Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ashish
I give her five minutes. Five minutes is my limit because her sudden openness with her feelings and her body makes me hopefully wary. I don’t know if I can be patient or understanding if she backs away from me again. I close the shower door to trap in the steam before pressing my body against hers.
I can’t help it. Bernadette Murphy is a work of art. Tall, with muscled legs and wide hips. Her torso is long and thin, her small breasts topped with pretty pink nipples, and her caramel blonde hair looks light brown in the water. I love how tall she is, tipping her chin up so I can press my lips into hers.
“Did you just tell me you think you’re falling in love with me?” I ask her, squeezing her small waist before sliding my hands down to grip her hips.
“I–” Bernie’s dark ocean eyes blink slowly, like she’s trying to decide how honest to be with me.
If she takes it back, I’ll be okay , I tell myself. It’s just a matter of time. She can’t deny this.
“I know it’s too soon to say something like that, but I have very un-friend-like feelings for you Ash. And I–” She presses her lips together until they disappear, and I run my nose over the bump on hers.
“Why do there have to be rules?”
“What?
“Why do we have to worry about what anyone else thinks? About something being ‘too soon.’” I kiss the tip of her nose. There are little black flecks in her eyes around the pupil. “It’s just you and me in this shower. It’s just you and me in this relationship. I don’t give a shit what anyone else thinks. What do you feel?”
She searches my face, and I wonder what she’s trying to find there.
“You know when you write your first journal article and you’re so hopeful that everyone is going to love it? Get it? Think you’re some kind of genius?” She laughs a little and swallows thickly. “So you strike up the courage to submit it. You pick a top-tier journal and have a friend read it, and then it’s three in the morning and you’re uploading it and hitting that submit button. Afterward, you have to wait, sometimes days, sometimes weeks, or months. But that first article almost always gets rejected, and you have to decide what kind of scholar you’re going to be after. Are you going to be the person that lets that first rejection haunt you? Every time you bring a project to fruition, are you going to worry that it’s not good enough? That you’re not good enough? That it too will get rejected, no matter how much you’ve grown? Or–”
“Or?”
She tentatively raises her arms and wraps them around my neck, pulling me closer. “Or are you going to be the kind of scholar that learns, gets better, and goes for it?”
I tighten my arms around her.
“I’d like to think I’m the latter, that I’m growing. But the reality is we’re not always one thing or the other. Some rejections or failures hurt worse than others and take longer to recover from.” She brushes her lips against mine, and I resist deepening the kiss. I feel like there’s more.
“Are you recovering?”
“Hmm, I realized when you were gone for a week how much I missed you. Over such a short period of time, you’ve become part of my life, and I think if I continue to let my failure from the past shape my decisions, I’m going to regret it. So–”
“So–” I can’t tell if she’s having a hard time getting the words out or if she’s just being dramatic. Either way, my besotted ass is eating this up.
“So, I’m trying to be brave and go for it. My feelings for you are so big and overwhelming and I so desperately want to believe that I’m going to spend Thanksgiving with you. That in two months, it will make total sense to get on a plane and meet your family and be in snowy freaking Boston.”
“It doesn’t usually snow in November, but I’ll buy you a warmer coat,” I promise, swooping in and kissing her. Her skin is going to be red from my beard, and part of me doesn’t care. I want to see the evidence of this moment on her skin all day.
“Ash,” she sighs, tilting her face to the side to catch her breath.
“I’m going to make love to you again, Bernie.” I bring her mouth back to mine, letting my fingers drop and stroke down the cleft of her ass to her swollen pussy. “You’re mine. I don’t care if it’s fucking crazy, I know who I’m made for, and I will do whatever I need to do to help you be brave.”
She hisses when I back her against the cold tile and hitch her leg up over my hip so I can touch her from the front. She’s wet but not wet enough. I drop to my knees and press my face into her, sucking her swollen clit into my mouth.
I moan when she drops her hands to my neck and kneads me there. I love it when she touches me. I sink my fingers into her and increase the pressure on her clit until she’s panting above me. This is what bliss feels like; hot water on my back and the most gorgeous woman’s hands tangled in my hair, pressing me into her wet pussy.
Her realizing she’s mine.
“I’m too sensitive, Ash,” she moans, and I keep stroking her, swirling my tongue around the little bud against my lips. Dropping one hand, I tug my cock to stem the ache there. I’m already hard again, and all I want to do is sink into her, feel the thrill of nothing between us. It had been completely unexpected when she put my bare cock at her entrance and sank down. I’d never fucked someone without a condom before, and the heat of it made my entire dick tingle. I wanted it again and again.
I wanted it now.
My groan echoes in the shower when I feel her walls start to clench around my fingers, ratcheting up my need. I suck hard before releasing her and swiftly stand, flipping her and pulling her hips back. I slot the tip of my dick between her folds, and she arches her ass up for me.
Fucking beautiful .
I can’t wait anymore. I hold her hip in one hand, cock in the other, and push forward, sinking my dick into her wet heat.
Falling harder and deeper for this woman.
I groan and press my hand to her lower back, making her ass arch higher before I push in until my hips are flush with her skin.
“You’re fucking unbelievable, Bernie,” I groan and brace one hand on the wall next to her hand.
“I was close,” she complains in a breathless voice. I lean forward and lick up her neck.
“I want to feel you come on my cock. Touch yourself, sunshine.”
She sobs, but she dutifully places her hand between her thighs, pushing back against me, one arm extended to hold onto the wall while her shoulders and head dip. I shudder when I feel her fingertips brush against my dick as I move inside her.
“Ash,” she pants over and over. I love it, I love this.
“I can’t believe how good you feel,” I say through gritted teeth, both hands gripping her hips now as I rock into her. “You’re fucking perfect, do you know that?” I can feel myself losing control, getting dangerously close. Her pussy keeps squeezing the base of my cock, drawing me closer and closer. I reach around and cup her breast, finding her nipple and tweaking it. When I bit her before, she went off. So I pull and pinch now to see if I can get her to come for me.
Her sweet, throaty moans and the pressure are too fucking much, too perfect, and I can’t hold back. Bending over her back, I cup her tits in my hands as I come. I come so hard I see stars as I grind into her ass, my cock jerking inside her. I kiss her neck, sliding my dick out of her pussy so I can turn her around. Dropping my hand to her wet, messy folds, I flick my fingers over her clit. Kissing her, wanting her to shudder in my arms.
“My beautiful Bernadette, you bring me to fucking knees,” I whisper in her ear, sliding my finger down her center and then back to her clit. “I couldn’t even wait for you, you’re that sexy. Are you going to come for me, sunshine?”
“Yes,” she moans, pressing her forehead against my throat.
“You’re going to come on my fingers and then tonight when we’re back in your apartment, I’m going to eat your pussy until you can’t take it anymore. I love the way you taste.”
“God, your mouth is dirty,” she pants, and I scissor her clit with my fingers before thrumming it again.
“Hmm, you love it. Do you want my mouth again? Do you want my fingers to fuck you?” I cup her breast with my other hand and pull her nipple taut.
“I need more,” she pants, and I don’t know what that means, but I can see if I ask for more instructions she might not come. I drop to my knees, quickly cupping water in my hands to clean her, and then suck her clit into my mouth before rimming her slit with my fingers. Her breath hitches, and I do it again, pressing in slightly and pulling back.
“Ash,” she begs, and I hum into her, adding the vibration of my mouth to the suction, repeating the shallow retreat until I feel her grip my fingers.
I groan into her and press my fingers up as she comes. I kiss and lick her while she holds my head tight, rocking against my face. When she’s come down from her orgasm, I stand and tug her under the hot water, rinsing my face before kissing her. “I might have to wake you up early every morning,” I tell her, letting the water pour over both of us.
“We don’t have unlimited water heaters in our apartments, so probably a bad idea,” she mumbles.
I laugh, and Bernie turns to reach for the shampoo she’d set on the small ledge.
“Might be worth it,” I tell her, stealing some of her shampoo to wash my hair.
I like the idea of smelling like Bernie all day.