Page 84 of Starcrossed Colorado

She didn’t budge as we left the room, closing the door behind us.

We went into the living room and sat on the couch. Ashford put his arm around me and pulled me into his lap, burying his nose behind my ear and inhaling. “You showered.”

“I didn’t smell my best.”

“I disagree. But this is good too. I love that smell. Your shampoo.” He kissed me, nibbling at my lower lip. It was gentle, no urgency behind it. But now it didn’t feel like a tease. This was pure anticipation.

“I would’ve been fine with Stella sleeping in Maisie’s room,” I said.

His frown reappeared for the first time in hours. “I know. But I don’t want her getting used to that.”

Right. Now that he said it, it was obvious. My place here was temporary.

Why did I keep conveniently ignoring that fact?

But before I could apologize, Ashford kissed me again with more purpose this time. He repositioned me so I was straddling his lap. I felt his cock thickening against my behind.

“I want you tonight,” he said.

A shiver wound its way through my belly and settled as a throb of desire between my legs. “I want you too.”

“How far we take this is up to you. I need you to tell me if there’s anything youdon’twant.”

I put my hands on his chest, dragging them down his flat stomach. When I reached the edge of his shirt I dipped beneath,finding his hot, smooth skin, ridged with muscle beneath. “I just want to feel like I’m yours.”

For as long as I can.

With a swift movement, he grasped me around the hips and tossed me up as he stood, palming my ass in his big hands. I yelped and grabbed him around the neck. In just a few seconds, he’d carried me into his bedroom and dropped me on the edge of the mattress, my legs hanging off the side. Then he went back to his door and shut it quietly, flipping the lock and dimming the light switch.

Ashford stalked toward me, eyes devouring me like a predator. “I know exactly what I want to do first.” He dropped to his knees at the edge of the bed. “Make you come on my tongue.”

He reached for the waistband of my leggings and tugged them down. But he paused, nostrils flaring, when he saw my panties.

“Damn. You really are trying to kill me.”

I smirked. “That wasn’t what I had in mind.”

“Did you put those on for me?” His gaze roved over my body.

I nodded. After my shower, I’d chosen a pair of lacy pink panties and a matching bra. A set I didn’t wear often and had packed on a whim. I’d forgotten that stupid raincoat and remembered these instead, but right now, I had zero regrets.

“Feels like I’m unwrapping a present.”

But he didn’t take the panties off me yet. Ashford stripped my leggings off and tossed them aside. His hands made a slow journey back up my shins, over my knees, then my thighs. His gaze didn’t waver from that triangle of pink lace, his breathing unsteady. I had never felt sexier.

“Lay back. Let me make you feel good.”

I relaxed onto the mattress. Ashford stroked my inner thighs with his calloused fingertips. Again and again. One of his big hands traveled back to my knee, bending it and widening mylegs. His mouth went to that same joint, kissing the inner side of my knee. His beard gently abraded my skin.

Then the thumb of his opposite hand grazed the crotch of my panties, sending tingles of need through my clit and out into the rest of my body. I whimpered.

“You’re wet. I feel it through the fabric.” His thumb stroked again.

“I’ve been wet for you all day.”

Groaning, he went back to kissing a line up the inside of my thigh as his thumb rubbed circles over the lace, so close to what I needed but not quite there. I had no doubt it was on purpose. The man had no shame about teasing me.

But when it came to sex, I didn’t have much shame either. I was younger than him, possibly less experienced, but I knew what I wanted.

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