I can count every. Single. Ab. All six of them.
His tongue dives back into my mouth; the way he’s moving it makes me wonder what it would feel like between my legs. I squeeze my thighs together at the thought.
He pulls firmly on my hair, tilting my head the way he wants, and I let out a breathy “Asher,” in response. His grip on me tightens.
I bite down lightly on his lower lip, and he groans. I feel his hands move to the backs of my thighs and the muscles in hisback tighten, his knees bend slightly to lift me, and something low in my belly turns to molten lava.
The elevator lurches to life, making both of us stumble and effectively breaking whatever spell we were under.
We both awkwardly rearrange our clothes as the elevator descends to the first floor. A ping sounds, and the doors open.
Asher mutters an apology before darting out into the lobby and disappearing through the front doors.
I run a hand across my swollen lips and use the other hand to catch the closing elevator doors.
This interaction is definitely going to keep me up at night, but not from embarrassment.
8
ASHER
Fuck. Holy fuck.
That did not just happen. I rake a hand through my hair as I practically sprint across campus to get to my car.
I cannot fucking believe I just let that happen.
I did more than let that happen. I instigated it.Ikissedher.
She could report me to the board. By this time tomorrow, the dean could pull me into his office and kick my ass out.
But she won’t, a dangerous voice sneers in the back of my head.She kissed you back.
That was so wrong. So inappropriate. A total abuse of power.
I nearly drop my keys as I’m trying to unlock my car. I hastily get inside and slam the door, letting my forehead rest against the steering wheel.
“Asher,” she sighed.
I grit my teeth so hard I’m surprised they don’t crack.
Why couldn’t that kiss have been awful? Why couldn’t we have had zero sexual chemistry?It would be so easy to ignoreif there had been nothing there. But as soon as our lips touched, it was like a fire blazed up in both of us. Neither of us could get enough; we kept trying to pull each other closer, like we were the only thing holding each other up, and if we weren’t as close as possible, we would crumble away to nothing.
I call my sister as I start to make my way toward home, the ringing pounds against a quickly forming headache as my cell connects to the speakers in my car.
The list of people I can confide in is extremely small. My parents would have a heart attack or possibly die of shame. Jared will be too accepting of what just happened and will try to hype me up into continuing to make possible career-ending mistakes.
Juliet is the only one who won’t judge me but will give sound, level-headed advice.
She answers just as I think the call will go to voicemail. “Hello?” she says, sounding out of breath. I can hear some sort of loud racket in the background.
“What on earth are you up to?” I raise my voice so she can hear me over the troops preparing for war.
“Sorry,” she sighs, sounding exhausted. “It’s been a crazy day at the bakery. This town does this crazy bid-on-a-basket thing, and I guess none of the women here bake, but they all want to include baked goods in these baskets.”
I can’t help but chuckle. “And are you partaking in this basket bidding?”
She guffaws. “Absolutely not. I have enough going on with Terra, the bakery, and renovating the house.”
