Page 14 of Can’t Help Growling in Love (Harmony Glen #9)

Chapter

Ten

JUNE

Asher’s confession sits in the silence between us.

I’m a virgin .

I figured as much, or at least suspected it might be a part of why he’s been so nervous to touch me from the start. His kisses were almost hesitant until I responded to him and let him know how much I wanted him, too.

“Thanks for telling me.”

I keep my voice as neutral as possible. He obviously disliked having to say it out loud, but I’m glad he did.

He lets out a huff of breath. “That’s it? You don’t want to know more?”

I raise my chin to look up at him.

“Sure, if you want to tell me.” I pat his chest, trying not to get distracted by the thick slabs of muscle. “If you’re wondering whether I’m bothered by it, I’m not. It would be good to know your limits, though. So I don’t trample over them.”

I barely resist glancing down to where his erection is still straining under the fabric of his sweatpants.

When I felt him grow hard earlier, I wanted nothing more than to pull his cock from his pants and sink down on the hard length, but it’s good that he stopped me.

We haven’t even discussed contraception yet.

I should have stopped before he had to do it, since I’m clearly more experienced.

But he’d seemed so into it, holding me firmly, I let him lead our kiss.

My pussy clenches at the memory. My lips are still tingling from Asher’s short stubble, and my skin holds the echo of his touch.

Beside me, Asher groans. “What are you doing?”

I glance up at him, eyes wide. “Thinking about how you kissed me.”

“Gods, woman, your scent is out of this world.” He squeezes me closer. “Okay, my limits. Uh, I don’t have any. Just a bad track record.”

Pushing away from him slightly, I grimace. “You’re going to have to explain that. At least the basics.”

“Yeah, I know,” he admits. He leans back against the couch, and some of the tension leaches out of him. “It’s kind of a long story.”

I shrug, indicating that I’m not going anywhere.

He’s silent for a moment, as if considering his words carefully. Finally, he takes a deep breath and says, “So, I was an Army kid. We moved around a lot, and I acted out in the way any teenager would after being forced to uproot his life for the sixth time since he started school.”

I settle in beside him, turned so I can watch him. “That must have been rough.”

“It was, but my parents weren’t really the talking kind. As a Summers, I was supposed to grin and bear it, that sort of thing.” He grimaces and adds, “I wasn’t so great at that. So my dad ended up sending me to military school.”

“Ouch.” I try to picture a much younger Asher in a military uniform. “All boys?”

“Yep. It was a weird time for all of us. We had next to no contact with the outside world, but we were all walking hormonal disasters, of course. For me, it was hell, especially because I couldn’t shift and run like I wanted to.

” He scrubs his hand over his hair, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“I think maybe Dad forgot how it is when you’re that age.

Or maybe he just didn’t care and wanted to toughen me up.

Anyway, those years were confusing, but I was eighteen when I graduated, with no sexual experience to speak of and years of having to repress my true nature under my belt. ”

My heart squeezes at the neutral way he says this. My childhood seems so uncomplicated by comparison, even if my efforts in school were never quite excellent enough for my parents.

“Of course, Dad expected me to enlist the moment I graduated,” he continues.

“I wanted to at least attend a military academy, but Summers men were grunt soldiers for generations, fighting for their country, so that’s what I was expected to do.

I applied anyway and got a scholarship, which pissed him off to no end.

You’d think he’d be proud of me for achieving something like that, but he wasn’t.

He just saw it as me going up against him. ”

I try to put on a neutral expression, but something of my thoughts must show up on my face because Asher lets out a soft huff and rubs his cheek over the top of my head.

“I’m not bothered by that anymore. There’s people who had it much worse than me.

Anyway, there were three women in my class at the Academy.

One was gay, one was engaged to her high school sweetheart, and the third was the daughter of one of our professors, so no one in their right mind would touch her. ”

I push down my outrage at his father and grin. “Ooh, a tale as old as time.”

He shakes his head but can’t hold back a smile.

“Laugh all you want, but those two years were some of the best in my life. The Academy had a strict set of rules but nowhere near as bad as the school I attended before that, and I had friends for the first time. Not many, but it was nice. I didn’t suck at the classes either, and I thought I was going to show my father that Summers men could be more than just cannon fodder. ”

“I’m guessing that plan didn’t turn out like you expected?” I ask softly.

“Nope. I visited my parents for the summer after my second year—they were living at a base in Germany at the time, near Stuttgart. My father told me he’d found a great opportunity for me, and the next day, one of the commanders at the base, a vampire, sat me down and told me about an elite squad of supernatural soldiers.

They were like Navy SEALs but sent on missions where their enhanced abilities made them the better choice.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the subtext of the offer was that my military career would be shot if I refused to join. ”

I frown. “So, not really an offer, more of a forced conscription?”

Asher shrugs. “This was several years before the Great Revelation. Most governments knew about supernaturals already, but no one talked about it out loud, right? There were task forces like that all over the world, some more official than others, and the US program had been going on for decades.”

Since supernaturals came out to the world, humans realized they’d been working alongside werewolves, orcs, merpeople, and trolls all along, but I didn’t know that there were programs like that before, too.

“So you joined?”

“I did. Didn’t really have a choice.” He looks down at me, a wry smile curving up the corners of his lips.

“It wasn’t bad, you know. Well, it wasn’t easy , being a soldier is never that, but I had great teammates.

And our missions were always challenging.

I could shift during training, and the others understood what it was like, being a supernatural in hiding. ”

“But you were injured?” I don’t move my hand toward his knee, not wanting to cross any lines. “That’s why you left?”

“I can’t tell you the details, but the last mission I participated in went sideways.” He’s serious now, no doubt remembering the events. “I was lucky to have made it out alive. Two of my friends weren’t.”

“I’m so sorry.” My heart squeezes for those soldiers, and for Asher, who lost his friends.

“Thank you.”

He leans his cheek on the top of my head again, as if seeking comfort, so I lean in for a hug, my arm wrapped firmly around his broad chest.

“I didn’t mean to dump all that on you,” he says, huffing.

“But that’s my life in a nutshell until about four years ago.

I was twenty-four, honorably discharged because my knee was never going to hold up to the kind of training required for that team, and had the choice of accepting a desk job in the Army or getting out. ”

“And you chose to get out,” I state the obvious.

“Yep, and my father hasn’t talked to me since.

” He shakes his head, forestalling my horrified exclamation.

“I’ve talked it all out with my therapist. I know I’m not at fault, June.

He’s got his own issues, not that he’d ever admit it.

And Mom’s the same, she just keeps repeating his ideas, so I just…

got out. Of my family, too, I mean. I still talk to my squad buddies, though.

Not often, but we meet up from time to time when they’re stateside. ”

A timer beeps, and Asher swears softly. “Give me a few, I need to wrap this up. Marcos is coming in thirty minutes to take over.”

He returns to the booth, and I wait on the couch, not wanting to move yet. Asher’s story gives me insight into him that I didn’t have before. I didn’t know he was a veteran, and certainly not a former elite soldier, but his experience explains his discomfort in loud, crowded places.

I’ve never worked extensively with veterans, but I’ve seen my share of PTSD victims, and it seems like Asher is handling his mental health issues really well. I decide there and then to give him all the time he needs, because the last thing I want is to rush him.

But when Asher emerges from the booth a few minutes later, he dives straight for me.

His lips close over mine, and he nudges me backward until I’m almost lying on the couch.

I wrap my arms around his neck and tug him down on top of me.

My body lights up at the weight of him. He’s so much bigger and so solid and warm.

He leans over me on one arm and palms my ass with his free hand, his touch demanding.

I give myself over to him completely, letting him explore me, lick me, like he needs to.

It feels a lot like being worshipped, especially because I sense his need for me rising along with mine.

He rocks his hips, and I gasp at the feel of his thick erection.

I knew he’d be big, but if this is the size of his dick while he’s in human form, his half-shifted form might present a problem.

My mind throws up this objection, but my body doesn’t care—I’m wet, panting underneath him, seconds away from begging him to sink inside me.

“June.” He says my name reverently, almost like a plea. “Gods, you feel so…”

His words trail off on a groan. I sink my teeth in his lower lip, then suck on it to soothe it.

He smells so damn good, I want to roll around in his scent, steal his clothes and wear them to bed.

If that makes me weird, I don’t care, because Asher is huffing at me, too, his quiet groans testifying to how turned on he is.

I lift my leg to wrap my thighs around Asher’s waist, and my foot catches the edge of the coffee table. A clattering sound brings us both back to our senses, and I glance past his shoulder to find the headphones I was using earlier lying on the floor, the cable in a tangle.

“Shit, sorry.” I unclench my hands from the back of Asher’s neck but can’t make myself push him off. “Um. This was hot.”

He gives me a lazy smile, then kisses me again, more slowly this time, as if he’s savoring me. “We’d better stop. And air out the room. Marcos is coming soon, and he’ll smell what we’ve been doing otherwise.”

Oof, supernatural senses .

“Good idea.” I remain where I am, squirming as Asher’s cock pulses against my hip. “But could you maybe kiss me just once mo?—”

Asher dips down for another kiss, and I close my eyes, returning every lick and caress. It takes us several more minutes to extricate ourselves. Asher stands, still hard, his cock a delicious outline under his black sweatpants. My mouth waters at the sight, and he sniffs, then groans.

“Stop that.” He presses the heel of his hand over his dick. “You’re not helping the situation.”

I cover my face with my hands, giggling. “Sorry, sorry. You’re just… I really like you, Asher.”

I lower my hands and find him grinning down at me, his expression slightly dazed.

“What?” I ask. “Was that too high school for you?”

He shakes his head. “Not at all. I just wish we were in my house right now instead of here. Is it weird that I want to make you breakfast for dinner and then kiss you some more?”

“Nope.” My chest warms at his earnest question. “Not weird at all.”

He walks over to where the window is hidden behind thick curtains and throws it open, letting cold morning air into the room. “Would you…?” He clears his throat and tries again. “Would you like to do that? Now, I mean, after we leave here? I can drive you home if you’d like, no pressure.”

I glance at the window and the raindrops on the carpet. It’s brutal outside, and I’m glad of his offer. He’d really drive me home, even though it’s out of the way for him, and drop me off, no expectations.

“Yeah.” I push my hair behind my ears. Anticipation bubbles up inside me. “I’d like that.”