Chapter 24 #2
Freezing water battered me in my impatience to be free, but the cold burst of energy zinged in my veins.
This wasn’t a shower to relax in. This was a perfunctory washing to get rid of all traces of the dinner and the reasons I’d been dressed up, needing to be me and no one else.
I scrubbed my face once, then shampooed the product out of my hair.
When it was time to scrub my body, I washed my face a second time just to be sure I got it all.
A bright white towel hung near the shower opening. It smelled clean, so I used it, drying off, with anticipation making my hands shake. I had to get back to him. I needed to, for him and for me. I needed to be close. I needed to keep trying to make him smile.
I rehung the towel, but my bag was downstairs. Luke had dropped it outside the bathroom in the hall. Using the light from the bathroom, I tiptoed around his bedroom, found the closet door, and …
“Holy fuck.” His closet was bigger than the bathroom.
Polished shoes filled the shelves on one wall. A row of suits hung on another. There was a low dresser in the center of the room, a tall dresser on one side. Everything was so neat and orderly, as if I’d stepped inside James Bond’s personal dressing room.
I stood blinking, unwilling to disturb anything. Welp, I’d wanted to give him Asher, so he was getting only Asher. No clothes. No barriers. No deceptions. Nothing.
Nerves and jitters had me rubbing my arms as I carefully made my naked way down the darkened staircase.
I wasn’t the most comfortable in my skin.
Not that I had any huge esteem issues, but I had the body of a kid: thin, flat, no great muscle tone.
The best things on me were my eyes and natural tan.
Luke had seen both, so there was nothing to show off with me fully exposed.
A dim light from the open kitchen stretched toward the living room’s shadows, fading away before it reached Luke, who stood at a wide window and stared at the city lights in the distance.
Ice chinked in his glass when he took a sip; otherwise, all was quiet.
“Thank you for letting me use your shower,” I said as I stopped behind him. How weird it was to be completely naked with someone else still completely dressed. I wrapped my bare arms around him and rubbed against the material of his suit. That was kind of nice.
“Of course,” he said.
On flat feet, those pesky inches he had on me were more pronounced. I pushed onto my toes and hooked my chin on his shoulder.
“You’re too tall. I can’t see.”
Luke huffed, almost a chuckle, and moved so I could get in front of him. His eyes popped as he stared at my nakedness.
“Asher …” His voice trailed off as his gaze lowered.
Not allowing myself to feel shame or shyness, I fisted my hands at my sides to keep from trying to cover myself.
“That’s right. Asher.” I lifted my arms and waited for his eyes to meet mine again.
“I’m not anything more or less than me. I’m not your past or your future.
I’m not your parents or their views. I’m not this bad mood you’re in.
I’m just me, and I want to be with just you. ”
Luke slammed his drink on the coffee table, then slammed his arms around me and his lips on mine. He took a few steps, walking me backward until my legs hit the sofa and we fell onto it.
“You’re wrong,” he whispered, then kissed me again. I opened for him with my jaws, arms, and legs. I welcomed him with all of me. “You’re wrong,” he said again. “You are my future,” he whispered against my neck.
I hummed, accepting that, and scrambled to get to his skin. I tugged and pulled until I got my hands under his suit and button-down.
“Too many clothes,” I whined.
Luke bit my neck hard, then shuffled to his knees and tackled buttons and clasps. I sat up to help, probably causing the whole process to take longer.
“Lay back,” he said.
I scraped my teeth over my lower lip and did as he asked. My own way, of course. With one hand behind my head, I teased my balls with the other, enjoying the striptease.
Luke scanned my body, focusing between my legs for long seconds. “Hairless.”
“Told you. Like it?”
“I like it, but I want to see you with hair too.” He wrestled free of clothes in all haste, muscles flexing in both his chest and arms as he reached for his pants. “What do you want tonight?” he asked.
We’d never been so fully uncovered to each other. I’d had glimpses of torso and a glorious dick, of course, but the total package was much better. Broad, rounded shoulders with just enough muscle they filled out suits well. Defined pecs, with a flat, lean stomach that wasn’t intimidating.
“Everything,” I said. “I want you to forget about them. I want this to be our first of many. I want to see you smile again.”
Luke paused, thumbs in his boxers. When he straightened, I figured I’d fucked up. Somehow, I’d said something wrong. But he smiled. Luke smiled and captured both of my hands.
“Come ’ere,” he said and hauled me to my feet. He cradled me to his chest, one hand on my back and the other skimming lower and lower. “We’ll do everything, but in my bed. Not a quick fuck on the sofa.”
I cocked my head. “Rain check on the quick fuck?”
A low, rumbly laugh vibrated his chest into mine. “Definitely.”
Luke escorted me upstairs, hand in hand. The bathroom gave us the only light other than the window. He let go of me long enough to finish undressing, and then he had me back in his arms and surrounded in body heat.
Soft skin, rough hair, and seeking hands smoothed, tugged, gripped, and glided over everything within reach. I didn’t press for more. I didn’t push him down onto the bed. We stood just to the side of it, exploring, kissing.
Our erections met in the middle as our lips did. Luke kissed slowly along my jaw and down my neck. I trailed the backs of my fingers over his ribs and sides. There was no rush.
When he brought his mouth to mine again, I took it as my turn. I licked a stripe under his jaw and sucked his Adam’s apple. I had always wanted to do that. So fucking sexy. Luke hummed, making my tongue tingle. I nipped him, and he dug eager fingers into the cheeks of my ass.
Muscled thighs brushed my slender ones, and I snaked a leg around him.
I wanted to fall to my knees. I wanted to worship his cock fully naked this time with the freedom of space and time. But I didn’t want it to be over.
As if he had the same thoughts in mind, Luke said, “We don’t have to stop. I want you in every way, but it doesn’t have to all be tonight. It won’t all be tonight.”
“I don’t know what to do first,” I confessed. “You’re like a kitchen filled with all my favorite foods, and I don’t know where to start.”
Luke gripped the sides of my head and stared into my eyes, his own sparking as a slow smile curled kiss-swollen lips. “Then how about I start?”