Chapter 5

Ash opened the door to his apartment and waited for Violet to follow him inside. She didn’t hesitate this time. Maybe in the morning, in the light of day, she’d regret what she was about to do. Maybe months, years, decades from now, she’d look back and say, “I should’ve stayed home. I should’ve done the safe thing.”

She had a feeling the only regret she would have was if she didn’t embrace this chance to be with a man like Ash.

“Okay?” Ash asked as he shut the door behind her. “You seem far away.”

“I’m just amazed at how clean your apartment is for a single guy.”

He snorted. “Haven’t I told you? I’m house-trained and everything.”

“And you own a vacuum? My hero.”

When he growled and started tickling her, she gasped between laughter. Only moments later, his hands held her still at her waist, his gaze no longer playful. It was intense, heated.

Licking her lips, she waited.

“I want you in my bed,” he said, and his words were like a seductive spell surrounding her.

“I want that, too.”

He took her hand and led her to the bedroom in the back of the apartment. He turned on a dim lamp in the corner, illuminating a bed covered in a navy-blue bedspread, books scattered on the bedside table. The room was clean, but rather bare, like Ash had only moved in recently.

The room’s decor faded away when Ash dipped a finger into her cleavage, tugging on her blouse. “I want you naked.”

She blushed, but only a little. She wanted that too. She wanted to feel him pressed against her, his warmth and his strength covering her. It was like a fever in her blood, this overwhelming want.

Violet hadn’t had sex in years, and she’d had a fleeting fear that she’d forgotten how to do it. To her immense gratitude, she realized it was rather like riding a bike: you never really forgot.

She began to unbutton her blouse, and Ash’s eyes darkened. She pushed the blouse off her arms, absurdly glad she’d worn the sexier bra and panties this evening. Normally she wore boring white; this lingerie set had been collecting dust in the back of her drawer for years.

“You’re gorgeous.” Ash touched her collarbone before cupping one of her breasts. He thumbed her nipple through the lace.

Although she wanted him to touch her everywhere, she didn’t want this to be all about her. Pushing his hands away with a smile, she shook her head. “Your turn. I want to see you too.”

He flashed her a grin. “Impatient?” Ash pulled his shirt over his head without any protest, revealing his toned abdomen.

Violet let out a sigh of appreciation. Trailing her hand from his sternum to his belly button, she marveled at how hot his skin was and how his muscles flexed and bulged with each breath he took. His ribs expanded as she brushed the tips of her finger near the bone of his pelvis. She could see the bulge in his jeans, and the knowledge that this man wanted her only emboldened her further.

Violet had always enjoyed sex. William had been a kind lover, although he’d never been particularly adventurous. They had tended to have sex at the same time on the same days, unless William had to go on a work trip. Then they’d move the sex to when he’d returned.

Violet realized now how very boring that had been. She whispered a silent apology to William for the thought, but it was true. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this excited, like she could taste the anticipation on her tongue. Was it just the novelty of this situation? Or was it something about Ash himself?

She rubbed at a freckle on his hip before beginning to unbuckle his belt. “I want to see all of you,” she whispered.

A slight flush had darkened his cheekbones. “I’m not going to stop you.”

Violet’s hands shook a little as she dipped her hand inside his boxers and cupped his length. Engorged already, his cock was bigger than she’d thought, and her heart tripped a little when she saw him completely.

He was gorgeous. She’d never thought that word in regard to a man, but it was true. Ash’s breaths came faster as she squeezed his cock, his eyes hooded. She stroked him in slow movements, loving how she could torment a man like him with just a simple touch.

“A little firmer—yes, like that.” He grunted when she rubbed the tip of his cock as a pearl of fluid emerged. “Shit, I haven’t had a hand job like this in years.”

She laughed. “I haven’t given one in years, either.”

“Clearly you’re a master at it.”

She felt clumsy and out of practice, but that didn’t stop her from stroking him, faster and faster. When he blew out a long breath, a moment later his body tensed and he came, his seed splashing onto her hand.

“Damn. I should’ve had you stop, but I didn’t want you to.” He shook his head and then kissed her, and she moaned. “I’ll be right back,” he said as he broke the kiss and stepped away.

He soon returned with a washcloth. After she’d cleaned up, she found herself being pushed toward the bed. She landed with a bounce as Ash kneeled in front of her.

“We’re not done?” Violet joked as Ash took off her boots.

“Do you want to be done?” He quirked an eyebrow.

“Hell, no.” She unbuttoned her jeans and a shiver went through her at Ash’s chuckle.

Soon, she was in just her panties and bra, sitting at the edge of the bed with Ash between her legs. Running her fingers through his hair, she tipped his head back and kissed him.

He kissed like he had all the time in the world, and Violet realized that she’d missed kissing a man more than she’d ever thought possible. She missed the taste, the way stubble rubbed at her chin. She’d just missed being with someone else.

“I didn’t know guys liked to kiss like you do,” she admitted.

“Men don’t understand how important kissing can be. Besides, I like my women desperate for me by the time I slide inside them.” He said the erotic words as he kissed and licked her throat before burying his face between her breasts. “If the woman isn’t into it, it’s not going to be good for me, either.”

“How noble of you.” Her words were breathy as Ash reached inside the cup of her bra and thumbed her nipple.

Memories of William tried to intrude right then, like her mind wanted to remind her that she was having sex with someone other than the love of her life. Would William be happy for her, doing something so out of character as sleeping with a man she’d just met? She didn’t know. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know.

“How do you like it, Violet? Do you like it slow and steady until you come, or do you like it hard and fast until you’re clawing your lover’s arms and screaming his name?”

She inhaled. “I don’t know. I mean, both sound lovely.”

“Hmm, if that’s the case...”

Ash reached behind her and unhooked her bra, and she helped him remove it. Her breasts ached, her nipples hardened nubs already, and when Ash palmed one breast, she shuddered.

She didn’t have breasts of a twenty-year-old girl: she knew that very well. They were average-sized, neither so big as to get in the way nor so small as to force her to wear push-up bras. But as Ash gazed at her breasts, she felt like they were the most gorgeous set in existence.

“It’s a shame you have to cover these beauties up.” He licked the underside of one breast.

“I think I might get arrested if I didn’t.”

“Still. Tits this beautiful should be worshiped.”

Violet had never in her life referred to her breasts in that way, but the vulgarity only sent a frisson of heat through her. Ash kissed and sucked her breasts and watched her every reaction, seeming to revel in each moan that emerged from her throat.

“I like slow and steady,” she blurted. She whimpered when he nipped at the sensitive skin below her breasts. “Very slow and steady.”

“Good thing we have all night. And all morning, if need be. I don’t have to go into work until eleven.”

“What a nice boss you have.”

He snorted. “It helps that he has a toddler who likes to keep him and his wife up at night when she’s teething, so he comes in later than me sometimes.”

He kissed down her belly and hooked his fingers under the waistband of her panties before pulling them off completely. Now totally nude, Violet had to restrain herself from throwing a blanket over herself. She wasn’t a prude, by any means, but she’d never had a man look at her so avidly when she had not a stitch of clothing on.

She’d put on some weight in the last year, her belly curving and hips flaring out more than when she was younger. She hadn’t thought about waxing or shaving and she wondered if Ash would say something, and embarrassment flooded her when he gently parted her legs.

But she shouldn’t have worried. His nostrils flared, his gaze growing darker, and when she touched the back of his neck, he shuddered, a full body shiver. He was hard again, his cock ruddy and long against his toned stomach.

Ash hooked his arms under her knees and placed her feet on his shoulders. Now completely open to him, she lay on the bed and closed her eyes; it was almost too much to feel and see everything going on.

She felt Ash’s warm breath on the insides of her thighs, and then his mouth was on her sex. She gasped as his tongue traced her folds, the heat blooming inside her belly with every long, leisurely lick. She quivered and had to grab handfuls of the bedspread to hold on.

Ash groaned and muttered, his fingers digging into her thighs as he held her captive. Violet’s eyes flew open when he mouthed her clit, and as he built and built her own pleasure, she felt like she wouldn’t survive the impact. How could she? She’d never experienced such pure ecstasy, her every nerve singing with it.

He tongued her clit in relentless strokes, and in one last burst of pleasure, she came so hard that her quivering shook the bed. Ash kissed the insides of her thighs, his stubble a sharp contrast to the softness of his lips.

“Goddamn, Violet,” he said as he stood up and undressed completely, “you’re amazing. You know that, right?”

“I think my bones have melted.”

He laughed. “That’s a good sign.” Going to the bedside table, he got out a condom and put it on before returning to the bed. He lay on his side, Violet having rolled to face him. She hitched her leg over his hip, opening herself once more to him. When his cock pressed against her still-sensitive center, they both groaned at the same time.

“I need to be inside you. You’re killing me,” he said.

She nodded, and then he was pushing inside her, the feeling glorious and almost too much. He was big, and she had to adjust to his size. But Ash went slow, watching her face.

Violet started undulating, needing that friction. She’d never been one to orgasm a second time in bed, but already, she could feel another one building. Ash thrust into her and began to move in a rhythm that made her wild. Her belly clenched, her breasts ached, and when Ash kissed her, she could only dig her nails into his arms and hang on.

He pounded into her. So much for slow and steady, she thought wildly. The sounds of their bodies slapping, the smell of sex and salt, the way Ash muttered her name under his breath like a prayer—everything coalesced and her second orgasm hit her with all of the subtlety of a freight train. She bit her lip to keep from screaming, her entire body shuddering.

“There you go, baby. God, you’re amazing.” Ash thrust a couple more times before she felt him coming, too, his cock pulsating inside her.

Violet was so boneless, so sated, that she barely remembered Ash disposing of the condom and turning off the light. Before she knew it, she succumbed to sleep and didn’t stir until morning.

Ash awoke to the sound of a door closing. Sitting up with a lurch, it took him only a second to remember: Violet. Meeting her at the Fainting Goat, the playground. The sex. Oh Christ, the sex. The best sex of his life and instead of seeing her lying sleeping next to him the following morning, he saw nothing but a bracelet sitting on the pillow where she should’ve been lying.

Had a woman just up and left him without saying goodbye after sleeping with him? That was a first. Usually he was the one tiptoeing out of a woman’s house so as to avoid any awkward morning conversations.

He rubbed his eyes and groaned, glancing at the clock. He still had time to get into work on time. The last thing he needed was Trent grilling him about being late after Bea’s birthday party last night. Most likely everyone had noticed that Ash had abandoned the party in favor of a beautiful woman.

He picked up the bracelet on the pillow, shaking his head a little. It was a simple bracelet made of twine and small orange-and-black-striped stones. There was a small handwritten note under the bracelet that read: Tiger’s eye for good luck and focus. —Violet.

Good luck and focus? Was that what she’d gotten out of all of this? And had she made this bracelet while he’d been sleeping or had she already had it on hand? He could almost see her making the damn thing as he snored away, placing it on her pillow and sneaking out like a thief in the night. Or in this case, a thief in the morning.

As Ash got ready for work, he couldn’t shake the feeling of being...used? He didn’t know what word he was looking for. Maybe he had expected the usual female kind of reaction from Violet: cuddling in the morning, suggestions of seeing each other again. That glassy-eyed look of infatuation that many women wore after they’d slept with Ash. It wasn’t love: just the aftermath of good sex with a side of infatuation.

Yet Violet hadn’t even said goodbye. Did that mean she hadn’t enjoyed the sex? He shook his head. He knew she had: he’d felt her orgasm—twice, he thought with pride. She’d enjoyed it just as much as he had.

He tried to put the bracelet on before he left for work before realizing that it was too small. He smiled sadly as he turned it in the light to see how the beads shone.

Tiger’s eye for good luck and focus. Well, he’d have a hell of a time focusing on anything today after last night. And for some reason, that thought unsettled him more than anything else.