Page 22 of The Aster Valley Collection, Vol. 2

He thrust his thick dick into me, brushing that spot until the orgasm pulsed through me in a sudden rush. I grappled for my dick to get the most out of my release, and I vaguely noted the sounds of his own grunts and cries.

We ended up in a sweaty, jizz-covered heap, limbs tangled and hot breath skittering across each other’s skin.

A stupid joke popped into my head, and I couldn’t hold back a laugh.

“What?” he asked, smirking at me.

“You’ll think I’m crass.”

“I’m the one who had my fingers in your ass a few minutes ago,” he reminded me.

A low pulse of an aftershock tried spurting more cum out of me, but it was no use. My balls were empty.

“I can see why people are so keen to bribe the LAPD now.”

A beat of silence fell heavy between us, and I regretted the joke immediately. But then a second later, Declan grabbed my pillow and slammed it into my face before jamming his fingertips against my ribs and tickling the fuck out of me.

When we finally calmed back down, Declan padded out to the kitchen to get us some water. When he came back, I blurted out something that had been bothering me. “Who’s the pregnant woman?”

I regretted it instantly. It was none of my business. Besides, he’d assured me he was single. And gay. It wasn’t jealousy, exactly. Maybe it was simple curiosity.

Mm-hm.

“Remember I mentioned my ex-partner on the force? Tessa was Nick’s girlfriend.

Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t the only one.

And when she found out, she broke things off.

It wasn’t until after he was busted in the Internal Affairs investigation and arrested that she realized she was pregnant.

At that point, she couldn’t really give him another chance, even if she’d wanted to.

He pled out, but he’ll still serve a long stint. ”

I thought of my own single mother and how desperate she’d been. How alone she’d been.

“I’m sorry, Declan. Is she doing okay?”

He nodded. “Nick signed away his rights. I’d told her I’d be there for her if she needed anything, so when the media tracked her down and made things difficult for her, she decided to get out of LA for a while.”

“That was nice of you, taking her in like that.” I tried not to feel even more soft toward him than I already did.

He wasn’t a soft man. Just because he showed kindness to a friend, didn’t mean I needed to drool at his feet.

I cleared my throat and prepared to start the awkward postcoital goodbye sequence.

“Will you please stay?” I asked instead, startling myself as much as him.

“Are you sure?”

I bit my lip to keep from begging. “Mm-hm.”

His face relaxed into a smile. “I’d really like that. Let me text Tessa and let her know I’m staying out.”

I forced myself to get up and brush my teeth, if only to give him a little privacy. When he joined me at the sink, I nodded to the prepackaged toiletry kit that sat in a welcome basket on the vanity. “I think there’s a complimentary toothbrush in there if you want it.”

We brushed our teeth side by side. I couldn’t help but sneak glances of his muscular form in the mirror.

A dark, furry trail led down his stomach to his groin, and his soft cock swung gently against his thigh as he shifted his weight from one foot to another.

The muscles in his ass flexed as he turned to rinse his mouth in the sink.

My eyes ate up the muscular curves of his back and shoulders and the dip of his spine.

Two shallow divots marked the top of his ass, and I pictured myself pressing thumbs into those spots as I thrust into him.

His ass would be tight and hot around my dick, and his grunts and groans would fill the room with?—

“Your teeth are probably clean enough by now,” he murmured.

I glanced at his eyes in the mirror to see him smirking at me. My own reflection was ridiculous. Toothpaste foam ran down my chin, and my eyes looked glassy.

“Ungh.” I rinsed my mouth out and grabbed a towel. “You’re killing me.”

“Pretty sure it’s the exhaustion. Get in bed. Otherwise, I’m going to ask you to deliver on the promise those eyes are making right now.”

“I want to fuck you,” I said simply, even though he was right. I was tired enough to want to fall asleep in the cold, wet sink if it meant not moving another muscle.

He let out a soft chuckle. “I would like that, but I’m not sure my ego could handle a man falling asleep midfuck.”

I opened my mouth to argue with him that if I had his ass, there was no way I’d fall asleep midfuck, but before I could get the words out, he grabbed me around the waist and half carried me to the bed.

I fell asleep quickly against the solid warmth of him. Most likely there was a smile on my face the entire night, but when I woke up and found myself alone in the chalet, the smile threatened to melt away.

He was gone.

What exactly had that been between us? A one-night stand? The beginning of something with the possibility of more?

And what did I want it to be?

I started a pot of coffee in the kitchen and forced myself to put thoughts of the sexy sheriff behind me for the day. I had a hectic schedule, beginning with shooting climbing scenes all day and prepping for Solo’s tutoring session this weekend.

The shooting went by in a happy blur. The weather was perfect for the three climbs, and there were no equipment problems to speak of.

Kramer, my climbing trainer, was there overseeing safety protocol, which gave me extra confidence to focus on the acting over the technical climbing details.

Nolan was thrilled with the results, and I finally felt like my role in the film was back on track.

Even though I didn’t have a spare moment to myself to do more than daydream about the sheriff, I floated into the weekend on cloud nine.

Declan hadn’t called or texted, and I forced myself not to contact him either.

I didn’t want to come off as needy and desperate for a repeat, even though that was exactly how I felt.

I was embarrassed by the story he’d told about my house being involved in the LA cop scandal.

I needed to find out what the hell had happened, but Kix was suddenly too busy to talk to me.

I knew it was because of our busy shooting schedule, but it still rankled that something so critical could have happened at my house and been kept from me.

My relationship with Kix was complicated.

Finding out about New Year’s hadn’t helped.

Late Saturday morning, I put on the most nondescript clothes I had—a navy blue T-shirt and faded jeans—and topped it off with a battered gray ball cap I’d gotten at a climbing event years ago.

It was one of my favorites from the stash I always traveled with.

As trite as it sounded, a simple ball cap and sunglasses really did go a long way toward hiding my identity when I was in public.

I had distinctive hair, longer on top and short on the sides, and if I covered it up, one of the most recognizable aspects of my appearance disappeared.

If I used makeup to cover up my freckles, another one disappeared.

If I really wanted to go unrecognized, I covered my green eyes with brown contact lenses.

Today, though, it was just the clothes, hat, and glasses.

People in Aster Valley already knew I was in town, so a true fan wouldn’t be fooled by any of it.

I made my way to the park and found Solo waiting for me on a picnic bench situated well off to the side and away from the central gazebo and playground.

The summer sun slanted down on his back as he sat hunched over his paperback and spiral notebook.

“Hey,” I called as I approached. “Ready to nail this stuff?”

He turned to me and looked resigned. “Not really. If I sucked at it last spring, and I’m sucking at it now, I pretty much know how this is going to go.”

“ Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them ,” I quoted. “That’s from Twelfth Night .”

He looked at me blankly.

“Never mind,” I said quickly. “Just know I’m here and ready to thrust greatness upon you whether you believe in yourself or not.”

A reluctant smile curved the edge of his lips. “I appreciate it. Really. It’s pretty cool of you to offer to help me.”

I took the seat opposite him at the table and began asking him questions about ghosts and ghost movies. He looked a little confused at first but quickly began talking about horror movies I’d barely heard of. I held up a hand. “Slow down, I don’t watch horror movies.”

“So then what were you expecting me to talk about? Scooby-Doo?”

“Do you know who that is?” I had no idea they still showed that to kids.

Solo rolled his eyes. “Yes. Jeez. Everyone knows Scooby-Doo.”

“Good. So then you know about the ghosts there and how they were usually fake. The villain used them to move Shaggy and the gang where he or she wanted them, right? Sometimes the ghosts even tried to get the gang in trouble.”

Solo nodded.

I continued. “That’s how Shakespeare used the ghost in Hamlet . To get Hamlet where he wanted him to be. Only, not physically. The ghost egged him on toward vengeance.”

I began explaining more about the ghost’s role in convincing Hamlet to seek revenge. When Solo’s eyes glossed over, I stood up and pulled him away from the table. “Here, let’s act some of it out. It might make more sense that way.”

He looked around as if there were a dozen high school friends waiting in the bushes with their phone cameras pointed his way. “I’m not very good at acting…” he said.

I shot him a glance. “How many times have you acted in something?”

He rubbed his face with his hands before offering me a sheepish grin. “Point taken. Fine. But I don’t see how this is going to help.”