After switching the light on, he turned fully towards her. Her breath hitched when she caught a glimpse of his profile. The chiseled cheekbone, the way his eye met his forehead, and the lushness of his lower lip enticed her. He slipped his snow hat off and rumpled his messed-up hair, letting the stray strands fall onto his forehead. Daisy blinked, reminding herself she was really there, alone with Asher. This time, it was all real. No more fantasies. No more empty hopes. He was right here with her. Better still, he wanted to be with her. Her days of trying to convince him were over. After constantly begging him to see her as a woman, he finally did.
Now she was glad nothing happened last summer. After speaking to him regularly and openly, their conversation became the only aphrodisiac they required. Now seeing each other and being together again, the chemistry that never stopped sizzling, despite the distance, leapt into a healthy flame. Thankfully, it did not sputter out flat, which would have ended a really great friendship. Perhaps the distance was the catalyst. Now it seemed like all of it was a long game of tantalizing foreplay. They found so much in common with each other they never realized before despite being raised only a few miles apart.
Rising up fully to face him, her heart hammered. A burning blush of desire mixed with insecurity and embarrassment swamped her. The lovely, timid, excited feeling was totally new to her, something that sex never aroused in her before. No man but Asher could make her feel so giddy, unsure, yet confident and super excited. Asher was simply staring at her, but her heart pounded, her blood boiled, and her head spun with passion. He stepped closer and she tilted her head back to hold their deep, hot eye-lock. It was so sexy. All his previous doubts seemed to disappear at once, and Asher was fully in control. In command. Best of all, he was finally into her.
It was better than hot; sweltering, blistering, and fiery could not describe how hot Daisy felt. He stepped forward, holding his eyes tightly on hers. As he closed the distance, he undid his parka zipper and slid it down.
He slid the parka off his wide, commanding shoulders and let it fall to the floor. Staring in fascination at his hairy knuckles and the utter manliness of his hands, Daisy couldn’t help comparing them to her soft, small ones with long, painted nails. Asher’s nails were stout and chipped, and his hands calloused and weathered. Oh, the delicious contrast. He stepped right up to her, slipping his left hand on her neck and placing his thumb on the bottom of her chin. Then he cradled the base of her scalp. His fingers pressed the soft, tender skin beneath her hairline and his thumb stroked her jaw slowly.
Close up and so personal. Daisy blinked to see him next to her, so sure, and so swift. He wasn’t messing around anymore. This was really happening. Her heart and head were in complete alignment and her breath escalated as she eagerly waited for it.
She fought the urge to make a fist with her hand, throwing it over her head and yelling, yes! Instead, she took off her gigantic, Gore-Tex-lined gloves so she could feel his skin. His gaze was riveted on her. No smiles. Just an intense look. His other hand undid her parka zipper and he slid it down gradually. The sides gaped open and the look in his eyes suggested he was stripping off sexy lingerie, not a parka. Strangely enough, it was one of the most sensuous moments of her life. Perhaps it was due to all the hope, anticipation and excitement his movements stirred inside her. It seemed she wanted him for so long, the moment was both overwhelming and unbelievable. More like a dream than reality. She all but pinched herself to prove it was real.
The overly warm room banished all the cold, and her exposed skin was heating quickly. She let her coat fall like a naughty lace robe to her feet. She stifled a giggle when she looked at the ridiculous amount of clothes she still wore. Nothing could make her laugh now, not when the man she always wanted was looking at her so longingly. She imagined herself a butterfly, emerging from a chrysalis as the most beautiful sight he ever witnessed. Yeah, no laughing matter. There was too much at stake emotionally for her in that moment.
Her relief came out in a long sigh. She was overwhelmed by how much she wanted to do this. With him. And now he wanted her just as much as she did him. Not just for sex but because he liked her company.
No, they both took the time needed to build up all their feelings and interest. Now they reached the pinnacle of all that effort.
“Nervous? Any doubts?” he asked. His tone was low, and his thumb brushed over her skin lightly. Their skin-to-skin contact was irresistible, and she almost shuddered with desire.
“No. Never. Why do you ask?”
“You sighed.”
“With bliss.” She didn’t look away. She didn’t rephrase it or try to water down the hope and passion he had to see shining from her eyes. For once in her life, she was all in. All there. She was open and honest so he could fully understand the depths of what she felt towards him and doing this. She had no doubts or misgivings. Wherever this path led her was fine. It was so long in coming that she could really build it up. Reality was so much better than the fantasy. Not like most childhood crushes. “And disbelief that this is happening. That I’m here. That you’re here. Looking at me. Wanting me.” She sucked in a breath and asked him, “Right?” The hesitancy took her back to last summer. And the years she spent without any reciprocation from him.
He shut his eyes for a brief moment and then his eyelids flipped open. “Yes.”
She smiled. The solidity and strength in his voice meant all she wanted it to mean. Holding her gaze, he nodded, and she responded in kind, surprising him when she suddenly flung her arms around his neck. She had to stand on tiptoe, but she was eager to hold him. Fully placing her body right next to his, joy and hope were nearly bursting from her. “I’m so happy you finally want me like this.”
He laughed softly in her ear, stepping back and sliding his hands to her waist as he squeezed her closer to him. “It’s more surprising to me than to you, I think.”
“You just needed more time to realize what I always knew.”
“Know-it-all,” he teased her. He used a lovely, kind, wonderful tone that buckled her knees and nearly made her heart burst.
“Youngest of four. So, I got spoiled. Know-it-all. Tattletale. All the classic traits of the littlest sister.”
“I was almost an only child. Self-centered. Unable to share. I got my way all the time.” He was nuzzling his face in her hair. She settled hers against his chest. Sighing and holding him. She was so glad to be able to touch him in such a casual way. A sexy way. Whatever she wanted was finally in sight. Or at least, happening soon. They would be a couple.
“We’re destined to failure, if you go by birth order.”
“Clearly.” His breath was like a warm laugh on the shell of her ear. Everything he did was warm and fuzzy, fun and hot, and sensual, forming goosebumps of anticipation on her skin. The first time she ever had those sensations with a man.
A ripple of doubts scurried down her spine. Unable to stop herself, or maybe because she was luxuriating in their foundation as old acquaintances and now friends, she leaned back and stared up at him. “You’re not going to get weird, are you? Like you did before? We can be a couple. Boyfriend and girlfriend. We are friends first and always. I can’t do this if not… I can’t handle you doing that and not being friends anymore with me.”
“Don’t be an asshole afterwards?”