Chapter 27
ASHER REYNOLDS
Iknow exactly where I’m headed, even if I know that I shouldn’t be heading there.
Chase’s room.
Will he turn me away?
God, I hope not. Now that I’ve set my sights on seeing him tonight, it’s all that I can think about. And it’s been way too long since we were alone.
I’m about to find out as I knock quietly on the door, scanning the hallway to see if there’s anyone lurking about. Most of the guys are either in their own rooms or down in the main lobby, playing cards.
I considered going down and joining them, but I can’t make myself give up the chance of spending time with him.
But now that I know what it’s like to hold him while he sleeps? Or how it feels when his whole body relaxes against mine? And god–the soft scratchiness in his voice when he wakes up?
It’s a risk worth taking. He’s a risk worth taking.
I just hope that he feels the same way, too.
When Chase pulls open the door–and then pulls me inside quickly–I know that he isn’t surprised to see me.
“You shouldn’t be here.” I register his words, in some dim part of my mind, except that it’s hard to focus on them when he’s standing in front of me in nothing but a towel, the same standard hotel-issued one that I was wearing earlier.
I stretch my leg exaggeratedly and grin at him, trying to steady my fluttery nerves. He still has that effect on me. “I figured this was a great time for a physical therapy session. No other players you need to be helping right now?” I crane my neck, looking around.
“Asher,” he groans, but he doesn’t step back from where I’m pinned against the door. “There are rules, if you remember.”
“You said that we can never be together on campus.” I gesture toward the bed. “This doesn’t look like campus to me.”
He runs his hands along my torso, snaking underneath my hoodie. His warm hands spark life into me. “I feel like you know that you’re violating the spirit of the agreement.”
“Does that mean you want me to leave?” I ask, slowly twisting my body to reach the door handle.
He pushes me back, and I love the way that his body brackets me in place. “We technically have a few hours until curfew.”
I smile, and not wasting another second, lean forward and kiss him. I’m obsessed with his mouth. It’s soft and he uses this amazing pressure when he kisses me, like he’s mapping every single atom in my body.
But it’s not enough. Nothing feels like enough, lately.
He drives me wild. I want him in every single way that I can want another person. Sexually. Romantically. Emotionally.
I’m so fucking gone for him, and as the days wear on, it’s harder for me to keep my feelings to myself. Especially because every time I see him, all I think is that I want more.
But I’m not going to fuck anything up tonight by talking about it, even if I think that there’s a part of him that wants the same things, too.
I start walking him backward toward the bed, encircling him in my arms as we go. “You’re not going to fight me on getting you into bed?” I tease, nipping at his lips with my teeth.
“And waste what little time that we have?” he says, surprising me with his eagerness. My hoodie is already on the floor when I realize that he’s going for my joggers now, sliding them down my thighs. I’m already hard in my boxer-briefs, and he gives me an appreciative stare.
“Clearly I’m excited to see you, but I didn’t realize that you’d be so excited to see me,” I say before kissing him again. The teasing banter between us feels good. And knowing that he wants this as much as I do? Well, that feels even better.
I never knew that sex could be easy like this. Exciting and exhilarating and like I’m being pulled forward instead of trying to remember the motions as I go.
His voice is serious when he hits me with, “You’re the best part of my day.”
I stop, my fingers toying at the twist holding his towel on his lean hips. “Really?”
When his forehead presses against mine, I feel his soft exhale against my cheek. I don’t move. Don’t blink. Don’t breathe. I’d rather die than disrupt whatever he’s about to say next.
“This–us–,” he clarifies, “is complicated, but it’s not going away.”
“No, it’s not,” I agree quietly, our breath mingling together.
“You’re everything that I’m looking for. Only, I’ve been too scared to look for it.”
My heart swells, and I encircle him tighter in my arms. I love how he fits against my body. Muscular but smaller than me, and he smells so good that I just want to burrow my face in the crook of his neck.
Then, I process the second part of what he just said. Instead of leaning forward, I pull back so that I can look him in the eyes. “Why have you been scared? I just figured that you were too busy.”
Because if he wanted to be in a relationship, I have no doubt that a line of suitors would be knocking down his door.
I watch as a soft blush fans across his cheeks, and it only makes him look more attractive. These vulnerable moments, when he lets me in, mean the world to me.
He clears his throat and tries to look away, but I drag my fingertips along his chin, holding him in place.
Finally, he exhales. “You’re so much more than I bargained for, Asher.
But Lyla’s mom–she said and did all the right things, too.
And when I wasn’t exactly who she wanted me to be, when our life wasn’t going to play out the way that she wanted…
suddenly, I wasn’t good enough anymore.” He’s quiet for a beat, the weight of his words settling between us.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever really shed that skin. ”
“I don’t want you to be anything or anyone except who you are.
” My words come swiftly. Decisively. I don’t need time to think about my answer, the way that I usually do.
I know who Wyatt Chase is, and it only makes me like him all the more because of it.
“You’re an amazing dad. And a caring son.
And a kick-ass physical therapist. You’re annoyingly moral–which is a lot, coming from me,” I finish with a self-deprecating smile.
He laughs, breaking the heaviness of the moment. “Yeah, I wasn’t expecting to meet someone who sat on a higher horse than myself.”
I back him up and sit him down on the edge of the bed before dropping down to my knees in front of him.
My hands slide up his thighs, pushing his towel up higher as I go.
“You’re the guy who shows up for people, even when they don’t want to show up for themselves.
That’s…” The guy that I’m falling in love with, are the words on the tip of my tongue, but I bite them back.
I squeeze his thighs instead, heat flowing between us.
“That’s who I’m in this room with. No one else. ”
“That’s good because threesomes aren’t really my thing,” he teases softly, and I tamp down on the flair of jealousy at even thinking about sharing him with someone else.
I push my fingertips harder into his thighs, massaging his tight muscles. “I want you all to myself. You know that, right?” It’s the closest that I can come to admitting the true depth of my feelings without worrying that I’ll scare him away.
He wraps his hand through my hair, scratching at my scalp. “I want you all to myself, too,” he says as heat flutters through me.
With those words, I ease him back onto the bed, so that he’s lying with his legs dangling over the edge. Quickly, I unwrap his towel, letting it fall open. It’s like a gift, seeing him laid out before me. His cock is already straining upward, begging for me to wrap my lips around it.
He’s mine, and I want him to know it.
I drag my fingertips down his chest, scratching as I go. They pass along his pebbled nipples, and he exhales sharply.
Usually the room is dark or we’re semi-clothed. Tonight is the first time that I can see all of his perfectly sculpted body. The light sprinkling of hair on his chest. His long, lean muscles that allow him to move so fluidly.
“I can’t believe that you haven’t let me see you like this before,” I say, my eyes tracking across his exposed skin as I toy with his nipples. He lets out the best fucking sound, and I twist a little harder.
“Yes,” he exhales. “Just like that.”
Well, who am I not to give him what he wants? I take my time, exploring and touching, all while still nestled between his legs. The plump head of his cock is taunting me, making my mouth water, but I don’t let myself shift forward the few inches that I’d need to taste him.
And our secret hookups have been fun–sure–but I want more than that.
I want this. Which is getting to see the effect that I’m having on him.
I move at a leisurely pace. We have hours before midnight check-in, and I don’t plan on wasting a single second. Plus, I’ve been thinking about him so often that I have a whole mental list of things that I want to do to him.
Starting with… “Put your legs over my shoulders,” I command, surprised at the conviction in my voice.
His stomach clenches as I run my hands downward, but he does as instructed.
Once the solid weight of his thighs is pressing against me, I scoot even closer.
I resist the urge to bury my head in his crotch, trying to drag his pleasure out.
If he’s afraid of what’s happening between us, then I’m going to show him that he can trust me.
That his body–and his heart–will always be in good hands.
And damn if that doesn’t send a thrill through my already buzzy limbs.
“Let me take care of you,” I coax, just like I did the last time that we were together, even though we didn’t hook up.
It’s like those are the magic words, and his legs splay outward from his hips.
I have to shift even closer to keep his weight stabilized.
I don’t care that I’m probably going to have carpet burns–it’ll be worth it.
Especially with the angle I have now, where he’s in a hip thrust. One of the many perks of being with a fellow athlete, since he doesn’t even seem to be breaking a sweat.