Page 61 of Forever Theirs

Lost in thought, a mix of overthinking about what happened at Aspen’s cabin and processing the conversation between Aspen and her mom, I failed to hear soft, tentative footsteps.

“Miles?” I jerked up straight. A bolt of panic sent my heart racing. “Sorry, I’m interrupting, but… um…” The uncertainty in her voice had me stilling to catch every soft-spoken word. “I just wanted to apologize for what you heard out there. I don’t want you to think I believe all the crap she spewed during the call. Because I don’t.”

I let that statement sink in for a few seconds before responding. “What do you believe, Aspen?” Fuck, her sweet voice and knowing she was just on the other side of the shower door had my cock twitching between my thighs. Reaching down, I gave it a firm squeeze to calm it the fuck down. Now was not the time.

“What do I believe?” she repeated. “Honestly, I don’t know anymore.” I barely heard her answer over the water beating against my skin. “But I just wanted you to know… fuck, I don’t know… that I’m not like her, I guess. I didn’t want you to get the wrong idea that I’m doing this with you and Aiden because I need someone to take care of me.”

“You mean the life you were created for?” I scoffed. “That’s some bullshit thinking. You know that, right?”

“I do. But she’s my mom. I can’t cut her out of my life for her backward thinking, even if she drives me insane and pisses me off. She loves me. She just goes about showing it in strange, controlling ways.”

“If she doesn’t support you when you’re pursuing your dreams, then I’m not sure why you don’t stop answering her calls and cut ties with her.” I ran a thumb over the crown of my cock, my shoulders trembling with a bolt of desire.

“Because sometimes I wonder if she’s right. Not about everything but about some of it. What am I even doing with my life?” Through the frosted glass, I watched her lean against the wall and slide down until her ass hit the tile floor. “I don’t want to move home. That’s not the answer. But how am I going to support myself? Maybe this is a pipe dream, one that won’t get me anywhere.”

“But you’re happy.”

“It just feels like what I do doesn’t matter. I’m not out saving lives or curing cancer. I take pictures of animals and landscapes—so what? I’m not doing anything important or life-changing?—”

“Stop,” I commanded, tone sharp. Shutting off the water, I pulled open the shower door and shot her a stern look. “Stop talking about your career like it isn’t special.”

“They’re just pictures,” she whispered, eyes glued to my semihard cock.

“Aspen,” I practically growled, my restrain waning as she licked her lips.

Slowly, her gaze slid up my naked body, and it was only then that I realized what I had done without even thinking twice.

I stepped out of the shower naked, knowing she was there.

Everything was out on display for Aspen to see.

Tattoos.

Muscles.

Dick.

Scars.

My heart raced, pulse pounding in my ears. Yet it wasn’t out of fear of her rejection or disgust, but more at the huge fucking milestone I’d just achieved. This moment was fucking epic, and she had no idea. Aspen was the first woman in years who I’d bared myself to, and by the hooded look directed my way, she liked what she saw.

Shaking my head to redirect my thoughts from fucking her against the wall and back to the previous important conversation, I grabbed a towel off a wall hook and quickly secured it around my waist. And fuck if her little pout when I covered my cock from her view wasn’t tempting and adorable all in the same breath.

I stepped toward her only to freeze. It was one thing for her to see my front. There was minor damage from the explosion there. My back was a different situation completely. Ninety percent was covered in second- and third-degree burn scars. Even though nearly every inch was full of ink, the raised skin was still noticeable.

“Damn, you’re way too good-looking for someone like me,” Aspen said with awe in her tone. Her tongue slipped out to wet her lower lip as if imagining lapping up the streams of water trickling down my chest.

Her words snapped me out of my frozen state. One foot in front of the other, I marched up to where she sat. If my one-track mind wasn’t narrowed in on proving to her they weren’t “just pictures,” I would turn her over my knee and spank her ass for putting herself down. It was Aiden and me who didn’t deserve someone like her.

So full of light and life.

Beautiful and tough.

And all ours.

“Come on, I have something to show you.” I extended a hand down. The second her fingers slid into mine, I eased her off the floor and tugged her against me. “What you do is important. They aren’t just pictures to some people, baby girl. To someone, whether or not you realize it, those pictures areeverything.”

“I don’t understand,” she whispered, dark eyes flicking between mine. “What do you mean?”

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