32. Asher
32
ASHER
Pleasure shot straight to my cock as warmth surrounded it. I would know that mouth anywhere, but this had to be a dream. There was no way she would be down there, sucking my cock after what we’d been through.
“Holly,” I groaned, my hips jerking as her fist wrapped around me and squeezed. This was the best fucking dream ever.
I tried to roll over to hold her in my arms, but I couldn’t move. Something was holding me down. My eyes flew open and I jerked my arms, but they wouldn’t move. I was fucking tied to the bed. A seductive chuckle came from beneath the blanket, sending a spark up my spine.
“Holly?” I asked warily, really fucking hoping it was her and this wasn’t some twisted dream.
She tossed the covers off and smirked at me, still fisting my cock. “Asher. You seem to be a little…tied up at the moment. Was there something you needed?”
I choked out a laugh, my cock hardening as she stroked me. “Baby, is there a reason I’m tied to the bed?”
“Are you? I hadn’t noticed.”
“You hadn’t—” My eyes rolled back in my head as she ignored me, lowering her mouth onto my cock and swallowing me whole. Her mouth was like a goddamn suction cup. I could hardly breathe as she took turns sucking me and then stroking me.
I licked my lips as I watched her breasts swaying with every bob of her head. Her naked ass swayed in the air, tempting me to spank her and show her who was boss in the bedroom. Not that I was into that sort of thing, but damn, I had never been tied up before in my own damn bed.
“Holly,” I panted, feeling my heart race out of control. “Baby, I need you to stop.”
“Why’s that, baby?” she asked, sitting up slowly, still stroking my cock. “Is it because you’re about to come in my mouth?”
“God, yes.”
“But you don’t want that, do you?”
I swallowed hard as she crawled up my body. She was so fucking close. Those pretty nipples were just out of reach, so fucking close to my mouth.
“You want to come inside me?”
“In your pussy,” I corrected.
“You want to make love to me?”
I huffed out a laugh. “Right now, I want to fuck you up against the wall while I suck on those pretty tits.”
“You’ll have to get out of those restraints first,” she whispered, bending over to run her tongue along my neck.
I groaned, snapping my mouth to the side, catching her earlobe between my teeth. I sucked her into my mouth, pulling her closer as my hips jerked again. Fuck, I wanted her so bad. “Untie me, baby.”
“You’re a big, strong military man. I’m sure you can figure a way out.”
She was fucking teasing me. I could practically hear the laughter in her voice. But with my cock raging and my woman pressed against me, it was nearly impossible to think about anything other than sinking my cock into her.
Her finger traced a path along my jaw, over my lips and down my chest. I watched as it swirled around my nipple, rippled over my abs, and then… “Fuck,” I whispered as she wrapped her hand around my cock. “You make it impossible to think about anything.”
Her soft laughter was all I heard as she started stroking me again. Then her lips were on mine and I kissed her hard, biting her lip until I drew blood. I didn’t want to hurt her, but fuck, she was driving me insane.
“I need you,” I panted. “I want you so much.”
“You have me,” she said as she pressed kisses along my jaw.
“Not enough. I want all of you. Every fucking inch. I want you by my side for the rest of my life, Holly.”
Her lips paused just shy of mine and she pulled back, looking me in the eye. “Are you—are you proposing to me in bed?”
I wiggled my hips until she slid down my legs and landed on my cock. Her pussy slid right over me and she slowly sank down on me. My eyes closed as I finally felt her walls close around me.
“Baby, when I propose to you, it’ll be some Grade A Hallmark material. Noelle will be puking her guts up.”
She beamed as laughter broke free. “I’m not sure which is worse. Talking about puking or Noelle while your cock is inside me.”
I thrust my hips up for good measure. “There’s not a single thing that could make me go soft when I’m inside you. Not even talk of puke.”
Bracing her hands on my abs, she pushed up, then sank back down on my cock. The look of pure ecstasy on her face drove me insane as she slowly rode me over and over again. My wrists were straining to be released, but it was when she closed her eyes that I really lost it.
The fabric cut into my wrists as I twisted and pulled until, finally, the material shredded in two. I grabbed her hip, taking her by surprise. Those gorgeous eyes flew open as I sat up and sucked her nipple into my mouth, tasting heaven for the first time in days.
“Asher,” she moaned, riding me harder.
“Fuck, baby. Just like that.”
She threw her head back, crying out as I bit her tight bud. Shutters rippled through her body, strangling my cock. It took everything in me to hold on and not come apart right that instant. She started to sag and I caught her, rolling her over, still attached to one side of the bed and using that arm to brace myself. But as soon as I had her on her back, I slammed home inside her.
“Fuck, baby!” My arm cradled her head as it stretched behind her to the headboard. I used the leverage to fuck her harder, all the while leaving my mark all over her pretty little neck. I couldn’t help it. The taste of her skin drove me crazy, and just last night, I thought I had lost her. I had to make sure she had the reminder that I would always be here.
“Asher, I’m coming,” she panted. “I can’t?—”
“One more, baby.” I ran my nose along hers, then kissed her hard, slipping my tongue inside to tangle with hers. I could feel her tensing beneath me as I thrust into her deeper and harder. I gripped her jaw and held her to me, taking every last breath she had. She cried out as her body shattered and I swallowed those moans, keeping us fully connected as I came hard inside her.
Our kisses turned less frantic and more lazy with every second that passed. Eventually, I rolled off her, letting her breathe without me suffocating her with my body weight. With my arm still tied to the bed, I didn’t get very far. My eyelids drooped as I stared at her beautiful face, running my fingers up and down her back. I was so fucking lucky to have her—that she even considered taking me back after all the shit that happened the past few days.
“I’m cold, Asher.”
I smiled slightly. “I would get the blankets, but I’m sort of tied to the bed.”
“Funny how you got one of them untied.”
“Well, it was a moment of super strength. I shredded it by sheer will.”
She sat up, grabbing the covers to pull them over us. “And now?”
“And now the only thing I want to do is lay here with you in my arms and sleep.”
She snuggled into my chest and I could feel her smiling against me. “We really are like a Hallmark couple.”
“Aside from the dead wife thing.”
Her head popped up and she grinned. “I think even Hallmark would write that into one of their stories. It makes a nice twist.”
I huffed out a laugh at her version of a “nice twist”.
“So, what happens now?”
I sighed heavily. “The last thing I want to do is talk about Jade while I’m in bed with you.”
“I know, but I need to know what happens.”
“Well, I need to get a lawyer and find out how to proceed. She was legally dead. I don’t know if I need to get a divorce or…if the marriage is over. I’ve never been in this situation before.”
“And if you are still married?”
“Then I’ll get divorced as quickly as possible.”
She swiveled her head to look up at me. “Do you think she’ll cause any problems?”
I thought about our conversation and shook my head. “No. I think she understood that I was done with everything. She seemed resigned.”
“I hope so,” she murmured quietly. “I can’t imagine what she’s going through, but…”
“But what?”
“But you’re mine.”
A smile touched my lips and I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I like you all territorial.”
“Yeah, well…I’m not a fighter by nature, but I’ll do my best for you.”
“I appreciate that. Just do me a favor and don’t put on any boxing gloves just yet. I’m pretty sure we can settle this without any fights breaking out.”
“I’ll do my best, but I make no promises,” she grumbled.
I chuckled and pulled her closer. “Get some sleep. We only have a few hours before we have to get up for work.”
“Ugh. Work. That sounds terrible,” she mumbled. “Why did I decide to own a business? I can’t call in sick.”
“You’re the boss. You can do anything.”
“I’m pretty sure all this back and forth is driving Noelle crazy,” she giggled.
“I’ll make it up to her.”
She turned and looked up at me. “How’s that?”
My lips turned up as a plan came to mind. “Just wait. It’ll be good.”
“Are you back to following me wherever I go?” I asked Chase as I walked into work.
“I don’t really have a choice if I want to talk to you. It’s not like you were at home last night.”
“That’s because I was making up with my girlfriend.”
He nodded, holding the door open as I headed into the break room. “I thought you looked a little happier this morning. Does that mean you patched things up with Holly?”
“Yep.”
“And what about Jade?”
I hung up my coat and turned to Chase with a frown. “What about her?”
“She’s all alone.”
“And?”
He rolled his eyes, frustrated with me for sure. “And she’s your wife.”
“No, she was my wife. She gave up that right when she tried to kill herself. We’ve been over this.”
“Why are you being so obtuse about this? You loved her. I saw it with my own fucking eyes! I was there for all of it!”
“Right,” I said calmly. “You were there for all of it. You remember what happened. Look at me now. Really fucking look at me. Do you see me?”
“Yeah, I’m looking right the fuck at you.”
“And what do you see?”
“A man who’s lost his way.”
I laughed at him, grabbing my coffee mug. “That’s what you want to see.”
“No, that’s really what I see.”
“Chase, your version of happy is only if you’re holding a gun and chasing down the bad guys.” I leaned back against the counter and took a sip of coffee. “This is the simple life. Do you know how I met Holly?”
“Please, enlighten me.”
“She was measuring a rug by rolling around on the ground in the store.”
“And that endeared you to her?”
I still smiled when I remembered that moment. “Absolutely. And then I went out to my truck and she slipped on the ice. Her cart went rolling away and she yelled at it to stop. She actually yelled at it. Cutest thing I’ve ever seen. It rolled right into my truck and dented it. Then she left me a note apologizing for not catching the cart in time and left her name and phone number.”
“Is there a point to all this?”
“Yeah. It was normal. And then I ran into her again on Valentine’s Day at a fast food restaurant and we had a meal together. It just progressed naturally. I took her out on dates. We spent time together, got to know each other. I didn’t sleep with her for weeks. She was frustrated with me for taking so damn long.”
He huffed, his lips quirking up in a smile.
“She makes me laugh, Chase. All the time. I’ve met her parents and they were normal. Well, her dad is a conspiracy theorist, but he’s not part of some criminal organization. He didn’t sell off his daughter to me. And her mother made us lasagna last night and invited me over for dinner to try and get us back together. Do you see where I’m going with this?”
He sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Yeah.”
“It was never going to work with Jade, not in the long term. We didn’t choose any of that. But this is my life and I’ve found someone I want to be with. And I like having a normal job. I like being a mechanic and working with normal people.”
“Are you saying we’re not normal?” he asked, his face pulled down in a frown.
“Chase, you work in a missile silo. Do you remember our first time going to OPS? We jumped out of a plane and I nearly fell off a mountain. I slid on a parachute with Scottie. I don’t know many people who do shit like that.”
“Don’t you miss it at all?”
“Honestly? I haven’t had time to miss it. I haven’t thought about it. Right now, I’m just enjoying having a life for once.”
“But you’d consider coming back.”
I shrugged. “That’s something I’d have to talk about with Holly. That would be a major change in my life. I don’t know if she’d be okay with that.”
“You never let a woman rule your life before,” he said snidely.
“I never had a woman who was worth giving up everything for. She’s worth all that and more. Besides, I gave it up long before she came along.”
The door swung open and Wyatt walked in, his eyes bouncing between me and Chase. “Hey, I’ve got an order for you.”
“No problem. I’m just finishing up here.”
He nodded, handing over the slip, then shut the door.
“You wouldn’t even consider coming back to help with Cash?”
“I’m one man and I haven’t been back in years. What could I possibly do to help?”
“I don’t know, man. But Cash has gone off the deep end. We all owe it to Eva to do everything we can for her. There are things you don’t know. Things that…” He sighed in frustration, running his fingers through his hair. “Kavanaugh’s father was shot because he was going to tell us who was behind The Syndicate,” he said, lowering his voice. “Then Kavanaugh was shot. He almost didn’t make it. And the only fucking lead we have is Shadow.”
“Shadow?” I asked, my brows furrowing at the name. “As in?—”
He nodded. “We put in a call to Knight.”
“What the hell does he have to do with any of this?”
He quirked an eyebrow at me. “There’s so much you’ve missed, man. He’s Cash’s brother.”
Shock rippled through me. That was a lot to digest, but even with that knowledge, it still didn’t sway me.
“Right now, we’re trying to track down Cash and Shadow. We need to get ahead of this before Cash gets himself killed. It wouldn’t hurt to have someone on the inside. Someone who is no longer connected to the company.”
Just like the last op. Go undercover and gather intel. Be the inside man. That’s what he was asking of me. I knew I couldn’t do it. There was no fucking way.
“And put myself in the same position I was in with Jade? Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked, anger rolling through me.
“It was just a thought,” Chase sighed. “Asher, I get that you’re happy here, but it’s all hands on deck, and we could really use you. Just tell me you’ll consider what I’m saying. At least for Eva.”
“I’ll think about it. That’s all I can promise right now.”
I knew it wasn’t enough for him. Chase wasn’t the type to let anything go. He might never understand my decision to leave OPS, but at the end of the day, it didn’t really matter what he thought. I knew I had done the right thing for me when I walked away from all of them. It was the only way to survive, and in doing that, I found life again.