Page 48 of The Consequence of You (Heathley Academy #2)

ASHER

One Month Later

C allie’s delicate hands wrap around mine as I fiddle nervously with my tie. I glance down at her as she looks up at me with a small smirk on her face. Her shoulders shake as she tries desperately to stifle a laugh. Her cheeks blush the prettiest shade of pink.

“It’s not funny, Callie.” She giggles and chews on her bottom lip. “Seriously. Your father is a bloody mafia don, for God’s sake. I’ll be swimming with the fishes if I fuck this up.”

“How many times do I need to tell you? He’s retired. He’s just a businessman, who happens to be Italian.”

She’s stretching the truth, and she knows it, but it wouldn’t matter if he was the president of Russia or a local vicar, I’d be just as apprehensive.

It's been weeks since my accident and we made things official between us, but this is the first time I’ve had an invitation from her father to have dinner with their family.

“I want him to like me. I intend to be in his daughter’s life permanently, and by extension, his, so it’s important to me.”

“Asher, you have nothing to worry about. It’s not like you’ve never met him before. You literally showed up at his house the first time you met him and told him to apologise to me. You survived that and you’ll survive this. Just be yourself and he’ll love you as much as I do.”

“Took you a long time to love me when I was just being myself,” I remind her sulkily before dropping down on my bed. She’s wearing a stretchy knitted red dress that hugs all her curves, and she hitches it up so she can climb onto my lap.

“Asher Pennington. I love you. I have loved you for a hell of a lot longer than I was prepared to admit, but that was nothing to do with you, and everything to do with my stubbornness.”

She loops her arms around my neck and presses a kiss to my throat.

“Would it help if I distracted you a little?” She runs her hand up my back and my dick stirs at the thought of what she’s suggesting. We have less than half an hour to get to the restaurant, and it’s at least a twenty-minute drive.

“We don’t have time,” I tell her regretfully.

She rubs herself on my hard length and tilts her head to whisper in my ear,

“Please?”

She doesn’t need to ask me twice. I hook my hands under her knees and flip her onto the bed. She bounces as she hits the mattress, desire burning in her eyes.

Fuck… what did I do to get so lucky ?

I yank my belt from my chinos and drop down onto the bed next to her.

This is definitely going to make us late for dinner, and there’s a real possibility of pissing her father off but making this woman happy will always be my first priority, no matter the consequence.