford appeared at my open door. “Hey, Maisie asked if you would tuck her in.”
Happy flutters cascaded in my belly. I closed my journal and set it aside. “Of course. I would love that.” It was the first time she had ever asked me to participate in bedtime.
I went into Maisie’s room with Ashford right behind me. The lights were turned low. Her bedside lampshade featured cut-out shapes to splash bright shooting stars and fairies on her walls and ceiling.
Maisie held her arms out. “Can you hug me good night?”
“Absolutely.” I bent down to hug her, then pulled up her blankets and tucked them around her. My heart felt too big for my rib cage.
“Can Stella sleep in here with me?”
“No,” Ashford said, gentle yet firm. “I already told you that.”
“What about one more story?”
“Maisie, I already read you five chapters.”
She blinked those big green eyes innocently. “But Emma didn’t read anything.”
I looked at him, blinking my eyes the same way.
“Fine. One.”
Maisie picked a different book, this one about a mermaid. From the way Ashford laughed and crossed his arms, I guessed he had read this one many times before as well.
As I turned the pages and read her the story, Maisie’s eyes started to droop. Then she yawned, and her eyes stayed closed.
She didn’t budge as we left the room, closing the door behind us.
We went into the living room and sat on the couch. Ashford put his arm around me and pulled me into his lap, burying his nose behind my ear and inhaling. “You showered.”
“I didn’t smell my best.”
“I disagree. But this is good too. I love that smell. Your shampoo.” He kissed me, nibbling at my lower lip. It was gentle, no urgency behind it. But now it didn’t feel like a tease. This was pure anticipation.
“I would’ve been fine with Stella sleeping in Maisie’s room,” I said.
His frown reappeared for the first time in hours. “I know. But I don’t want her getting used to that.”
Right. Now that he said it, it was obvious. My place here was temporary.
Why did I keep conveniently ignoring that fact?
But before I could apologize, Ashford kissed me again with more purpose this time. He repositioned me so I was straddling his lap. I felt his cock thickening against my behind.
“I want you tonight,” he said.
A shiver wound its way through my belly and settled as a throb of desire between my legs. “I want you too.”
“How far we take this is up to you. I need you to tell me if there’s anything you don’t want.”
I put my hands on his chest, dragging them down his flat stomach. When I reached the edge of his shirt I dipped beneath, finding his hot, smooth skin, ridged with muscle beneath. “I just want to feel like I’m yours.”
For as long as I can .
With a swift movement, he grasped me around the hips and tossed me up as he stood, palming my ass in his big hands. I yelped and grabbed him around the neck. In just a few seconds, he’d carried me into his bedroom and dropped me on the edge of the mattress, my legs hanging off the side. Then he went back to his door and shut it quietly, flipping the lock and dimming the light switch.
Ashford stalked toward me, eyes devouring me like a predator. “I know exactly what I want to do first.” He dropped to his knees at the edge of the bed. “Make you come on my tongue.”
He reached for the waistband of my leggings and tugged them down. But he paused, nostrils flaring, when he saw my panties.
“Damn. You really are trying to kill me.”
I smirked. “That wasn’t what I had in mind.”
“Did you put those on for me?” His gaze roved over my body.
I nodded. After my shower, I’d chosen a pair of lacy pink panties and a matching bra. A set I didn’t wear often and had packed on a whim. I’d forgotten that stupid raincoat and remembered these instead, but right now, I had zero regrets.
“Feels like I’m unwrapping a present.”
But he didn’t take the panties off me yet. Ashford stripped my leggings off and tossed them aside. His hands made a slow journey back up my shins, over my knees, then my thighs. His gaze didn’t waver from that triangle of pink lace, his breathing unsteady. I had never felt sexier.
“Lay back. Let me make you feel good.”
I relaxed onto the mattress. Ashford stroked my inner thighs with his calloused fingertips. Again and again. One of his big hands traveled back to my knee, bending it and widening my legs. His mouth went to that same joint, kissing the inner side of my knee. His beard gently abraded my skin.
Then the thumb of his opposite hand grazed the crotch of my panties, sending tingles of need through my clit and out into the rest of my body. I whimpered.
“You’re wet. I feel it through the fabric.” His thumb stroked again.
“I’ve been wet for you all day.”
Groaning, he went back to kissing a line up the inside of my thigh as his thumb rubbed circles over the lace, so close to what I needed but not quite there. I had no doubt it was on purpose. The man had no shame about teasing me.
But when it came to sex, I didn’t have much shame either. I was younger than him, possibly less experienced, but I knew what I wanted.
I reached for the stretchy band of lace at my hips and started pushing them down. But Ashford stopped me. “Did I say you could do that?”
I pouted. “Bossy.”
“Your point?”
“I want your mouth on me.”
“Soon. I promise.”
I made a sound of frustration. He had the nerve to laugh. But okay, I liked it. This dark and wicked side of him. Making me wait, while also leaving me with no doubt it would be worth it.
His mouth edged closer and closer until his thumb finally pushed the damp scrap of lace aside.
The flat of his tongue dragged over my bare pussy. I cried out and shoved my fist to my mouth, biting my knuckle to muffle the sound.
As far as I knew, Maisie was a deep sleeper, but I had to stay quiet. Which was not easy as Ashford made a meal out of me. His tongue worked up and down, slowly at first, then switching to fast before he sucked my clit between his lips. Every time the pleasure started to coil up inside me, tense and hot and so close to releasing, he switched back to slow again.
He’d promised to drive me wild, and the man was delivering and then some.
Every part of me seemed to be quivering. Heat prickled all over my skin. I arched my back and moaned around the knuckle in my mouth.
“Do you need to come, baby?” he asked.
“ Please .”
He redoubled his efforts, his tongue massaging me in exactly the right spot. But instead of backing off this time when I got close, he buried his face between my legs and held my thighs in his hands. A hard jolt of pleasure shuddered through me, unleashing wave after wave of sweet release. I couldn’t have stopped it if I’d tried. My teeth sank into my knuckle as I tried to keep my moans quiet.
I was still shaking when he lifted his head, licking his lips, and smiled up at me. “Did you like that?”
All I could do was nod. It felt like my entire body had just rebooted. Speech functions were still loading.
He dropped a few more kisses to my inner thighs. “I hope you’re ready for more, because I’m just getting started.”