Page 51 of From Asher, With Love

“I’m sor…” he starts but can’t bring himself to finish.

Disappointment and hurt boil inside me.

“You’re sorry?” I ask. “Sorry for what, exactly? Sorry for leaving me? It wasn’t just you who was broken that night. I didn’t even find out the details of your mom’s death until I went to school the next morning and heard all the rumors floating around. You left me with nothing but a note telling me she’d died. And now, against my better judgment, I let you back intomy life as if you weren’t the one person who crushed me. Agreeing to work with you was a mistake. You show me this incredible place to expand my flower shop, promising it’s the one.” I narrow my eyes at him, still bitter that he never showed me the inside. “Then after we come back here to change my shoes, we almost kissed and… it’s like you flipped some kind of switch. You completely check out and take me to a completely different location—one well out of my price range. And for what? All so you can show up at my apartment demanding answers after I fire you?” I scoff, laughing in disbelief. “Then you suck on my finger as if you’re suddenly craving the taste of me?”

“What if I was?” He lifts his chin.

“What?” I ask, blinking.

“What if I was craving the taste of you?” His eyes darken.

I swallow thickly. “You’re… what?”

My breathing is unstable at best when he closes the gap between us. Lifting his hand, he drags the tips of his fingers down the length of my face to my lips, then the base of my throat.

“Every fucking minute since I’ve seen you, I’ve craved you. I want you.”

“You’re not making any sense.” I don’t believe him. I can’t. Not with our history. “Do you know how long after you left, I dreamed of coming back and saying these same things to me? But at some point, I was a fool because you’re the one who left me, Asher. You’re the one pretending our feelings for each other never mattered. You’re hot one minute, cold the next. I don’t know what to believe anymore or how to feel because while seeing you again has stirred up old feelings, I remember the pain that comes with it all too well. I remember it more than I wish I did.” A lump swells in my throat, and my chest pricks with heat. Especially with him this close to me. Every emotion I’ve heldthe past ten years pours out of me in the form of word vomit. “You played me, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why when I was dead to you already.”

His eyes turn to ice. “You weren’t dead to me.”

“Right.” I scoff. “Because severing our relationship and disappearing like a fucking ghost isn’t treating me as if I were dead. We weren’t perfect, but what I felt for you was real. Yet you continued on as if I meant nothing. I don’t understand how you could be so okay with it.”

“You aren’t dead to me, Charleigh. You never were. And I haven’t been okay.” He swallows thickly, his neck swelling, the emotion evident on his face. “I didn’t…” He sighs, focusing on his hand against the base of my throat, feeling my pulse. “I didn’t intend to ever show you that place that’s over your budget. I don’t know. I didn’t know what to do.”

“What do you mean, you didn’t know what to do?”

His eyes meet mine again. “I didn’t know what to do with the way I’m feeling. But when I got that text earlier, I can’t explain it. I felt hollow inside, and I’m sure you’re thinking I’ve become this shallow person, and you’re right. You’ve shown me that, Charleigh. I felt awful. Like someone had split my chest open, reached inside, and ripped my heart out. It’s all so fucking confusing. You get under my skin so easily, but I can’t stay away. I don’t know what to do with the way I’m feeling.”

“Show me,” I say the words before I realize what they mean.

The darkness in his eyes deepens. With one swift move, he wraps his arm around me, lifting me to sit on the counter. My hand lands on the hard surface, shoving my cup of tea aside. The black liquid spills over the top, but it doesn’t burn me. It’s practically ice cold at this point. I lean back, forcing air into my lungs. Asher’s stolen all of it. Heat swells and aches between my thighs. He forces them apart, settling himself between them.

“You think you’re so innocent in all of this?” He leanscloser, dragging his nose up my neck and to my ear. “You think you’re so fucking sweet?”

I tilt my head back and look up at the ceiling. Gasping for air, I feel lightheaded, as if I’ve inhaled a drug.

Asher’s scent of fresh rain mingled with his deep, woodsy scent surrounds me. I lift my hand and thread my fingers through his thick, wet hair. The bottom of my robe opens, and I wrap my legs around his waist, pulling him until my hot pussy presses against his body. He’s cold and still wet, causing me to hiss with the sensation it gives me.

“Do you know how badly I wanted to spank you when you made us walk down all fifty-two flights of my building?” His voice is as deep as velvet. “I wanted to punish you so fucking hard. I considered taking you right there in that stairwell.”

“I don’t think that would have been a good idea. Security probably has cameras all over those stairs.”

“Like I would fucking care. Let them watch. You would have deserved what I was giving you.”

I had no idea Asher’s thoughts were this dirty, or that his thoughts had gone in that direction.

“Is that what you’re doing now?” I ask, trying not to sound too turned on. “Punishing me?”

He doesn’t answer as he reaches between us and tugs on the tie to my robe. The knot unravels, and with just his fingertips, he shoves each side of the fleecy fabric aside until I’m completely exposed. He hisses at the sight of me, taking his time. My nipples harden with the cold air and goosebumps spread across my skin.

Not able to hold back any longer, I pull him closer, wanting to press his lips to mine. But he stops me. I loosen my grip on the back of his head.

He gives me a disapproving tsk, clicking his tongue against the back of his teeth. He shakes his head and looks down at thehoney spilled on the counter before he picks up the dipper and sticks it back into the honey jar, swirling the thick liquid. He sinks the dipper farther in and pulls it out, making sure he’s gathered as much honey as possible.

He hovers the dipper over my chest, allowing the honey to swirl and drip around my breast and nipple. I arch my back as my mouth falls open, and I gasp, shivering as the gooey liquid coats my skin.

Asher watches his handiwork, every few seconds lifting his heated gaze to mine. Slowly, he drags the trail of oozing honey down my stomach and to my pussy.

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