Chapter 32 Asher
WE SLEEP CURLED together as thunder rumbles outside.
I can’t remember the last time I was this content.
I roll over and watch Cord sleep, his face relaxed and free from the worry that usually mars his expression.
He truly is a beautiful man. Before I can stop myself, I reach up and brush the hair back from his eyes.
“Are you stalking me in my sleep?” he murmurs.
“Can you blame me?”
He opens his eyes and offers the merest hint of a true smile. It’s so rare I want to bottle it, keep it close to my heart to pull out whenever I need a shot of hope.
“What are you doing today?” I ask him.
He rolls onto his back and sighs. “Not sure. There’s no new leads so unless Dante comes up with something else for me to do, I actually have the day to myself.”
“Well…you could always sleep in.”
He smirks at me. “I could, but someone already woke me.”
I reach over and walk my fingers across his chest. “If you were tired enough, that would put you back to sleep.”
“Did you have something in mind to tire me?”
I roll his nipple between my fingers. “I could think of a couple of things.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were trying to seduce me.”
“Is it working?”
He grabs my wrist and flips me over, straddling my body, his hair falling around my face like a curtain, his lips grazing mine. I lean forward, completing the connection, my tongue snaking out to taste his while my hands slide up to his firm biceps, pulling him closer.
He presses his lips to mine as a moan escapes his mouth, igniting a fire inside me, and all of a sudden I’m wide awake and hungry.
I bite his lip, sucking it into my mouth. Devouring it. Feasting on him.
The kiss becomes something charged and untamed, a gnashing of teeth and exchange of blood, and just when it seems we’ll tear each other up, we pull apart, breathless and wild-eyed.
“Where did that come from?” he pants.
“Guess we were both a little hungry.”
“I think I need more.”
He slides his body down over mine, his mouth closing around my nipple, licking circles around it. Sucking it into his mouth and nibbling on the nub until it’s swollen and throbbing before moving on to the opposite one.
Just when I think I can’t take any more, he releases it, his mouth trailing kisses across my abdomen, and then I feel his bite.
Marking me.
Feeding on me.
My veins surge with lust as I tangle my fingers in his hair to pull him closer.
“Feels so good.”
He pushes my legs apart and lowers his mouth to my groin, his teeth digging into my flesh.
I can feel the pull as he sucks my blood, causing my cock to stiffen.
It’s so hard it’s almost painful now. He looks up at me and licks my blood off his lips, then bends down to lap the precum leaking from my head.
A shudder of pleasure racks my body as my back arches, my cock straining for him.
“Please, Cord.”
His tongue flattens against the underside of my cock, licking the length from bottom to top before his lips close around the crown. His eyes raise to mine.
“Don’t you have to go to work?”
I burrow my head deeper into the pillow behind it.
Someone shakes me. “Asher?”
“Hmm?”
“I said, don’t you have to go to work?”
I open my eyes. Cord is standing over me, fully dressed.
What happened?
I squeeze my eyes shut against the sunlight streaming in the window.
Figures.
It was all a dream.
Best dream I’ve had in a long time.
“How long have you been up?” I ask, pulling the covers over me to hide my throbbing cock.
“Not long. Whatever you were dreaming about must’ve been good. You were moaning.”
Moaning? More than anything I want to close my eyes and summon it back. “I don’t remember,” I say instead.
“Well I gotta get going.”
He turns to leave the room, and I call after him. “Cord, wait.”
“Yeah?”
What do I want to say? Please don’t go? Please come back to bed? I should’ve known it was too good to be true.
“I’ll let you know about the guest list.”
“Okay, sure. Just text me.”
And then he’s gone.
“Fuck.”
I would have thought, after what transpired last night, he would have at least stayed for coffee, if not to talk. He did say he needed time, but that doesn’t mean he has to run off as soon as the sun hits the sky.
This whole push-pull dynamic we have going is driving me crazy. I just want what we had. To be able to count on him being there for me. When I get up in the morning. When I come home at night. When I need someone to talk to.
And that may be the worst part. No one knows me like Cord. He knows my history. My secrets. My desires. He knows what makes me strong and what renders me vulnerable. Because of that, he has power over me. Not that I think he would abuse it. Just as I would never abuse my knowledge of him.
He’s my other half. The part that makes me whole.
The ten years we were apart were the longest, loneliest, darkest years of my existence.
I never want to go back to that again. And I don’t know how many ways I can tell him that.
I can manipulate any businessman into doing my bidding, but I don’t know how to make Cord trust me again. It’s frustrating as hell.
Speaking of frustrating, I stare down at my raging hard on, knowing I’m not going to be able to function today without taking care of it. I head for the shower and a date with my right hand, still feeling Cord’s lips closing around my cock.
? ? ?
Elaine jumps me as soon as I get off the elevator. “You’re late. Is there a good reason for that?”
I try to ignore her and walk to my office, dropping my briefcase on my desk, but she’s like an annoying fly buzzing around me.
“Do you have something to tell me?” I ask.
“Do you?”
I take a deep breath and rein in my impatience, thinking how much better my mood would be if what transpired this morning hadn’t been a dream.
“Elaine…”
“Sorry.” She shoves a piece of paper in my hand. “The guest list.”
“Thank you,” I murmur as I scan the names. Two jump out at me.
Dante Fantini.
Howard Thalium.
I didn’t consider that Dante would be there, but as the leader of the Crimson Guild, he has managed to squirm his way to the top of the food chain in this town. Hopefully that won’t be a problem for Cord.
Knowing Thalium will be there ignites a spark of excitement in me. Finally we’ll be able to put a face to the name, that grainy photo aside. And maybe between the two of us, we’ll get some worthwhile intel out of him.
“So did he agree?” she asks.
“Huh?” I look up at her. “Who?”
“Cord. You were going to ask him if he’d be your plus one.”
“Oh. Yeah, he said he’d go if Thalium was going to be there.”
“All right! Sounds like a date.”
I smirk at her enthusiasm. “You’d think you were the one going.”
“I’d just love to get a picture of you two in your tuxes. You’ll only be the hottest looking couple at the event.”
I don’t even know how to respond to that so I just let it go.
“I had high hopes when you didn’t show up first thing this morning.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” I say.
“But you did see him, right?”
“He came by last night. We talked.” That’s not all we did, but she doesn’t need to know that, not that it will stop her from asking.
“Please tell me you did more than talk.”
“Elaine, this is getting a little too personal for office conversation.”
She gives me a wry smile. “I knew it. You two are so hot.” I open my mouth to protest, and she waves her hands at me. “Okay, okay, I’m going.”
After she leaves I pull out my phone to text Cord.
Thalium is on the guest list. I’ll call my tailor in Midtown to arrange a fitting for you.
He answers a few minutes later.
Text me the time and address.
I decide not to tell him about Dante right now.
I doubt Dante will bring it up to him since he wouldn’t expect him to be going.
Ideally I’ll be able to keep them apart at the event, but I know that’s a long shot.
And maybe it’s better this way. Then Dante can get eyes on Thalium himself.
I have no doubt Thalium knows who he is.
After all, he’s targeting his territory.
Maybe that’s exactly why he’s going. Maybe he’s just as anxious to get a face-to-face with Dante.
I open the Python folder on my desk and pull out the photo again. I still can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen him before, and the fact that I can’t recall where is fucking with my peace of mind.