"He doesn’t deserve your tears," Asher says, kissing my forehead. "He doesn’t deserve to have any space in your head." His voice goes lower. "He had perfection in his hand, and he let it go." His voice is almost a whisper.
My head comes out from his neck, his eyes on mine. "Amelia," he says my name, and this time, it’s me who makes the first step. My hand comes out, and I finally touch his face the way I’ve wanted to touch it since I met him. The stubble from his beard is pricking my hand. "You," I say, smiling. "You are the only one who’s tempted me." My fingers go to his lips, touching his bottom lip that I want to kiss. "The only one I’ve ever let myself dream of having.” I move my nose with his, softly side to side. "You were everywhere." The tears roll down my cheeks, past the smile that has formed on my face. "And I mean everywhere." It’s his turn to smile. "It pissed me off so much. I fought with Chelsea today about it," I admit. "You got under my skin, Asher."
"I didn’t mean to," he says softly, and I lean in, kissing his lips softly. Once, twice, and then on the third time, his hand goes to the back of my head, and he tilts his head to the side. My mouth opens, and his tongue slides into my mouth.
Home.
It’s the only thing that comes to mind when our tongues tangle. I kiss him until I’m breathless. I kiss him with everything that I have. I kiss him, afraid I’ll never get to kiss him again.
"I don’t want to stop kissing you," he says, “but …" My eyes open to see him staring at me. His eyes are the color of a rich whiskey. I could spend all night getting lost in them. "I need to take a shower." He kisses me again. "I have dust and sweat all over me." I step out of his arms, and I feel this draft rush up my body, and I shiver. "Don’t go anywhere," he says, and I laugh. He turns around to walk to the bathroom, stopping and then turning back to me. "He’s an idiot." Everything in me stops. "For leaving you." Shaking his head, he smiles. "I mean, if I ever get to meet him, I might thank him." He smirks.
"For what?" I ask, confused.
"For giving me a chance to have the best kiss I’ve had in my whole life." He turns toward his bathroom. Only when I hear his door close do I finally breathe properly.
"I guess I should thank him, too," I say finally. "Because I just had a kiss I will never forget."
Chapter 21
Asher
The soft sound of the alarm wakes me up along with her voice. "What is that sound?" I hear her mumble, and I smile when I feel her snuggle up against me. Her leg hitches over my hips as she puts her head on my chest. "Make it stop," she says, and I lean over and grab my phone off the top of the couch, shutting off the alarm. Her hair tickles my nose as she buries her face in my neck. "I’m fine," she says, and I laugh.
Last night, I walked into this house not expecting to show her all of me. I expected her to change the way she looked at me. I expected to see some disgust that the person staying in her house slept on the fucking street. She didn’t. Instead, she shared with me her deepest, darkest secret. A secret I know killed her to tell me, killed her to relive it.
I watched her struggle through it until I could no longer just stand there and not have her in my arms. When I got out of the shower, I expected to find the house dark and her in her bedroom. What I got was her sitting in the middle of the couch with her feet curled under her and her hair pinned on her head, watching some show on television. I sat next to her and all I did was look over at her and my hands had a mind of their own. My hands got buried in her hair, and we spent the night on the couch making out like a couple of crazy teenagers.
"What time is it?" she mumbles, and I look down, seeing that her eyes are still closed.
"Two," I tell her, and she groans. "If that phone rings again in two hours." I turn her on her side, and my mouth covers hers. Whatever she was going to say was swallowed by our kiss. I spent all night kissing her, and every single time, it felt like the first time.
"Sleep," I say. Opening her eyes, she rubs her nose on my chin and smells me before kissing me softly and putting her head back in the crook of my neck. I want to watch her sleep, but with her in my arms, I fall asleep faster than I ever have.