“Well then, have some more.” I topped her glass up almost to the brim and did the same for myself. We locked eyes while we drank. I wanted to get fucking naked and swim in her eyes if I could.
“Do you think I’m sexy?” she said in a slightly small voice, as if I was almost not meant to hear it. But I did hear it and I was going to let her know in as many uncertain terms as possible, just how sexy I thought she was. I put the glass down on the floor and crawled towards her. Her chest expanded as she sucked in a quick gulp of air. I leaned in, bringing my mouth close to her ear. She let out the tiniest sound that was not lost on me. Sexiest sound I’d heard in thirteen years. I gently grazed her ear with the side of my face, but not too much, just a little. But enough to illicit another tiny sound from her.
“You’re even sexier today than you were then.”
Her breath quickened. More color rushed to her cheeks and I could feel warmth radiating off her. I brought my lips all the way up to her ear now, letting them drag against it. She used to like being touched there. “In fact, I think you’re the sexiest woman alive, Ash.” I kept my lips there and she began to turn slowly. Her head moved towards mine until we were centimeters apart, looking at each other.
“You say that like I should believe you,” she whispered into the tiny space between us.
“You should.”
“You say that like you didn’t walk away from me once and don’t have photos of gorgeous models on your phone.”
I pulled away from her a little. I knew how that photo must have looked. And she would have been right about it, but she would also have been very, very wrong. They hadn’t meant anything. They were a one-night distraction. Something to take my mind off the one thing that it just kept coming back to . . .her.She’d always been there, and maybe I hadn’t been fully conscious of it, but now that she’d come back into my life, it had become crystal clear to me. All those years, those women and meaningless nights, what I’d really wanted—needed—had been Ash. And the more time I spent with her now, the more all the memories of us and the feelings I’d had for her, were flooding back. Nearly everything I’d done for the last thirteen years had been to try and cope with the pain of losing her. To try and escape it and forget her. But she was unforgettable.
“You’re way sexier than they could ever be.”
She poked a finger in my chest and looked at me very seriously. “Number one, I don’t believe a word you just said, because I also have eyes, and two, more important than number one, even if I did believe you—”
“You should,” I interrupted.
“Even if I did believe you, don’t interrupt me, it means nothing to me. Absolutely nothing. Because I am officially on a dating detox. So you can be as flirty and hot as you want, I am not moved!” She downed her glass and I watched her closely, noticing a slight wobble in her hand. I took the glass from her gently.
“Let me make you a cup of coffee, Ash.” I walked the glasses away and she let out a loud sigh and flopped onto her back.
“You okay?” I asked, but clearly she wasn’t.
“I’m on a full-on dating detox!” she mumbled, her words slurring together.
Fuck!I should have noticed how much we’d drunk, but I’d been so swept up in the moment we were having, which had felt just like old times, that the entire bottle was almost finished. I turned the bottle around in my hand.Shit, that was a much higher than expected alcohol content. I pulled a bottle of water out the fridge and walked it over to her. I looked down at her lying on the carpet and she smiled up at me.
“Max, Max, Max. No matter how sexy you are, and how flirty you are on email and in person, and no matter how many orgasms you give, ‘apparently’ give, ‘allegedly’ give, women, maybe even more than one at a time,” she laughed as she did dramatic air quotes in the air above her head. “I remain unmoved by you and your overtures.” She suddenly grabbed my ankle and squeezed it. “God, your ankles are big. How the hell did you get so sexy? Seriously? Max? Maximillian Adam?”
I knelt down, pulled her into a sitting position and then held the open bottle of water to her lips.I really shouldn’t have kept pouring her drinks!
“And you have facial hair now too.” She laid her hand on the side of my face and I closed my eyes momentarily and breathed in the feel of it. I knew this wasn’t the right time to be enjoying a moment like this, but I couldn’t help it. I put my hand over hers and she brought her face closer to mine as if she was inspecting me now.
“Your eyes are the same, except for these . . .” she traced her finger around my eye and then stopped at the side. “Cute little wrinkles.”
“Cute?” I smiled at her.
“So small and little.” She was clearly drunker than I’d initially thought she was.
“You also have muscles now.” She let go of my face and her hand traveled down my arm, squeezing as she went. And I swear, if she didn’t stop doing that, I would have her naked and pinned to this pole in about five seconds. But I also didn’t want her to stop either. Feeling her hand on my body after all these years must be akin to what a man who’d just crawled through the desert feels like when he drinks water for the first time. She ran her hand up to my hair and laced her fingers through it and I think I died ten times in a row.
“You have hair now too.” She moved even closer to me, I could feel her breath on my lips now.
“I’ve always had hair,” I whispered in some kind of strange daze.She fucking had me now!Had me under her spell. I was putty in her hands and she could do anything she wanted to do with me. And there was nothing I wouldn’t do for her either. Do to her. She tightened her grip on my hair and pulled me so close that our noses touched. Sexual tension, like hot thick magma rose up between us. I felt it, and I knew she felt it too as she tightened her grip on my hair and her eyes moved down to my lips.
“Ash,” I whispered her name against her lips. It was a plea and a promise.
“I think you should kiss me now,” she said, and I registered the overwhelming smell of alcohol on her breath. I put my hand over hers and unlaced her fingers from my hair. I immediately sat back, creating the distance I needed between us. Her face fell and I watched a journey of emotions wash across it. Shock, embarrassment, anger.
“Come, let’s get you up, hydrated and into bed.” I didn’t wait for her response, instead I pulled her to her feet.
She scoffed and tried to pull away. “So much for your so-called honesty earlier,” she said. “You’re so hot, Ash. You’re so sexy, Ash.”
“You are hot and sexy. Trust me—that is not the issue here.”
