5. 3
He pulled her up and tore open her jeans, yanking them down until they were tangled around one of her legs.
She looked at him, confused. “It wasn’t good?”
she asked hesitantly as he pulled her toward the couch.
“It was too good. But I’m not coming alone, sweetheart,”
he told her adamantly, needing to make Asha come as desperately as he needed to get off himself. He craved her sweet moans of pleasure as she found her release, and he needed to give that to her. Gone were the thoughts that this place was too dirty and crude. Their passion wasn’t waiting for moonlight and silk sheets. The fiery storm of their desire was ready to break, and their surroundings no longer mattered. Kade just wanted her, any way he could get her. He was just that desperate.
“You tasted as good as you smell,”
she told him candidly, licking her lips as she looked up at him.
“Woman, you’re dangerous.”
Kade looked at Asha’s innocent expression and groaned. While her words weren’t exactly meant to seduce, they did, and he knew he had reached his limits on control.
Placing her hands on the arm of the couch, he nudged a thigh between her legs, opening her to him. Her needy whimper was music to his ears as he slid his fingers between her thighs and circled her clit with his index finger. She was so hot, so wet and so ready for him. Mesmerized just from the feel of her velvety, moist heat, he slipped two fingers inside her, finding nothing but silken fire to greet him. “You feel so damn good, so tight and hot,”
Kade grunted, slowly pulling out and then in again, but deeper.
“Please,”
Asha mewled, her head lowering and her hair falling over her face in a silken curtain.
Kade’s gut clenched in primal satisfaction. She wanted him inside her. Nothing else would do. It was the same for her as it was for him. But he loved to hear the proof of her need. Never had he been so desperate to get inside a woman. Not even close. Yet he drew it out to savor her pleasure, running his thumb over her clit, sensitizing her body, making her ready to come for him.
“Kade!”
she screamed desperately. “Now.”
Not.
Quite.
Yet.
He relished her demands, heartened by her level of trust and ability to give herself to him without restraint. She asked for what she wanted now, and she wanted him. And, by God, she’d get every single thing he could give her.
Moving his thumb harder, rougher over her clit made Asha push her hips back demandingly, seating her deeper onto his fingers buried inside her. She threw her head back, her hair still covering her face, and moaned, a long, strangled sound that signaled her impending orgasm.
Kade jerked his hand from between her legs and impaled her with his cock, thrusting as hard and as deep as he could possibly get, the joining of their bodies hot and carnal. “Come for me, Asha.”
He wouldn’t last long, and he wanted her shaking with the power of her climax when he did.
“Then fuck me. Hard,”
she begged, her voice raspy.
Kade gave her what she wanted, thrusting in and out of her body, his groin slapping against her ass with every stroke, completely lost in her heat. The two of them came together like blue fire, the colorful flame threatening to incinerate them both.
He found release the moment Asha imploded, her body trembling and her core clenching his cock, milking him with every contraction. Kade bent over and wrapped his arms around Asha, pressing himself against her back, holding her while her body quivered, savoring the intimacy of being this close to someone. In that moment, there was only him and Asha, the two of them experiencing the same emotions, the same pleasure.
Moments later, he dropped onto the couch, taking her down with him. She was sprawled on top of him, but Kade figured it was better him than the couch, as he wasn’t so sure how clean it was.
He wrapped his arms around her, holding her against his body, savoring the feel of her against him. The last few months without her had been agony, a pain he never wanted to feel again. His soul had been dark again, empty of the light that Asha had illuminated inside him, and he didn’t want to ever be in that kind of hell again. He’d slept little, and functioned poorly, barely existing. Maybe he’d been like that before he met Asha, but he didn’t remember it, hadn’t really acknowledged it. Now, he knew the pain of losing her, and it wasn’t happening again.
Asha was murmuring something in Telugu against his chest, so he didn’t understand the words, but her voice was gentle and sweet.
“I didn’t understand a word of that,”
he drawled quietly. “I hope it’s all good.”
She raised her head and smiled at him, making his heart hammer against the wall of his chest. “It’s good,”
she agreed. “I missed you.”
Kade had missed her, too, but he was afraid it would scare the shit out of her if he told her just how much. “I missed you, too.”
He kissed her forehead, and tucked her head against his chest. “Now I’ll have someone who likes to ride with me in more ways than one,”
he said with a smirk on his face, but he was thrilled that Asha enjoyed being on his bike.
“Oh, yes,”
she said excitedly. “I love it. Can I learn how to ride one?”
Kade flinched, not happy about the thought of Asha on a motorcycle. “We’ll see. We can start with something easy,”
he answered noncommittally. Like a bicycle with training wheels!!
Sighing happily, she said, “I’d like that.”
Oh, hell. If it makes her happy, I’ll try to teach her on something safe.
Who would have thought that the solemn Asha Paritala that he had met mere months ago would get a kick out of riding on his motorcycle?
“Does the butterfly get to fly free, yet?”
Kade asked in a husky voice, hoping that she’d say yes. All he wanted was for her to be happy, free, loved, and unafraid of anything. He could tell that she was slowly starting to realize that she was…more. He was doubtful she realized yet what an incredible, sexy, and talented woman she was, but she would. He’d make sure she did.
She lifted her head from his chest and beamed at him. “Not yet. But I’m working on it.”
Kade smiled back, a silly grin that went all the way to his heart.
Kade dropped Asha off at her apartment, making arrangements to bring her car to her the next day. As he walked her to her door, Asha contemplated asking him to stay. She knew the moment he left, she’d miss him. But she also knew she had some thinking to do, and plenty of growth left to accomplish before she could do much more than date Kade right now. Having sex with him was inevitable. The two of them couldn’t be in the same room together without the need to be together.
Kade being Kade, he had stopped to feed her before taking her home. She wasn’t exactly thin anymore, but judging by his reaction to some of her old habits, he was never going to stop trying to feed her. Although her body had already filled out, she’d eat. Kade had a protective instinct that wasn’t going to go away, and some of the little things weren’t worth arguing about with him.
“I’ve been thinking about opening a football camp. For kids with potential who can’t afford to go to any real training camps. I have some buddies who have retired and are willing to do some work with me. Harrison would fund the program.”
Asha looked up at Kade as they arrived at her apartment door, Kade’s arm protectively around her waist. “I think that’s wonderful,”
Asha answered, not the least bit surprised that Kade would fund a project for underprivileged kids. “Do you like working with kids?”
Kade shrugged. “I’ve done a little bit of work with camps in the past, but just guest visits. Nothing of my own. It was fun. And there are a lot of kids out there who can’t afford the extras.”
“And you miss football,”
Asha added, knowing Kade missed being involved in the sport. “You have a lot to give, Kade. So much you could teach them. I think it’s a fantastic idea.”
“I’m not sure how much they want to learn from a guy who can’t even really run well anymore,”
Kade replied in a self-deprecating manner.
Asha turned as she reached her door, gaping at him. She grasped a handful of his t-shirt to bring him closer, and stared up into his eyes.
He actually means that. He thinks he’s less now than he was before because of his accident.
“Do you really think those kids would care? To be taught by the great Kade Harrison would have any young boy who loves football incredibly excited. And you don’t need to be able to run.”
Asha sighed, loosening her grip on his shirt, but keeping eye contact. “We had five kids beg for your autograph when we went to eat. You’re recognized by every kid aspiring to play football. You can be a role model for them. Football is more than just physical ability and you know it. It’s up here, too.”
She took her free hand and tapped a finger to her temple. “You could teach them that, Kade, and nobody can do it as well as you.”
Kade put both his arms snugly around her waist as his lips began to twitch. “You don’t like football. How do you know?”
“I have a small confession to make,”
she told him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I watched almost every one of your games for the last two seasons that you were playing. When you went to the office, I watched and learned from the recorded games at your house. You were incredible. I could almost see the wheels turning in your brain, your concentration and focus while you were playing. While a lot of the other guys were out there letting the testosterone fly, you were plotting, planning. I don’t think I ever saw you lose your temper.”
He grinned down at her, visibly pleased. “I couldn’t afford to lose my grip. Too much riding on me staying focused. But trust me, I have no lack of testosterone. I just couldn’t let it loose on the field. You really watched my games?”
“Believe me, I already know you have more than your fair share of male hormones, but you were in control. I was mesmerized,”
Asha admitted. “And I learned a lot. There’s a lot of strategy in the game, and you’re a master at it. You still have all of that information, Kade. And I’m willing to bet you can still hit your target with your throwing arm. So please stop beating yourself up because of your leg. You have so much knowledge you could share with young players.”
“Damn right I can hit my target,”
Kade told her gruffly, but he was still smiling. “I was a little hesitant because of my leg, but I want to do it.”
“Then do it. You’re still the great Kade Harrison. And I’ll bet your butt still looks amazing in those tight pants,”
she told him teasingly. Really, she probably could bounce a quarter off his tight ass, and she couldn’t help but admire it every time she caught a glimpse of him from behind. Kade was still poetry in motion when he moved, even with an injured leg.
Kade laughed, a booming sound that echoed in the hallway. “I don’t plan on wearing the pants. I’ll be there to teach.”
“Well…damn,”
Asha said, disappointed. “And here I was going to offer to teach some yoga for you at the camp if I could see that butt in a pair of those pants,”
she teased.
“I’ve never seen you do yoga. I’ll wear the football pants if I can see you in a pair of those yoga pants,”
Kade said hopefully.
Asha lifted a brow. “I don’t even own a pair of them.”
“I’ll get you some in every color,”
Kade replied eagerly.
She swatted him on the arm playfully. “My neighbors were Indian and practiced both yoga and meditation. I learned from a very early age from them. I haven’t done it for a while, but like you, I still have the knowledge here.”
She put a finger to her forehead.
“Believe it or not, I think yoga is incredibly beneficial for a football player. I did some yoga pre-season and during the off-season. It helped me maintain my range of motion and flexibility,”
Kade told her with a wink. “I’d still love to watch you do it.”
“For your information, I usually do it when I’m alone and in my underwear or naked,”
she informed him innocently.
“Scratch the yoga pants. I’ll go for that in a private viewing,”
he told her with an evil grin. “And I’ll take you up on the offer to teach basic yoga to the kids, but I’m getting you a baggy pair of sweats for that. I don’t want my fellow players who are helping out to be checking out your ass. Football players can be horny bastards.”
Asha rolled her eyes at him, amused that he seemed to think that every man would look at her with lust in his eyes like he did. Honestly, no other man looked at her the way Kade did. “You’ll be a great teacher,”
she told him truthfully, knowing that he’d also make a great father. He was a protective alpha male, but he also had such patience and kindness.
“Thanks,”
Kade replied, lowering his forehead to hers. “So much confidence in my abilities?”
“Yes,”
she answered quickly and adamantly. Really, she didn’t think there was anything Kade couldn’t do if he wanted to do it. He had a stubborn tenacity that would always make him succeed.
“Have I told you today how amazing I think you are?”
Kade asked her huskily.
Asha’s heart skipped a beat. His low baritone was sincere, and he obviously did think she was exceptional, for some unknown reason. Somehow, it made Asha feel lighter, more carefree. “Nope. You haven’t.”
“Then let me tell you now. Asha…you’re an incredible woman, my incredible woman.”
He leaned down and kissed her then, a kiss that was slow and languorous, making her feel valued and treasured. It was sensual, but it was an embrace that wasn’t meant to arouse. It was a sharing of emotions, a kiss of communication and intimacy.
It left Asha smiling, her feet still not on the ground for a very long time after she opened her apartment door and disappeared inside alone.
“It looks incredible,”
Tate Colter told Asha as he stared at the finished wall in his apartment. “It looks even better than I thought it would. I wish…”
He trailed off, his comment unfinished.
Asha looked at Tate curiously, wondering what he was going to say. She’d finished his wall completely today, putting the finishing touches into the scene. “You wish what?”
Tate shook his head. “Nothing. I forgot what I was going to say.”
Asha knew he was lying, but she didn’t push. She and Tate had become pretty good friends in a short period of time, but she wasn’t comfortable enough to pry. “I enjoyed doing it.”
She tilted her head, examining the old fire engine and other equipment she’d put in the painting. “How did you become interested in antique fire equipment?”
she asked curiously.
“I was a volunteer firefighter for a while in Colorado. I got interested in some of the old fire equipment,”
Tate answered smoothly, turning his back to her and moving into the kitchen. “You want to stay for dinner?”
Tate had gotten his cast removed and Asha could appreciate the rock-hard ass and Tate’s solid, muscular build. He was incredibly handsome, and she could admire him in an aesthetic sort of way, with hair almost lighter than Kade’s and gray eyes that could almost appear to be looking into one’s soul. But as gorgeous as he was, Tate did absolutely nothing for her. It was as if her body only reacted and came to life for one man. “Can’t. I have a dinner date. Kade’s taking me to a fondue place for dinner tonight.”
“Sissy food,”
Tate called back in a teasing voice. “I was willing to make steaks.”
“It was my choice,”
Asha told Tate indignantly. “I heard about it from one of the women in my art class, and I wanted to try it.”
She’d just started her classes this week, and they were pretty basic, but she enjoyed every moment of them. She could finally put terms to her techniques and the teacher was an incredible artist. Asha knew she could eventually learn plenty of new things from her, and she was eager to absorb knowledge.
Kade had spoiled her rotten from the moment she’d seen him again during that horrible confrontation with her foster parents three weeks ago. They’d been to Disneyworld, and she’d squealed with delight through every ride. In fact, he’d probably taken her to every tourist attraction in Florida, but he always seemed to come up with something new every time she saw him. Usually, there wasn’t a day that passed without her seeing him. And they texted like teenagers, sending flirty and seductive messages back and forth like two people completely…in love.
Asha sighed and picked up her purse, ready to go back to her own apartment and get ready for Kade to take her to dinner.
“You going out with that guy who wears the atrocious shirts?”
Tate asked as he walked back into the living room. “I saw him coming out of the elevator yesterday. Gotta be something wrong with a guy who dresses like that.”
“I happen to love his shirts,”
Asha answered defensively and honestly. “They’re colorful, bright, and gorgeous.”
Just like him!
“They’re nasty,”
Tate grumbled, shaking his head.
Asha walked to the door, but turned around and looked at Tate again. “You like football. You don’t recognize him?”
“Yeah. Kade Harrison,”
Tate answered immediately. “He was a hell of a quarterback, but he needs to work on his personal sense of style.”
Asha knew Tate was ribbing her. He wasn’t the snobby type, and he wasn’t exactly a fancy dresser. “I think he looks very handsome. Yesterday was his hot chili pepper shirt. And he definitely looked…hot.”
Tate snorted as she opened the door. “He needs work.”
Asha looked back at him and told him assuredly, “He needs nothing. He’s perfect just the way he is.”
“In love with him, are you?”
Tate asked as he joined Asha at the door. “Only a woman in love could think that about a man in bad shirts.”
Enjoying the bantering with Tate, she answered haughtily, “At least Kade knows how to treat a woman, unlike some men I know.”
She raised a brow at him, referring to the brunette who left his apartment every day smiling while Tate insisted it was a casual thing. “I haven’t seen her for a few weeks. Did you dump her?”
Tate shrugged uncomfortably. “We…broke up.”
“Are you sad?”
Asha asked curiously, feeling bad that she had given him a hard time.
“Nah. It was bound to happen. She got back together with her ex-husband. I told you it was nothing.”
Asha looked at Tate, but he avoided eye contact with her.
“I’m sorry.”
And she was sorry. If the woman had dumped him, even if he wasn’t all that attached to her, it probably hurt.
“Don’t be,”
he said hurriedly. “Maybe I can give your star quarterback a run for his money. I’m unattached,”
he said jokingly.
“I’m not,”
she told him cheekily, knowing Tate wasn’t really interested in her. Pulling her keys from her purse, she walked across the hall to her own apartment.
“I don’t see a ring. He doesn’t have you, yet,”
Tate called from his doorway.
Asha unlocked her door and pushed it open. She paused for a moment before looking Tate straight in the eye from the door of her apartment. “He has my heart,”
she stated simply, closing the door of her apartment with a small smile.
Glancing at the clock on the wall of her apartment, Asha knew she’d have to hurry to get ready for her dinner date with Kade. A rush of adrenaline and excitement flooded her body as she moved quickly to the bathroom to shower. Not that Kade would mind if she was late. He’d wait patiently, understanding that she’d had to finish a job today, acting like he was perfectly content just to be in the same space with her. Although he was a billionaire who headed one of the most prestigious companies in the world, he never treated her obligations like they were any less important than his. It was one of the many things that Asha loved about Kade. He made her feel like she was important, that what she valued was also significant to him. Most of the time, he put her needs before his own, and it was starting to get less and less confusing for her. Kade cared for her, and he protected those he cared about and treated them with consideration. At one time, that had been foreign to her, but she was getting used to being treated as a woman of value by not only Kade, but by others such as Maddie, Max, Devi, and people she had met who were slowly becoming friends. It was still amazing to Asha that as people had started to value her, she’d started to develop her own self-worth.
Asha sighed as she stepped from the shower and wrapped herself in a towel. Padding over to the closet, she rifled through her clothing, picking a lightweight dress from the collection that Maddie and Mia had purchased for her when she’d first arrived in Florida. After countless discussions about the clothes, Maddie had shown up at her door a week ago with a very large moving van to bring all the clothing to her room to be hung in her closet. Maddie had given Asha a don’t-screw-with-the-pregnant-woman glare, and Asha hadn’t argued. Her sister might be sweet, but she had a stubborn streak when she wanted something. And she had wanted Asha to accept her gift. Maddie’s brilliant, happy smile when Asha had nodded her agreement had been worth swallowing her pride. She’d made Maddie genuinely happy by finally accepting the clothes. It was almost symbolic, as if Asha had finally accepted her as a sister. Had Asha realized that it had meant so much to Maddie, she would have taken them before. But she hadn’t been perceptive enough then to read her sister. Now…she was beginning to understand Maddie, see her through the loving eyes of a sister. The last thing Maddie needed right now was conflict. She was having twins, and the stress of the pregnancy was enough. Asha wanted to be there for Maddie, too.
The same day that Maddie brought the clothes, she just found out she and Sam were having a boy and girl. Asha’s heart had first clenched with joy for Maddie when her sister had happily delivered her news, and then for herself because she was going to be an aunt to a new niece and nephew in just a few months. She and Maddie had cried tears of joy together, and it had been at that profound moment that it really hit Asha that she really had family. It no longer mattered what Max and Maddie had or how successful they had become. They were all irrevocably connected, and status meant very little next to the affection she had for both of them. Money or no money, Asha couldn’t have asked for better siblings, and she was grateful every single day for them. She talked to Maddie and Max most days now, and spent as much time with them as she could, getting to know them both.
Lunch with Maddie, Mia, and Kara had become a weekly event, and Asha was still just a little in awe of all three women and their relationships with three very alpha, powerful men. The women were all independent and strong, but they adored their possessive, protective, and bossy husbands because those men wanted them safe and happy. It wasn’t about control for any of the women’s husbands. It was all about loving so strongly that they couldn’t help themselves.
“Really, it all comes down to love,”
Asha whispered to herself as she smoothed the dress over her new curves. Didn’t she love Kade’s overprotectiveness and alpha possessiveness? And didn’t she know it was because he cared? Maddie said there was a big difference between “alpha”
and “asshole”
and Asha completely understood exactly what her sister was saying. The distinguishing factor was all about what motivated their behavior.
Looking at herself in the mirror, Asha applied some light make-up and began French braiding her hair. She smiled, knowing Kade would just unbraid it later. It had become almost a sexy ritual for them, and she shivered as she braided, knowing it would be Kade’s fingers that would set the strands of hair free again.
Finished, she took a final glance at herself, noting the way the jade green silk dress caressed her curves. It was cut just above the knee, but a small side slit revealed enticing glimpses of her thighs when she moved. Kade would like it, but he’d grumble about the amount of leg she was showing, and glare at any man who looked. Smiling, she snatched up her strappy sandals and her purse, glad she didn’t need stockings. Even though she was of mixed heritage, her complexion was dusky enough that wearing stockings was completely unnecessary.
Asha forced herself to ignore the voice of her foster mother in her head that told her to cover her body, that she was exposing too much skin. Raised to be incredibly modest, the dress was a little out of her comfort zone for going out in public. Shaking herself mentally, she reminded herself that it was actually pretty tame by American standards. Still, it was hard to shake her upbringing and the idea that dressing to expose skin made her a “bad girl”
who was asking to be assaulted or abused by a man.
Adding a pair of dangling, beaded earrings and her gold bangles, Asha declared herself ready and headed out to the living room.
Seven o’clock.
Kade should arrive any time. He’d said seven thirty, but he was usually early.
Asha was about to bend down to strap on her sandals when a beefy arm wrapped around her neck, startling a panicked scream from her mouth.
“Shut up. You are dressed like a whore, Asha,”
a heavily accented male voice said vehemently in her ear.
Asha had known it was Ravi from the moment the strong, male arm had wrapped around her neck. She’d been in the very same position many times before, and she recognized his painful grip and the sweaty scent of his large body. “H-how did you get in here? How did you find me?”
His hold tightened and Asha was starting to see stars flitting across her vision. “You’re my wife, a married Indian woman. Yet you go around with another man. An American,”
Ravi answered angrily in Telugu. “You weren’t difficult to find. All I had to do was follow him to you. You disgrace me.”
Before, she would have trembled with fear, waiting for the first blow, which would be followed by many more, leaving her damaged and weeping on the floor. Now, anger began to swell up inside her, a rage for the man who had nearly broken her. “I’m no longer your wife. And I’m an American woman with Indian blood. Let go of me or I’ll have you arrested.”
Fight! Fight! Fight!
For the first time, Asha felt the instinct to fight for her life, for her sanity. At one time, all she had worried about was angering Ravi more, extending her beating. Now she wanted free, unable to ignore the feelings of hatred and fury that she had for the man holding her prisoner.
He laughed bitterly before announcing, “The police are already trying to arrest me. Your friends and family decided to poke their noses into my business, both personal and otherwise. I won’t go to an American prison. I will die. But you will die with me, little wife. You’ve decided our fate.”
Ravi’s voice was deranged and desperate, and his breath reeked of alcohol.
Asha’s stomach dropped, wondering what Ravi was saying. Her family had pursued him? Had a warrant out for his arrest? Why? Questions flooded her brain, but her survival instinct was stronger. “I’m not your wife anymore. Let me go,”
Asha rasped desperately. She yanked at the arm pushing on her trachea, making it difficult to talk or breathe.