Page 113 of Exactly What I Needed
Another bow pulled across a string, and every defensive wall that had been built around my heart crashed down.
Him. I wanted him. Because when he touched me, I heard the music again.
“What do you want?” he asked me once more, and I opened my eyes, locking onto his.
The answer was so simple, though everything that I needed to tell him, that he deserved to know, that I could no longer justify keeping from him, wasn’t.
But, as his gaze remained locked with mine, filled with not a single expectation, for the first time, I felt complete control over something that had been stolen from me.
He’d waited three years for a possibility, not even a guarantee, and yet not an ounce of anger resonated from his palm resting gently against my cheek.
I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply as everything else except for him faded around me. His body heat engulfed me, comforting and soothing the aches in my joints from years of worry. My lawyer had been right.
At first.
Now, I no longer felt the need to remain hidden from the danger that lurked in shadows if Asher was willing to take that chance with someone as broken as I was.
His body shifted in front of me, closing even more of the gap that separated us, and that familiar citrus and bergamot scent wafted across me like a gentle breeze during the fall. Coals of desire that hadn’t been lit in years flickered with hope, and a single piano key faintly pinged in the back of my mind.
I cracked my eyelids back open to find his gaze fixated on my lips with innocence and tender love written in every tightened line upon his face. A smile widened my own mouth, and I reached forward with a trembling hand.
“It’s been so quiet,” I involuntarily whispered. His brows flickered together in brief confusion. I knew he had no idea what I was talking about, but it didn’t matter. Not right now. Not when I realized that another note played in my head.
My heart pounded so loudly, I could’ve sworn he could hear it. My gaze darted down to his plump lips, waiting for mine. His desire hadn’t waned in three years, even after I’d up and left him. Even though I’d run away.
And it seemed mine hadn’t either.
Tipping up on my toes, I hovered, a centimeter away from his mouth.
He exhaled a shaky breath that danced across my face, and then he closed the distance.
Velvet lips pressed tenderly against mine, capturing a kiss three years overdue.
Both of his hands cupped my cheeks, pulling me deeper into him. Instinctively, I grabbed the sides of his shirt and twisted my fingers around the fabric. I wanted him closer.
No, Ineededhim closer.
I tugged while leaning into his embrace. Safety enveloped me as his hands left my face and slid down to my waist. He wrapped his arms around my body and tightened his hold as if in desperation to make up for all the lost time between us.
He’d waited years for a chance. I’d waited a lifetime for the security that only he provided.
We broke apart just long enough to catch our breath and dove back in for another kiss. Tipping my head forward, I threw my arms around his neck and lost myself in his velvet passion.
He slid his hands beneath my thighs and picked me up. Shoving papers back, he set me on my desk and stepped deeper between my legs. There was no lust that wafted between us. No. As his lips worked against mine, and his hands caressed every new roll that existed on my body now, he seemed to merely want to memorize the changes so he’d never forget. And I wanted that too.
Threading my fingers through his hair, I parted my lips, and he didn’t hesitate to shove his tongue into my mouth.
This was my choice. My decision.
Hewas my choice.
And the music played.
Freed from the cage that had held every note captive for the past three years, it all burst forth. Control over my life flowed like black ink across a musical composition. The familiarity of his body flush with mine roared like the fire growing within my drumming heart.
Notes swirled in my head, stars driven by every musical cadence possessed within my soul burst forward. Colors played within my vision, swirling his body within mine. His touch. His kiss. His smell. Everything so hollow swarmed with a heat as passionate as his tongue that danced between my teeth. It dripped as wet as the slide of his mouth down my neck.
Fingers pushed the edges of my sleeves off my shoulders, and teeth nipped at my collarbone while I tipped my head back. I soaked in the caress of his velvet kiss upon my skin.
