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“Tease,” I whispered.
He took my wine and set both our glasses aside. “Come here.” Warm hands clasped my waist and easily pulled me through the water so I sat atop his lap, straddling his strong, thick thighs. He slid his hands around my waist, drawing me closer.
“Oh!” I touched his chest with both my palms as his hard length brushed against my aching clit. A few gyrations would easily get me off—
“I have a good feeling about this, Sky,” he murmured, the nickname he’d gifted me causing tears to spring to my eyes.
“So do I,” I whispered, sliding my hands over his shoulders and settling my breasts against his chest.
He brushed his nose over mine, teasing as he’d done before the first time our lips had become acquainted. “We’ve only just met, but it’s like we were destined to come into each other’s lives at the perfect time. I know that’s weird—”
“It’s not weird. I feel the same way.”
Ashton pulled his head back enough he could see my face. “Falling would be so easy, and even though I should guard my heart…I don’t want to.”
“Neither do I.”
He banded one arm around my waist, his other hand sliding up my back to tangle in my messy bun. “The timing isn’t perfect for Rhett with his mom and all—he doesn’t know how to handle grief, but your being here will help.”
“Distraction,” I added what he didn’t say.
“No—you’re an emotional creature who can’t help but draw others out of their shells. Rhett needs you in his life just as much as I do.”
A sweet ache swelled inside my chest.
Was it possible to fall in love so quickly? To experience a connection so deep you feared living if the other disappeared from existence?
Overwhelmed and having no words to explain the feels Ash had woken up inside me, I leaned in and brushed his soft lips with mine.
“Sky,” he murmured, tightening his hold on me before deepening our kiss.
There was no rush of lust, no frantic clothes-ripping to sate our bodies, but he quickly took me to the edge of reason.
Had Ashton pulled out his dick, pushed my bathing suit off to the side to reveal my aching pussy, I’d have gladly let him thrust up into me. Spill in me. Make a baby inside me.
I hovered on the edge of ecstasy, whimpering over the fact two layers of clothing separated our skin where I needed his touch the most—but he eased me back, slowing the rising urgency in our kiss.
We both breathed heavy when our lips separated, the moonlight and the underwater lights of the pool illuminating the desire etched on his face. Black pupils dominated the hazel-green of his eyes, a flush on his cheeks.
“Rhett,” he whispered, and I knew that’s why he’d stopped us from taking things too far.
I nodded because I agreed, even though I’d have given anything to tip over the edge and come undone in Ashton’s arms. “It’s probably best if we both went to bed too,” I suggested, sliding from his lap.
He let out a sigh that sounded as frustrated as I felt and followed me out of the pool and back into the kitchen once we’d dried off.
“Leave them,” Ashton said when I reached to turn on the water to wash our wine glasses and the one Rhett had left in the sink. He entwined our fingers and pulled me against his warm body, nosing along my jawline to my ear. “Stay in our bed tonight?”
A shiver slid down my spine, raising the hairs on every inch of my body. “T-To sleep?”
“Yes.” He kissed my cheekbone, my nose, then my lips. “I’m tired, but I’m not ready to let go of you just yet.”
I hesitated from answering, thinking of Rhett and what he might want, but the desire to give Ashton what he asked for attempted to sway my mind.
Strong people, intelligent people knew what choices to make. They had knowledge of what to do and when, then did it—exactly like Nora had done since our childhood.
Thoughts of inadequacy slammed into me, and I tightened my hold on Ashton’s hand.
“Will Rhett be upset to wake up and find me sharing a bed with the two of you?” I decided to ask, not wanting to step on any toes.