Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ASHER
Prior to last week, marriage hadn’t entered my mind even once. It wasn’t that I was against it per se. My parents had had a perfect marriage. Or so it’d seemed to my eyes anyhow. Of course, I was sure they’d had their ups and downs like any married couple would have, but nothing dramatic. Nothing that would scare me off the institution.
But I was only twenty-seven, and I didn’t even feel like I’d really started my life. True, I’d probably experienced more life in my short stint on this earth than many people three times my age had, but that didn’t mean I was done living the single life. Not to mention the fact that it wasn’t exactly easy to find a partner understanding enough to put up with my life on the Nashville music scene. Now, when I wasn’t yet big enough to be a household name, it meant late hours and not a lot of time off. And weekends? What were those?
Not to mention being okay with me being extremely close to my very female, very beautiful best friend.
I figured I’d have plenty of time to figure that out. Get married, have a couple kids. Maybe…someday. Ten-plus years down the line.
But now here I was on the morning of my wedding, about to marry the last girl in the world I’d have thought. And yet, somehow, the first one I’d ever wanted.
The morning light tiptoed into the room, casting a soft glow over Nat as she slept soundly next to me, her hand tucked under her cheek. She was still in the position she’d been in last night when I’d hugged her and fallen asleep to the lullaby of her heartbeat. It wasn’t the first time we’d woken up next to each other. Prior to this new reality, we’d done it hundreds of times before.
Of all the crazy, ill-conceived, spontaneous decisions I’d made in my life, Nat had been present for at least ninety percent of them. This wasn’t new for us. And yet, the whisper of nerves over what this day meant still sat low in my gut. I didn’t understand why, though. It was just Nat. And, truthfully, there wasn’t anyone in the world I’d rather do this with than her.
To be fair, though, perhaps part of my nerves came from the fact that we were about to be on center stage, thrust into a relationship that, prior to a week ago, hadn’t even existed. And now, suddenly, we were supposed to be madly in love enough to pledge our lives to each other.
All that, and we hadn’t even kissed.
“You always stare at me while I’m sleepin’?” Nat asked, her voice raspy with sleep. “Who are you, Edward Cullen?”
“I know you wish you were marryin’ your favorite sparkly vampire today, but sadly, it’s just me.”
“Yeah, not gonna lie, that’s a real disappointment,” she said, completely straight-faced as she fluttered her eyes closed again and tucked her toes between my calves. Jesus, no matter the outside temp, this girl’s toes were constantly icicles. “Seriously, though, on a scale of one to Edward, how much of a creep are you usually when I’m sleepin’?”
I laughed. “Usually maybe, like, a two? Today, I’m inchin’ toward a nine.” In more ways than one, but, as I’d done diligently each morning we’d woken up close together, I’d made a concerted effort to keep that bit of information as far from her as I could.
“Well, at least you’re honest. What pushed you over into full-on creep territory this mornin’?”
“Well, I was thinkin’…”
“We can’t do anything illegal today,” Nat said. “We’re supposed to get married, remember?”
I cracked a grin. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinkin’ about as I was creepin’ on you.”
“Tryin’ to figure out how to get out of the old ball and chain?”
I breathed out a laugh and shook my head. “Thinkin’ about how our first kiss shouldn’t be in front of a crowd, actually.”
Nat’s eyes popped open, and she stared at me, her gaze much more alert than it had been just a moment before. “Is this your way of attemptin’ to get the milk for free before buyin’ the cow?”
“I think that has to do with a lot more than a kiss. Are you offerin’?”
She rolled her eyes and laid a hand on my chest, the heat of her palm seeping into my skin. “Easy there, Casanova. I’ll give you the kiss, but it’s gonna take a lot more than your sweet, gruff voice and messy bed head to lure me into havin’ sex with you.”
Nat puckered up, the exaggerated move making it clear she wasn’t taking this seriously. Something I knew I shouldn’t be doing either. But still, this wasn’t just a random girl. Someone I was attracted to and had the brief notion to make out with for a little while. This was Nat. Someone who’d been in my life nearly the entirety of it. Someone who’d hopefully be in it much longer still.
Because of that, I reached up and gently brushed her hair back from her face, trailing my fingertips down the side of her jaw and cupping her head as I slid my fingers into her hair. I swept my thumb against the soft skin of her cheek, my gaze darting to study each of her features.
She lay there, eyes closed, her lashes swept across the tops of her cheeks. Her lips were parted, her breaths puffing faster along my skin the longer I took to study her.
Unable to wait a second more, I closed the space between us, my eyelids fluttering shut until, finally, our lips were pressed together and I was breathing her in.
I’d thought about this a handful of times years ago when we’d been teens. And, truthfully, I’d thought about it a handful more this week, knowing we’d have to do this at some point. And though at least the former had, at times, been over the top, those fantasies still didn’t hold a candle to the real deal.
As our lips moved together, every preconceived notion I’d ever had about what this might have been like with her was completely blown out of the water. Not wanting to step over any bounds, I initially kept it slow and sweet. Gentle. Chaste. But at the first breathy moan that spilled from her lips, all bets were off.
I groaned as I swept my tongue across her lips, then into her mouth when she opened for me. Despite how diligently I’d worked at keeping my raging hard-on from her notice, in the end, it didn’t matter. Not when she hooked her leg over my hip, settled in as close as possible, and rocked her pussy against me.
“Ash…” she whispered as she held me by the back of my head, tipping hers back so I could trail kisses down the front of her neck.
Jesus , why hadn’t we ever done this before? Had this been what I’d been missing my whole life? What I’d shut the door on without even examining it too closely for fear of what I might lose, should it go wrong?
I should’ve known it would be like this between us. Everything with us was always so easy. Was it any wonder our sexual chemistry would be too?
“Fuck, you feel good,” I said into her neck.
Last night, I’d been wishing she’d worn more clothes to bed, if only to keep a leash on my cock. But now, I wanted every stitch of cotton between us gone so I could feel each inch of her skin pressed against mine. Could suck her nipples into my mouth. Could feast on her pussy until she came. Could sink so deep inside, I couldn’t tell where she ended and I began.
Reaching around, I palmed her ass and tugged her hard up and against me, eliciting a sharp gasp from her lips. Just as I slipped my fingers beneath the cotton fabric, the bedroom door slammed open, and in ran June, her fairy dress Rory had lent us on backward.
Nat jerked away, her eyes wide but cloudy, as if she’d woken from a sex-filled dream.
“I’m ready!” June yelled, climbing up to bounce on the bed. “Let’s go!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Junebug,” I said, maneuvering to catch her before she face-planted on us, while at the same time, working to hide my aching erection.
Nat glanced down and clearly noticed my predicament, her bottom lip caught between her teeth as her eyes practically sparkled. “It’s not quite time yet, Junie B. But I think you could use some lip gloss. What do you think?”
“Yeah!” June slipped out of my arms and ran back into the hallway.
Nat tossed off the bedding, careful to leave me covered, and slipped out of bed. She pulled on a pair of sweatpants, but not before giving me an eyeful of her firm ass and the shadowed outline of her nipples hidden beneath her light purple tank.
She grabbed one of my hoodies and slipped it on before padding to the door. She stopped at the threshold, one hand against the trim as she glanced at me over her shoulder, her eyes positively gleaming. “I’ll keep her busy if you, um, wanna Edward Cullen one more thing today and take care of the beast in your pants by yourself.”
“Oh, you’re real funny.”
Her answering laughter spilled into the room even as she shut the door. With a groan, I slammed my head into the pillow, the heels of my hands pressed to my eyes as my cock still throbbed, demanding attention. If I didn’t take care of it now, there was no way I could be around Nat all day without being distracted by every move she made.
Taking advantage of being alone, I pushed my boxer briefs down far enough to free my cock and gripped it tightly. Usually, my fantasies featured faceless women—just abstract shapes doing the activities I wanted. Now, though, my eyes weren’t even closed before it was Nat’s face filling my mind. Her throaty moans in my ear and her hands clutching me closer.
I could still feel the heat of her pussy against me, and I bit my lip to stifle my groan. Fuck, I was already close. Already seconds away from coming, and I hadn’t done more than picture her kneeling on the side of the bed, her hands pulling down my sweatpants, her eyes locked on my achingly hard cock.
Apparently, I’d made a mistake imagining faceless, shapeless, nameless women when I’d only needed to picture one to get off.
“Nat,” I said, probably louder than I should have. But I was too far gone to care, my hand a blur over my thick erection, my thumb sweeping the head with each pass.
Commotion sounded in the hallway, but not enough to take me away from my thoughts. Not when I was this close. Not when, in my mind, I was about to paint her lips with my come before she’d even swiped her tongue over the head of my cock.
“Hang on,” Nat called, and hearing her voice so close sent a jolt through me, my balls pulling up tight to my body as my breathing turned ragged.
And then the knob turned.
“I’ll be right there, June.” She poked her head inside. “Did you call?—”
“No,” I tried, though it came out strangled.
I didn’t know if I was talking to her or myself. It didn’t matter because it was too late anyway. Our eyes locked, and I groaned out her name, my cock thrumming in time to the rise and fall of her chest as the warmth of my come spilled across my bare stomach.
For what felt like an eternity, she stared at me, her lips parted and eyes glazed as she took in every inch of me. Especially the inches that perked right the fuck back up thanks to her attention.
Then, June called for Nat again, and she tore her gaze away, the spell broken. With a mumbled apology, she closed the door, leaving me to clean myself up. And wonder just how the hell we were going to traverse this.