I snort. “You don’t have your contact in?”
He shakes his head. “No, and that bastard broke my glasses.”
“So rude.”
“I know.” He leans in, kissing my top lip. “I know I said this before, but for real, I’d do it again, just to kiss you.”
“Well, guess what,” I say against his lips. “You don’t have to. I’m yours.”
He is surprised by my truth, and I realize I just threw all my cards out there on the table—but fuck it, let’s go. I don’t give him a chance to say anything else; I press my lips to his, and he melts into my kiss. Just the way I want him to.
“And you’re sure?”
I search his eye. He seems terrified. “I am. Are you?”
He swallows hard, and I can tell he isn’t sure at all. I know he’s cautious, but come on, dude, take what you want.
I.e.—me.
“I don’t want to lose you.”
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that. We could only be good as friends.”
“But what if we’re great as both?” I ask, gliding my thumb along his lip. “I don’t want to convince you to do this, Asher. If you don’t want to—”
“Oh no, I want to, Ally. For real,” he says, capturing my hand and bringing it between us. When he places my palm against his hard cock, my heart jumps into my throat. “But he doesn’t think. He wants you, all of you, and he’d take you. Even my mind is like ‘Hell yeah. Get it, boy.’ But my heart, it knows that if this goes bad and I lose you, I wouldn’t know what to do.”
“My heart, my pussy, and my brain are all in this.”
He swallows hard. “Because you have thought of me that way. I wouldn’t let myself… I couldn’t think that way because it freaked me out.”
“I know,” I say, stroking his jaw, but he doesn’t look convinced. “I am worried too, Asher, and I hear you. I’ve gone over and over this in my head for years, and it’s kept me from ever making a move on you. But when you became a pirate for me, even though it’s only temporary, I realized it’s worth the risk to see if this can be what I’ve always wanted. I guess you need to decide if I’m worth the risk for you.”
He gives me a stony look, shaking his head. “Ally, you’re worth everything and then some.”
Oh, the butterflies in my stomach are on crack. “Then what’s wrong?”
He takes in a deep breath, and his bottom lip presses into my top as his nose moves with mine. His eye slowly falls shut, and then he leans his head against mine. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just overwhelmed,” he says, opening his eye, and I can see that in his expression. He likes everything laid out. He meets a girl, and if he likes her, he sleeps with her. With me, it’s different. He knows he likes me, we have history, and I understand his fears. I shouldn’t be surprised by his indecisiveness—he doesn’t like to take a gamble—but I figured, with me, he’d roll the dice. He knows me. “So many thoughts are going through my mind.”
I cup his cheek, running my thumb along his lips. He leans into my hand, such a beautiful, blissful look on his face. “Like what?”
He grins. “About ninety percent are dirty, and the other ten are extremely cautious.”
I quirk my lips. “Can I say I think we should throw caution to the wind and take what we want?”
He inhales deeply. “Is it bad that I want to do that and not take you out first?”
I grin even though I’m biting my lip. “Not at all.”
“I take great pride in the fact that I’m not a fuckboy. And to take you out those doors right there into the stairwell where I will fuck you like no other is a total fuckboy move.”
I beam. “You can take me out there, fuck me seven ways to Sunday until I can’t breathe, die, and then come back to life, and even then, Ash, I wouldn’t think you’re a fuckboy.”
He fights back a grin as he runs his lips along mine. “Promise? Because you know, I wouldn’t dis—”
“Ash.”