Chapter 23
Eve’s heart had never felt so full as it did watching Aspen casually shrug off her suit jacket as she strolled past the bed and drape it over the back of one of the chairs in the sitting area on her way to turn on the fireplace. This was the first year she’d stayed until the end of the gala without counting down the minutes until she’d be allowed to leave. The first time she’d danced until her feet hurt and smiled so much her cheeks ached from the effort. The first time she’d ended the night energized and alive and happy .
As if sensing her thoughts, Aspen glanced over her shoulder at her with a soft smile as the gas-powered flames flickered to life. “Did you have fun tonight?”
Eve nodded and leaned against the side of the chair with Aspen’s jacket. “I did.” She lifted her right shoulder in a wry shrug and rolled her eyes as she added, “I mean, yeah, there were parts that were a little more dramatic than I’d have preferred, but the rest of the night was like a dream.”
An unmistakable tenderness gentled Aspen’s expression as she stood. “Yeah,” she said softly as she joined Eve. The firelight cast a warm glow over her skin as her fingertips ghosted over Eve’s palm, and affection smoldered in her eyes as she lifted Eve’s hand to brush a kiss over her knuckles. “Me too. I especially loved dancing with you,” Aspen confessed in a hushed voice, her smile as bright as the stars overhead as she pulled Eve into her arms.
“I loved that, too,” Eve whispered as she melted into Aspen’s embrace. The little voice in the back of her head that was used to being disappointed shouted at her that this happiness she’d found with Aspen was too perfect to be anything more than temporary, but she wanted it to be true and real and lasting.
She wanted it like she’d never wanted anything in her life.
Her stomach fluttered at the feeling of Aspen’s hands sliding around her waist to hold her close, and she sighed as she lifted her chin to kiss her softly. “You…”
When she didn’t finish the thought, Aspen murmured, “Yes, beautiful?”
Eve’s hands trembled as she lifted them to cradle Aspen’s face. Her pulse kicked into a sprint as she teased the corners of Aspen’s lips with her thumbs, and her voice when she found it was soft and shaking with vulnerability. “I know the weekend is basically over, but I don’t want this to end.” She caressed the curve of Aspen’s cheeks with her thumbs. “I want to keep you. I don’t know how it’ll work, or if—”
“I want to keep you, too.” Aspen’s arms tightened around Eve’s waist, and her voice was thick with emotion as she confessed, “I don’t want to ever let you go.”
There was no silencing hitched whimper of joy and relief that escaped her as she pulled Aspen’s mouth towards hers. “Please don’t,” she whispered against her lips before kissing her softly.
Of all the kisses over the last few days, none were sweeter than this one that was so exquisitely slow and deep and overflowing with promises that it brought tears to her eyes. She looped her arms around Aspen’s neck as she melted into the kiss, tension she hadn’t even been aware of carrying melting from her limbs at the realization that Aspen wanted her for more than this weekend, too.
She played with Aspen’s hair as that first, perfect kiss melted into an endless string of others that somehow outshone the last and left her feeling like she was flying. A golden warmth of joy unlike anything she’d ever felt rose in her chest with every languid press of Aspen’s lips, every hot, ragged breath stolen between kisses, every swirl of Aspen’s tongue against her own.
Hers.
Aspen was hers.
Hours could have passed for all she knew as they kissed in the glow of the fire while snowflakes danced gracefully past the windows outside, but she was only aware of the heat of Aspen’s mouth. The softness of her kiss. The firm press of her body and the strength of the hands cradling her waist as if she were the most precious thing in the world.
“My beautiful girl,” Aspen whispered reverently as she nuzzled Eve’s cheek. Her left hand dipped to caress Eve’s behind as she slid her right up Eve’s spine to press between her shoulder blades. “My beautiful, beautiful girl.”
Eve’s heart swelled at the wonderment that textured Aspen’s voice. “Yours,” she exhaled against Aspen’s lips. She angled her head and chased after Aspen’s lips as she pressed closer, wanting, needing Aspen to understand that she meant it. “I’m yours.”
She shivered as Aspen dragged a smile of a kiss across her cheek, and her knees turned to water when Aspen kissed her ear and murmured, “And I’m yours, Eve.”
Eve’s stomach tightened as Aspen’s softly spoken vow settled in her heart and made its home there, and Aspen’s name fell from her lips on a sigh as she buried her face in the crook of her neck. It was too much. Too good to be real.
She’d had to fight for everything her entire life and here Aspen was, giving her everything she never thought she’d find as if it were her birthright.
Eve nuzzled the soft hollow beneath Aspen’s jaw. “Mine.”
“All yours,” Aspen vowed.
A strangled sound caught in Eve’s throat as she blindly sought Aspen’s lips again, needing that contact, that closeness to assure her that this was real.
That Aspen was hers.
Fueled by the weight of their promises, their kisses quickly turned needy and desperate as their hands began to wander over curves and valleys that were only recently discovered but felt like home.
Eve dragged her right hand over Aspen’s shoulder to toy with the knot of her tie as strong hands glided over her behind, lightly caressing, causing the soft fabric of her dress to catch and drag against her skin. She sucked in a sharp breath when Aspen’s fingers splayed across her cheeks and squeezed, light at first and then harder and harder until she was lifted onto her toes, and she tightened her hold on Aspen’s tie as she panted a strangled, desperate, “Please,” against her lips.
Aspen hummed and relaxed her grip to reach lower and caress the backs of Eve’s thighs. “What do you need, beautiful girl?”
Eve pressed herself against Aspen. “You.”
“Like this?” Aspen reached lower and pushed Eve’s dress up over her ass.
“Yes,” Eve hissed, her eyes fluttering shut as Aspen’s fingers drew idle swirls over her behind.
“Do you like this?” Aspen murmured playfully, her smile evident in her voice.
Eve tugged on Aspen’s tie, and a rush of arousal crashed between her thighs at the feeling of Aspen’s breath hitching against her lips. “You know I do.” She rolled her hips back toward Aspen’s hands. Her stomach tightened when Aspen’s fingertips dug into her ass to pull their hips flush, and she dragged her hand heavily down Aspen’s tie. “Please take it off.”
She’d never heard a more beautiful sound than the whimper that cracked in Aspen’s throat before those strong, talented hands stripped her out of her dress in the blink of an eye. A low moan rumbled in her chest when Aspen pulled her close again and the soft fabric of Aspen’s shirt caught and dragged against her nipples, the light tug igniting a trail of fire that spread through her belly before ending in a rush between her thighs. She pressed her forehead to Aspen’s and parted her lips to the fall of Aspen’s breath that crashed against them, and clung to Aspen as long fingers spread wide across her lower back and pressed heavily lower.
“Do you like this?” Aspen husked, her voice shadowed with promises of pleasure as she caressed her behind.
“So much,” Eve croaked, her eyes rolling back in her head when Aspen pulled her onto her thigh. She clung to Aspen as her hips instinctively rocked forward, the fire in her belly growing into a blaze when Aspen’s fingers dug into her ass as she flexed against her to deliver the perfect amount of friction. “Baby, please…”
Aspen sucked in a sharp, needy breath. “Eve…”
Hearing the need she was feeling echoed in Aspen’s voice was Eve’s undoing. She stripped Aspen of her tie and tossed it blindly aside with an efficiency she would have marveled at if she hadn’t been so focused on the blinding, all-consuming need inside her to feel Aspen’s skin against her own. She swore against Aspen’s lips as the tiny buttons on her shirt seemed to actively resist being undone, and choked on a laugh when Aspen batted her hands away to forcibly tear the two halves of her shirt apart.
Her strangled, “Oh, thank god,” had them both giggling as she shoved Aspen’s shirt from her shoulders, and she smiled at her as she dragged the backs of her fingers up her sides. She nuzzled Aspen’s lips as she toyed with the band on her sports bra. “May I?”
Aspen nodded jerkily, her breath coming fast and shallow as she grabbed her waist. “Please.”
Eve brushed the softest of kisses over Aspen’s lips as she bared her breasts one gloriously tortuous inch at a time until she finally lifted it over her head and let it fall to the floor at their feet. “Stunning,” she whispered, more to herself than anything as she drank in the view of Aspen’s small, pert breasts and tight, dark nipples. She licked her lips as she took Aspens’ breasts in her hands, and kissed away the trembling sigh that spilled from Aspen’s lips when she teased those stiff, pebbled buds with her thumbs.
She toyed with Aspen’s nipples as Aspen shoved her panties from her hips, and smiled into their kiss as Aspen began walking her back toward the bed. She surrendered her prizes to hold onto Aspen’s broad shoulders as she was lowered to the mattress, and tipped her head back with a drawn-out moan when Aspen’s powerful hips settled so fucking perfectly between her legs. While the feeling of Aspen’s slacks against her center was electric, she wanted to feel Aspen against her without any barriers between them, and she dragged her nails down Aspen’s ribs to pull at her pants with a desperate, “Take these off.”
How Aspen managed to kiss her and strip herself bare at the same time was a feat Eve wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to manage on her own, but any thoughts of how Aspen did it were lost the moment Aspen’s strong, smooth thighs pressed her legs open wider as she settled back into the cradle of her thighs.
“Better?” Aspen asked, her voice low and rough and playful in a way that sent shivers down Eve’s spine.
“You tell me?” Eve replied as she palmed Aspen’s ass and lifted her hips as she pulled her in closer.
“Mm, definitely better,” Aspen husked as she rolled her hips forward in a purposeful grind, smearing Eve’s wetness over her stomach. She used her nose to turn Eve’s head so she could nip at her earlobe. “What do you want, beautiful?”
Eve mewled at the way Aspen punctuated the question with another exquisite roll of her hips. “Baby…”
Her stomach tightened at the feeling of Aspen’s lips bowing into a smile against her cheek.
“Tell me what you need, sweetheart,” Aspen murmured as she rotated her hips in a heavy grind. “I’ll give you everything…”
Stars flashed behind Eve’s eyes at the firmer contact, and she scratched her nails down Aspen’s back as she arched into it. “That,” she gasped. “Oh, god, just like that. Please don’t stop.”
“Never,” Aspen swore, dropping to her forearms so her body blanketed Eve’s.
Eve squeezed her eyes shut as Aspen’s breath fell in hot, measured waves against her ear, and whimpered when dull teeth nipped at her earlobe. “Aspen…”
“Look at me,” Aspen pleaded. She nuzzled Eve’s ear. “I want to watch you come for me.”
Eve groaned as she clenched almost violently at the plea. She gritted her teeth as she struggled to obey, and the deep, burning affection she found staring at her when their eyes locked stole the air from her lungs. She dragged her hands over Aspen’s shoulders and down the defined curve of her biceps as they rocked together, delighting in the way the muscles bunched and flexed beneath her touch, and her heart felt like it was trying to claw its way out of her chest to give itself to Aspen when she found Aspen’s hands and tangled their fingers together.
The connection was exactly the anchor she needed as their bodies found the rhythm that was so uniquely theirs. She cradled Aspen’s hips with her knees as she lifted to meet her next thrust, and the world fell away as she lost herself in the emotion shining in Aspen’s eyes and the feeling of Aspen’s body moving with hers. Her fingers tightened around Aspen’s as the pleasure inside her built with every purposeful, fucking exquisite grind of Aspen’s hips as they came together again and again and again.
“That’s it,” Aspen encouraged, her voice thick with ardor and her dark eyes positively glowing with devotion as she pressed closer, closer, closer.
Eve whimpered and shook her head as she strained to hold back the rising tide of her release, desperate to hold onto this blindingly perfect moment for as long as she possibly could.
Aspen’s fingers tightened around hers as she whispered, “Yes, beautiful. Let go for me.”
“Shit,” Eve exhaled shakily as the telltale heat of her building orgasm began to spread down her legs and up into her chest. “No,” she whined, her voice pitched and desperate and begging. She wasn’t ready to fall yet. Not yet. “Please…” This was too good, too perfect, and she didn’t want it to end. “Aspen, please…”
“Yes, sweetheart,” Aspen murmured, sounding like she, too, was hovering on that gilded precipice, her eyes twin pools of dark, tempting fire as she ground against Eve. “Come with me, beautiful girl.” She looked to be struggling to keep her eyes open as her rhythm began to falter. “I’m so close,” she gritted out. “Shit. Eve. With me, baby. Please come with me. I want—”
Eve squeezed Aspen’s hands and arched into her as Aspen’s broken, desperate pleas pushed her over the edge into ecstasy, and surrendered the battle to keep her eyes open as she was carried away by the rolling waves of her climax. She pulled her hands from Aspen’s to hug her to her chest as Aspen collapsed atop her with a wanton, gasping mewl of pleasure that was mixed with dizzying relief, and pressed her cheek to Aspen’s as they rode out their releases in each other’s arms.