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“I know.” That had him lifting a brow. She shrugged. “The stairs in this house creak with the slightest pressure.”
“But you didn’t call be out for eavesdropping?”
“I didn’t really consider it eavesdropping, and I don’t really think it was creepy that you probably saw us kissing.”
Now it was his turn to swallow roughly. “Yeah, I saw, and that was a pretty pervy thing to do. I’m sorry about that.”
She laughed softly. “I was only teasing about the creepy part.” She looked down, and he could see her cheeks redden even in the dark kitchen. “In fact, I kind of liked the thought of you watching us.” She looked up at him, and he saw the embarrassment in her face. All he was feeling was his cock throbbing between his legs, demanding to be let out. He wanted to reach down and adjust himself, because his zipper was digging into his shaft, but he refrained, no matter how badly his arousal was pounding through him.
“Yeah?” He curled his hand around the edge of the table with such force he was surprised the wood didn’t give way.
She looked down again, and Asher couldn’t deny that he loved that she had this innocence about her. She hid it well with her steel-hard composure, but underneath all of that, she was all softness, and he wanted to feel that rubbing against him. “I mean, I won’t say I’m not a bit apprehensive about the whole thing, because I’d be lying.” She lifted her head, and a tendril of dark hair fell from the messy mop she always kept atop her head.
Without thinking, Asher reached out and pushed the tendril behind her ear. Her eyes widened a fraction when the tip of his finger grazed her cheek. She didn’t speak for several seconds, and he pulled his hand back, hoping he hadn’t overstepped a line.
“I’ve only ever been with a couple guys in my life, and I’ve certainly not been in a relationship with two at the same time.”
He leaned back. “We never thought you did, and truthfully Mason is the first man I have ever been with and vice versa. I never thought of myself as gay, but when you’re on the road and the loneliness sets in, attractions shift, or in this case grow in a different direction.” He shrugged. “Or maybe I have always been this way but never allowed myself to grow as a person to realize it.” Yeah, that was probably the most logical explanation.
“I am the least judgmental person, believe me. I got enough flack in school for my size.” He looked her up and down, and although he couldn’t see much with the table in the way, he had seen plenty while traveling with her. She had curves and was exactly the type of female he would have gone after before all of this happened.
“Mason shouldn’t have told you anything until the three of us could sit down. Springing that on you probably freaked you out.” He was sure there was a lot of emotions going through her, the same as Mason and him, but then she had kissed Mace, and that gave Ash hope things may actually go right for once.
“Maybe he should have waited until we all could have talked about it, but I’m glad he didn’t. To be honest, I have been struggling with my own feelings.” The flame flickered between them, and the urge to kiss her was strong.
“Come here, Sparrow.”
She started breathing harder, but the sound of her chair scraping along the ground was loud and broke up the stillness. It only took a step for her to reach him, and when she was within reaching distance, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her forward until there was no room separating them. Her breasts were right in his face, and he slowly dragged his eyes up her body and to her face. Several more pieces of her hair fell around her cheeks.
“I really want to kiss you,” he said as he looked at her mouth, loving that she was feeling exactly what he was and was willing to try. Pulling her until she was forced to sit on his lap, he slid his hand behind her neck and reveled in the fact that her skin was so soft. Her body was a stark contrast to Mason’s, but he loved both differences, got erect from her softness and also from Mason’s hardness.
He cupped her face with his other hand and pulled her head forward until his mouth was right on hers. She tasted like whiskey, spicy and sweet, but with a hint of something almost innocent. When their tongues started moving together, he made sure to take it slow and not force anything on her. Everything was new, to all of them, and there was no rush. Even if it had been less than a week since she had come into their lives, nothing was taken for granted.
“You taste so good, Sparrow.” She made a small noise in the back of her throat, and he swallowed it, needing more and never wanting to let go. She felt good in his arms, really fucking good, in fact.
She broke the kiss and looked at him. Her lips were swollen, and the candlelight illuminated the fact that they were glossy. “There is a part of me that feels like I’m doing something wrong.”
“What do you mean, sweetheart?” Asher had an inkling of what she was talking about but wanted to hear her say it, and when she did, he’d assure her that everything would be okay.
“I know that with the world the way it is, things are different, move at a different pace, and therefore the standards we used to have in another life don’t matter now.”
“You’re complicating something that is very, very easy, Sparrow.” He cupped her cheeks and brought his mouth to hers once more. It was almost frightening the way he felt with her, so comfortable and right. It was the same way he felt with Mason, how he felt when he first looked into the tormented eyes of the man he loved. “Sparrow, trust me, this can be a very simple thing if you don’t let your mind try to overrule your emotions.” He kissed her again, and again. They were little kisses, ones that weren’t consuming or penetrating but still had his blood boiling. “I know it’s fast, and I know it’s confusing, but if we can have something like this in a world filled with pain, degradation, and death, why not take hold and not let go?”
She searched his face, and although he was pretty good at reading people, she was also very good at keeping her emotions in check. He had been trying to “read” her since she joined them on their journey, but more times than not, she was closed off and watching them as if she was trying to figure them out. In a move he certainly hadn’t expected, she was the one to press her mouth to his and to wrap her arms around his shoulders.
“I’m tired of being alone,” Sparrow murmured against his mouth and kissed him harder, with more desperation than anything else. “I just want to feel alive, and you and Mason are the only ones who have made me feel that way in the last five months.”
He knew exactly what she was talking about, because he felt the same and knew without a doubt Mace did too. But Asher didn’t want desperation. He wanted slow and easy, soft and gentle, and so he cupped her chin in his hand and took over the kiss. Their tongues slid along each other, not frantically, but seductively. He liked that she squirmed in his lap, loved how he was getting under her skin as much as she had already burrowed under his.
He felt this carnal need for her, one that wasn’t just about wanting to feel himself buried balls-deep inside her, but one that wanted to get to know who this woman was and what she had been like before the fall.
Asher broke the kiss and trailed his lips along her jaw. “Besides your family, what do you miss most, Sparrow?” He kept his voice soft and low and slowly moved his hand between them until he could feel the very edge of her breasts. Her breathing hitched, but she didn’t pull away.
“What?” That word stuttered slightly, and he didn’t hold back his smile. Did she realize her hands were on his shoulders and that she dug her nails into his flesh? If she didn’t, he wasn’t about to stop her, because the sting of those nails had a bit of pleasure coursing through him. “You want to talk at a time like this?”
“Mmm.” Asher couldn’t think of a better time to ask her. She was pliant in his hands, and she’d be willing to tell him just about anything. “I want to know that and a lot more.” He continued to trail his lips down the side of her neck and to the pulse that beat frantically right below her ear.
“Music,” she replied. He didn’t stop kissing her and now fully covered one of her breasts with his palm. The mounds were big and round despite her small frame, and her nipple was hard as a pebble, pressing through the material. “I used to listen to The Beatles and watched the birds that would flock to this little homeless man who would toss seeds on the ground. Strangely, ‘Across the Universe’ seemed to go beautifully with it.” She moved her hands over his shoulders and rested her open palms on his pecs. She was shifting more frequently now, her thoughts clearly only on the two of them and her memories. “I also miss lying on my back on the ground and staring at the sky. I’d watch the clouds roll by, watch as they’d change shape right before my eyes.”
