“Please tell me you’re close,” I begged, my words hissing out from between my clenched teeth.

“So close,” she panted.

I reached down to thumb her clit and her back arched, her pussy gripping my cock as she exploded around me. It was all I needed to follow her. Finally, her body settled and she collapsed on top of me. I brushed the hair from her face and placed a kiss to her upturned lips.

“I knew you had it in you.”

She shook her head, her eyes drifting closed. “I didn’t.”

Her breathing evened out. After one, truly fantastic round of sex, sleep sounded perfect. I slipped from beneath Elena to clean up and ditch the condom. I needed to talk to her about getting tested. Elena I trusted; the fuckwad she was married to, not so much. Tolley probably couldn’t keep it in his pants, but hopefully he’d worn a condom with his other women.

She was still in the same spot when I crawled back into bed. Not a sound traveled through the house. Gathering her in my arms, she cuddled against my chest and the moment was so perfect that it was hard to consider that any of this might temporary. But the decision was Elena’s. Whatever she decided, I’d just have to wait and see.

CHAPTER 17

Elena

My body felt lighter than it had in a long time. The bed felt different: bigger, softer, warmer. I kept my eyes shut, letting myself enjoy everything about the moment. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I didn’t have the overwhelming dread that came each time I opened my eyes—or the exhaustion. Every morning since I arrived, the weight seemed to get a bit lighter.

This morning it was completely gone.

I felt a featherlight touch across my back and my eyes fluttered open; the desire to see Ashton flowing through me so strong it was almost too much to handle. Deep, mesmerizing green eyes connected with mine.

“Good morning.” His voice was a sultry whisper and it sent chills up my spine. Good chills though; the kind that made my heart swell.

“Morning.”

Now fully awake, my nerves kicked in. I was safe with Ashton, but with everything that had happened the night before, instinct took over and I braced myself for the reaction I knew in my heart wasn’t coming.

He held me captive with a glance and lifted his hand to caress my face. “I like waking up next to you.”

The second the words passed his lips, I melted into his touch. “Me too.”

Thoughts of more mornings like this paraded through my head. If only the situation wasn’t temporary. Ashton called to me on a level no man ever had. A dream: that’s what staying with him was. Then again, I never thought I’d be on stage, singing the way I’d always wanted to. Dreams could come true, when you got yourself out of a bad situation.

His finger caressed my rapidly hardening nipples and despite all that we’d done thus far, here in the bright light of day, I wanted to hide my nakedness from his gaze. His touch was simple, yet exposing. Without the heat of the moment, my confidence deserted me.

“Don’t be shy. Not after last night.”

I broke the connection of our eyes. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

His hand continued its ministrations while the other slipped around my nape. “You do, but there’s a million things I want to show you,” he said against my lips, before taking possession of them in a heated kiss.

Our tongues danced until we needed to breathe. Ashton lifted his head to watch me. “Your first rehearsal is today, right?”

“Yeah.” I peeked over at the clock. “I have about an hour and a half until I have to be there.”

“I’d start right now, but I don’t want you to be late.”

I attempted to sit up and throw my legs over the side of the bed but Ashton pushed me back down.

“Stay here,” he demanded, standing and pulling on a pair of track pants. “I’m going to bring you breakfast. You’re going to relax until you have to get ready.”

He didn’t give me a chance to argue. Spinning on his heel, he darted out of the room and down the stairs.

The problem with lying alone in the silence was that it gave me too much time to think. My mind wandered back to earlier in the morning.

Am I falling for Ashton?

No. It wasn’t possible. My emotions must stem from convenience. He was showing me a better life, filling me with confidence, renewing my dreams. It was normal to feel some gratitude toward him. That was what I was feeling.

Gratitude.

If that were the case, then why did my heart lift when I saw him? In fact, I didn’t even have to see him. Just seeing a text from him was enough for that fluttery feeling to take over my stomach. As soon as I knew he was on his way home, I couldn’t concentrate on anything else.

I tucked my hand underneath the pillow, pulling the sheets up over my shoulders, but I knew there was no way I’d be able to sleep.

Thoughts, feelings, thoughts about feelings; they all ran through my head.

Within moments I was kicking off the sheets, my temperature spiking and falling at a rate whereby it was near impossible to get comfortable. I pulled myself up, my back against the headboard, and let out an audible sigh, thankful that Ashton was far enough away for him not to hear because if he did then he would surely question it. There was a word that kept taunting me, teasing me with its significance, dancing around in the back of my mind so that I was unable to ignore it, yet unable to justify its use given the newness of whatever Ashton and I had.

It was an unusual situation; one I hadn’t even considered. And that was scary. There had to be another word for this.

There had to.

I needed to find a way to deal with Ashton without giving my thoughts away. He couldn’t know that I’d even considered the possibility. I didn’t need pity. Since leaving Dominic I’d worked really hard to push and become someone stronger.

I heard Ashton coming down the hall and did my best to school my features, sitting up in the bed, pulling the sheet tighter around my chest.

“Tsk, tsk. I’d love to watch those breasts as you eat.”

He set the tray in front of me and dipped his finger into the hollow between my breasts, slowing pulling the sheet away. I felt exposed and sexy all at the same time—something only Ashton had ever made me feel.

Needing to focus on something other than his hands, I looked at the tray, noticing that he’d made me his special omelet. Ashton picked up the fork and slid it into my fingers, which was strangely erotic. Picking up a piece of the omelet, his eyes followed the path the fork took all the way to my mouth. A groan escaped him as the fork left my lips.

“Shit, watching you eat like that is incredibly fucking sexy.” He reached down to adjust himself. “I’m going to do my best to keep my hands to myself and let you eat, but I make no guarantees because right now I want to flip you over and fuck you until neither of us can move.”

The moan slipped out before I could pull it back. Images of all the things I’d like Ashton to do to me but was too shy to ask for ran through my head.

“Elena,” he said, his voice throaty. “I don’t want you to be late and I see the look in your eyes. I’m going to go take a really fucking cold shower, but tonight you’re mine.” He captured my lips, stealing my breath, and left through the door to the bathroom.

My eyes darted back and forth between the food in front of me and the door, where I could hear the shower running.

Squirming in the bed, I shoveled down the omelet and got up to make my way into the bathroom.

The outline of his body was visible through the frosted glass and my nipples hardened into tight little buds. With one arm up on the wall in front of him, he was the picture of raw sensuality. And I wanted to have a taste.

Stepping into the shower behind him I wrapped my arms around his waist. Taking him into one of my hands, I gave his hard length a few slow strokes. His head dropped forward for a second before he turned around. I didn’t want to give him a chance to stop me so, stealing myself, I dropped to my knees, taking him into my mouth.