25. Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Five
Raif
R aif takes a chance and gets up early, and heads to the diner to get breakfast for himself and Ash. They had barely spoken the day before, and he feels like she’s pushing him away. He knows she’s scared, that she doesn’t know where they stand. And he’s scared too.
He knocks on her door at six-thirty am. He knows she needs to be at the station at seven-thirty and figures this is plenty of time to have breakfast with her. He saw an unusual truck when he pulled into her house, but he didn’t pay it much mind.
Ash opens the door in a rumpled t-shirt and jeans. She looks like she fell asleep in her clothes, and that Raif just woke her up with his knocking.
“Hey, I brought breakfast sandwiches,” he holds up the paper bag. “I thought I’d try and catch you before your shift. I tried texting.”
She looks tired and a little grumpy, hungover. Sam comes to the door shirtless and throws an arm around Ash’s shoulder.
“Henderson, what are you doing here?”
“Just brought some breakfast for Ash.”
“Sweet, I’m starving.” Sam snags the bag from Raif’s outstretched hand, kisses Ash on the cheek, and goes back in the house.
“I should get going. Sorry to interrupt.” Raif turns to walk away.
“Raif wait.” She steps out of the house till she’s close to him. He’s weary, like she’s going to give him bad news, like she’s going to break his heart.
“Sam came over last night to hang out. We got drunk, and he crashed here. That’s all.”
“Okay,” he says.
He feels no jealousy about Sam and Ash. He knows they are close, best friends. And that Ash would never be interested in Sam. He smiles a small smile at her, her hair is a mess, and her clothes are rumpled. Still, she looks great.
“Do you want to come in? Have breakfast?”
“I don’t want to interrupt.”
“You won’t be. I have to kick Sam out anyway to get ready for work.”
He nods and follows her inside. Her smile is shy, and he touches her lower back gently as they walk into the house.
Sam is sitting at the kitchen table, eating a breakfast sandwich that Raif purchased for Ash. It’s a little irritating, but Raif can deal with it.
“These are delicious,” Sam says through a mouthful.
“They are. And they were for me.” Ash snatches the bag out from in front of Sam as he reaches for another sandwich.
“Raif, please sit. You want some coffee?”
He pulls up a chair, “Please.”
She fixes it just the way he likes it and sits down next to him. He pushes his leg out a little so their knees knock together, and she smiles at him.
The sandwiches are good. Ash eats two, and Raif eats one after Sam had eaten his other two. He doesn’t care, though, it’s nice to just be able to spend time with Ash. When she excuses herself to go take a shower, he’s left with Sam, who looks at him appraisingly.
“So,” Sam says, wiping his hands on a napkin. “What are your intentions with Ash?”
“My intentions?”
“Yes. Are you just trying to bang her? Because she’s not that type of woman.”
“I know she’s not,” he growls out.
“So what do you want then?”
Sam has his hands folded on the tabletop and is staring Raif down.
“I care for her. I want to be with her, in any way she’ll have me.”
“And if she doesn’t want to be with you?”
“Then I’ll walk away. Her happiness means everything to me.”
It’s honest, raw, and true. He would leave in a heartbeat if that’s what Ash wanted. If she never wanted to see him again. He would stay away from his mate for the rest of his life and hope that she was happy and fulfilled.
Sam looks at him for a while and says, “Good man.” Clapping Raif on the shoulder and using his crutch to stand. “I’m heading out. Tell Ash I’ll talk to her later.”
Then Sam is gone, and Raif is sitting alone in Ash’s kitchen waiting for her. When she comes out, her hair is wet and her face a little red from the steam of the shower. She’s got on her uniform of a navy shirt and navy long pants, and she looks amazing.
He stands, moves around the kitchen to be close to her. He steps in close, and she looks up at him with a surprised gasp.
“Ash, can I kiss you?”
Her small smile answers his question, but he waits till she whispers yes before he leans in and captures her lips with his.
It’s sweet, chaste. Lips moving against each other, her arms twined around his neck.
When they break apart, she’s panting, and he can feel the beginnings of tightness in his pants.
Then she surprises him by diving back in.
This time the kiss is fiercer, deeper. It’s like she wants to devour him, and he’s fine with that.
He can’t help the thickening of his cock now with the way she’s running her fingers through his hair and pressing her breasts to his chest. She sucks on his tongue, and he groans.
When she steps closer, pressing their lower bodies together, she gasps.
He assumes she can feel his hard length, and he pulls his pelvis back a little so as not to scare her.
She pulls back and looks down the length of his body, eyes locked on his crotch, and he feels himself blush under her gaze.
He opens his mouth to apologize. To say that he wasn’t trying to play at anything by getting hard.
But she surges forward and rubs her body on his.
The friction against his cock, even through his pants, is delicious.
He stays still and lets her grind herself on him.
She's making little moans, and he kisses her harder to eat them up. Her hand begins sliding down over his clothed chest. Over his pecs, past his nipple, down his abs. He doesn’t know where she’s going with this.
He can only clutch her to him and feel as her hand continues sliding slowly downward.
When she reaches the top of his belt, he hears the blaring of an alarm coming from her phone.
She pulls back to turn off the alarm and looks beautifully flushed.
“That’s my alarm to leave for work. I gotta go.”
He lets her go. Willing his erection to go down now that all activity between them has stopped.
“Sorry,” she says softly, looking at his crotch.
“Hey,” he steps forward towards her. “Don’t ever apologize. We can always stop whenever, for any reason.”
She beams at him and pecks him lightly on the lips. When they are out in front of the house, and she’s locking up, she kisses him again and tells him she’ll see him soon at the station.