As soon as he sees me, his eyes follow me. They follow me with an intensity that I can feel like a physical touch. And it feels the same way that it did on the day we met. Like a magnet. An inevitability. Like we’re hurling toward each other and there’s nothing that will stop the hot, lustful crash.
“What are you doing here, Asher?” I hear how tired I sound, and I know that he does too.
“I’m here to see you.”
I shake my head, pushing past him to the door. “All you have to do is sign the papers. It’s easy.”
His eyes are pure fire. Angry. Ready to explode. I open the door and wave him inside. Mostly so that I can yell at him without all the neighbors gawking.
“Rose—”
“No.” I cut him off, closing the door behind us. “I’ve had a hell of a day and I’m tired, cranky, and had some really fucking confusing things happen, so you’re going to sit there and listen. You did this,” I say, pushing past him again into the kitchen. “You’re the one that forced me into this and made it so that my father pulled his support and completely disowned me. You could have just let it go and let me go. But no. You didn’t. You pushed me around and forced my hand like everyone else has tried to do. So I figured the least you can do is sign the damn papers and set me free.”
Asher is deadly silent, looking at me hard. For a long time he says absolutely nothing. And when he does, it sounds like it’s being ripped out of him. “If you want me to leave that badly, then I’ll go.”
I sigh, all the anger and energy going out of me. “Why did you have to come here to acknowledge that? You could’ve just signed the papers and sent them back.”
“I don’t want to sign the damn papers.” His voice echoes off the walls and through the house, his eyes filled with agony. “Yes, the marriage was a sham. Fake. A tool to get you to help me and punish you because I was pissed off. And let me tell you, I’ve never regretted anything more in my life than forcing you.”
He braces his arms on the countertop, like the outburst took something from him. “I’ve been going crazy since you left. You know how relieved I was to get those papers just so I knew where you were? I emailed that address you gave us, and it did nothing but bounce.”
I’d deleted it the day after I got back.
“I googled you. I even—for a fraction of a second—thought about calling Gary to get your information.”
My eyebrows rise into my hairline, and I can’t move. I’m…stunned. This is what it means to be speechless. Asher’s gaze roves up and down my body, and I can’t tear my eyes away from him.
He prowls toward me, entering my space in that way that he manages to do. The next words are quiet. Desperate. Sensual. “I don’t understand it fully, I just know that I’ve never had this kind of connection with anyone so instantly. And I’ve never missed anyone so much. Rose, I haven’t even been able to sleep with you gone. I wake up reaching for you.”
Impossible, intangible emotion rushes into my chest. Relief and joy and wanting.
“I am falling in love with you, Rose, if I’m not fully there already. I’ll do whatever you want—give you an annulment, divorce you. Just please, please don’t walk away.”
I can’t stay still. The words he’s saying are things that have been echoing around in my brain for days and things that I haven’t been willing to admit. The things that made me cry when I came home and woke me up in the middle of the night utterly, utterly alone.
I’m not sure who moves first, and it doesn’t really matter. The only thing that matters is that he’s kissing me and I’m kissing him and every cell in my body feels like it’s taken a breath for the first time in days. His hands on my body are hungry. Unyielding. Hot.
There’s no way we’re making it to the bedroom. Too much between us. Too much heat and need and if I don’t have him inside me in the next ten seconds, I’m actually going to die.
Asher pulls my crappy work shirt over my head and I’m pushing his t-shirt up at the same time. Brushing his abs. Savoring the body that I never thought I would touch again.
His mouth drags across my skin and my bra goes flying across the room. I don’t give a shit. I’m struggling to get his belt undone, and he’s shoving my pants and underwear over my hips.
“Come here.” Asher pulls me against him, capturing my mouth with his. Holy fuck this kiss. Every moment of our separation is in this kiss. Every time he woke up reaching for me, and the stolen moments where I touched myself desperately imagining that it was him.