Page 80 of Gifts

He nips at my bare hip. “Not yet, baby.”

Danielle stayed until mid-evening. Once she was here a while, she proved to be a kind, yet concerned, woman and mother. She offered to help make dinner, and as weird as the whole situation was, it sort of wasn’t. She didn’t seem to care that Asa made no bones about the fact he and I are whatever we are. She thanked me over and over for welcoming her kids into my home. She clearly misses them and, seriously, who wouldn’t be concerned about their child being the victim of a drive-by? She finally tore herself away from Levi and Emma when I started getting Knox and Saylor ready for bed.

When she left, Asa got Saylor to read in his normal, sweet, no-nonsense way that seems to do the trick. Saylor didn’t complain and even lost track of time. It was a complete phenomenon.

“Why,” I breathe and lift my hips as I stare at my ceiling, “do you still have your clothes on?”

“Because.” He licks his way up my stomach, taking time to pull a nipple between his teeth while pinching the other, making me even wetter than I was. Holy shit, he needs to hurry. When he moves up to my mouth, his kiss is commanding as he runs his fingers through my core. “I plan on going slow and getting to know your body. I plan on touching you everywhere and making you come on my tongue. Tonight, baby, I plan on memorizing you.”

I exhale a little moan against his lips, because him memorizing me sounds like something I could be okay with.

“Keelie?” he calls for me between kisses.

“Hmm?” His fingers are moving and my breathing is becoming labored.

“Just lay back and enjoy it.”

When I open my eyes, all I see are his hazel ones framed by dark lashes, and even darker features shadowed by the low light. Even though he has me well on my way to spinning out of control, I drag my hands up to his face and hold him close.

“Asa?”

“Yeah, baby?” He angles his head enough to plant a kiss on the palm of my hand.

I have to tell him. Or, I have to try and express something—that I’m grateful for what he’s done, what he’s doing, and for all he’s promised. Because before he changed that flat tire—however long ago that was—I had gotten to a point where I was fine. I was satisfied with being fine. My small family—the three of us—were okay. We managed, we were mostly happy, and we had each other.

But since Asa stormed into my life, forcing his way in, insisting on being here—I’ve been different. And this kind of different is a good thing.

I whisper, “Thank you.”

He looks back to me and smirks. “I haven’t done anything yet, baby.”

My hands on his face tense and I give my head a shake, barely hearing my own voice. “No. For making me feel alive.”

He freezes, I feel it everywhere since he’s on top of me. Then his fingers brush through my hair and his eyes roam my face, searching my features. “Alive?”

I lean up to kiss him. “Life has strangled me for years, but you barge in, change a tire, and I find myself gasping for air for the first time in forever. My heart pounds so hard I feel it in every inch of my body. You make me desperate for it and, because I’m me, I’m afraid it’ll go away.”

He frowns and gives me more of his weight, pressing his hard cock into me, still encased in jeans to enunciate his words. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“You said that last night,” I note and slide my leg up to wrap it around his ass so he won’t move away.

His eyes narrow as he runs a hand down my body, landing on my ass where he gives me a squeeze. “You’re lying here under me bare and you don’t believe me?”

I pause and exhale. “I know I should believe you.”

“But you don’t.” It’s a statement, not a question.

I guess that means he’s figuring me out. It’s not that I didn’t warn him.

He presses into me again, the rough denim biting into my sensitive skin. Even that makes me want more when he asks, “Do you trust me?”

I wrap my other leg around him. “I do.”

“You trust me but you don’t believe me?”

I give him a tiny wince and shrug as best I can while pinned to my bed, because it sounds worse when said aloud.

He shakes his head. “You are fucked up.”

---