His ease, his acceptance, his support, his belief in me, all of it combined, forcing me into a chokehold that had me reacting with a flightiness that wasn’t like me anymore, but which felt right.
I didn’t care that we were in the school parking lot. Didn’t care that at my back, there were parents in the community. Didn’t care that Cyan could maybe see us from the SUV. Didn’t care about anything other than feeling his lips on mine.
So I surged onto my tiptoes and kissed him.
And damn, if it didn’t feel as right now as it had done when he’d kissed me that first time when I was nineteen.
Twenty-Five
Storm
PRESENT
Welcome To My House - Nu Breed
I kept it chaste even though it almost killed me.
Well, it was either behave or have my dick drop off and though that particular organ was out of office until August, that didn’t mean I wanted it to fall off in the meantime.
The pain from the padlock as my erection made an appearance had me hissing, pulling back even though the pressure of her lips against mine was like goddamn heaven. Hers were parted as she stayed in place, her head tilted back, her eyes closed so that my breath brushed across her mouth.
"I want you so bad, honey," I rumbled, dropping my forehead against hers. "But I can’t. Not yet."
"Not yet?" she asked a little shakily.
"Not until August."
She stared at me dumbly. "August?"
I couldn’t blame her for looking confused. It wasn’t like I’d ever shared the recovery process with her. She wasn’t wrong about how closemouthed I could be. I really needed to start opening up to her more.
As I tugged her into moving across the lot, she let me until we were away from the doors so I knew she’d gathered I wanted some privacy.
Not bothering to prevaricate, I murmured, "I got hooked on sex because I switched addictions. I would jack off instead of getting high. That’s because you’re not supposed to have sex for the first twelve months of sobriety."
She blinked at me. "Okay."
One word, but she meant it. There wasn’t a connotation to the word that made me think she thought I was weird, nor was she adding a tone to it that was like she believed I was dumb.
No, it was an affirmative.
She’d wait.
"Will you—" I pulled back, sighed. "Never mind."
Her hand snagged on mine. "No. What is it? Tell me. Remember, I want to know the highs and lows."
I bowed my head. "I’d like to touch you."
"You think I’m going to argue about that?"
"Only if you don’t touch me. I’m on a hair-trigger, honey. It’ll be bittersweet fucking agony, but you’re my wife, and I want to satisfy you."
A soft sound escaped her and when she paused and burrowed into my arms, hugging me tight, I wasn’t sure if I was shocked or just relieved.
"If you think I’m going to turn down Asher orgasms, you’re nuts," she mumbled against my plaid shirt, making me snort.
Nice to know I was good at something.
I squeezed her. "Cyan’s watching."
"Let her watch."
Some tension escaped me.
She meant it.
She didn’t want to sneak around or anything. She was being genuine in her desire to get to know me, although that had apparently just escalated and she was fine with it so there was no way I wouldn’t be too.
"She’s going to ask about homeschooling."
She squeezed me. "Do you really think I can do it?"
Her voice was different this time. She knew she could, she knew I’d say she could, but she just needed the reassurance, which I was more than willing to give her.
Cy’s reaction in there had been horrendous. Moreover, what she’d gone through reminded me of the hell of my own time in school.
I’d had my brothers, but she was alone. That K was willing to homeschool was a weight off my fucking shoulders and no mistake.
"I do. And if it doesn’t work out, we’ll figure out how to make it happen, okay?" I hesitated. "What about school? Your school, I mean."
She released a breath. "I don’t think I want to be a nurse now."
"Maybe that’s how you feel right this second, but hell, college isn’t going anywhere and hospitals always need nurses. That option will always be open to you, babe."
"You’re too good to me," she rasped, squeezing me harder.
"I’ll always do what I can to make sure you have everything you need and want," I told her softly, unsure how she’d feel about my telling her that.
I felt like a cat on a hot tin roof, although, I wished it were fucking hot. My balls were about to turn blue for the regular reason of hypothermia out here.
"Thank you, Asher," she told me.
Cyan peppered us with questions when we got back into the car, not about us hugging in the middle of the damn parking lot, but about homeschooling.
That she didn’t want to have to return to Sacred Heart Junior High said everything, and the more she talked, the more excited she got, I knew it buoyed Keira.
She’d responded to the teacher’s criticisms, had acted on impulse, and was going to go through with it. I could see the resolve on her face increasing as Cyan practically bounced from topic to topic.
I let them talk, content to just listen, feeling like I’d been welcomed back inside the family even if I didn’t deserve it.
After driving through the community gates, I pulled up outside our house and slowly turned into the driveway. As I did, my cellphone buzzed at the same time as I heard straight pipes. Not just one set from Jump, but several sets.
Tension whipped up inside me, but I controlled it for my woman and kid’s sakes. Both of them seemed to sense it though, because Cy stopped chattering away and Keira watched me with a stillness that was unnatural for her.
"Bikers, incoming," Jump barked as I picked up the phone.
"I hear ‘em." To Keira, I commanded, "Get in the house, K. I need you and Cy to go into your bedroom." My jaw clenched as I shoved her car keys at her, having separated out the one she’d need. "I don’t have time to show it to you, but if you look, the back wall of the closet is false. There’s just a keyhole."
Her brow furrowed. "You built us a safe room and didn’t tell me?"
"I didn’t want to scare you." My mouth was tight as I dipped down and pressed a kiss to her lips. "Go and get in there. Please."
She studied me for a millisecond, a millisecond I couldn’t afford, then she demanded, "Cyan, move it."
Both of them jumped out of the car and dashed over to the house. As I watched them go, I called Digger. "You at home?"
There was a light on at the back of his property, but he could have been out on business.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Don’t you hear those straight pipes? We got company."
"I’m listening to music. I don’t hear shit. I’ll be out in two."
"Bring guns."
"Duh."
After that, I called the security at the gates, and when there was no answer, I had to figure that whoever was on their way had either knocked Paul out or had killed him.