Chapter Twelve
Asher
Juliet toed off her shoes near the mat by the front door and I flipped the lock.
I shrugged out of my jacket and hung it over the back of a chair. Kicked my boots off by the door. The domestic normalcy of it all hit me harder than I expected.
This was her home.
“You don’t have to stay,” she said quietly, turning toward me. “I’m probably going to pass out in about seven point three seconds.”
“I know,” I replied.
Her eyes slid to me, sharp but searching. “But you are.”
“Yes.”
That word settled between us.
She crossed her arms loosely, studying my face like she was trying to read something I wasn’t offering freely. “Why?” she asked.
I chose my words carefully. Truth, but not the kind that backed her into a corner. “Because I want to be here,” I said. “And because I want to be with you.”
Her breath hitched. Just slightly. A tell she probably didn’t realize she had.
I stayed where I was and let her decide.
She closed the distance instead. That told me everything.
She stopped just short of touching me, with her gaze steady but vulnerable. “This isn’t something I normally do.”
“I know, doll,” I said.
She huffed a quiet laugh. “There is just something about you, though.”
I shook my head. “I can say the same thing about you. Something just pulls me to you, and I can’t escape it.” I paused. “I don’t want to escape it.”
I covered her hand with mine, firm but gentle, giving her time to pull back.
She didn’t.
I pulled her into my arms and kissed her.
Slow. Deep. Sure.
Not the kind of kiss that chased heat, but the kind that built it, brick by brick. My hands stayed where they belonged, guiding without claiming, letting her choose how far this went.
She pressed closer, breath hitching, fingers curling into my shirt like she needed something solid to hold onto.
I broke the kiss first.
“Say stop,” I murmured. “Any time.”
She swallowed, eyes dark. “Keep going.”
Clear. Unmistakable.
I lifted her easily, walking into the kitchen, setting her onto the kitchen counter with care. The counter was cool beneath my palms, and the light above us warm and low.
The second I stepped in between her knees, something inside me snapped loose.
I kissed her again, harder this time. My hands slide up her sides, learning her shape like I’d been waiting for permission. She made a soft sound into my mouth that went straight through me, and I braced myself there, close enough to feel her warmth, her pulse, her breath.
I held her hips and slipped inside. Her pussy wrapped around my dick, and it took everything to not come right then.
“God damn, you’re tight,” I growled as I thrust into her. My name ripped from her lips, and she wound her arms around my neck.
“Don’t stop,” she gasped.
It would have taken an act of god to stop.
Juliet was what I wanted, and nothing was going to take her away from me.
She moved with me, rough and urgent, with no rhythm except what felt good. The sounds between us filled the kitchen with heavy breathing, quiet moans, and us. Nothing gentle about it. Nothing careful. Just need.
I buried my face against her neck, and my name ripped from her lips as her pussy squeezed my dick like a vise.
“A-A-A-Asher!” she screamed.
I pounded into her, my breath tearing out of me as I followed, bracing myself so I didn’t crush her. For a second, I couldn’t move. Couldn’t think.
Just felt.
When it passed, I stayed right there, forehead against hers, both of us breathing like we’d just run hard. My hands were still on her hips, firm, like letting go wasn’t an option yet.
That wasn’t soft.
And it wasn’t something I was ever walking away from.
I brushed my thumb along her jaw, gentle now. “You okay?”
She nodded, a soft smile pulling at her mouth. “Yeah.”
I helped her down carefully, making sure she was steady before stepping back just enough to give her space.
She reached for my hand, and that mattered. I knew that Juliet liked her space and was used to being alone, but she wanted me right there with her.
We didn’t talk much after that.
We didn’t need to.
Later, when we curled up on the couch with a blanket and the house settled fully around us, she rested her head against my chest like it belonged there.
And I knew, without needing to say it, that this wasn’t something I was walking away from.
Not tomorrow.
Not after the ride.
Not when things got quiet again.
I was all in.