“Fuck … Ava, baby …” he drawls through gritted teeth. My entire body begins to tremble and it takes only one … two … three more thrusts until everything around me explodes, whimpering in unintelligible murmurs of how much I love him, over and over again. With my mouth clamped on his shoulder, sucking the skin raw, I feel his body tense above mine and with one final slam he comes deep inside of me, marking me in a way only he can—bare with nothing between us.
His tiresome body falls on top of mine, heaving with deep breaths. His beautiful greens pierce into mine and I suddenly have to remind myself of how to breathe. With no intent of pulling out of my warmth, his fingers trace along the edge of my face causing chills to erupt against every surface of my naked skin. His index finger caresses over my bottom lip and with the alcohol still coursing through my veins, the devil in me wants to take his finger and suck it … so that’s exactly what I do. My tongue swirls against his sexy finger and the grunt I hear at the back of his throat is a clear indication he likes it. His finger gradually falls from my lips and he captures them with his, pressing a sensual kiss along my smiling mouth. Pulling away, he brushes a piece of stray hair away from my glistening forehead while looking down at me with pure adoration.
“I love you, Ava.” It takes only these three words and I’m left to count my lucky stars that I have him here in my life. He saved me from a life of constant darkness, and every time I hear the words ‘I love you’ is another step further into the light, while the darkness continues to plough into the boundless pit of non-existent nothingness; exactly where it belongs.
Through my fatigue, I look into the endless pretty hues of his green eyes and dreamily smile as I say, “I love you, too.”
My eyes flutter closed as exhaustion swoops over me and I vaguely feel Ashton pulling out of me, then the material of my bra sliding from my body before the warmth of Ashton’s body envelops me. And the last thing I think just before sleep takes me under is how incredible the air conditioning feels as it brushes along my naked skin with blasts of cool air, a perfect contrast from the heat I feel from Ashton.
It means I get to sleep in the arms of the man I love without boiling to death in the midst of the Dallas heat.
I subconsciously giggle to myself when the image of Edward Cullen from Twilight suddenly pops up in my head, and for a brief moment I wish Ashton were a vampire, one like Edward Cullen who is cold to the touch … so he could be my own personal air conditioning. But, only in Texas. Back in Seattle I’d prefer Ashton to run hot like Jacob Black so he could wrap his arms around me and keep me warm.
Yep.
I’m still drunk.
I feel myself rouse from my sleep—a hot and sweaty sleep—and I groan as my flickering eyes struggle to adapt to the bright morning sunshine beaming through the curtains. A soft sigh escapes my lips as I stretch my limbs, limbs that feel thoroughly used from the past twenty-four hours of sex and dancing.
A panic suddenly seizes through me when I realize I haven’t been woken up by the alarm clock that is my one year old—who wakes up at six-thirty every morning without fail.
I sit up, my eyes wide as I take in any possible threats or reasons why Lily-Mai hasn’t woken me up yet. Then as my eyes begin to take in my surroundings and the sticky heat begins to register, I quickly remember that we’re in Texas for Ashton’s brother’s wedding, and that Lily is in Los Angeles at Disneyland with her dad and Addison. She’s safe. Panic aborted.
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding and flop back onto the bed, allowing my eyes to relax for a brief moment. I let out a small laugh as I feel my racing heart beginning to return to normal.
My eyes soon fly back open again when I become aware of just how fucking hot it is in here. It’s stifling, and judging by the sweat I feel pooling at the centre of my back, it has to be about ninety degrees in here. Who turned off the air conditioning?
I turn to Ashton only to feel a slight stab of disappointment when I see he isn’t lying beside me. But moments later—before I can even form a frown—he walks in, in only a pair of basketball shorts, holding a glass of orange juice.
“Morning, baby.” He greets me with his usual southern drawl and I smile all dream-like as I take in the incredible deep lines of his smooth torso. My eyes continue down until they meet his shorts that are hung deliciously low on his hips, just below the sexy v-line …
“Enjoying the view?”
My eyes flicker up to his amused ones and I nod my head with a sleepy smile, stretching my body along the sheets. “I love the view.”
“Me too,” he says with a cheeky grin as his eyes trace over every naked inch of my skin, chills erupting along my back as he does so.
Eighteen months ago, after everything I went through; the kidnapping, the rape and the depression, I would have shied away from his wanting eyes and covered myself up immediately, not wanting to bare all to the man I loved everything I thought was tainted. It took me a long time to push past the insecurities of the things my brother did to me, but eventually, after grueling work with therapists and months of battling with my inner demons, I finally found the strength to love my body again. And from that moment on I was able to look at myself in a mirror without being ashamed of my body. It was freeing, both emotionally and physically. In turn, finding my way was the key to finding my way back to Ashton. I was lost for a while but in the end it was Ashton who saved me.
I sit up as he passes me a freshly poured glass of orange juice and two painkillers. “Take these,” he demands before getting back into bed.
I do as he says—even though I’m surprisingly fresh from the amount of alcohol I consumed last night—and I drink the orange juice, quenching my thirst from the dire heat.
“It’s so fricking hot in here, why did you turn the air conditioning off?” I say, feeling another bead of sweat roll down my spine as I drain off my last drop of juice.
“I woke in the night and you were shivering, so I switched it off. I’ll switch it back on.” He takes hold of the remote and switches the portable air conditioning back on, allowing the cool air to slowly begin circulating around the room before he gets back into bed, lying on his back with his head tilted towards me. I gently place the glass onto the bedside table before lying back in bed, unable to take my eyes away from Ashton. It’s impossible not to, he’s just incredibly perfect.
“How do you feel?” he softly asks, bringing my hand into his and pressing his lips gently to my knuckles.
“I feel good. I stopped drinking pretty early on. I don’t know about your mom though. She was pretty worse for wear when we came home last night. We left her passed out on the sofa with a trashcan beside her just in case she hurled. She was so drunk,” I chuckle, remembering the mischief she kept finding herself in. One particular memory I have includes her getting up on the tables with one of Mia’s cousins and dancing to ‘Blurred Lines’ by Robin Thicke. She was wild, that’s for sure.
“She seems okay this morning. She’s downstairs making breakfast.”
My eyes narrow on Ashton, shocked. “Are you serious? She drank enough to float a battleship last night! How is she even walking, let alone making breakfast?”
His laugh fills the room. “What can I say? She’s a college chick at heart.”
“You can say that again. You don’t even want to know the things she did last night.”
“Knowing my mother, I can imagine exactly what she got up to … and as her son, I beg you to never tell me,” he almost pleads with a horrified glare, and I bury my head into his neck with a high-pitched giggle. After a few moments of silence, I position myself on my side with my head resting against his shoulder, his fingertips working through the strands of my hair, causing delightful shivers to tingle across my naked skin.