Page 19 of Obsession on Repeat (Vinyl Hearts #1)

ONE MONTH LATER

Summer heat clung to the walls, and the dance floor throbbed with sound.

I was back in the booth, comfortable, focused, alive in a way I hadn’t been in months.

Asher had been everywhere I looked the entire night, arms crossed, not saying a word.

Something felt different in the way he watched me.

His eyes followed me with a sharper kind of hunger.

The second I stepped out of the room, he was standing in front of me.

"What do you want?"

"Same thing I wanted the day you wouldn’t turn around at the printer. "

For weeks, something had been happening, changing in a way I was constantly knocked off balance. Maybe it had always been there, my mind distracted by the whirlwind that was my doomed relationship with Sullivan.

Before I could process what was happening, I grabbed his shirt, clutching it in my hands, dragging him closer as his other hand slid to my waist, pulling me flush against him.

His mouth devoured mine, and I kissed him.

I’d forgotten every reason I shouldn’t. At that moment, suddenly none of them mattered.

We broke apart for breath, and I tugged on his shirt, pulling him across the hall to the storage closet.

I had barely shut the door before I was pushed up against it.

His hands flattened on either side of my head, his body caging mine in. It didn’t feel close enough.

"You sure about this?"

"I’ve never been more sure about anything."

His mouth found mine again, deeper this time, more claiming than cautious. One of his hands slid beneath the hem of my shirt, skimming my bare skin. When he finally pulled back, his breath was ragged, eyes locked on my mouth. "I’ve been thinking about this since the day I saw you."

I tugged him in for another kiss, and he groaned, his mouth trailing down my jaw, to my neck, to the sensitive spot beneath my ear. I gasped, my head falling back against the wall, fingers tightening in his shirt .

"You drive me crazy," he muttered against my skin. "Do you know that?"

"Good because I’ve spent every moment lately thinking about how it would feel to finally have your mouth on me… until I forget who I am."

He moaned, and I swear I felt it all the way down to my toes. His hands slid down to the backs of my thighs, and suddenly I was off the ground, his body pinning mine, the door holding me up. I wrapped my legs around him without thinking, heat pooling low in my stomach.

His mouth found mine again, weeks of restraint finally breaking. I melted into it, fingers threading into his hair. His hands were everywhere, gripping my waist, sliding up my spine.

The sounds he made in response nearly undid me. His lips left mine long enough to trail down my jaw, then lower to the hollow of my throat where his mouth lingered.

I arched against him. "Asher—" My voice broke around his name, half a plea, half a warning.

Breathing hard, he pulled back to look at me. His eyes were blown wide, mouth red. "Tell me if this is too much."

"It’s not enough." I tugged at his shirt, desperate to feel skin, needing him closer. He let go to pull it over his head and toss it aside. My hands were on him immediately, warm, firm muscle and skin beneath my palms .

He groaned as I kissed down his throat, letting my hands roam, savoring every inch. His fingers found the hem of my shirt, pausing.

"Off."

He lifted it over my head, his gaze dropping the second it hit the floor. "Fuck," he whispered, voice thick. "You’re…"

I didn’t let him finish. I grabbed his face and kissed him again. When his hands reached behind to unhook my bra, I trembled, but I didn’t stop him. I wanted this. I wanted him. The moment it came off, his hands were back on me, lips trailing fire across my collarbone, my chest, everywhere I ached.

He looked up, eyes heavy with want, and pressed his forehead to mine. "Last chance," he whispered. "Tell me to stop."

"Don’t you dare."

He carried me across the room, laying me gently on the couch.

It was a blur to remove our clothes, and when he finally pushed into me, we both stilled.

His forehead pressed to mine, his fingers lacing through mine.

I lost my breath the second he moved, slow at first. I met his thrusts easily and arched into him, his name slipping from my mouth again and again.

"Rory," he groaned. "God, you feel…"

"I know," I whispered. "Please, please…"

He kissed me through each thrust, hitting deeper each time, making my body unravel around him. My release hit hard, shattering through me, and he followed a breath later, burying his face in my neck as he broke apart in my arms.

The room was silent except for the sound of our breathing. When he finally looked up, his hair was damp, his eyes soft. "You’re going to ruin me, you know that?"

"That’s okay." My fingers brushed down his jaw. "I’m a little ruined, too."

We lay there for a moment longer, tangled in each other. His thumb traced slow circles against my hip. "What are you thinking about?"

"Whether the club has a spare blanket stashed somewhere. This couch is great for making out, not so much for sleeping."

"We could always try again. Solely for research."

I elbowed him gently. "You’re insatiable."

"I’m honest."

I let my head rest on his chest, my palm flattening against the warmth of his skin. "Don’t ruin this with your charm."

"Too late."

We froze as a sharp knock rattled the door, followed by Gina’s unmistakable voice. "Hey, Rory? Are you in there?"

I scrambled to grab my shirt from the floor, shoving it over my head in pure panic. "Uh, yeah?"

"You weren’t at the booth. Vanessa was wondering where you— Wait, why is the door locked? "

I yanked my jeans on one leg at a time, stumbling half-dressed across the room as Asher fumbled for his shirt behind me.

"Give me a second!" I called out, tripping over his belt.

"Oh, my god." Gina’s voice was much closer now, clearly right at the door. "Oh. My. GOD."

I could practically hear the grin in her voice. I unlocked the door halfway and cracked it open, trying to peek through without revealing my flushed face or Asher buttoning his jeans behind me.

She stood there, eyebrows arched so high they were practically in her hairline. She leaned one shoulder against the door frame. "So… was this a staff meeting? Or more of a private rehearsal?"

"Can you not?"

Asher appeared behind me, fully dressed. "Hi, Gina."

"Hi, Asher," she replied sweetly. "Nice shirt. Or is that Rory’s? Hard to tell in this lighting."

He coughed, trying not to laugh.

"I’m going to die," I muttered.

"Nope," she chirped, stepping back. "But you are going to come back to the booth and face Vanessa eventually. Don’t worry. I’ll stall her. You’ve got about five minutes to look less like you’ve been thoroughly… never mind." She turned on her heel, cackling as she disappeared down the hallway.

I shut the door and leaned back against it, groaning .

Asher walked up, slid his hands around my waist again, and kissed my temple. "Well, that could’ve gone worse."

I narrowed my eyes. "You’re enjoying this."

"Maybe a little."

"I hate you."

He grinned. "You really, really don’t."

I sighed, but didn’t move from his arms.

No, I didn’t. Not even a little bit.

Later, after the club had cleared out and Gina had stopped smirking every time she looked at me, we found ourselves tucked away again, this time in the back corner of the rooftop, where no one could overhear us.

Asher leaned on the railing beside me, a few inches of space between us. "I should probably apologize." His voice was low, eyes fixed somewhere in the distance.

"Don’t."

He looked at me. "You sure?"

"I wanted it. I think I needed it."

"I’m not good at this part," he admitted. "The morning-after conversations or the what are we now stuff. Usually I disappear before it has a chance to come up."

"Yeah, me too. This doesn’t feel like that."

His jaw tensed. "No. It doesn’t."

We stood in that quiet a little longer.

"I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep," I whispered.

"I’m not asking for any. I want to know if this was real for you. It was for me."

I studied the angles of his face, his eyes watching me with a hint of vulnerability lurking underneath. "It was real."

He stepped closer, enough that I could feel his warmth again. "I don’t want to rush you. I’m not going anywhere. You should know that."

My throat tightened, a swell of something heavy and full sitting right behind my ribs. "I don’t know what I’m doing," I confessed. "I'm figuring a lot of things out, regaining who I am again, but I know I don’t want to pretend this didn’t happen."

"Then we won’t."

He brushed his knuckles against my hand. I laced my fingers through his and smiled.

Gina gave me a look as I passed the bar that was equal parts smug and nosy. I flipped her off discreetly. She blew me a kiss. Asher trailed a few paces behind me, suddenly very interested in his phone as if we hadn’t made out like sinners on a church couch.

I tried to focus on resetting the booth, but when I looked up, he was watching. And every time he caught me watching him back, he smirked.

"Rory."

I turned to see Vanessa in the doorway, her face unreadable. My heart sank a little. "Hey."

"Can I see you for a minute?" She barely looked at him, as if knowing nothing she would say would matter to him. He ignored her, flipping casually through his phone from his position on the couch.

I followed her up to her office where she gestured me inside and shut the door behind us. She didn’t sit. Neither did I.

"I don’t care what you do in your free time, but you know I want to be kept in the loop when it comes to anything that might shift the dynamic in my club. "

"It won’t affect anything."

She raised an eyebrow. "Does he know that?"

I swallowed and nodded again, unsure exactly what to say to diffuse the situation. My heart beat wildly in my chest, the thought of being fired suddenly a glaring possibility.

"So, it’s something."

It wasn’t a question.

"Yes, it’s something."

She studied me for a moment, then, surprisingly, she smiled. "Good."

I blinked. "Wait, what?"

Vanessa leaned a hip against the desk. "You’ve been walking around like a closed book since day one. Now you’ve got color in your face, passion in your sets, and a guy who would throw himself in front of a train if it meant buying you another five minutes of sleep."

My lips twitched. "That’s… dramatic."

She shrugged. "So is he." She studied me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am."

She smiled again. "Then I’ll leave it alone. I’m going to suggest keeping the storage room on lock-down from now on."

I couldn’t stop myself from blushing. "Everyone knows, don’t they? "

"Only everyone who has eyes… and ears," she smirked, motioning for the door. "Now go play something filthy and unapologetic. You’ve earned it."