I lay limply on top of her for a long minute knowing I should get up and take care of the condom, but she felt so good and her hands were stroking up and down my spine in such a soothing way that all I wanted to do was lean into her touch. I rubbed my cheek on her shoulder and asked her, “You wanna spend some time with me when we aren’t naked and in bed, Red?”

She shifted under my weight a little and her hands stilled on my shoulders. I knew she liked fucking me. I needed to know if she wanted any part of me outside of the bedroom.

“Like on a date?” She asked the question quietly and it made my back teeth click together.

“It can be whatever you want it to be.” I went to roll off of her but she moved her arms up around my shoulders and kept me pinned to her.

“Yeah, Asa, I wanna spend time with you. I don’t care if it’s in bed or out.” She laughed a little and wiggled under me, which had the part of me still nestled inside of her twitching. “Though I am a pretty big fan of what happens when we spend time in bed together.”

I snorted and pushed off of her so I could clean up. I shoved my hands through my hair and looked down at her. All those pretty promises I wanted to make to her were screaming at me, trying to force their way out of my mouth.

“I don’t know why you’re here, but I feel like I need to thank any God that might exist that you are.”

She blinked at me once and then again and I saw her blush. She moved so that she was on the bed the right way and stared at me with wide eyes.

“I’m here because you finally let me be here.” Her hair fanned out behind her on the pillows and I wished I could paint so I could capture her beauty for future ages to appreciate. “And I’ll stay as long as you let me.”

If only that was the case. She would stay until something happened or I did something that forced her to have to go. I needed a minute to get my thoughts back in order after the way she had just owned me, so I didn’t respond to her and disappeared into the bathroom to take care of business. If only figuring out what I was going to do about this girl and all the ways she made me feel was as easy as cleaning up after the best sex I had ever had.

CHAPTER 10

Royal

When Asa’s phone went off the next morning, it felt like it was the crack of dawn instead of nine. Granted we had kept each other tangled up and very occupied until the sun was just starting to come up, so there hadn’t been a whole lot of sleeping going on. He groaned and reached over me to silence the noise with a flick of his finger. His amber eyes were sleepy and the dust of golden scruff on his face made him look even more rakish than usual.

I stretched out lazily under him and lifted my arms up over my head, which had his whiskey-tinted eyes turning from lethargic to hot and glowing in seconds. I was going to ask him why he had to get up so early since I thought most bartenders slept until noon, but my drowsy movements under him were clearly causing other thoughts to enter his mind. I was totally on board with the plan until I was right on the edge of an orgasm that I just knew was going to turn me inside out when he suddenly froze, went absolutely still, and stared down at me with wide, heated eyes.

I had my hand wrapped around his biceps and I felt the muscles lock rigidly into place. He was breathing hard and barked at me not to move when I went to lift up to get him back in the groove of things. I scowled up at him and dug my fingernails into his tense arms as he gritted out between his teeth, “If you move it’s all gonna be over and I don’t have a condom on.” His eyebrows furrowed even farther over his nose. “I’ve never had sex without protection before. No wonder condoms get a bad rap. I’m about to lose my fucking mind.”

His teeth were clenched and his nostrils flared as he torturously started to pull back from my body. I was too close, and even with his stilted movements it still felt too good, and so even though I forced myself not to move an outer muscle, my inner muscles were having none of it and dragged and pulled all along his length, which meant we were both left with a sticky passionate mess to contend with when it was all said and done. I thought it was funny; he didn’t seem nearly as amused as he dragged me into the shower to clean both of us off.

I tried to tell him it was no big deal, but I realized he wasn’t upset about the situation, he was mad at himself for getting so carried away that he forgot something as basic as protection. He was used to being the one running the games and I don’t think he liked it that I got to him just as effectively as he got to me. I had never been on birth control in my life. My sexual partners were too few and far between, and even with the guy I dated long term I had never been into the sex enough to really warrant it. There was no getting caught up in the moment with him. For Asa I would totally do it, but not without a guarantee that it was just the two of us from this point on, and I didn’t think he was ready for that conversation just yet.