Chapter 6 Asher
ASHER
Irelieve Ella of the last few closed buttons on her blouse, but instead of diving headfirst into cleavage like I want to, I suck in a breath and just take her in.
Her eyes are unsure, and I can’t blame her.
I didn’t lie when I said I was scared, too.
Every day I spend with this woman is a day I fall harder for her.
If this ends, it will destroy me. No question.
But I can’t budge on the fact that I will destroy myself before I bring her harm.
“We both want the same thing. Don’t forget that.” I brush my thumb along her full bottom lip. “But we don’t have to think about the future today.”
And since I can’t take another second of looking at those lips and not tasting them, I press my mouth to hers and let out a groan of relief when she kisses me back.
A spark burns between us, and I know I shouldn’t be pushing this here and now but fuck if I can stop myself.
I kiss her like I’ve been fantasizing about for the last three days, and finally, I feel like a part of my sanity clicks back into place.
And it ignites the beast inside me.
I wrap one arm around her lower back and press so that her back is slightly arched, then I pull down the cups of her bra, springing her breasts free.
I move my mouth from hers and bend down to swipe my tongue over her nipple.
She lets out a breathy moan as I suck on one breast while I knead the other in my palm.
“Asher . . . we’re in the office.” Her voice is breathless, and her paper-thin argument seems to die as her fingers slide into my hair.
“I don’t give a fuck,” I say as I switch my mouth from one breast to the other.
“I—”
“Extra credit,” I growl against her skin. “I earned it fair and square.”
To help her make up her mind, I slip my hand up her skirt and brush my fingers over her panties, grinning when I find her wet for me. She groans, but it sounds like it’s as much from hesitance as it is from pleasure.
“Please, baby. Don’t keep the one thing I want away from me.”
“And what’s that?” Her voice is barely more than a whisper.
“You.”
“Asher,” she groans, still trying to put up a fight.
“Ella.”
“I . . .”
“Extra. Credit,” I growl.
She huffs. “O-okay.”
“Good girl.”
I grab the elastic of her panties, and when she doesn’t protest, I give them a yank and slide them down until they fall to her feet.
She steps out of them, and I pick them up and shove them into my pocket.
I stand, take her by the hand, and lead her to the couch.
As she walks, she wraps one hand around her chest, covering her half-bared breasts.
I sit on the couch and pull her down. I shove her tight skirt up to her waist so she can straddle me, and I reach into her open shirt and unclasp her bra. I don’t want anything between me and what I want.
“Asher . . .” She squirms, trying to cover herself again.
“You don’t need to worry, baby, no one can see in.”
“But everyone is going to wonder why the glass is suddenly opaque,” she hisses. “You know they’ll be gossiping about it.”
“Again, I don’t give a fuck. This is my company, and I’ll do whatever the hell I want in my office.”
“I care. I’m the one who looks like a whore.”
“If anyone says a thing like that, they’ll find themselves unemployed.”
“Well, some of them already say it.”
“Ella, forget about everyone else. This is about you and me. No one else matters.” I look at her, really look at her and give her my truth. “I need you, Ella.”
I kiss her again before she can ask more questions.
This, this is where we always find one another.
I know it’s probably not the healthiest thing, but I can’t deny that when we’re together physically, everything else fades away.
There is nothing I can lose myself in like I can with Ella. And I know she feels the same.
The ache that’s been gutting me from the inside since she said she needed space eases as soon as my mouth is on hers again.
I take no prisoners, plunging my tongue into her mouth and claiming her.
She resists for a handful of seconds before she moans back into my mouth and meets my tongue thrust for thrust.
I kiss her like she’s my last meal as I skim my hand up her thigh and through her wet slit.
She bucks her hips and moans again, and I plunge two fingers inside her.
As she starts to ride my fingers, I use my other hand to unbuckle my belt and undo my pants.
When I pull my fingers out of her pussy, she whimpers at the loss of contact.
I free my cock and stroke my hand up and down the length of it, my eyes fixed on Ella’s mesmerizing green ones.
“The only way you get to come is on my cock, Ms. Hale.”
She bites her lip, debating. But I know I have her.
She’s too worked up to retreat now, and I know she’s missed me as much as I’ve missed her.
Well, maybe not as much, I don’t know if that’s possible, but I know she’s been miserable since the moment I walked out of her bedroom door three days ago. Because I’ve been the same.
I grab her by the hips and lift her, my eyes still watching hers as I lower her onto my cock.
“Fuck,” I hiss when she’s seated, taking in all of me. Nothing has ever felt as right as when I’m inside her.
Our lips meet again as she starts to move, slowly, tentatively at first. But soon, that same haze of lust and want and need envelops us, blocking out everything else.
Her hands tangle in my hair as she rides me, and my hands wrap on either side of her hips, urging her on, grinding her harder on my cock.
Our foreheads meet and it feels like the first real breath I’ve taken in too many days.
Before Ella sliced me open with her request for space, I had already been a mess, worried over her safety and her life after what happened at that hotel.
In truth, I don’t think I’ve breathed easily since she stormed out of my office after our argument about the story.
But having her here, now, with me, helps to settle that ache in my chest. It’s not gone, and it won’t be until this impasse between us is resolved.
But for now, I’ll take this. I’ll take any crumb she’s willing to give me.
I miss you.
I want you.
Please forgive me.
I swallow back all the words I want to say to her; afraid I’ll spook her if I voice them.
So, I speak to her the only way I can right now.
I glide my lips up the column of her throat, kissing and sucking as I go.
I roam my hands over her breasts, stomach, ass, worshiping every inch of her perfect body.
I pull her in tight, leaving no room between us, to blot out the echoes of space that has plagued me.
I know she’s close by her soft moans and quick breaths.
I rub her clit with my thumb in a circular motion, with just the right amount of pressure that I know drives her wild, and soon she’s coming.
Her walls pulse around my cock as she shoves the back of her hand against her mouth to keep from crying out.
A moment later, I come so hard that I see stars. The relief and ecstasy that burns through me hits me, and I bite down on her shoulder to keep from yelling her name for everyone in the goddamn office to hear.
Fuck. Me.
I will never tire of this. I don’t think if I fucked her a million times that it would be enough to sate my need for her.
I’ve been with many women, but none of them have felt like this.
This connection between Ella and me isn’t just a good time or a good fuck—there’s something indescribable that burns between us when we’re together, both in and out of the bedroom.
The gut-wrenching fear I felt both when Ella was threatened by Kyle and then again when she pushed me away, reminds me why I need to get my shit together and give her what she wants.
What she deserves. Because if I don’t, and I lose her, lose this, it will be the worst mistake of my life.
As I take in the sight of her, drinking her in, I notice a circular object in the small breast pocket of Ella’s blouse. How I noticed it, I’m not sure, not when her blouse is hanging open and her perfect tits are right in front of me.
I reach for the pocket and fish out my old ring, a triumphant smile tugging at my mouth. I hold it up between us.
Her eyes move from the ring to my face. “I meant to give that back to you.”
“Oh no, baby. There is no giving this back. You should have realized that this morning when you woke with it on your finger.”
“But what if we don’t have a future?”
“We do,” I say, adamant. But I see the fear and hesitation in her eyes, and I know I need to give her something.
“I know I fucked up. I know you asked for me to listen to you and trust you, and I didn’t.
I had just gotten another threat from the board, and it clouded my judgement.
You needed me to be by your side, and I wasn’t there. ”
“I . . . need to know,” she whispers, “that you’re on my side.
If we do have a future together, will I always take a backseat to Langford Holdings?
I know your company is a big deal, and I know that it will always take up a lot of your time and energy.
I can live with that. But what I can’t live with is being pushed aside or disregarded because business always comes first.”
I take her hand in mine a press a kiss to her right middle finger, where she wore this ring before.
“My father always prioritized my mother and his children. He’s given me a good example to follow.
So no, that’s not something you need to worry about.
But it doesn’t mean I won’t make mistakes.
Especially now, in the beginning. I’m not used to sharing my life.
I’m not used to basing my decisions on someone else’s needs.
So be patient with me. I promise you that I am trying. Even when I fuck up. I am trying.
“I want a future with you, Ella. I know that it might not seem that way with my misgivings, but I’m working on those too.
I need to deal with the threats being made against my company, because those threats affect you, but I’m doing everything I can to clear them up.
And once I do, I’m going to make you mine in every way possible. ”
The column of her throat bobs as she swallows hard.
I slip the ring back onto her finger and kiss it again.
“Mr. Langford, Mr. Weitzman is here for your nine o’clock meeting,” Haley, one of the receptionists, says over the intercom.
Ella jolts upright. The spell between us is broken, and in an instant, we both remember that we’re in the office.
“Thank you,” I call out toward my desk. “Let him know I’m running late; I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes.”
“I’d better get back to work,” Ella says, climbing off my lap and heading into the private bathroom in my office to clean up.
I follow her like a puppy, a part of me afraid she’ll push me away again if we’re separated so quickly after finding our way back to one another.
She yelps in surprise as I open the door.
“Let me help you.” I grab a washcloth out of the linen cabinet and turn on the faucet.
“I can do it.”
“I know you can, but I want to do it for you.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m the one who made a mess of you. It’s only fair that I clean you up.”
I take the warm washcloth and run it over her pussy, planting a kiss on her nose as I do so.
“You sure know how to work your way back into my good graces, Mr. Langford.”
I flash her a knowing grin. “I always strive for excellence, Ms. Hale.”
I drop the cloth into a small hamper and button Ella’s shirt.
“What about my panties?”
I pull them out of my pocket. “You mean these panties?”
She raises a brow.
“I think I’ll keep these.” I shove them back into my pocket. “Maybe you can earn them back.”
“And how would I do that?”
“I have an unlimited number of ideas.”
“You’re shameless.”
“Always.”
She turns and looks at her reflection, straightening her hair, and wiping the smeared lipstick off her face.
I wrap my arms around her from behind and nuzzle into her neck, still unable to get close enough to her, even after fucking her. That connection was like a salve to the possessive beast inside me, but it wasn’t enough. Fuck, it’s never enough.
“Just so we’re clear, that extra-credit I earned has no expiration date.”
She scoffs. “You just used it.”
“You never said it was a one-time use only.”
She clucks her tongue. “That’s cheating.”
“It’s not cheating. There was no rule specified, so I’m not breaking any rules.”
“I never agreed to that.”
“Again, you never specified a time frame or an amount of uses, so I win by default.”
She rolls her eyes.
“But I do promise to use my extra credit to give you orgasms. How about that for a compromise?”
“What am I going to do with you, Mr. Langford?”
“Again, I have an unlimited number of ideas.”
She simply shakes her head again.
“So just a reminder, we’re back to what we were before. I expect to eat dinner with you tonight. I expect you in my bed, our bed. And all these delicious parts of you, your mind, your presence, your tits, your pussy, your ass, they all belong to me.”
“And what about my heart?” she says, her voice cracking.
“I think we’re both trying to be very careful about how we handle those, baby. Give me some time, and everything will work out.” Hopefully. “Right now, I’m just counting my lucky fucking stars that I have you here, in my arms again.”
She sinks against me, sighing with the same relief I feel. “Me too.”