Chapter 18
~
Rhea
Who the hell would show up here at this time?
I wondered grumpily as I got up and wrapped myself in my silk robe.
I left my feet bare and my hair in disarray.
Whoever it was would have to deal with me in my most natural form.
I shuffled into the hallway, and the hammering kept going.
Whoever it was clearly had something incredibly urgent on their mind.
Something that couldn’t wait until a more reasonable hour.
You can’t just open the door to anyone in the middle of the night, I reminded myself as I reached the stairs, deciding against switching on any of the first floor’s lights.
I tiptoed down the foyer to the front door and peered through the peephole.
I recognized the man standing there, with his face covered in soot and some kind of pain.
With a frown, I undid the door’s latch and opened it. “Ash? What are you doing here?”
He seemed distraught, or at least his version of it.
The frown on his face was deep, and his eyes were without light.
Even his shoulders seemed lower than usual.
My heart hammered in my chest as I wondered what was going on.
He wouldn’t have shown up at such a wild time for anything mild.
Did someone get hurt? Were Calder and Beck okay?
“The ice cream parlor burned down,” Ash said through his teeth, and I could immediately tell how hard that fact had hit him.
It was interesting that the first thing he’d done since coming back to the station was to walk over to see me.
Clearly, I wasn’t the only one who was catching feelings.
It made me think that I’d been the only person who Ash had told about the parlor; otherwise, he wouldn’t have shown up at my doorstep.
I wondered if Calder and Beck had any idea.
Even if they did, what could they do for him?
Men weren’t exactly known for sharing their feelings with one another, or consoling each other.
At most, I could imagine them patting Ash on the shoulder.
He probably needed more than that, but what could I give him in this situation?
“Oh, my god,” I said, standing aside and ushering him through the door. “I’m so sorry. What happened?”
“We don’t know.” The sentence was short and almost sounded forced, as if he was having a hard time talking. He wasn’t a man of too many words in the first place, but it felt like he was almost entirely speechless now.
I didn’t know what to do with the information, or how to make him feel better. It was like a piece of his childhood had been entirely destroyed, something that had taken him back to better memories. Now, it was gone, and there was nothing that he or anyone else could do about it.
It must’ve been tearing him apart.
I wondered if it was the same arsonist that had been running amok around town.
If it was, what reason could they have had to target an abandoned building?
Were they trying to target Ash specifically?
No, that didn’t make sense. He didn’t have any connections to the kiosk or the apartment building, at least as far as I knew.
Unless there were two arsonists, or there was some kind of accident, but that seemed a bit more than unlikely.
“Would you like some tea?” I asked as I followed Ash deeper into the house. It was the only thing I could think of doing as some form of consolation. I didn’t think a mere hug was going to be enough, but what would be?
Ash turned to face me, so quickly that I almost bumped into him. “I don’t really want tea.”
He stood closer, putting his hands on my shoulders. I felt a shiver running down my spine. I had an idea what he wanted to do.
“So… What do—” I paused when Ash put his hand around my neck and stared into my eyes. It was enough to make me entirely quiet, and the world slowed down around us.
Ash leaned in slowly, but when he kissed me, it was like crashing into a meteor. It was urgent, passionate, and almost angry. There was something sorrowful in it, too, hidden deep beneath all of the other emotions that Ash was channeling through his lips.
I kissed him back as he put his arm around me and led me down the hall to the kitchen. As we moved, we were undressing one another. Ash undid the knot of my robe and I shrugged it off my shoulders.
I reached for his shirt, still covered in soot and smelling of smoke from the fire, and lifted it over his head.
His chest was sweaty and hard, and as soon as my pajama shirt was off, I pushed myself against him to feel it all against my skin.
This close, this intense, the scent of the fire’s aftermath was almost overwhelming.
I could picture him and the others with the hoses, fighting the roaring blaze at the scene of Ash’s favorite childhood hangout.
It must have been difficult for him, especially if none of it could be saved.
I wasn’t sure how bad the fire was, but with how intensely he was now kissing my neck as he pulled down my pajama pants, it must have been devastating.
We reached the kitchen, where Ash lifted me onto the counter that overlooked the living room. I had a lot of questions for him about the fire and the investigation, but I let the primal urges now building in my chest take over instead of talking.
I watched for a few seconds as Ash finished undressing himself before he came back up and began to kiss me again. His movements were urgent, like doing this could erase the hurt that he was feeling. I answered with just as much vigor; my longing for him was overriding any kind of reason.
Ash pulled back for a second, leaning his forehead against mine. “Are you ready?”
“I am,” I replied breathlessly, and he lifted my hips up from the counter before pushing himself deep inside of me.
He held himself there, one arm on my lower back, the other around my shoulders. I pushed my body tightly against him, wrapping my legs around him and immersing myself in the feeling of our connection.
“Do you like it rough?” Ash asked, still leaning against me. “Because I’m not going to be gentle tonight.”
I swallowed. “I can take it.”
“Good.” His voice was a growl as he began to move his hips, slamming hard into me.
The movement made me gasp, with electric sensations running through my legs and thighs.
Ash held me in place against him, one hand now holding my neck firmly, and kept his rough rhythm going.
A few times, he let out a low, animal-like groan, and each time, I moaned with him.
This was a new feeling; angry, hungry, and completely wild. It was addictive, and I knew I would want more no matter how much of it I got. My breath came shallow and my heart was racing.
Soon enough, our sweat blended together and the heat from our bodies filled the kitchen.
Ash eventually lifted my legs onto his shoulders, and I leaned back on my hands to balance myself. In this position, I could throw my head back, and move my hips in tandem with his. His fingers dug into my thighs firmly, and I wished for a second that I had sheets to strangle with my hands.
Ash continued to ram into me with surprising force, and I somehow found myself wishing that he could go even harder.
As if he’d read my mind, Ash moved forward and placed one hand on my chest. I lay back flat on the counter, and he held that hand where it was, keeping me steady.
He held my thigh with the other hand, and moved again with more force.
Each slam had me breathing harder, moaning more, and losing myself completely in the sensations.
It was as if Ash was releasing a beast that had been laying dormant somewhere in his soul.
At the same time, I felt completely safe in letting him ravage me.
I imagined him tearing anything apart that ever tried to threaten me.
The thought of that was pretty hot, and it drove electric shocks through my legs.
He finally released my chest and moved his hand downward, until his arm was wrapped around my leg and his thumb on my clit. He moved it in circles in tandem with his thrusts, which created a sensation that I was pretty sure I had never felt before.
I reached down to hold my hand over his, another way of feeling exactly what he was doing. I closed my eyes again and held my head back, sensing that I was getting ever nearer to orgasm.
I didn’t want to rush, but I couldn’t help myself. I almost screamed when I came, gripping Ash’s hand so tightly that my nails dug into his skin, and in response, he seemed to growl, pausing his thrusts to feel me shuddering against him, pushing himself as deeply inside of me as he could.
I pushed myself up on my elbows and looked up at him. “Oh, my god, Ash. That was insane.”
“It’s not over,” he answered, reaching forward to lift me off the counter. “Turn around.”
Without questioning it, I did exactly that, bending over the counter as I stood on my toes. I felt Ash’s fingers digging into my waist as he pulled me into position, before he entered me again.
“You’re so wet,” he said as he began to move again, this time very slowly and deliberately. “So good.”
“Mmm,” I muttered, biting my lip as I savored this new feeling in this new position. I closed my eyes again, simply existing as I was.
Until I heard the creak of my front door opening, and my eyes flew open.
“Calder?” His name slipped from me as I noticed him standing in the foyer, staring right at us.