Page 25 of Ashley
And on shaky legs and with a hammering heart, she'd done just that. Up the four flights to her apartment and through her blessedly silent and dark apartment with whatever damage her roommates had done to the place in their partying the day before. Uttering a silent prayer, she let him into her room, and only when she had the door shut behind them, did she let out a shaky breath. She turned, reaching for the string of lights she had strung up in the room in an attempt to make the space more inviting and plugged them in. Instantly, the room transformed into a warm and soft place that had James nodding in approval.
"You made it nice in here, little girl," he told her, his voice rolling over her like warm caramel, and she couldn't help but preen under his attention.
"Thank you, Sir," she murmured, looking away when she wasn't sure what to do with her hands. James sat on her bed and crooked a finger at her.
"Come here."
Ashley's feet were moving before she knew it, and then she was standing in front of him nervously.
"Shh," he soothed, running a hand up her arm and giving her a soft smile. "It's okay. Relax and breathe. Eyes on me, baby. Can you do that?"
"Okay," she whispered. "I can do that."
"That's a good girl," he praised her, lifting his other hand to run along her side, and then he was pulling her forward and into his body so that she stood between the space of his open legs. She shivered when he kissed her on the side, right above where his hand was pressed against her hip, and he stopped, leaning back to look up at her.
"Is this okay?"
"Yes." She nodded her head and lifted her hands until they were resting on his broad shoulders. "It's more than okay. It feels nice."
"Good." He kissed her again, mouthing at her flesh through the fabric of her shirt. "What safeword would you like? Tell me what you don't want."
"Pineapple?" she offered, and he chuckled lowly against her side. "I don't want, well, I don't know. I know I want you," she told him, chest starting to rise and fall in gasps as she continued to speak her words that were tumbling over one another as they came faster. "I know I want you to fuck me."
James froze, his hands tensing on her body for a moment before he spoke. "I do not just fuck you, honey. Watch your mouth."
She colored at that, but James kept speaking. "I make love to you. I don't want to hear you use that language again. Little girls do not cuss."
"Okay," she whispered. "I'm sorry."
"Shh." His hands urged her down onto the bed, and then he was leaning over her. "Don't worry, baby. We won't talk about that anymore. Let me take care of you."
She nodded at him, not trusting herself to speak, and let him slide between her legs until he was pressed up against her, his hips flush against hers, legs hugging his sides as he braced himself on his forearms and painted her neck with kisses.
"I'm going to do exactly what you want. Tell me, and it's yours." His words were an echo of Natasha's earlier observation, and Ashley trembled at the note of outright desire and devotion she heard in his voice. It was unreal, dizzying, outright intoxicating how much the man wanted her, but bit by bit, kiss by kiss, he pushed past her walls and she relaxed into his touch.
"You feel like heaven," he murmured, hands gently lifting up her shirt, and when she lifted her arms for him to pull it over her head, he let out a sigh that could only be described as adoration.
"Thank you," he sighed, slipping the garment over her head and tossing it away. "You're so good to me, baby girl."
"I like being good to you," she whispered, turning her face so that they were staring at one another, his gray eyes to her brown ones, and he groaned low in his throat while he smoothed a thumb across her bottom lip.
"Such a lovely girl. You know that, right?"
She shook her head no, and James sighed, eyes taking on a darker look. "Then I'll show you, sweetness. I'll show you."
"Do you promise?" she whispered, hands coming up to his shoulders.
He opened his mouth to say more, but a sudden crash from the living room had them both jerking apart. James sat up from where he had been lying over her, his body instantly coiled tight as he went into high alert.
"What's that?" He moved off the bed and left her bereft of his warmth. "Is someone breaking in?" he asked, walking toward her door.
"No, that's just, ah," she sat up and gave him an embarrassed look, "that's probably one of my roommates."
His head jerked back to look at her in shock. "What do you mean, that's one of your roommates?" Another crash and a shrieked curse echoed through the apartment. "That person lives here?"
"They," she corrected, hearing Xander's high pitched laugh and reaching for her shirt, suddenly feeling like the moment between them had shattered, along with whatever Sarah and Xander had managed to destroy in their ill-timed entrance.
"They?" His eyes narrowed, and he turned back to the door with a frown. "There's more than one of them?"
