Page 64 of Between Hello and Goodbye

I climbed out of the car, and my heart swelled another ten sizes that this man could’ve had a sleek, pampered life in the city, and instead chose to work a grueling job, saving people’s lives.

Asher misread my incredulous stare as he came around to my side. “You disapprove?”

“Disapprove?” I ringed my arms around his neck and the words poured out. “Everything you do and everything you are, Asher, just makes me want you more.”

He kissed me softly, then harder, and the flame that had been simmering rekindled. I shifted against the car to let him in closer. A low sound issued from deep in his chest as I moved his hand between my legs again.

He growled hotly against my ear. “I’m about ten seconds away from fucking you on the hood of my Jeep.”

“Do it,” I breathed, delirious at the feel of his fingers touching parts of me that had ached for him so badly.

He bit off a curse as he went deep, and I cried out, riding his hand. Too soon, he shook his head and withdrew.

“No. Bed…”

Asher lifted me up and my legs went around his waist. Somehow, he managed to get us inside while kissing me, his hands cupping my ass. His house was dark, lit only by moonlight. Impressions of it came to me in heated flashes. Huge with modern fixtures and furniture, despite its barn-like exterior. A state-of-the-art sound system and mega TV sharing space on a wall with tribal art that I didn’t recognize, and a Maui hook carved from wood. Masculine décor that honored the island.

Because this isn’t just his house, it’s his home. This island is his home.

I squeezed my eyes shut against the thought and kissed him harder.

Asher carried me all the way upstairs to his bedroom. He lay me on the bed, then sank on top of me—so perfectly heavy—kissing me roughly. His hands were in my hair, and mine sank into his thick silken locks at the back of his head while our hips rose and fell together, grinding and frustrated by clothes.

“Please…Asher. Hurry.”

“Your ankle,” he said against my mouth. “I should be careful.”

I made a disbelieving sound—the time for being careful was over. We’d moved further fromcarefulwith every failure to stay away from each other. We were now in reckless territory, freefalling into the precipice together.

Our kisses became frenzied then, releasing days’ worth of tension and pent-up need. I pushed him back so that I could sit up and get my dress off. Asher took over, lifting it over my head, then tore off his own shirt and knelt in front of me. Before I could think, or move, his mouth was on me, moving over the bare skin of my throat, down to my clavicle.

“Here,” he growled, his breath hot and his tongue flickering. “This is what I’ve wanted. Right here. So fucking sexy.”

Of all the places…

I felt dizzy at every sensation, inside and out, that this man was creating in me.

His mouth moved over my heart, and his thick, soft hair brushed my chin. I raked my fingers through it as my eyes nearly rolled back to feel his hands on my breasts, hefting their weight in his palms. He ran a calloused thumb over one nipple while his mouth found the other, biting and sucking. My hands grazed over his scalp and then down his back, pulling him to me.

“We should have been doing this from Day One,” I whispered and then cried out as Asher took one nipple between his teeth and sucked.

“Then it wouldn’t be this fucking perfect,” he growled.

He moved back up to my mouth and kissed me while pressing me down until I lay sprawled on my back. With another feral sound of want, he roughly dragged off my thong panties and stood staring down at me, naked and exposed and ready for him.

“I’ve dreamed about tasting you,” he said gruffly, his fingers trailing idly over my sex, fingertips teasing the wetness. “Since the day we met.”

“Asher…for God’s sake…”

I flailed and then gripped the bedspread for dear life as Asher knelt and put his mouth on me, tongued me, nipped and sucked me. I stared at the ceiling, incoherent sounds pouring out of me as he went at me, sending wave after wave of pure sensation coursing through me. Every cell in my body lit on fire and I arched off the bed, into him, wanting all of it. Even the twinge of pain in my ankle added to the tsunami that took me higher, higher…

Then Asher took my clit in his mouth the same way he had taken my nipple and sucked it between his teeth.

The wave crashed.

I clutched at the bed as if it could keep me from floating away or disintegrating into a million pieces. I screamed his name; it came pouring out of me on a tide of pleasure and heat that I’d never felt before with any man. Because it wasn’t just sex. It was sex withhim.

Asher stood and stared down at me, like a conqueror over his prize. “I’m not done with you.”