Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
“Fun,” he repeated in a kind of daze. “I’m never going to be able to build my mother’s bookshelf.”
“I told you I’d help you. Just tell me when.”
Asher cocked his head. “Thank you. I’ll talk to her. There’s a chance she hired someone, and it’s already filled to the brim with books and knickknacks.”
“If not, call me.” I brushed my hand on my shorts and smiled. “I should take you to your car before they lock the gates to the school parking lot. Ready?”
He stared, unseeing, into the kitchen, then nodded. “Yeah, I—what now? Are you ready to come out? Is my job over? Will I see you again? It’s fine if I don’t—well, that’s not true. It would be nice to…”
I let him ramble on about cultivating friendship or something like that. His hands moved like an orchestra conductor’s as his speech gained momentum. He was nervous and that made me nervous. I didn’t like the idea of us feeling uneasy around each other. I wanted to assure him that we didn’t have to make any big commitments or relegate friendship to a schedule. We could go with the flow and see where this led and—damn, he was still talking.
I stepped into his space to get his attention. When he looked up at me with those big blue eyes, I forgot how to speak, so I acted instead. I cupped his chin and fused my mouth to his.
It was just so fucking…perfect. I froze to see if he was okay with it. He hummed into the connection a moment later and licked my lips before slipping his tongue inside. And now I was on fire.
A sudden onslaught of desire spread through me. It trickled up my spine and zinged through every nerve ending in my body. The urge to pick him up, back him against the wall, and fuck him like an animal in heat was strong. But friends didn’t do that. They weren’t supposed to kiss this way either…with gliding tongues and hungry groans—but I wanted him. So bad.
I pulled him close, ran my fingers down his chest, and splayed my hands on his sides just under his belt before lowering them to rest on his ass.
Ash liked that. He wound his arms around my neck like a monkey and whimpered against my mouth. My control slipped another notch. Our make-out session went into overdrive with passionate kisses peppered with feverish sucking and licking.
My shorts didn’t leave much to the imagination, but I managed to keep my dick out of the equation. If I gave in to temptation, we’d be naked in no time. And while that sounded amazing, I didn’t want him to regret this. Or me.
I broke the kiss, panting as if I’d just run a marathon as I stepped aside. “Sorry. I couldn’t help it. You’re so hot.”
Ash pulled his glasses off and wiped the lenses on his shirt. “Then why did you stop?”
“Because we’re not going to have guilt sex.”
He twitched his nose as he slipped his glasses on again, narrowing his eyes in confusion. “Wait. Are you using my words against me?”
“No…but you were right.” I smiled at his uber-serious expression and pointed south at the pup tent in my shorts. “Obviously, I want you. But I don’t want you to feel guilty or dirty when you leave my bed. Nothing will ruin a friendship faster than sex. And I…don’t want you to hate me.”
“I wouldn’t hate you.”
“Asher, your personal grading system would take a big hit, and I’m not gonna be the reason you give yourself a D or an F.” I grabbed my keys and wallet from the mini console table by the door and leaned in to bite his lower lip. “We deserve an A. If that means we wait, we’ll wait.”
He opened his mouth and closed it. Twice.
“That might be the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me,” he whispered dreamily.
I grinned. “Ha. I can do better than that. But we’re friends, so I won’t. Come on. I’ll take you to your car.”
He nodded, casting a scrutinizing gaze around the living area. “I should help clean up the boxes and—”
“I’ll do it later. Don’t worry about it.” I held the door open, then joined him on the sidewalk. “Out of curiosity, how would you grade today?”
Asher beamed at me. “A. Definitely an A.”
My smile was stupidly big, and it wouldn’t stop growing. I waited till I’d skirted my SUV to let it fly. Jesus, that guy did something to me. He turned me inside out and made me feel ten feet tall at the same time. He made me want things I didn’t have the right to ask for.
Not yet anyway. But I’d get there.
The rest of my weekend was pretty uneventful. I watched baseball with Ezra, graded papers, and studied. I was deep into an equation using binomial theorem when my mom called late Sunday night. Well, it was dinnertime for me, but close to bedtime for her in New York, which was just late enough for me to worry.