One True Thing (28 page)

While he did that, I opened the rear passenger

door and unsnapped Alice’s buckles. She smiled

and raised her chubby arms, asking to be picked

up.

“Come here, love,” I said, lifting her from the

seat and propping her on my hip. I shut the door on

Rue’s whispering and Erik’s stammering, feeling a

little bad for them both. Maybe we’d pushed Erik

in making him come. Thinking about it then, I

wasn’t even sure my sister would have been able

to cope with a crowded place like Disneyland, and

Erik’s social anxiety issues were way more

extreme than hers.

“He okay?” Asher asked. He’d managed to

get Alice’s stroller unfolded and her diaper bag

tucked into the basket beneath it, but his forehead

was creased with worry.

“I hope so,” I said as I walked over to him,

bouncing Alice on my hip as I moved. I smiled

when she let out a happy squeal. “I told you

before, he doesn’t like crowds very much, and he

has panic attacks sometimes. He’s been so much

better lately we thought it might be okay, but….” I

trailed off, uncomfortable discussing Erik when he

was so close. I’d only given Asher the very basics

about Erik’s situation. It didn’t feel like his story

—
their
story—was mine to tell, and I figured if

Asher was around long enough, he’d learn about

Erik on his own anyway. “Let’s wait and see.”

I watched through the rear window as Rue

took Erik’s face in his hands and kissed him,

comforting him in a way I’d never been able to. I

looked away to give them some privacy as the kiss

kept going, not wanting to intrude on their moment.

I wasn’t sure how long it went on before we heard

Rue’s door open, and then both he and Erik were

standing beside us.

“All good?” I asked, speaking to them both.

Erik

nodded,

his

cheeks

pink

with

embarrassment. Rue just grinned and tossed his

hair. “Yep.” He reached out to take Alice from me

and strapped her into her stroller with quick,

efficient movements. “Let’s go.”

Rue stepped aside so that Erik could push

Alice’s stroller. Erik seemed a bit shaky, but I

knew him well enough to tell the panic had

subsided. We started walking, and Rue reached

over to rub a gentle hand on the small of Erik’s

back.

“Love you, babe.” He said it quietly, but I

heard it, and it made me smile. Even after all these

months, there were moments when it still surprised

me to see Rue so deeply in love.

Asher moved closer and grabbed my hand as

we walked behind them, and that made me smile

even wider. We’d had a bit of a scare, but the day

was definitely looking up.

BY THE time we stumbled out of the park eight

hours later, we were all exhausted but smiling—

except for Alice, who was knocked out cold in her

stroller. Erik had spent most of his time in

Fantasyland with her, taking her to see the Disney

princesses and the other attractions and watching

the afternoon parade. We’d kept in touch with him

through text messages and phone calls while Rue,

Asher, and I rode the Big Thunder Mountain

Railroad, got half-soaked on Splash Mountain

(where Rue blatantly flouted the “remain seated at

all times” rule and nearly fell out of the imitation

log), and then went over to Adventureland to check

out the Indiana Jones Adventure.

After that, we’d met up with Erik and Alice

for lunch and ice cream. Then he’d strolled off

with Alice toward Critter Country, and we’d

headed to New Orleans Square with Rue for the

Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which Rue declared

to be a “waste of time without Johnny Depp.”

At that point, he’d left us to go hang out with

his boyfriend and daughter, and Asher and I had

gone to The Haunted Mansion, which kind of

freaked me out, even if it
was
cheesy.

Luckily, with the high cost of tickets, we did

manage to squeeze in a couple more rides before

Rue called and informed me that Alice was cranky,

Erik needed some
Star Wars
therapy, and if
he
had

to take another five minutes of the annoyingly

cheerful theme park music, he was going to scream

and break something.

Asher had laughed when I passed on Rue’s

message and admitted he was getting tired himself,

and so there we were, back in the parking lot and

packing up for the ride home.

Once Rue, Erik, and Alice were settled, I

offered to drive, but Asher smiled and shook his

head. “It’s cool. You can sleep if you want.”

It was tempting to nap. Surprisingly, standing

around in lines and sitting on rides all day was

pretty damn exhausting, but I stayed awake, and we

chatted quietly while the others snoozed in the

back.

Almost the second we got home, Rue and Erik

disappeared—after making sure Alice was tucked

in and out for the night, of course. I heard Yoda’s

familiar, croaky voice coming from inside their

room a few minutes later and guessed that Erik had

started one of the movies from wherever he’d last

left off. It had been a stressful day for him, I knew.

I figured we probably wouldn’t see much of him

the next day.

Asher and I went into the kitchen to share a

pot of Earl Grey tea and munch on peanut butter

toast, just taking a few minutes to relax.

“You staying?” I asked. I’d assumed he was,

but we hadn’t talked about it.

He nodded, his hair gleaming golden brown

in the overhead light. “Yeah. I have a shoot at one,

but I’m free until then.”

“Good.” I finished my toast, swallowed the

last of my tea, and then got up to take his still half-

full cup from his hand and place it on the counter

behind him.

He blinked in surprise. “Hey, I was drinking

that.”

I leaned up to kiss him. “I’ll make you more

later.”

Asher’s lips quirked against mine. “And what

are we gonna do until then?”

I pulled back a little to meet his eyes and

gave him my wickedest smile. “Shower, I think.

And then… then I want you inside me.”

Asher groaned and reached down to cup my

ass, dragging me against him. “Shower after.”

I looped my arms around his neck and pulled

myself up with his help, linking my legs around his

waist. He carried me to my room like that,

stopping at one point to press me into the wall and

kiss me so hard and deep, my knees would have

given out if he hadn’t been holding me up.

He staggered into my bedroom, kicking the

door shut behind him, and crossed over to the bed,

where he just let himself fall back onto the

mattress, me on top, and started kissing me again.

Things got kind of frantic then. Impatient

hands pulled and tugged at clothing until we were

naked and writhing together. His mouth was on my

throat, sucking and biting at the delicate skin there.

One of my hands was buried in his hair, the other

gripping one of his firm ass cheeks as he groaned

and rocked our pelvises together.

“I like seeing you with my family,” I panted,

arching against him. “I love that you get along with

them. I want you to be part of us.”

He nipped at my neck and sucked some more.

“I want that too.”

“Ash….” I yanked his head up and brought

his mouth to mine. I could never get enough of his

kisses.
Never ever.
Warm tongues, nibbling teeth,

sharing each other’s taste, breath. I loved it. I

loved
him
.

I bowed my back, pressing my chest to his,

rubbing against hard muscle and heated, sweat-

slick skin. I knew he liked to run, and he went to

the gym several times a week, and God, did it

show. He was toned and perfect and he felt so

damn good, firm and strong and so very, very hot.

He stopped kissing me long enough to lean

over to my bedside table to grab the lube and a

couple of condoms. I heard the snick of the bottle

being opened, and then he was back, one hand

slipping between our bodies to palm my erection. I

sucked in a sharp breath at his touch, my cock

stiffening even further. He gave it a rough stroke,

then briefly cupped and rolled my balls before

moving down to the sensitive area just underneath.

One of his long, slick fingers traced over that

patch of skin, then dipped lower, to my entrance,

where it circled once and slid inside, past my rim,

pressing deep.

A shudder racked through me, and I bit my

lip, looking up into Asher’s face, seeing the dark

promise there.

“I’m gonna make you come,” he whispered.

“Make you feel so good. You want that? Want my

cock inside you?”

My eyelids fluttered shut, and I nodded

jerkily. “Y-yes. God,
yes
.”

He added another finger, stretching me slowly

and nudging my sweet spot, making me moan and

spread my legs in wanton invitation. I could only

imagine what I looked like right then, head back,

eyes shut, thighs open, rolling my hips so I could

ride his finger, his hand. It didn’t matter, though. It

was just us, him and me, no clothes between us, no

other eyes on us, no noises except for the ones that

we made.

I gripped his shoulders when he went in with

a third finger, a cry breaking free from my throat. I

tried to be quiet when we had sex. Wherever we

were, there were always roommates to consider.

But sometimes I just couldn’t help myself. It was

as if he pulled the sounds right out of me, from the

deepest, lowest part of my gut. There was no

containing them, no holding them back, not with his

hands and mouth on me, not with the way he made

me feel—fevered, aching, desperate. Like at any

second I might die, my heart might stop, because

the pleasure was so intense, the need so

overwhelming, and I couldn’t bear just how

incredibly amazing it all felt.

To say that no one else had ever compared

was bigger than the biggest of understatements. It

was a damn injustice that I didn’t have the words,

the vocabulary, hell, the capability of describing

just what exactly it did to me to have this man’s

body in mine, his lips on mine, his weight pressing

me down.

“In m-me,” I demanded, reaching between us

to fist his cock. It was thick, gorgeous, hard enough

that he had to be aching, and wet at the tip. He

trembled when I stroked it once, nice and slow.

“Now, Asher.
Now
.”

“Condom.” His voice was shaky, hoarse with

lust.

I released him to grab one of the foil

packages from the pillow beside me and ripped it

open with clumsy fingers. I was so beyond ready

to have him inside, I could barely think straight,

but I managed to roll the latex on him and then

slick it up with a generous handful of lube.

“You wanna ride me?” he asked.

I shook my head. Usually that was my favorite

position—I could control the speed, depth, angle

—but right then I wanted him to be the one in

charge. I wanted to be at his mercy, have him bend

me, twist me, turn me, use me however he wanted,

however he needed, until we were sore, drenched

in sweat, and breathing roughly. I wanted to feel

him for days.

“You on top,” I whispered, tugging at him.

“Please.”

Asher hooked one of my knees over his

elbow and reached between us. He positioned

himself and pushed forward, sliding inside me in

one smooth motion, all the way to the hilt.

“Oh, G-God.” I arched, pressing down, trying

to get him even deeper, not caring that it wasn’t

possible. “Fill me. Fill me up.”

Asher groaned, a low, gut-punched sound.

“So tight. You—” He broke off and grabbed my

other leg, hoisting both of them onto his shoulders

and then leaning over me until he could brace a

hand on either side of my head. I was pretty much

bent in half, and his cock was deeper than it had

ever been, and his eyes were locked on mine, and