One True Thing (24 page)

a big old klutz. You should have seen me after that

car accident I got into when I was seventeen.”

Asher’s arms came around me—slow,

cautious. He kept them loose until I pressed closer

and wrapped my own arms around his waist,

squeezing hard.

I buried my face in the front of his shirt and

shuddered when his grip finally tightened, both

from the bolt of pain in my ribs and the contact

itself. He’d been busy over the past few days. The

night we’d spent together at my house had been the

last time we’d really touched. I hadn’t realized

until then just how much I’d actually missed it. I

loved the feel of his hands on me. And that night…

God, it was probably the best of my life so far.

“Well, well,” sneered a familiar voice. “So

he was telling the truth then. You guys
are

together.”

Asher tensed against me, and I lifted my head.

Archer.
I’d known Asher had told him about us,

but I’d been lucky, I guess. In the last few weeks,

I’d managed to avoid running into him. During the

handful of nights I’d spent at their apartment,

Archer had either been out somewhere or locked

in his room, asleep and oblivious. I knew my luck

wouldn’t hold out forever, but I had hoped to delay

any possible confrontations for another couple of

weeks at least.

I glanced toward the kitchen and spotted

Archer standing in the doorway. His lip was

curled, the scorn on his face as obvious as it had

been in his voice. For a moment, it threw me off,

seeing that expression on someone who so closely

resembled my boyfriend in almost every way. I

never wanted to see that same look on Asher’s

face. The idea made my stomach churn.

“So, you wouldn’t give it up for me, but I bet

you bent right over for him, huh?” Archer said.

“You must like them uptight and repressed. If I’d

known, I wouldn’t have wasted more than a day on

you.”

Asher’s body went rigid. I could practically

feel the anger emanating from him. The only thing

that stopped me from pulling away was knowing it

wasn’t directed toward me. “Archer! I swear to

God, if you say anything like that to him again, I’ll

—”

“You’ll what?” Archer scoffed, eyebrows

arched. “You won’t do a damn thing, and you

know it.”

“Try me.” Asher’s voice was hard and cold.

Colder than I’d ever heard it.

Archer opened his mouth again, but then

wisely shut it without saying anything. There was

no way he could have missed the heavy warning in

Asher’s tone. Whatever Archer might have

previously thought of his brother, he didn’t push

him right then. He turned and disappeared into the

kitchen, and my shoulders slumped with relief.

“Come on,” Asher said, rubbing a hand along

my spine. “Let’s go grab some food. When we get

back, maybe I can take your mind off all these

bruises. Give you something else to think about.”

“I’d like that.” I smiled up at him. “Kiss

first?”

He grinned back, and that easily, the last of

his anger was gone. “Of course,” he said. Then he

leaned down and pressed his mouth to mine.

WE WENT out and grabbed a couple of

sandwiches from the deli down the street from

Asher’s apartment building. When we got back,

there was no sign of Archer. Even though I knew

I’d have to get used to him being around as long as

he and Asher shared a place, I couldn’t help but be

glad he was gone.

After we finished our food, Asher took my

hand and led me to his bedroom. He made good on

his promise to distract me from my injuries. He

stripped off my clothes, alarm flashing across his

face when he finally saw my bruised ribs. I kissed

him and assured him once again that I was fine.

That seemed to be enough to satisfy him.

He touched and kissed me all over, his

fingers so very gentle as they skimmed over my

sides, my chest, my stomach, hips, and thighs. The

feel of it almost brought me to tears. No one had

ever touched me like that, as if I was something to

be treasured, something priceless and valued.

He kissed and stroked and teased me until I’d

just about lost my mind, until I was almost writhing

on the mattress, my back arched, cock hard and

aching for his touch. Only then did he lean down

and take me into his mouth. He sucked and traced

his tongue around my ridge, lingered there, right at

the tip, while he jerked the rest of me with his

hand.

I buried my fingers in his hair and gave

myself up to it. “Oh, G-God.” I didn’t want him to

stop. Never wanted him to stop. But I knew it

wouldn’t be long before I was cresting, rushing

madly toward that moment when everything inside

me broke apart in a white-hot burst of pleasure,

scattered, swirled, and then merged back together,

nothing but heat and glory and absolute bliss.

When Asher looked up at me from his place

between my thighs, his brown eyes hooded and

dark with passion, that pretty mouth taking me in

deep, I couldn’t fight it for another second. I came,

my spine bowing, lips parted in a wail I’d

promised myself I would hold inside.

I couldn’t worry about whether or not Archer

had come back, if he might be listening at the door.

All I could focus on was the way Asher kept

sucking and touching me as I came, so long and so

hard I thought for a moment I must have blacked

out, because suddenly Asher was cradling me

against his chest, and I had no clear memory of him

moving.

He kissed my forehead and held me close. I

could feel his erection straining against my belly

through his loose athletic shorts, but when I

reached down to try to take him in hand, he

stopped me and shook his head.

“That was for you,” he whispered. “You

don’t have to do anything but let me hold you.”

“But I—”

“Later.” He kissed me again, a soft brush of

lips across my left temple. “I just wanted to give

you something.” I heard the smile in his voice as

he went on, “You can repay me another time. We

have forever, right?”

My breath caught at his words. I curled an

arm around his waist and nuzzled a little kiss onto

his chest, right above his heart. “Yeah. Forever,

Ash.”

Jesus. I was gone.
So
gone. It didn’t matter

how soon it was, or how long we’d known each

other. I recognized the feeling that washed over me

just then, that pure, fierce ache.

Love.

Asher

OBNOXIOUS alarm aside, it was nice waking up

with someone. I’d forgotten just how much I liked

it in the year or so since Charles and I had broken

up. Even though Dusty and I weren’t spending

every night together, nowhere near, I was still

already getting used to the warm weight of his

body up against me, his hand curled on my chest or

threaded through mine and resting on his stomach. I

nuzzled the back of his neck and hugged him

closer.

“Morning,” I whispered.

“Hey, there.” Dusty squeezed my fingers and

wriggled his ass up against me. “Ooh, it is a good

morning.”

“That right there is
not
going to get you to

work on time.” I thrust a little with my hips

anyway. He started it.

Dusty craned his neck to look at my alarm

clock and swore. “I do have to get up. My ten

o’clock had a cow about being rescheduled

yesterday. I can’t be late.”

“Awww. Poor baby.” I laughed, and he tried

to elbow me but ended up moaning and groaning.

“Ow, ow, ow. I almost forgot.”

“Your arms hurt from catching yourself?”

Dusty stretched slowly. It didn’t even occur

to him that when he did that, he rubbed up against

me, all catlike and sinuous. I had to hold in my

groan.

“Yeah. Trying to catch myself, anyway.

Damn, my arms are sore. I never even thought that

would be the worst part.”

I massaged at his shoulders, which I knew

would have the brunt of the pain. “I used to wipe

out on my skateboard all the time when I was

learning. If you catch yourself, it hurts bad the next

day.”

“And see? I managed to catch myself with my

arms and
then
my face.” Dusty turned and grinned

at me impudently.

“Good thing your face was there to catch

you.”

He pinched me playfully, then kissed me,

slow and deep. I cupped my hand on his face

gently, not wanting to hurt him. We were

breathless when we drew away from each other,

and painfully hard. “How long until you have to

leave?”

“Only about a half an hour.”

I was disappointed. Who needed work when

there could be hot sex and cuddling and—damn.

Work. I had a client coming in for some promo

shots in two hours. I was going to have to crawl

my way out of the sex haze and deal with reality as

well.

“Shower?” I asked, giving Dusty my most

innocent smile.

He grinned at me. “Okay.”

TWO hours later, I was going through the motions

of setting up for Shanna, one of my regulars who

wanted some updated shots, trying to pretend that I

wasn’t mooning over Dusty’s kisses, and his skin,

and that adorable little-kid laugh. It seemed

impossible that I could’ve fallen so hard and fast.

I’d always been the reserved type with

relationships, letting things happen at their own

pace, not jumping in either physically or with my

heart. My feelings for Dusty were like a freak

storm. They’d bowled me over with little warning

until I was spinning and falling and had lost all

grip on my normal life. I was pretty damn sure I

didn’t
want
my regular, boring life back. Best part

was, I didn’t think Dusty wanted his back either.

My photo session took longer than usual. I

found myself making jokes with Shanna, playing

around when I’d usually get right down to

business. It was hard not to smile, though. And she

noticed it.

“You’ve got a new man, don’t you?” she

asked when she was dressed and back out in my

main room.

I cringed. “Yeah. Am I that obvious?”

“It’s okay, babe. You just look happy. He

must be a good one.”

“Yeah, I think he might be
the
good one,

honestly. I’ve never fallen so fast.” Nor had I ever

made it a practice to gush about my relationships

with clients.

“Awwww. So cute. You’ll have to introduce

me sometime.”

And there it was. The big problem. I had to

talk to Dusty about it and soon, before we got any

more serious. I knew he didn’t like the porn, and

honestly I didn’t love it either, but my bills had to

be paid, and the few small mainstream jobs I’d

gotten just weren’t cutting it. Soon. We’d talk

soon. I gave Shanna a halfhearted answer, the fun

suddenly drained from my day. I spent the rest of

the morning and into the afternoon editing and

photoshopping her into plastic perfection, while

all the exuberance I felt that morning slowly died.

Dusty’s phone call a few hours later

surprised me.

“Hey. I didn’t think you were getting off until

seven today.”

“I’m not, but guess what, guess what, guess

what?”

I had to laugh at his enthusiasm. “What?”

“Lucia, you know that lady I was telling you

about with like seven designer Pomeranians?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, she asked if I wanted to use her beach

cabin for the weekend sometime. I guess it’s down

the coast a little while in this super cute town, and

there’s a music festival in a couple of weeks. You

wanna go? She said she’s not going to be out there

much this year because of her husband’s work

schedule.”

“Seriously?” A weekend away with Dusty

sounded amazing. At my apartment there was the

looming Archer problem, and at his place we

would always be colliding with Rue and Erik. I

really liked them, but it would be nice to have