Before my mind can drift to Drew and his naked body, I focus on my girl. I squirt some toothpaste on my brush and then grip her now clean chin.
“Open up, MiMi. I need to wash that expensive mistake out of your mouth.”
She opens her big brown eyes and parts her lips. Jesus. I love this girl. I want her and need her. I can’t believe I ever doubted it.
I brush her teeth for her, enjoying immensely how cute she is foaming at the mouth. Once I’ve scrubbed her clean, I lead her back under the spray. As she rinses, I drop the toothbrush on a shelf and grab the bar of soap. My hands are eager to clean her, but she’s drunk and I don’t want her to be pissed later. Instead of touching her like I want, I hand her the bar of soap.
Sloppily she cleans her body while I shampoo her hair. My dick is hard, much to my delight, as I wash the puke out of her hair. She turns to face me, the soap slipping from her grip and hitting the floor with a thud.
“Ashton,” she whimpers. “Why am I not enough?”
I rinse the shampoo out and then grip her hair, tilting her face up to look at me. My lips press to her forehead, then her nose, and finally her lips.
“Mia,” I rumble. “You’re more than enough. You’re too much. I don’t deserve one sliver of you, but I need you all the same.”
Her lips part and I kiss her. Softly. Gentle at first. And then my tongue is greedily lashing against hers. She slides her soapy palms up my chest to my shoulders, her body pressing against my front. Her tits are firm and an odd sensation pushed against me, but one I like. My dick is stone against her stomach.
The urge to grip her ass and lift her is strong.
I could fuck her right now.
I’m hard. I could do it. I know I could.
But the first time I attempt this with Mia, it needs to be once we’ve cleared the air between us. She’s drunk and I would die if she regretted this in the morning.
Don’t be destructive, Ashton.
Think of your girl, not your dick for once.
“Let’s get you dried off and into bed, baby. You need sleep,” I murmur against her lips. “In the morning we can talk.”
She nods. “Thank you for rescuing me.”
“I’ll always rescue you, Mia.”
Her groan wakes me up. The room is still dark, but dawn is creeping into my bedroom. I roll over onto my side, staring at her pretty face that’s barely visible in the dim light. A dark, still-damp tendril of hair is draped across her face. I gently brush it away.
“Morning,” she murmurs, her eyes opening just a bit. “Is this a dream?”
“Hmm,” I tease. “I’d call it more of a fantasy. Some hot swimmer rescues you from a pedophile bartender and wicked sorority sister and bathes you after you showered yourself in two-thousand-dollar gin. Are you into it?”
She scrunches her face. “Yuck. That’s more like a nightmare.”
“Which part?” I murmur, dragging my thumb along her jaw.
“Maybe not the naked shower part with the hot swimmer.” Her smile undoes me. “Definitely the barf part, though. Yuck. You hate puke.”
“But I love you,” I tell her, no longer joking. My voice drips with conviction. “You know that, right?”
Her head nods as tears well in her eyes.
“Mia,” I murmur. “I’m so fucking sorry. For everything. I’ve acted like a total asshole and it’s unforgivable. I swear, I can be better than this. For you. You have to let me try, because if you don’t, what the fuck am I even living this life for?”
She blinks hard, sending tears skating down her temples. “Don’t talk like that.”
“It’s true,” I say with a sigh. “My life is a fucking mess. My parents hate me and I have no friends because I’m a difficult piece of shit. Somehow, I got you. Like the universe forgot it was supposed to punish me, but tossed me a reward instead. And, as you know, I’m spoiled and wanted what it gave me. I wanted you.”
Her sob guts me. Tears a hole inside my chest, stealing not just a part of my soul, but all of it. I want to make it better. I want to heal her. I want to make her smile and laugh and be fucking happy.
I want her.
My lips press to hers for a chaste kiss and she whimpers.
“Ashton…”
“Mia, listen,” I whisper against her lips. “I wanted you as my friend, so I thought. I wanted your light brightening my dark world. I just wanted you. But then you kissed me and I realized I wanted you in more ways I didn’t realize I could have you. I’m greedy as fuck, baby. It’s been a mental adjustment, but I’m getting there. I’ve made some terrible mistakes concerning you, but I will always try to undo them or get better when it comes to you. You have to believe me. I’d never hurt you on purpose.”
This time, when I kiss her, her fingers thread into my hair, deepening our kiss. I want to throw out a morning breath joke, but now’s not the time to be playful. If I’m willing to swim through puke for her, I’ll kiss her when we both need to brush our teeth, because when it’s the one you love, you’ll do whatever it fucking takes to have time with them.
“I like you in my clothes,” I murmur, my hand skating up under her shirt to feel the tit I wanted to touch last night. “I think I like you out of them better, though.”
Her laugh is pure gold—honest and sweet. “Do you use that pickup line a lot? Because even though it’s corny as hell, it’s oddly magical.”
“Funny,” I tease as I pinch her nipple, “no one’s ever called my dick oddly magical before.”
“I was talking about you, not your dick.”
I nip at her bottom lip, loving the gasp that escapes her when I pull at her nipple. “Know what else is oddly magical about me?”
“What?”
“My mouth.”
Her eyebrow arches up. “Ashton, what are we doing?”
I pull away from her, sitting up on my knees. My dick is hard and straining against my boxers. Her eyes slide over my bare chest, lingering on my nipple ring.
“We’re doing what feels right, Mia. No labels, just us.”
Her eyes widen when I pull my sweats down her sexy thighs, baring her to me. My heart rate speeds up as she shakily tugs off my borrowed T-shirt.
Naked.
Mia is naked and in my bed.
“I thought…” I choke out, frowning. “I thought I’d fail and you’d be disgusted with me.”
Her brows furl. “You have to put yourself out there. You have to try.”
“With you, I realized I don’t have to try. It just comes naturally,” I admit. “I didn’t know if I could do this or want to be with you this way, but now I can tell you with absolute certainty, I want and need to be with you. I love you, Mia, and if you let me, I want to show you with my body just how much.”
“I’m a virgin,” she croaks out. “I don’t exactly have experience. I want to be good for you. The best. What if I’m not enough?”
I prowl over her, pressing kisses up her soft stomach to her breasts. They jiggle as she breathes heavily. I nip one of her breasts, delighting in the firmness of it, before tonguing her nipple. Sucking hard on the peak, I revel in the surprised yelp that escapes her.