Page 69 of Cruel Debts
"They weren't."Step, step."They were clients. I had it handled." My ass hit the counter, and there was nowhere left to go.
My breathing quickens. Time stops. Asher stops, and he's only a few feet away from me, but the way his stare pins me in place is almost enough to make me moan.
"Even if they were safe, I wasn't about to let them put their filthy hands all over you." His eyes seared my skin as he trailed them over me again, seeing me shiver. It wasn't from the cold, but he took his coat off, anyhow, and stepped forward, draping it over my shoulders with a gentle hand. "I'm supposed to protect you, but I can't anymore."
"You . . . can't?" To say I was confused would have been an understatement. "What do you mean?"
"We warned you that we were monsters when you first came to us. And we told you that you needed protecting from us, just as much as you needed our protection."
I nodded like he was making sense. "You did."
"I told you I wouldn't touch you while you were in my care, because of your brother." He leaned in, and my heart slammed against the inside of my ribcage, threatening to break free of its confines and slap him in the face.
"You did," I growled, remembering how much it pissed me off that he'd fight what was clearly there.
He put two fingers on my chin and tipped it up to meet his penetrating, intense stare."I lied."
And then, his lips were on mine, claiming me, possessing me, and I couldn't breathe.
TWENTY-NINE
ASHER
Fightingthis was never really a long-term solution. It was a futile attempt to deny the attraction I'd had for Trinity McCoy since we were all kids in high school. Since the first time she came home from summer camp in her too-short shorts with a new set of tits and a sad smile some stupid boy put there when they separated with promises to call.
I've loved Trinity McCoy for as long as I could remember, but I've never made a move. I was her brother's best friend. It wasn't cool. Wasn't right. Keehn would have killed us.
But beyond that, I didn't deserve her. Her parents never would have approved.
Seeing her today, though, with those two men interested in her, clearly ready to try their luck, was like a rubber band in my brain had finally stretched too taut, and snapped. The rebound was like whiplash.
I knew then that I couldn't lie anymore, to her or to me.
It wasn't fair.
And damn the consequences anymore.
The moment my lips touched hers, I knew I was gone. It was over. There was no way in hell I would ever go back. I had topossess Trinity, I had to have her, and nobody would ever stand in my way again.
She tasted like honey and cream, her lips still lined with gloss she'd applied in that damn club. The scent of her skin as she wound her arms around me—pure intoxication. I could live in her arms. I could stay here and drink her in for an eternity.
Pulling back from the kiss was torture. It was compounded by the way she whined at the loss of contact. That sound tormented some part of my inner soul, like a jagged piece of metal left in my body after my shrapnel incident: a reminder, a memory that occasionally caused a dull ache.
"Asher," she breathed, her eyes hooded as I stared down into them. "Why?—"
"Shut up, Pretty Bird," I growled, grabbing her by the hips. She fit nicely on the counter in front of me, which is where I put her, so I could admire her at eye level. "You've been asking for trouble since the moment you stepped into this place, and now you've got it."
She looked at me like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You? Trouble? Okay, Asher, tell me more lies, why don't you?"
Oh, so she thought I wasn't as dangerous as the others? "You'd better put your hands on the counter and keep them there, then, or I can't promise you I won't tie you down."
Thatgot her attention. "I might like that, actually."
My cock twitched in anticipation. "Later, then." I put my hands on her thighs and dragged them down her legs, slowly, gently, until she was parting them for me unconsciously. "I've got a long list of things I've wanted to do to you for a long time, Pretty Bird, and I plan to start at the top and work my way down until I run out."
She swallowed hard, her eyes wider with every word out of my mouth. "How many things are on that list? How long is the list? Why didn't you tell me about it sooner?"
She was stalling. I'd seen her do it a million times. Unfortunately, I didn't have time or the inclination to let her. I wanted to lay her back on this counter and eat her for dinner.
