SINFUL LUST

SINFUL LUST

Sinful Series Book #2

SANJANA NIDHI

Copyright

Copyright © 2021 Sinful Lust by Sanjana Nidhi.

All Rights Reserved.

The copy is intended for the original purchaser of this book ONLY. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from the authors. Please do not participate in or encourage the piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Dedication

To all the readers who loved our debut novella, Sinful Liaisons, and wanted Asher and Emily’s story, this one’s for you…

Authors’ Note

As Asher Will is English, the vocabulary, grammar, and spellings variants might appear different in his POV.

Example: US – Toward ; UK – Towards.

US – Realize; UK – Realise.

Hope you enjoy this journey. Happy Reading!

Blurb

Emily

Do you believe in hate at first sight?

Well, I certainly didn’t.

Until him.

After the first disastrous meeting, I knew I wouldn’t go near a person who’s rude, arrogant, and an alleged manwhore ever again.

But the universe had other plans for me. You see, the Englishman with a cocky smirk and an infuriatingly sexy accent I had the displeasure in meeting with? He also happens to be my boss.

Asher

I was minding my own business when a certain… tiny someone came into my life and I fell.

Literally. Fell on the ground with her on top of me.

The little firecracker gave me a piece of her mind and all I wanted to do was piss her off one more time. Because I can.

So I did just that.

Again and bloody again.

Prologue

Three months earlier

Asher

“Is she there yet?” Tatum asks in a vulnerable voice. Never in my life did I imagine he’d be so hung up over a woman.

“No, mate. I told you she’s not here the last two times you called. Stop wandering around the block.”

“I couldn’t stay still.” He murmurs.

With a sigh, I ask, “Okay where are you?”

“I am standing near a public library…”

I rake my fingers through my hair in frustration. Tatum is acting so unlike him and it’s getting on my nerves.

“Tatum, I want you to come back. Now.”

“What if she─”

“Quit with your what-ifs.” Inhaling a deep breath, I gentle my tone. “Wherever Serah is, she would eventually return to her apartment, right?”

“I think so…” he says reluctantly. As much as I have got to know him over the years of our friendship, I have a feeling he won’t stop until he has searched every bloody street for his Serah.

Long story short, my best friend and business partner─Tatum Blackstone let the love of his life walk away from him over a foolish misunderstanding.

I was shocked out of my mind when I stumbled upon a very drunk Tatum during my visit to his penthouse yesterday morning. After talking some sense into him, he finally realised that he couldn’t live without Serah.

So here we are─or at least I am, outside Serah’s place.

We arrived here together about ten minutes ago and Tatum couldn’t stand still for a minute, so he went off walking around the block to check for the signs of her.

Stupid, I know. Love is so fucking weird.

I can’t perceive the idea of love even if I tried. How could a perfectly sensible person tend to lose their said senses over another person? Like my dear friend, Tatum.

All of a sudden, your decisions are driven by the emotion called love.

The thought of someone having so much power and hold over my life makes me want to run in the opposite direction.

This might be one of the reasons I have never been in a relationship.

I’m successful. At the age of twenty-nine, I co-own one of the top tech companies in the world. I’m richer than you’d imagine and handsome enough to get ladies lined up at my doorstep with a single phone call in New York.

So who the hell would want to get tied down by a relationship?

Don’t get me wrong. I totally support my friend, but when it comes to me, I can’t see it.

I’m quite content with my single life with zero attachments.

“I’m waiting here on the sidewalk all alone like a halfwit. Don’t─” A body crashes into me from behind.

One moment I’m talking on the phone, the next I find myself falling.

The phone slips out of my grasp and falls to the ground.

My knees and hands take the brunt of the fall and I let out a curse when the person responsible for my fall topple over me.

“What the fuck?! Are you bloody blind?”

When the weight is lifted off me, I reach out and grab the now cracked phone, and rise to my feet.

I look down and inspect my jeans. They are torn around the throbbing knees.

I check my palms to find tiny droplets of blood oozing from the scratches.

He is so dead. I turn to punch the arsehole in the face when I find that he… is actually a she.

Or more like a… tiny person.

“Blind? How dare you call me blind when you’re standing smack dab in the middle of a sidewalk like you fucking own it!” She gets in my face by going on her tiptoes.

She spits fire from her sparklingly vehement eyes.

Are they green? Or hazel? No, they are most definitely emerald green.

I’ve never seen eyes like hers in my entire life.

Thick lashes fringe her eyes, making them appear larger.

Tilting my head, I watch her go on and on.

Damn, this girl can speak non-stop.

She even starts calling me names but all I could focus on are her eyes.

An errant lock of blonde hair falls over her right eye. She blows it away audibly when she finishes her rant. Finally.

“Cute,” I smirk at her and enjoy the sight of her face turning red.

“Y-You…” She seethes. Her chest rises and falls with every breath she takes.

“I know, it’s my hot looks that has you all tongue-tied and,” I purposely trail my eyes up and down her petite frame, knowing full well it would rile her up even more.

Hell, I never thought pissing this tiny person off would be the highlight of my day.

I lean down, invading her personal space. “breathless.” I finish. I can’t help the grin that pulls up on my lips.

She scoffs and her hand lands on my chest, intending to push me away, but I take hold of her wrist instead, pulling her against me.

“Ah, touching me already, tiny person.”

“Don’t. Call. Me. That!” she utters every single word with a jab of her finger against my chest.

Feisty. I like it.

I am about to give her a sarcastic response when I hear Tatum’s voice.

Oh, fucking finally!

In my banter with this girl, I totally overlooked that Serah and some blond man were standing beside us.

The bloke with blond hair approaches us and asks us to follow him and that’s when I realise I still have her wrist clutched against my chest.

We jump apart and she clears her throat.

Distractedly, I follow them inside the basement flat, leaving Tatum outside with Serah.

“I’m Mason.” He extends his hand with a soft smile.

The man is about six feet tall but falls shorter compared to me by a few inches.

I take his outstretched hand in mine but wince at the contact.

I pull away to peer at the palm and see angry red scratches marring the skin.

“Dude you’re hurt. You might want to wash those wounds before it gets infected.” He motions towards the bathroom.

After cleaning the dirt off my reddened palms, I dab them with tissues. I’m about to exit the bathroom when I almost run into her.

“This is the second time in a row. Why do we always seem to collide, tiny person?” she narrows her eyes but remains silent.

Instead, she motions me to walk back inside.

Her pale skin glows under the bathroom’s light, making it luminous.

Right at this moment, all I want is to touch her creamy skin and… wait, what? Where the fuck did that come from?

I step backward, momentarily dazed by the peculiar thought my mind just conjured.

She strides towards the sink counter and places a plastic box I didn’t notice she was carrying.

She rummages through the items in the box and faces me.

“Sit,” she nods at the edge of the bathtub.

I oblige, only because I’m curious.

She shakes a bottle of disinfectant liquid and douses a cotton ball in it.

She takes my hand in her small ones and lightly dabs on it.

Her face is serious, deep in concentration as she tends to my other hand.

I feign a wince and she immediately leans down to blow over the skin.

A piece of lock falls over her eye again and she blows it away like earlier. Only this time, she is unsuccessful.

Before I could stop myself, my hand reaches up and tucks the strand behind her ear.

The gesture causes my fingertips to slightly brush against the delicate shell of her ear and the slight tremor in her body doesn’t go unnoticed.

She straightens and clears her throat.

“All done.”

“Thank you.” I stand. I’m walking out of the bathroom when her small, soft voice stops me in my track. It's like I almost imagined it.

I turn back around and ask, “What did you say?”

“I said I’m sorry. For… the…” she gestures at my torn jeans with her chin, without making eye contact.

“I don’t want your apology.” That gets her attention.

“What do you want then?” she rasps.

“Your name.”

She swallows and licks her lips. “Emily.”

I flash her a cocky grin. “Nah, it’s tiny person for me.”

The change in her expression is instant.

All the guilt she might’ve felt earlier vanishes, and her face contorts in anger and she lets out a frustrated groan.

“If I am a tiny person for you, then you’re… you’re… ANNOYING ORANGE!” she exclaims and I bark out a laugh.

“Whatever does it mean?” I ask, still laughing. Fuck, my abs are burning from laughter.

“Don’t you watch YouTube… Tall person?”

I wipe the corner of my eyes. I don’t remember the last time someone made me laugh to tears.

“Tall person? Come on, be original.” I raise an eyebrow, challenging her.

“So, Annoying Orange it is.” She tilts her chin.

“I might have to start watching YouTube, huh?”

She rolls her eyes and passes me to leave.

“By the way, my name is Asher,” I tell her retreating back.

She stops for a moment but then leaves without a second glance, making me laugh again.

She is something else. Emily.

∞∞∞

Emily

We are sitting in the living area and I am seething in silence. Asher has my friend Mason’s attention and I feel left out.

“Millie, I told you Tatum would soon come to his senses, didn’t I?” Mason’s blue eyes turn to me.

Well… okay I might be exaggerating about being left alone. That doesn’t mean Asher could just snatch my friend!

So what if he is ridiculously handsome? And that goddamned English accent of his!

Too bad he is obnoxious.

My pulse went haywire when he tucked my hair. It was already hard enough to concentrate on his wounds when his golden eyes were trained on me, and that slight contact almost undid me.

He looks like a freaking greek God with that fair skin and black hair and that sharp jawline and that…

I notice them watching me in silence and I remember Mason asked me a question. “Oh, yes!” I squeak.

Asher excuses himself and fishes out his phone. A moment later, he says, “Well, Tatum took her home. That means all is well.”

I start clapping in excitement.

The whole house felt gloomy because Serah was hurting. She is my best friend. And it saddened me to see her heartbroken over our boss.

Asher pushes to his feet and Mason follows suit. They hug and make promises to meet in the future.

The sight of them hugging brings a smile to my face.

Asher

I had no idea I would enjoy their company as much as I did.

I learned from our conversation that Mason is a photographer based in California.

He showed me some of the pictures on his phone that were from the recent photoshoot he did for a surfer.

The pictures are clicked at perfect timing. He beautifully captured the moment of him riding a wave.

He is talented, I have to admit. We talked about common interests and made plans on meeting soon. I hug him goodbye and feel eyes on me.

I look over Mason’s shoulder to find Emily watching us with a soft expression.

Our eyes tangle.

One second.

Two seconds.

And when she still doesn’t look away, I wink.

Her lips part in surprise and I grin.

I pull away from Mason and mouth bye to Emily before leaving.

Chapter 1

Present Day

Asher

I roll my lips over my teeth to prevent the laughter from bursting out.

Emily grumbles loudly again when a sobbing Serah walks down the aisle and reaches to where Tatum stands.

I wish I could hear her.

The sound of crashing waves on the beach is preventing me from hearing whatever she is fuming over.

My money is on Serah’s makeup.

Earlier today, I dropped by at Serah’s room and saw Emily hunched over Serah, dolling her up.

I caught her practically threatening Serah to not ruin her masterpiece by crying.

We are in the Maldives for Tatum and Serah’s wedding. Dressed in grey trousers and a white button-down shirt, I’m standing beside Tatum as his best man while Emily is Serah’s bridesmaid.

Mason walked Serah down the aisle. Lucas, Mason’s boyfriend is also a part of this intimate ceremony.

Soon after the wedding ceremony starts, ‘I dos’ are exchanged, and the celebration begins.

∞∞∞

“You’re so funny!”

Trust me, I didn’t make a single joke and this lady is cackling regardless.

After the wedding, we decided to take the party to the bar area in the resort.

So when I entered the bar, I realised I was the only one in the group to show up first.

This woman approached me and hasn’t stopped giggling ever since.

She might have had one too many drinks. I rack my brain for an excuse to get out of this conversation without offending her in the process when Emily walks in with Mason and Lucas in tow.

She looks at me, then the drunk woman, and back at me again.

She frowns and shakes her head. Before I could do anything, she averts her eyes and walks further inside the bar with the couple.

I take a step towards her but halt myself.

Why does Emily’s disapproval of me is affecting me to the extent of uneasiness? It shouldn’t affect me as it did.

I have this impulse of going to her. To change whatever notions she has of me.

In the past three months, We’ve only met a handful of times and I gathered by those encounters that she isn’t a big fan of me.

And it's frustrating that ever since she got to know that A in T&A Corp stands for Asher, she had been avoiding me as much as possible.

What’s worse is that after our first meeting, I couldn’t get it up for any other woman. It’s like she did voodoo on my dick.

She wouldn’t give me the time of day so out of morbid curiosity, I asked one of the employees from the company to mail me her file.

Emily Moore, twenty-four, Joined in January, Marketing department.

So when we first met in April, outside of her flat, she had been working for only two months at T&A.

That may be the reason she didn’t recognise me on our first encounter.

I usually work from home while Tatum handles the office. I’m to be blamed. I mostly avoid going to work and drop by only when required.

In short, seeing me with this drunk lady might have worsened my chances with her.

We arrived two days ago and tonight is our last night in the Maldives.

Ours as in Emily, Mason, and Lucas, and me.

Tatum and Serah are going to spend a couple of weeks here.

This is the last chance to get the feisty tiny person back because her aloof behaviour is driving me crazy.

∞∞∞

Emily

My jaw aches with how hard I’m gritting my teeth.

So the rumors were true. He is a manwhore.

I’ve heard tons of gossip about Tatum’s partner and our boss who avoids office like plague and fucks around a lot.

There was a woman in the IT department claiming she slept with him.

After learning through Serah about Asher being my boss, I was a mixture of jealousy and perplexity.

I felt red hot jealousy when the mysterious boss from the office rumor turned out to be Asher. My reaction baffled me. After all, I wasn’t attracted to him. Or was I?

So I did what I thought was for the best. I kept to myself whenever we met. Kept our interactions to a bare minimum.

Not going to lie, I was too close to ask him about the hearsay but with a herculean effort, I refrained from doing so.

But after seeing him blatantly flirting with that woman minutes ago, I knew I did the right thing by avoiding him throughout my stay here.

We are set to leave tomorrow and I can’t wait to put some distance between us.

My inner self is screaming at me to glance in Asher’s direction but I quickly shove the urge where it came from.

“Let's order something to drink. The love birds may take their sweet time to join us. If you know what I mean?” Lucas smirks at us.

“Ew, gross.” I swat at his bicep and wince. Damn, he’s made of steel.

Lucas chuckles at me and pinches my cheek. “What will you have, Emmy?”

I just love Mason and Lucas and their nicknames for me so much!

“Umm… wine?” It comes out more like a question.

“Let’s order a bottle of champagne.” A deep voice comes from behind me.

I whip my neck so fast I almost get whiplash.

Asher saunters to our table.

As there’s no extra chair available, he pulls out one from the nearby unoccupied table and drags it too close to where I am sitting.

With a graceful move, he takes a seat.

“Emily” Asher whispers into my ear.

I hold back the shiver, trying hard not to let on how his simple hushed greeting affected me.

“Asher.” I give him a nod and glance around him.

“What are you looking for?”

“The girl you were having a nice little chat with. I thought she would be joining us.” I internally grimace.

There goes my plan of keeping my emotions in check.

“Oh. Well, her friends came looking for her and she took off with them. Does that quench your curiosity?” His words are dripping with so much sarcasm, it irritates me. A lot.

“Are you sad she left?” I taunt.

“Are you relieved she left?” he counters, making me gasp.

He leans into me. “Jealous, tiny person?”

I shift away from him and clear my throat.

I glance at Lucas. He’s grinning at me. Mason also appears amused. I hear Asher chuckling and feel a bit awkward so I strike up a conversation about the latest Netflix series I’m watching. Thankfully, Lucas takes over.

I hear Asher calling for a waiter and ordering a bottle of champagne.

I sigh inwardly. This is going to be a long night.

∞∞∞

Serah and Tatum never showed up.

At least they had dinner with us right after the wedding.

The after-party was just for celebrating our last night in the Maldives.

I take tiny sips of water.

After finishing the champagne, the men ordered shots.

Me being the lightweight, I chose to stick with just water and enjoying the night.

Asher seems to be holding out on liquor too.

Lucas and Mason are on their sixth round of tequila shots but there is no sign of them being tipsy.

“Let's play spin the bottle!” Lucas exclaims, proving me dead wrong. He is definitely intoxicated.

“I’m in,” Asher says.

I glance at him and his golden eyes are already on me.

“What are we, five?” I frown.

“Afraid?” Asher smirks, his frighteningly intense eyes challenging me.

“I’m in.” I lift my chin and flip my hair with the back of my hand.

I pivot my attention back on Lucas when he starts explaining the same old rules.

Players would take turns spinning the bottle and would ask the person it points toward to confess a truth.

“Okay, my baby will spin first!” Lucas declares, earning a round of laughter from us.

Mason shakes his head, smiling fondly at Lucas. Leaning forward, he spins the empty bottle.

It comes to a stop at Mason himself.

“I’ll ask!”

“Go ahead, Lucas, he’s all yours.” I wink.

“Okay, how much do you love me?”

Mason shifts a little in his seat to face Lucas. “I love you but my love for you isn’t something I can measure or compare to the size or breadth of something tangible. All I know is that you’re my strength and I can’t imagine existing without you.”

Their love melts my heart. Love like theirs is so hard to find. My vision gets blurry as I watch them share a sweet kiss.

Lucas breaks the kiss. “I love you too.”

“Get a room.” Asher teases.

“And end this game when it has barely begun? No way!” Lucas says before spinning the bottle.

The bottle spins for a couple of seconds before slowing toward Asher… but it doesn’t stop there. Instead, it halts, pointing straight at me and I groan.

Let’s get this over with.

“Ask away.” I lift the glass to my lips and sip the water again.

“What’s going on between you and Asher?” Mason asks and I choke on the water I just gulped and sputter.

“WHAT?”  I can’t cover the hysteria in my voice. What is he even talking about?

“You heard me, Millie.” He shrugs and leans back, casually draping his arm behind Lucas’s chair.

I feel Asher’s eyes from my left, but I ignore him.

“Lucas?” I send Lucas a pleading look for help.

“Even I am curious.” So much for help.

“There’s nothing going on between us.” I insist.

“No?” Asher smirks.

I narrow my eyes at him and open my lips to say something snarky but then remember he is my boss.

I focus on the other two who are raptly watching our interaction.

∞∞∞

Mason

I’ve been observing Asher and Emily bicker throughout the night. My gaze seeks Lucas’s and we share a knowing look.

“I answered. There. Now it’s my turn to spin.” She declares.

In the past three months, Lucas and I visited Serah and Emily a couple of times.

Each time, Asher came over to their apartment alongside Tatum. And even though I know he loves our company, he couldn’t stop himself from messing with Emily.

But she kept her cool every time he tried to rile her up.

I still remember her shocked little face when she found out Asher is her boss.

Even now, she is trying hard to maintain the cool façade and Asher is trying his best to penetrate it.

Why? To simply entertain himself with the fight he sure knows would take place or is there more to it for him?

Emily told me all about the rumors and if he has ill intentions about Millie, then he’ll leave here with a broken nose for sure.

But with the few encounters I had with him, I genuinely liked him.

So what is his deal? Only one way to find out.

After few more rounds and the bottle ending up on the same players, the opportunity presents itself to me when Lucas spins the bottle and it points at Asher.

“Hey, I want to ask something.”

“But you already asked!” Lucas says. He can get clueless and cute when drunk.

“I know, honey, but we are all but four people. We are bound to repeat asking questions to the same people again.” Lucas nods and I kiss his temple.

“Okay, so Asher… tell us, do you have a girlfriend?” I study him.

Instead of tensing at the personal question, he seems relaxed and laid back.

“Of course not. I don’t do relationships. In fact, I’m shocked Tatum married Serah so soon.” My body stiffens and Emily’s head whips sideways to gape at him.

Asher curses under his breath. “That came out wrong, I meant─”

“What did you exactly mean then, Asher?” Emily growls.

Lucas watches with wide eyes and I scan the surroundings. I’m glad that there are only a handful of people around.

Asher doesn’t answer her and instead addresses me. “You know I adore Serah and think of her as my sister. I simply meant I didn’t know he would be serious enough to take the next step so soon. I never saw the man date─”

“So you mean he made a mistake?” Emily jerks up suddenly. The chair makes a screeching noise against the floor, making me wince.

Asher stands too. “Don’t put words in my mouth, Emily.”

“Or what? You are the one who started this. But then, what else can I expect from a man like you.” Emily shakes her head in mock pity.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks but Emily just shrugs.

“Words, Emily. Use them and finish your thought. We know you have a lot to say.” There’s a tick to his jaw.

“If you insist, fine then. I know why you made that awful comment. I know your type, Asher Will. The commitment-phobe who can’t commit to one woman for life and when one of your friends is clever enough to snag the best girl and be happy, men like you can’t stomach that.”

“Wow, you know about us so well. Did someone hurt you, tiny person?”

She scoffs. “I don’t let men like you near me.”

He raises a brow. “Is that so?”

“Yes, tell me, is it so hard to commit? Is it─” she leans into him and Asher looks at me.

“Mason, mate, you have to calm her down─” she cuts Asher off

“Why? Scared that I got you all figured out?”

“All right, you win─” Asher sighs and tries to placate her but Emily is on a roll. He tries again “Why are you getting so upset about it─”

“Upset? I’m fucking livid. You can’t talk about my BFF and expect me to suck it up. I’m not going to take it sitting down!”

“Emily, you have to believe me I didn’t mean─”

“Of course you would say that,”

“You’re grating on my nerves now!” Asher loses the last bit of his patience.

“Join the fucking club!” she exclaims and he glares at her.

At his silence, she starts anew. “Tell me, why is it─”

“That’s it,” Asher says just before his lips crash down on hers. Holding her face captive in his hands, he keeps his lips glued to hers for a few slow seconds.

She makes slight protesting noises but it quiets down. The kiss doesn’t involve tongue and it’s clear he kissed her to shut her up.

Nonetheless, I get up, ready to push him away but he tears his lips away from hers. They both gasp for air.

For a moment, there is pin-drop silence in the bar.

Emily looks breathless and confused and… flushed. Asher’s chest rises and falls with every shallow breath.

Both of them stare at each other in confusion, anger mixed with an expression I can’t decipher.

She parts her lips to say something but stops.

As if watching a movie, they both turn away from each other at the same time and walk away, leaving me and Lucas in the bar.

Chapter 2

Three days later

Emily

“Emily… wake up.”

I mumble something and turn to my side.

“Emily, you have to get up. It's getting late.”

That soft familiar voice is much closer now. I groan and hide my face with the blanket.

I’m about to fall back asleep when the blanket is snatched and I wince from the harsh light pouring in from the bedroom window.

With a groan, I move to lie on my back.

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I squint at the figure standing at the side of my bed.

“Ro?”

“Good morning, sleepyhead.” She murmurs softly.

“Morning.” Stretching my arms, my lips part in a wide-ass yawn, still trying to wake up fully.

“If you don’t want to be late for work, you’d better hurry up.”

That reminder is enough for chasing away the remnants of sleep. I quickly get up and hug my little sister, Rochelle.

“Thanks for waking me up on time. You’re the best sister. EVER!”

She gives me a shy smile. Her expressive green eyes fill with warmth at my words.

My eighteen-year-old sister is the polar opposite of me. Apart from our pale complexion, and green eyes, there’s nothing in common between us.

My baby sister is going to college here in New York.

Instead of choosing to stay on campus like teens usually prefer, she expressed her interest in moving into the spare bedroom which belonged to Serah earlier.

While I was ecstatic to have Rochelle with me, I wanted her to experience college life.

She reasoned with me and our parents that she was not interested in that kind of life. She wanted peace, and besides, she had a strong point of saving the cost by choosing to live here.

That doesn’t mean she would stay here rent-free. Her words.

She has a part-time job lined up at a café and was pretty adamant about contributing to the household however she could.

And even after me refusing it, she remained astute on her decision. I had to respect it. My little, shy and sometimes timid sister has grown up.

She moved in right after the day I landed in New York.

And although I was grateful for Rochelle’s company, Serah was terribly missed.

I’d miss having her here. From the late-night girl-talks to us simply spending the entire weekend in sweats─binge watching soap operas, I’d miss it all.

Serah is married now, but the fact would never change our bond. She is my sister from another mister and she would have to move to Antarctica to get rid of me.

I rush to the small closet across the bed and fish out black slacks and a sky blue blouse with full sleeves.

“Do you need my help in anything?” Rochelle asks meekly.

“No, thanks,” I give her my brightest smile and my heart goes all soft when she returns it, albeit more shyly before she leaves.

Serah would be pleasantly shocked to know Ro has moved in with me.

My folks and Ro has met Serah many times. We even had her bachelorette party at my place. She invited Mom, Dad, and Rochelle to the Maldives but they politely declined but gave their blessings.

Dad was unable to travel because of his health issues and Mom couldn’t leave him to fend for himself.

Getting my underwear from the dresser, I lay it on the bed and head to the bathroom.

∞∞∞

“Mmm… something smells delicious in here,” I enter the living room and sit on one of the barstools.

“Oh, Hey. I made bacon and eggs and few sandwiches─” my stomach growls loudly, interrupting her.

She smiles knowingly at me and sets my plate. I grin at her and start digging in.

“Yummy… but yu didn’thave to dothat” my words come out muffled, my mouth full of food.

She shakes her head at me. “Don’t talk while you’re eating, Emily.” A small smile playing on her lips.

Sometimes I wonder who is the older one between us.

After eating few more bites, I glance at my watch and curse.

I quickly finish my plate and grab one sandwich to take with me.

“Come here.” I hug Ro when she reaches me.

I draw back and ask, “You start today, right?”

“Yes.” she nods, her cheeks go pink.

I sense her nervousness. Rochelle has lived a sheltered life. So this might be a little overwhelming for her.

“You’ll slay it” I kiss the crown of her head.  She is so adorable and tiny. Like me.

Tiny person.

I grind my teeth at the thought.

I’m so not tiny. Five feet three is not tiny. Nor my sister who share my height and body type.

Unwanted memory starts flooding in.

Asher Will.

Spin the bottle.

The kiss.

I shake my head to shrug off the train of thought that kept me up these days.

It is a blessing he works from home.

I know I wouldn’t have survived one minute in the office building if he were to work there. That too as my boss.

I’ll so kill him if I ever stumble upon him and would end up in jail.

And I hate jail. No good food there. Or so I’ve heard.

“Thanks, Emily,” Ro says.

I smile fondly at her. “Take care, kiddo.” With that, I leave.

∞∞∞

I barely make it in time. I jog the few steps and reach the office building.

“Morning Albert,” I wave at the security guard.

“Good morning. Have a nice day, Emily.” He smiles and waves back.

Scurrying to the elevator bank, I push the call button and wait. A few minutes later, the doors open.

“Emily.” I halt and watch Bart, the sixty-year-old from the finance department exiting the elevator.

“Bart!” I extend my fist for our usual fist bump.

“How are you this morning, dear?” he asks. His eyes crinkle around the corners when he smiles.

I am about to answer but just then the door begins to shut. At the end moment, Bart prevents it with a hand.

“Come on, hurry.” He ushers me in the waiting car and I turn to wave him. “Thanks! Talk later!”

He salutes and I giggle.

The door opens to my floor and I step out.

I greet a group of female employees huddled near the cubicles with the same fake smile they give me as I pass them.

These women didn’t like me and Serah for reasons unknown.

So I preferred my distance from them but now I am left alone except for a couple of people who aren’t so hateful.

I set my handbag on my desk and take a seat.

Vacation over. Time to work.

∞∞∞

Around eleven a.m. Mrs. Shah, a forty-five-year-old Indian who now works as Tatum’s PA approaches my cubicle.

“Ms. Moore, Sorry to disturb you─”

“Hey, it's all right. Is there something I can do for you?” I ask with a smile.

She returns it, “Actually, you are required in the conference room.”

“I wasn’t aware there was a meeting scheduled today…” I pull up the schedule on the computer to check but don’t see anything marked up for today.

“It cannot wait, Ms. Moore.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in a minute.” Shutting the computer off, I get up and head for the conference room.

I knock and wait. When there is no response, I take few steps in and find it empty.

Huh?

Confused, I take a seat and place the company phone on the table and wait.

Five minutes pass.

Ten minutes.

When there’s still no sign of anyone coming to the meeting, I pick up the phone to dial Mrs. Shah’s desk when my skin prickles with awareness.

“We meet again, Ms. Moore.” I stiffen at the familiar deep baritone voice and slowly lift my head, hoping against hope that this is a dream. God wouldn’t be so cruel to me, right?

All of my thoughts fly out the door when I see him.

Standing in front of me is none other than the bane of my existence.

Asher Will.

Chapter 3

Emily

I stare at him, my heartbeat skyrocketing.

He is the same man from the Maldives and yet, he appears to me like some stranger.

I take in his attire.

Gone is the laidback Asher and in his place is this man who is wearing a sharply tailored black suit, crisp white shirt, and black tie.

The hair which used to stay tousled is slicked back.

He is emanating an impenetrable air.

I try not to react when he discards his suit jacket and drapes it over the seat before sitting, all while not giving me a single glance.

Realizing that I’m squeezing the fuck out of my phone, I unclench my fingers and clear my throat.

“Asher─”

“Mr. Will,” he corrects as he rolls the cuffs of his shirt, revealing the tattooed forearm, still not sparing me a look.

My face turns hot with embarrassment. Bastard.

“Apologies, Mr. Will. To what do I owe the pleasure?” I can’t help the sarcasm in my voice.

He cuts me a glare, but it vanishes before I could blink, leaving his face blank.

“Ms. Moore, as you are aware, Tatum will be unavailable for the next two weeks. So I’ll be taking over the office operations until he returns.”

Shit.

This is bad.

Well, at least I wouldn’t be in his way. I work in the marketing department and my cubicle is far enough to avoid him for two weeks.

“O-kay…” My voice trails. Why did he summon me? Where do I fit in here? Maybe he has a task for the marketing team, but then he should’ve contacted my boss, the marketing head.

“You might be wondering as to why I asked for you─”

Holy shit, is he a psychic or something?

And what’s with the formality? Ms. Moore?

It stung.

“─acting as my PA starting today.” He finishes.

“Sorry, come again,” I ask and he rolls his eyes.

“You’ll be under me for the next two weeks,” he drawls and my jaw drops.

∞∞∞

Asher

I lean back and watch with immense satisfaction as she goes crimson at my innuendo.

Her pink tongue peeks out to wet her lip and I feel a rush of blood to my groin.

Fuck. Focus, Asher.

I knew I had to handle the office in Tatum’s absence.

I vowed to stay away from Emily Moore even if we crossed paths in the office.

But one look at her this morning and all the self-talk went down the drain.

She didn’t see me but I witnessed how she passed the group of snickering women and gave them her “fuck you” smile.

Before I knew it, I was sending Mrs. Shah to get her for me.

My brain was warning me not to play with fire, but I couldn’t resist the chance.

I love it when her green eyes spark with anger and I want more of that.

She has a misconception of me. And the last time we were together in the Maldives, I worsened my case by kissing her.

“But I don’t understand. You already have Mrs. Shah’s assistance.” She reasons with me and I question myself again.

Do I want to tangle in this? In her? I can mind my business and stay the fuck away from her. Why give her grief?

It looks like a losing game. She really hates my guts. There’s no point in dragging her into this cat and mouse game.

I’m about to tell her I changed my mind and that she’s free to leave when my phone goes off.

Excusing myself, I cross the room for a bit of privacy and answer without looking at the name or number.

“Hey, handsome.” I pull the phone away for a second to read the name. Kat.

“Kat, how are you?” Katrina is the girl I hooked up with a couple of times in the past.

The last I saw her was about six months ago. She is a model and often travels over the world for assignments.

“I’m in town.” She cuts to the chase. No rubbish. The thing I usually admire. Any other time I would’ve gladly agreed, but these past months or should I say ever since I met a fiery blonde, no one does it for me.

Maybe I should take Kat on her offer and fuck Emily’s thoughts out of my head?

Still holding the phone to my ear, I turn my head to where Emily is sitting and catch her eyeing my arse.

She jerks her eyes up a second too late.

Well, well, well. What do we have here? A mutual attraction?

“I hope you have a pleasant stay in New York.”

“What?─” I hang up.

Was I about to dismiss the idea of having Emily as my PA?

Change of plans.

∞∞∞

Emily

“Did you get fired?” Mary’s eyes widen as she moves her chair toward my cubicle.

I am packing my necessities to take with me to wherever Asher stations me.

After swinging the bag on my shoulder, I face her. “No, I’m just going to work from somewhere else. Mr. Will’s orders.” I sigh.

I wince when I remember how he caught me staring at his ass.

I was grateful that he didn’t embarrass me by bringing it up. Instead, he asked me to gather my things and meet him at his office.

Giving Mary a wry smile, I pick up the laptop bag and head to his office.

I take slow, draggy steps, prolonging the inevitable.

I have unknowingly attracted this dreadful situation for myself.

I was the one who was gloating at the fact that he works from home.

They say when nothing goes right, go left. But Asher’s office happens to be on left. I grimace at the bad joke.

It’s going to be okay. Deep breaths, Emily.

From the open door, I see Asher reading a file.

Before I could enter the office, his eyes snap up. He motions me to come in before returning his focus back to the file.

After stepping in, I stand awkwardly, taking in his office for the first time.

Floor-length windows cover two walls of the office. Apart from his dark wood desk and guest chairs, there’s a couch with a coffee table in the corner.

“You’re going to stand there all day?” Asher asks, abandoning the file.

“Um, there’s no desk outside of your office like Mr. Blackstone’s office has. Where would I work from?”

“Here.”

“What?”

He sighs, “This is a temporary arrangement, Ms. Moore, think you can work from over there?” he motions at the couch and coffee table.

“Oh. Yes, of course.” What other option do I have?

I go to my makeshift working place and set my laptop bag along with my handbag on the table.

Before I could take a seat, Asher calls out my name, or more like Ms. Moore. I don’t understand myself sometimes.

Earlier his nickname used to anger me. Now being called by my own surname is bugging me. What the hell?

“Yeah?”

“I want you to grab me a cup of coffee.”

I eye the cup that’s perched on his desk. His eyes follow the line of my sight and he returns them on me again, “A fresh cup.”

“Sure,” I move to go when he halts me again.

“Not from the canteen. I want you to get it from Starbucks.”

I remain silent and head to the door, my fingers balling into fists.

“Ms. Moore,” He calls out again and my feet falter at the door but I don’t turn.

“Send Mr. Cooper on your way out.”

Not bothering to answer him, I exit his office and go to Mr. Cooper who works two floors down.

After giving him Asher’s message, I head to the elevators to go down.

Exiting the elevator, I’m walking in the lobby toward the exit when I hear my name being called. Stella, the receptionist is motioning me to come over while she talks to someone on the landline.

“Hey, Emily, Mr. Will wants you in his office.”

“But he sent me down to get him coffee…” I mumble, more to myself.

She shrugs.

“Thanks,” I mutter before making my way back to his office.

“Mr. Will?” I ask, my tone filled with puzzlement as I enter his office.

He is engrossed in a conversation with Mr. Cooper.

His attention strays from the man sitting in front of him and lands on me.

“Ah, Ms. Moore, you forgot to ask how I take my coffee.”

I saw him having black coffee before I left. What was there to ask?

“You wanted black coffee, right?”

“Wrong.” My mind goes rampant with the possibility of murdering him as he rattles his order to me.

Pasting a smile, I excuse myself to go down, again to fetch coffee for a twenty-nine-year-old brat who happens to be my boss.

∞∞∞

“Ms. Moore,” I look up to find Asher looming over me.

“Yes?”

“What are you doing?” he asks with his muscled arms crossed over his chest, his golden eyes studying me.

“I’m working on a PowerPoint presentation which is due─”

“Did you fix my meeting with the programming team yet?” he asks curtly.

“N-No, I was about to do that,”

He sighs and moves to sit beside me on the couch.

I suck in a breath when his thigh brushes against mine.

“I specifically told you to follow my orders for the period of two weeks. There are still thirteen more days left.”

“I’m sorry,” I murmur, not looking at him.

Since yesterday he’s been on my ass with tasks.

It's just the second day of working for him and it is maddening! I’m beginning to feel that he is purposely trying to get a rise out of me.

For instance, yesterday he asked me to rearrange his shelf.

“Ms. Moore, I want you to rearrange the shelf while I’m going through the emails.”

Half an hour in, “Ms. Moore, Coffee. Quick.”

“Ms. Moore, Get the Sakai File from Tatum’s office.”

“Ms. Moore, order my lunch.”

“Ms. Moore, call Mr. Evans.”

“Ms─”

Snap, snap!

Asher snaps his fingers in front of my face. “Set up the meeting but get me some coffee first.”

Biting my tongue to hold in the insult that’s about to pour out of my mouth, I give him my usual tight-lipped smile and get up.

∞∞∞

“Emily, are you listening?” Rochelle asks, her voice laced with concern.

“Yes, hey…”

“Is everything okay?” NO! EVERYTHING IS NOT OKAY! The guy doesn’t let me fucking breathe.

It’s almost lunchtime and yet he had me running errands.

I miss my old position where I used to sit on my ass all day. Yes, my back used to hurt like a motherfucker but it was still tolerable than this.

“Yes, everything is fine.” I smile even though she can’t see it. “Tell me about your day.”

That gets her talking. She is pretty happy with her job at the café.

After a couple of minutes she asks, “Have you eaten yet?”

On cue, my stomach rumbles, “Not yet.”

“What are you doing now?”

“I’m on my way to deliver the third cup of coffee to his highness,” I say as I walk down the hallway to his office.

“Ro, I’m almost there, I have to hang up. See you at home.”

“Bye.” We hang up and I knock before entering

I place the hot cup on his desk with a sigh.

“Hey, are you all right? You seem off.”

“I’m okay.” I smile or at least try to. “Just being around you gives me a headache,” I mutter under my breath and clear my throat to cover it and go to my makeshift working place─the black leather couch and boot up my laptop.

“Ms. Moore?”

Not again! Reluctantly, I look up.

“I give an excellent head massage.”

My jaw drops. Holy fuck. He heard me.

I feel my face going hot and he laughs.

Gritting my teeth, I ignore his deep rumble of laughter and concentrate on work.

∞∞∞

With a ninja speed, I pack my stuff to get the hell out of here.

The day is finally over, I can’t wait to go home and get out of my work clothes. Especially the bra!

But most of all, I want to put as much space as possible between him and me.

I push to my feet and sling the bag on my shoulder.

I clear my throat to get his attention. No response.

I try again.

Again, no fucking response.

He is not even reading a file or something, he is on his damn phone!

This time I cough loud enough to wake the dead.

He lazily raises his eyes to look at me.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt you,”

“Clearly.” He traces his lower lip back and forth and my attention strays from the conversation.

“Ms. Moore?” His deep timbre of voice startles me.

“Yes! um…” What the hell was I about to say?

You were about to leave, Emily! Don’t make a fool out of yourself and get going!

“I was asking if I could leave.” What? You shouldn’t have asked, Emily! Now he will make you work another hour like he did yesterday.

“You may.” His gaze returns to his phone.

Like a child who got permission to go out to play, I dash toward the door.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Asher calls out and my whole body stiffens.

I wait for him without turning, my hand gripping the sling of the bag tightly.

Why tell me it was okay to leave when he had another task for me waiting? Jerk!

Warmth covers my back, causing goosebumps to erupt all over my skin.

A second later, a set of lips grazes the shell of my ear. “Emily…” Asher rasps.

An involuntary shiver runs down my spine.

My pulse speeds at the way he says my name. Not Ms. Moore. I suck in an unsteady breath.

How did he reach me in seconds? And why is my heart about to beat out of my chest?

Slowly, I turn around to face him and immediately wish I didn’t.

Instead of giving me space, Asher remains rooted in his spot and only inches separate our chests.

When I peer up, our eyes lock. His eyes are so intense, I feel hypnotized.

Thoughts and senses leave me as I continue to gaze into his eyes, anticipating his next move.

With stuttering breath, I wait. For what, I’m not even sure myself.

“I...” he trails and I gulp.

I bite my lip. The gesture draws his eyes down.

“I want…” Asher says, setting off another round of chills.

“Yes?” my word comes out breathy. I feel myself swaying toward him.

“I want you to get me last year’s revenue file before you leave.” He straightens abruptly and takes a step back.

His words act as a splash of ice-cold water in the face.

Enough to yank me from something unrealistic and hurl me down on the solid ground of reality. What was I even thinking?

I sidestep him on stiff legs and march toward the shelf.

After a moment of fruitless searching, I wrench the bag from my shoulder and drop it on the floor. The sound of it falling is muffled by the carpet.

I get down on my knees and curse myself for choosing a pencil skirt today.

It takes a good two or three minutes on my knees to find the file. I am about to stand when a set of black shoes come in the line of my vision.

I crane my neck and Asher’s standing over me and instead of giving me a hand to help me up, he just regards my kneeling position raptly.

The intense look from earlier flashes over his features again.

Averting my eyes, I move to stand and drop the file on his desk.

“Anything else?”

“No,” he says after what feels like forever and I don’t wait for him to change his mind.

Chapter 4

Asher

I curse when the echo of her footsteps fades into silence.

I slide my fingers through my hair and pull at it in frustration.

I don’t know how, but my desires took over and I found myself cornering Emily.

Having her so close to me on a daily basis has become my own kind of personal hell.

I lost count of the times I jerked off to her thoughts.

The memory of hurt and disappointment etching across her expressions when I pulled back assaults me.

How do I tell her I drew away because I wasn’t myself.

Our moment of closeness triggered a primal part of me. An urge so strong took over me that I knew it in my bones if I had kissed her, she would have been naked right now on the floor with me pounding into her mercilessly.

This need, this want, so carnal and dark swirled and spread through my limbs that it startled me.

Not once did I feel this way for any other woman.

I’ve spent countless nights with beautiful ladies and it has always been the same.

Bouts of mutual pleasure with zero expectations.

It has always been easy for me with them.

I never beat around the bush or promise them things I can’t deliver.

With Emily, I’m reluctant to approach her. Perhaps, this might be the reason for me stalling in asking her out on a date. A date.

The concept of dating is so foreign to me and yet I am eager to experience it with Emily.

Whenever I try to flirt with her, I go blank and instead give her a petty task.

And the task my brain has held on to is coffee.

This has become my life, ladies, and gentlemen.

Whenever I’m about to ask her to dinner I always end up asking for a cup of coffee.

I don’t even favour coffee that much.

This dating business is harder than I imagined.

I should call her.

And what exactly would you say, Asher?

Please forgive me, Emily. I’ve been an insufferable bastard to you these days. I’m being the pain in your arse because I’m into you.

I cringe at the mental speech and quickly dismiss it.

I take my phone out and google ways to woo a woman.

I scroll through the search results and stop when an article catches my eye.

Ten ways to woo a girl the right way.

Nodding to myself, I head to the sofa and start reading.

After several minutes of reading, I realise that I was doing everything wrong.

I go over the list for the second time.

Keep her interested.

Hmm. She is interested in murdering me, that much I can tell from all the glaring.

Be a gentleman.

Charm her.

Make her feel special.

Should I send her diamonds? No, that would be too much for a first gift.

I google what to gift a girl you like.

Jesus, I’m turning into someone I would’ve made fun of in the past. I’m becoming a 2.0 version of Tatum.

An hour pass and nothing caught my attention from the lists I went through online.

This afternoon Emily was cracking her neck and looked worn out.

I feel a pang of guilt hitting straight in the center of my chest.

A bulb goes off in my head and I know just what to do.

∞∞∞

Emily

My shoulders are slumped as I think about Asher’s abrupt text an hour ago.

Asher - I’ll be unavailable tomorrow, so take the day off.

I’m relieved and crestfallen all at once.

Relieved to not face him tomorrow after what happened earlier in his office. I’m still befuddled by his hot and cold behavior.

One moment he was cornering me as if wanting to kiss me and the next moment he was back to being his rude self.

I’m crestfallen because I’ll miss him.

Ugh! What is happening to me?

“I’m about to start the movie!” Ro calls out from the living room.

“Don’t you dare start without me!” I shout as I finish doing the dishes and dry my hands with a rag.

I take a seat on the couch and Ro plops down on the fort of pillows and blanket─her favorite spot, as we hit start on the movie.

Tonight we are re-watching Never Been Kissed, probably for the hundredth time.

I’m laughing over a scene when my phone rings.

I check it and frown at the unknown number. “Ro, pause the movie for a sec.”

I answer the call. “Hello?”

“Hello, This is Mia from Sunlit De-stress Spa and Salon. Am I talking to Ms. Emily Moore?”

“Yes, this is she.” Ro turns her inquisitive eyes to me. I give her a shrug.

“We are celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of our New York branch and decided to randomly pick out a name from our top 100 loyal customers this year. And it's you, Ms. Moore. We are offering you a complimentary full-day spa package for two at Sunlit De-Stress Spa and Salon.”

“YOU’RE JOKING,” I exclaim after I collect my jaw from the floor.

“No, we are very serious when it comes to our customers. We’ll text you all the details and also, could you share your address? A car will be sent to collect you in the morning.”

I frown. “Wait, you said loyal customers but I don’t recall ever visiting Sunlit Spa.”

There’s a moment of silence on the other side.

“Uh, well… your name is in our database so you are the lucky winner of the package.”

She then proceeds to talk about sending the details before hanging up quickly.

“What was that about?” Ro asks.

“I guess I won some spa package for two.” I am still staring at my phone in shock.

“What?” she says before taking out her phone. “What’s the name of the spa?” she asks.

“Sunlit.”

“Oh my god, Emily. It is one of the most expensive Spas and salons in Manhattan. Tell me the number she called you from. Let’s check their official website and be sure just in case if it is a scam.”

She looks at me with wide eyes. “It matches.”

We are silent for few seconds before breaking out in squeals and giggles.

Coincidently, I have a day off tomorrow. A full day of pampering sounds about the best way to spend the day.

∞∞∞

Emily

“Good Morning!” I greet Mary with a grin.

“Look at you. What’s up with you? You’re glowing.”

“Don’t miss my hair.” I twirl around to show her my silky locks.

“Spill the name of your shampoo. Now.” She gestures to her thick, red curls.

“Actually, I got my hair done from Sunlit so I’m not really sure about the products they used on me.”

“Bummer.” Her voice is small.

“Hey, I would kill for your thick curls. Besides, it makes you, you.”

She offers me a warm smile.

“I’ll see you later, I have to go drop my bags in Mr. Will’s office and get his usual coffee before he arrives.”

“He is already in his office.” She replies.

“Oh.” That’s news.

I reach his office and he is indeed early today.

He looks up when I step inside.

“Good Morning, Ms. Moore.” He smiles. A genuine smile. Not the usual cocky smirk.

“Morning.”

I quickly place my purse and the laptop bag down on the couch. I turn and almost collide with Asher.

“Jeez, don’t creep up on me like that! You almost gave me a heart attack.”

He gives me an apologetic smile before extending his hand. “Here.”

“You got me coffee?” I can’t keep the astonishment out of my voice.

“It’s no big deal.” He shrugs and hands it to me.

Is it safe to drink? I am contemplating it when he interrupts my thoughts.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t poison it.” I look up and catch him smirking.

“That’s not what I was thinking.”

“If you insist.”

“I do.” I frown.

He nods. Still amused. “Let’s go over today’s schedule, shall we?”

I nod and grab my laptop.

“By the way, Ms. Moore.”

I face him. “Yes?”

“You look beautiful.” My cheeks are probably turning red as I feel my face heating up at the unexpected compliment.

“T-thank you.”

Chapter 5

Emily

I jot down the necessary notes from Mr. Cooper’s presentation on one of our gaming apps as per Asher’s demand.

We’re gathered in the conference room for discussing the issues the app is facing.

Mr. Cooper goes on to talk about how the game lagged a couple of times during the increased traffic.

My gaze strays from the notepad and involuntarily turns toward my right, where Asher is sitting at the head of the table. I’m seated six seats away from him.

As usual, Asher looks impeccable in a sky blue shirt with its sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

His jacket and tie are missing, most probably lying haphazardly in his office─a habit he has developed.

He runs his fingers through his hair. Propping his head on his left hand, he releases a sigh.

I bite my lip to suppress the grin that’s threatening to break free. Asher is bored by the meeting he called.

I look away when he rolls his eyes as Mr. Cooper repeats the point he just finished talking.

After the urge of laughing out loud is gone, I look in Asher’s direction again.

My breath hitches because he’s already staring at me.

He surprises me when he mocks Mr. Cooper by making a yapping hand gesture and mouth gibberish words. I let out a little giggle at that.

A slow smile works its way across his face and it reaches his golden eyes.

For a moment, we just sit and stare at each other. Smiling like two fools.

“What are you smiling at?” Mary asks, shattering the moment.

I whip my head in her direction and swiftly say, “Nothing. I ate lasagne last night. I can’t stop daydreaming about it!” I explain, licking my lips for show.

She shakes her head and smiles.

Damn, that was close.

Asher and I have called a silent truce the day he got me coffee three days ago.

He stopped tormenting me by not assigning any more errands that required running around and we even had lunch together in his office.

He’s been dropping me off home every day as well.

I’m liking this side of Asher more.

It's around lunchtime when the meeting wraps up.

I’m collecting my things as everyone piles out of the room.

From my peripheral view, I see few of the female employees I love to hate, lingering around to engage Asher in a conversation.

Something pricks me when Asher chuckles at something one of them says.

Grabbing my things, I walk with purposeful strides. Since they are standing near the door, I have no option but to approach them.

Sidestepping Asher, I move to step out of the room without making eye contact with anyone.

“Ms. Moore,” Asher calls and my feet stop. I don’t turn to face them. I might punch one of the girls.

But why, Emily? What do you care if they are flirting with him? Why are you pissed at the thought of him reciprocating it? You’re well aware of his reputation.

But we kissed.

And I thought we were getting closer.

Sharing morning coffees or having a meal together doesn’t mean that I’m special to him. And that wasn’t even a real kiss. He is not into me. Neither am I. Right?

Warmth spread over my body and I gaze up to find Asher now standing at my side with his big palm resting on my shoulder.

“Huh?”

“I asked if you were hungry?”

Don’t you dare make a sound, stomach! GGRRROOOWWLLLL…

Asher hides his chuckle by coughing in a fist. “Excellent, Let's go. I know a great place.”

Without waiting for a response, he loops his hand with mine and drags me forward.

I turn my head to the three women fuming and glaring in our direction. I shoot them a smug smirk before facing forward.

Wait, I just agreed to lunch with Asher Will. I peek at him and he flashes his white teeth at me.

“What?” I snap.

“Nothing.” He shrugs, and I stop walking.

“Why are we going out for lunch when I always order it for you?”

“Have you ordered it yet?” He untangles his hand only to cross them over his chest.

“Not yet, but I was about to. After dropping my things.” I nod at the bag in my hand.

He glances at it before taking it from my grasp.

That’s when the girls from the conference room come out.

“Hey, Ruby. Be a sweetheart and drop this to my office.” Asher grins and thrusts my bag at her.

“My name is Riley, not Ruby.” She grumbles, but takes it and marches past us like a petulant child. Her friends quickly follow.

I laugh after they are out of sight. That must’ve burned.

Still grinning, I gaze up at him, and my breathing escalates.

Asher is looking at me with an unintelligible look. His lips are parted and his normally warm eyes are abruptly serious.

“Mr. Will?” I ask awkwardly.

“Your smile…” he drawls.

“What about it?”

He shakes his head. “Come on, I’m starving.” He smirks and I flush, remembering how my stomach grumbled earlier.

Huffing, I jog to the elevator with a chuckling Asher following me.

∞∞∞

I check out the quotes and quirky messages framed and hung on the wall to my right of the restaurant while we wait for our food to arrive.

I was surprised Asher brought us to a trendy and cute little restaurant.

I assumed he would suggest going to a swanky place because… well… he is Asher. But choosing this place shows he’s humble.

I cannot wait to devour the delicious, mouth-watering grilled chicken paillard with frisée, tomato confit, and shaved Parmesan.

My stomach makes yet another embarrassing sound. Ugh!

I am extra hungry today as I couldn’t eat anything this morning because I slept through the alarm.

Ro wasn’t there this time to wake me up as she left before me for her work shift.

I see a server coming with what I guess is our order.

Sitting upright in my chair, I stare at the waiter coming my way. Any minute now.

Here he comes.

My lips curl when he is about to reach us… but instead of stopping at our table, he passes right by me, making my face fall.

My shoulders slump.

My eyes snap up when Asher starts laughing.

“Don’t laugh,” I grumble.

“God, you’re so adorable,” Asher says, still laughing.

“And you’re annoying orang─” I stop myself before finishing. For a second, I forgot he is my boss.

All traces of amusement vanishes from his features.

“I missed the nickname.” His magnetic eyes burn into mine.

I’m momentarily transfixed by indecipherable emotions in his voice. I cannot look away. Even if I try to. Even if I want to.

The moment breaks when a server starts setting our plates.

We eat for a few minutes in awkward silence.

In desperate need of breaking the painful silence, I tell him one of my jokes, and that eases up the tension between us.

We talk about our favorite pastimes. He talks about his interests in basketball and art.

Asher seems to be in a good mood.

Can I use this as an opportunity to ask the thing that has been festering in my mind since forever?

“So,” I begin after swallowing a bite.

He abandons his food and gives me his full attention like I’m the most important person to him. I flush under his scrutiny.

“Have you tried boba tea before?” I facepalm internally.

His lips quirk. “I haven’t.”

“You should. We can go to my favorite place next time.”

Did I just ask my boss out on a boba tea date? Kill me!

“I’d love to go.” His smile grows. “Now that that’s out of the way, ask the question you actually wanted to.”

“I just did.”

He raises a brow. How the hell is this man so intuitive?

“Okay…” how do I start this?

“There’s a gossip about you hooking up with one of the T&A employees.” I blurt.

He picks up his fork and resumes eating. He chews slowly, all while I’m stewing.

“What about it?”

My stomach churns at his question.

“Nothing.” I bite out and bring the fork to my mouth. I take an angry bite and chew furiously, before stuffing another bite.

I don’t even swallow before I’m raising it for another bite when he clutches my hand, stopping me.

Our eyes lock.

I’m throwing daggers at him while he appears calm and collective.

“Easy now.”

Unconsciously, I slow the chewing.

“Good girl.” He watches me as his thumb slides back and forth against my skin. “Now swallow.”

I do and his hand leaves mine.

I reach for the glass of water and down it in few gulps.

“It’s made up.”

“What is?” I avoid looking at him.

“The gossip.” I lift my gaze and I’m greeted with the most earnest eyes.

Clearing my throat, I glare at him. “Why the suspense?”

“I loved watching you squirm.”

I roll my eyes. So typical of Asher. “Would you ever quit pestering me?”

“Never.”

My mouth goes slack at his answer. Damn. He’s unapologetic. Clamping my mouth shut, I avert my eyes.

I need to change the topic. Quickly.

Think, Emily.

“You wanna play a game?” I blurt out.

He sees right through me but indulges me by asking, “What game?”

“Ro and I play it whenever we are out and about.”

“Ro?” Asher asks.

“Rochelle, my baby sister. She moved in with me recently. Anyway, whenever Ro and I are out, we people watch and try to gauge their mood. For instance…” I scan the surroundings and my eyes land on a couple seated at the corner of the restaurant.

“Them.” I nod in their direction and Asher turns his head to look before returning his focus to me.

“What about them?” he frowns.

“They are on the verge of breaking up.” he gazes at them again and I follow suit.

“Notice how she’s animatedly using her hands while talking.” I point out.

“But she could be sharing something exciting. How do you know they are fighting? Hell, they could be siblings.” he turns his inquisitive eyes at me.

Before I could say anything, a loud screech echoes the surroundings.

We look in time to see the same woman standing rigidly now.

The man gets to his feet and takes her hand in his. He starts talking which is impossible to hear from where we are seated.

“See? Siblings don’t get touchy-feely. She is about to leave him.”

“I think he would succeed in resolving whatever conflict they are facing.” Asher shrugs.

“I don’t think so.” I motion at the said couple in time for Asher to see her snatching her hand from the man’s grasp.

“Want to bet on it?” Asher asks.

“Seriously?”

Asher remains silent. His eyes are gleaming with smugness.

Oh, how I want to erase that smugness off his face. My winning would surely bruise his huge ego.

“Fine.”

He grins at my agreement.

“If I win, you are going to let me go back to my actual job,” I say before thinking it through.

He is quiet for a moment.

“Deal, but, if I win…” he waits for a second too long to make me sweat. “I’ll cash in on it later.” He finishes.

I shrug. Whatever. I am confident I’m going to win. We look back at the couple again.

What the fuck?

She is seated again, with her hands in his. She’s listening and nodding at the man.

I watch in stunned silence as they lean in to share a kiss. Fuck!

Mason’s right, I’m overconfident sometimes.

“I win, tiny person.”

Chapter 6

Asher

Never in my life did I think I would be despondent at the idea of leaving this office and go back to working from home.

The corporate world was something I found boring. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job. I live for creating something that makes others’ lives easier.

I usually work from the office building whenever Tatum’s not available and am ecstatic whenever he returns. Because that means I can return back to my place. Working behind the scenes.

Now though, I am far from chuffed. Tatum is back from his honeymoon and I’m currently sitting in his office.

That means my two weeks are up. My time with Emily has come to an end. This is the main cause of my somber mood.

I still haven’t asked her out. I need more time.

“You could’ve taken a few more days off, you know,” I tell him.

He regards me over his black-rimmed glasses and cocks an eyebrow.

The arsehole is a man of few words but he is sharp as a tack.

He witnessed how Emily went into my office instead of her cubicle after greeting him this morning.

Even then, he remained silent and studied me with his intelligent grey eyes.

“What?” I snap when he continues to watch me.

“Nothing.” He leans back in his chair. “What is it that you wanted to discuss before leaving?” Tatum asks, referring to my earlier mention of needing to talk.

I cut to the chase and speak, “I want Emily as my assistant.”

“So you decided on working from here?” There’s a slight furrow in his brows as if he can’t quite believe it.

“Of course not. I want Emily to keep assisting me like she had these past two weeks. The only difference is, she’ll be working at my place.”

“What?”

“I want her.” I want her. Plain and simple. I want to have her underneath me, on me, or in any way I can have her.

“Are you out of your mind?” he sits straight and leans forward to rest his forearms on the desk. “Listen to me, Asher. This is Emily we are talking about. She’s my wife’s best friend, not to mention our employee. Don’t forget the non-fraternization policy.”

“Yeah, right.” I deadpan. The bastard married his own PA. Talk about hypocrisy.

“Okay, ignore the last sentence,” He clears his throat before continuing “Serah will have my balls if she finds out I let you drag Emily in whatever the fuck you are planning, and besides, we both know you don’t need an assistant. You already have a virtual assistant, don’t you?”

“Not anymore, no,” I reply calmly.

“I care about Emily. I can’t let you toy with her,” he says curtly.

“I can never hurt her, mate. Trust me.” he knows I never force women and am always upfront about what I want.

If I just wanted to get a quick shag, I would’ve dialed any woman from my contacts and they’d be eager to please me.

This is the longest I’ve gone without sex. So this is certainly not just about sex with Emily. She is different.

I crave intimacy with her. I feel like I’ve conquered the world whenever I make her laugh.

There’s no way in hell I’m ever letting her slip away from my fingers.

Tatum sighs. “Well, you have to ask Emily first. And if she is okay with the arrangement, then, by all means, go ahead. Just be careful. Don’t break her heart. I mean it.” He tells me solemnly.

I nod and leave his office. I send a quick text to Martin, my driver to get the car ready out front.

“Mrs. Shah, please collect my things from my office and send them to my place. I’m leaving now.” Without waiting for her answer, I start walking towards my office.

“Emily, come on, we have to go,” I tell her as I enter and pick up my suit jacket.

“Where are we going?” She asks but stands and collects her handbag.

Not answering her, I shrug on the jacket and walk out the door, knowing she would follow.

Once we are in the lift, she asks, “Where are we going, Mr. Will?”

“You’ve got your things with you?” I know she has, but I ask to keep her preoccupied.

“Yes.”

“Good. You’ll need it.”

“Are we going for a meeting? But I don’t recall seeing any outdoor meeting on your schedule.” She murmurs in confusion.

We walk the distance from the lobby to the front gate in silence.

When I see the black SUV parked at the curb, I guide her towards it with a hand on her lower back. The slight shiver that runs through her body at my touch doesn’t escape my notice.

Opening the door, I usher her inside but she stays put.

I peer down to look at her. Damn, she is tiny, even with her heels on, she is barely reaching my chin.

She cranes her neck to look at me. “Where are we going, Mr. Will? I’m not getting in the car unless you tell me.”

“Okay, first, you can stop calling me Mr. Will.”

“Why? You were the one who wanted that in the first place.” she bites out.

Ah, so she is pissed about that.

That’s what I wanted, to rile her up. To get under her skin, but not anymore. I want to hear her screaming my name at the top of her lungs while she is drowning in pleasure.

“We are not in the office now, are we? So you can call me by my name.” Or cry out. Anything will do.

“Tell me where we are headed, Asher.” She grits, her eyes narrowed.

“We are going to my place. You’ll be working from there as my assistant.”

“Wait, WHAT?!” she takes a few hurried steps back from the open car door and I sigh. Closing it shut, I face her.

“Come on, Emily. You’re wasting my time.”

“What?!” she screeches and I wince.

“Damn, go easy on the ears, please.”

Her mouth opens and closes a few times. Her whole face is red with anger.

I knew she would react this way. That is why I got her outside, otherwise, Tatum wouldn’t have let me do this.

“Don’t make a scene, tiny person.” That does it.

In a flash, she is in my face and her finger against my chest.

“I’M. NOT. A. TINY. PERSON.” She pokes my chest with every word. A huge grin pulls on my face. It feels like our first encounter.

My smile infuriates her even more. I place my hand over hers, caging it before she could take it off my chest.

I lean forward so our lips are only inches apart.

“You will leave with me.”

“Make me.” she challenges.

Chapter 7

Emily

“Make me.”

A spark ignites in his golden eyes but I don’t get to analyze the fire swirling in his expression.

One second he’s standing and the next he sweeps down abruptly, clasps me around my thighs, and lifts me over his shoulder.

“Put me down!” I shout. What the hell is he doing? Oh yeah, I challenged the devil and he is delivering!

From upside down, I see people staring.

“Asher, Goddamnit! Put me down right this second!” I start squirming and gasp when his hand comes down on my ass.

He did not just spank me!

He turns with me on his shoulder and starts toward his car. This is kidnapping!!!

“You assh─” Asher loses his footing, causing me to yelp and hold on to whatever I can find─his ass.

“You were saying?” he mocks. That’s when it registers, he pretended to lose his balance.

“You…” The bastard almost gave me a heart attack!

With his free hand, he opens the backdoor and tosses me inside.

Before I could move, he pushes inside and locks the door. I shift to the other side and glare at him.

“Remember the wager you lost?” he asks and I squint, trying to remember what in the world is he talking about. “You said so yourself you’d do as I say.”

Oh no.

Lunch.

The couple.

Guessing game.

Fuck!

“I knew you would go back on your word.” He sighs and my blood starts to boil again.

“I never go back on my word.”

“It’s okay. I know you can’t handle all this,” He motions to himself. “in close proximity. Especially when we’ll be all alone in my place.”

I glare at him and he smirks, his eyes daring me to say something.

When I remain speechless, he sighs. “You’re free to go.” He says as he fishes out his phone, dismissing me. Just like that.

What would you do now, Emily?

While this cocky bastard does affect me, I refuse to let him see it.

Sitting straighter, I clear my throat. “I’ll need a proper desk to work on this time,” I say without looking at him.

In my peripheral vision, I see him grinning ear to ear. “Done. Anything else?”

“No.”

The driver starts the engine and a shiver roll down my spine. Did I make a mistake in agreeing to do this?

I sneak a glance at him and another round of shudder washes over my body.

I stare at his side profile and numerous thoughts start racing in my mind.

Was he always this cruelly handsome?

His straight nose, those full lips, and that strong jaw.

The gold in his eyes is more prominent as the sunlight pours in the car through the window.

Asher’s ink-black hair is all messed up, probably because he picked me up over his shoulder.

It is truly unfair how he looks so damn good.

“You can stop staring, Emily,” Asher says, turning his head in my direction. Busted.

I fight the heat in my cheeks as I avert my gaze to look out the window.

∞∞∞

I try not to gawk as I set foot in Asher’s penthouse.

Holy fuck! The open layout living room is about the size of a standard three-bedroom apartment.

The floor-to-ceiling windows supply a view of the central park.

Asher gives me a little house tour which is not so little as this place consists of five bedrooms and six bathrooms!

Seriously, I don’t understand rich people. Why need so many bedrooms when you live all alone?

I can’t hold in the gasp when we enter his private solarium.

“Whoa,” was all I could muster. The view is spectacular.

White couches have lined the corners of the room. A coffee table along with two comfy-looking chairs resides at the other side of the room. And a dining table for four on the right.

With glass walls surrounding us, I take in the sunlight streaming through them.

The high glass ceiling is exposing the beautiful blue sky. A dreamy smile lifts the corner of my lips.

“This is so beautiful,” I murmur.

“Indeed. So beautiful.” The sincerity in Asher’s voice drives my attention to him.

He bores his consuming gaze into mine. The intensity in them tells me he wasn’t talking about the solarium at all.

I swallow thickly when he continues to watch me. I could hardly breathe as he takes a step toward me. Then another.

The closer he gets to me, the higher my heart rates spike.

It’s a strange sensation.

A mixture of excitement and trepidation courses through my veins.

Anticipation of what he may do once he reaches me. And anxiousness over his actions affecting my job.

At last, my common sense wins the tug of war and I blurt out, “I’m parched. Can I get a glass of water, please?” Or a tall, brimming glass of wine.

I don’t wait for him and escape the room.

∞∞∞

After touring the second floor of his penthouse which mostly consisted of a gigantic master suite and other guest rooms, we returned to the main floor.

Asher then leads me further into the house, toward his office.

The office is yet another spacious sunlit room.

Like the master and other guestrooms, his office too has floor-length windows.

Right in the middle of the room is a sleek desk that has a laptop and several LED monitors placed on it. All in black and white like the rest of the décor of this place.

“Let me guess, your favorite colors are black and white.” I tease him with a smirk.

“Hilarious.” He says dryly and I scowl at him.

He motions at the table with two chairs to the side. “You can work from there.”

I nod and we start discussing how to make this arrangement work.

∞∞∞

“I missed you so much!” I squeeze Serah into yet another hug since she set foot in my apartment.

“Me too, Em.” She kisses the top of my head.

While Serah returned three days ago from her honeymoon, we decided to meet on my day off.

It has been three days since I am working from Asher’s place.

Three days of sharing meals together.

Only this time, there’s no one but us.

Three days of sneaking glances at each other.

I never imagined the day would come when I would admit that I want him.

Yes, I want Asher Will. But his hotness and greek God looks don’t make up for his annoying self. He indeed is annoying orange.

Feelings are a funny thing. Yesterday, I wanted to strangle and kiss him at the same time. Weird, right?

But I have to say, working from Asher’s home has its own benefits, like the dress code or lack thereof.

We both work in casual clothes than the business suits and skirts. It's refreshing and frustrating at the same time.

Frustrating because now Asher works in tight white t-shirts and gray sweatpants.

A day before yesterday he was wearing a muscle shirt that showcased his strong biceps.

Keeping eyes off him is becoming harder and harder as each day passes.

“Hey Ro, How are you?!” Serah pulls Rochelle in for a hug. We all sit in the living room and chat.

“So how was your honeymoon?” I wag my eyebrows, teasing her. She laughs and blushes but goes on and on about how amazing Tatum is.

“I had no idea Tatum can talk dirty to me!” Serah giggles, her blue eyes twinkling.

Ro gets flustered and wide-eyed at that and I can’t hold back my laughter.

Serah takes notice of how Rochelle is blushing furiously and changes the topic.

“Anyone hungry?” Serah asks.

“ME!” I shout. Because food.

“Let's order takeout or better yet we could go out to eat!” Serah suggests.

“Um, How about I cook?” Rochelle smiles, her green eyes brightening.

“HELL YES!” I exclaim making them laugh.

∞∞∞

“I missed this,” Serah says, and I smile at her.

“Me too.”

We are watching dirty dancing after the delicious brunch Ro prepared.

I’m lying on the sofa while Ro is curled on the piles of pillows and blankets on the floor and Serah on the lounge chair to my left.

“I forgot the snacks.” Rochelle starts to get up but I push down on her shoulders. I swear this girl can’t sit still.

“I’ll get them.”

With hands full of chips and gummy bears and whatnot, I pass a few of them to Serah and Ro before resuming my position on the couch.

I wiggle when I feel the vibration against my side. Fuck, I was lying on my phone.

Grabbing it, I see an incoming text.

Butterflies take flight in my stomach when I read the sender’s name.

Asher: What are you doing?

He is thinking of me. I shake my head. Of course not.

Perhaps, the text might be to discuss something work-related.

Emily: Hey, did you need anything?

There. Not rude. Not flirty. Just straight-up professional. His reply is instant.

Asher: You didn’t answer my question, Emily.

I can practically hear this message in my brain in his husky, demanding voice.

Emily: You didn’t answer mine.

Grinning like a lunatic, I hug the phone.

When it vibrates again, I pull it away and read his next message.

Asher: I miss you.

W.H.A.T???? my heart starts beating fast as I read his message again. And then again.

Asher Will is missing me on my day off! The surge of giddiness takes me by surprise. I’m behaving like a high schooler with a crush.

I miss your annoying ass too. Just as I am typing the same, I receive another message.

Asher: Missed having your assistance. The whole day was hectic. Come by an hour early tomorrow to catch up with work. As you’re free, log in to the server of the Bikerz gaming app and answer the pending emails from the users.

Aaarrrggghhh! I. HATE. HIM.

“What the fuck, Em?” Serah’s startled eyes meet mine. I turn to find Rochelle gaping at me.

“I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

“More like busted a lung.” Serah frowns. “What’s wrong? Who were you talking about?”

“No one.”

“Asher.”

Rochelle and I speak at the same time. My head whips in her direction.

Serah gasps. “You’re hiding things from me?”

“There’s nothing to hide.” I roll my eyes before glaring at Ro.

I formed a routine of ranting about Asher every day religiously after work for the last seventeen days of my working as his assistant.

“Asher asked me to assist him when he started working from the office in Tatum’s absence.” I sigh.

I go on and tell her about the arrangement of me working from his penthouse purposely omitting the bet and how he carried me over his shoulder when I threw a tantrum.

“You can refuse to continue as Tatum’s back.”

“It's complicated.” I get up from the couch to fetch my laptop.

“Is he overworking you? Do you want me to talk to Tatum about this?”

This might be the perfect opportunity. She could help me get out of this situation.

When I part my lips to speak, I shock myself by saying, “No. He doesn’t burden me with too much work. In fact, I kind of prefer this arrangement as I get to dress however I like.”

With that, I go to my room to get my laptop so that I could work while watching the movie. There’s no way I’m letting Asher ruin my girls' night.

Chapter 8

Emily

“Is it okay if I leave now?” I ask in a terse tone.

“There’s still an hour left,” Asher says.

I can feel his probing eyes on me but I refuse to make eye contact. The day was hectic enough, I don’t want to involve in a verbal spar with him.

Taking a deep breath, I point out, not so subtly that I came an hour early from my normal working hours.

Being on the phone all day has given me a bad case of headache.

“Is something wrong?” He frowns.

Yes, everything.

After yesterday’s text exchange, all the progress we made with each other went down the drain.

That familiar yet annoying pang of disappointment hits me again.

For a second, I really thought he might be thinking of me and wanted to text me.

Stupid, stupid girl.

“Just tired.” Finally looking up, I give him a tight smile.

He’s wearing a black t-shirt that stretches across his broad chest along with ripped jeans today.

“There’s nothing a hot cup of coffee wouldn’t cure, right?”

A smile curls my lips. Maybe he wants me here a bit longer. And he is so thoughtful. I could do with a steaming cup of coffee. Especially if he is offering. “Yeah.”

“Make one for me too.” He winks and shoots me his signature grin before he gets back to work.

I stand, grinding my teeth.

I am itching to knock that grin off his face. Either by kissing him or punching him.

I leave the room before I could act on my urges.

I step into his massive eat-in kitchen.

It is so vast, that it also has a separate breakfast area. The sight of black matte cabinets and a black marble countertop makes me want to learn cooking.

Opening one of the handleless cabinets, I retrieve two cups and start toward the intimidating-looking coffee machine.

I wince at the reminder of the day when Asher asked me to make coffee and I couldn’t because of the machine’s complexity.

I still can’t claim that I’ve tamed this beast of a machine, but one day I will!

As I am about to walk out with the cups, my phone vibrates in my jeans pocket. Setting the cups on the counter, I retrieve the phone to see Mason’s picture flashing on the screen.

With a genuine smile, I answer.

“Emmy!” Lucas’s voice takes me by surprise before I could talk.

“Lucas? Hey! What’s up? and why are you calling from Mason’s phone?”

“Oh, I don’t even remember where my phone is. Anyhoo, GUESS WHAT?”

“What?!” I ask.

“Mason proposed!” He exclaims and I can’t help squealing in delight.

“CONGRATULATIONS! Tell me everything!” I practically bounce with excitement.

My somber mood is lifted with that news.

“Let’s do a group video call!”

I groan. “I can’t. I’m still at work. How about at eight p.m.?” I suggest and Lucas agrees.

“Great! I can hardly wait. Where’s Mason?” I ask.

“Oh, he’s napping.”

“At this hour?” I frown, even if he can’t see me.

“Oh, the sexathon wore him out.” He snickers.

“TMI, Lucas!” and we both start laughing.

“Oh, by the way, I am planning a party and you have to come to see us!”

Obviously, I would. I will never miss it for anything in the world.

“Who the fuck are you talking to?”

I whirl around to see a very pissed-off Asher stalking toward me.

I hear Lucas’s voice through my phone and vaguely register him still talking.

“I’ll call you later, okay?” I whisper before hanging up as Asher reaches me.

“Who was he?” He snaps, his eyes flaring with anger.

“What?” I stare at him in puzzlement.

“Who were you flirting with, Emily?” He demands, taking a step toward me.

“It’s none of your business.” I lift my chin but take a step backward.

“Well, it is my business, Emily as I walked in on you giggling and bouncing when all day long you have been giving me the cold shoulder.” Asher closes the distance between us in three purposeful strides.

Is he fucking serious? He’s going to play dumb now? I’ve had enough. “You know what? Fuck off!” I sidestep him and walk out of there and enter his living room. He follows.

“Real mature, Emily. Run. That might be the only thing you’re good at.”

I freeze. I know what he’s referring to. The solarium incident. I’ve been running the other way whenever we shared an intimate moment.

But can’t a girl be shy or nervous? I’ve never been with a man like him.

He… intimidates me with those intense eyes.

And he’s one to talk when he says one thing and means another.

Take yesterday’s text conversation for instance. One second he made my heart skip a beat by sending an ‘I miss you’ text. And another second, he walked all over my feelings by adding that stupid text that said he missed my assistance.

I spin on my heels and stalk toward him.

“If I’m good for nothing then why the fuck were you hell-bent on having me here?” My voice rises.

He seems momentarily speechless but I am certainly not done. “Tell me, Asher Will. Answer me, why the fuck do you keep staring at me? Do you think I don’t know? Is this your professionalism? Was this the reason you asked me to work for you? Do you want to get in my pants?”

He smirks. “If I wanted to get in your pants, you would be on your back with your legs spread wide open for me to fuck you into oblivion the first day we met, darling.”

“You are a grade-A delusional asshole!” I shout in his face. My breathing is labored by the anger that’s coursing in my veins.

“And you’re a fucking cocktease. Bending over way too much to pick things up around me. Checking out my arse whenever you think I’m unaware. Do you think I don’t know?” He counters with a mocking smile that makes me violent.

I don’t want to do this. I turn to leave but he grabs my hand.

“Running again?” he taunts.

“Let me go.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I’ll fucking bite you.”

“I dare you.”

Not thinking, I bring his arm that’s holding mine prisoner to my mouth and bite down.

I bite it with every bit of my frustration.

When Asher remains silent, I release his hand and lift my eyes to look at him. That’s when he catches me off guard.

With lightning speed, Asher strikes out. Clutching the back of my neck, he yanks me to him. All air seems to leave my lungs as my breasts crash against his firm, hard chest.

He then slides his fingers into my hair and gives it a firm tug to tilt my head back.

He leans down so dangerously close that our lips brush for a second.

“Do that again and I’ll make you fucking scream by biting all over this tight little body of yours,” he growls against my lips.

Chapter 9

Emily

Closing my eyes, I turn to lie on my side. After a few minutes, I lay on my back, trying to find a comfortable position to fall asleep.

“Do that again and I’ll fucking make you scream by biting all over this tight little body of yours.”

My eyes snap open with a gasp. My mind is tormenting me by playing Asher’s words on loop.

He was right. I always run.

After he uttered those words against my lips, I staggered back and ran. Literally. I was so out of it that I couldn’t even concentrate on the group video call with Lucas.

Asher Will is a jackass and an asshole. And I hate him. Or maybe I hate the fact that he makes me so wet.

I remember the unmistakable bulge against the bottom of my stomach when I was pressed against him. He was so hot and hard. Hard for me.

Suddenly feeling hot and bothered, I strip off my tank top and shorts along with my panties.

Reaching between my legs, I’m shocked to find myself already slick.

I touch my aching clit with the tips of fingers and my whole body jerks at the zap of pleasure.

My breath comes in short pants as I slide down and slip a finger inside me.

Closing my eyes, I picture Asher standing at the foot of my bed.

Brazenly, I start fucking myself with my finger. The thought of Asher watching me pleasuring myself is making me wetter by the second.

“Oh yes…” I moan out loud as I come. My body quivers in the aftermath.

Even after the climax, I am not satisfied.

Instead, it has left me craving for more.

∞∞∞

After yesterday’s incident, now it is Asher who’s avoiding me.

He asked me to work from the living room instead of his office.

I am somewhat relieved because the sight of him reminds me of how I came for him last night.

Shaking it off, I concentrate on work.

Asher finally emerges from the hallway with a phone to his ear.

He strolls lazily into the living area as I’m wrapping up the zoom meeting.

Shutting my laptop, I stand and approach him. “What would you like for lunch today?”

Instead of answering, he just stands there staring at me.

His eyes slowly trail down my body.

I’m wearing a simple striped linen mini dress. And I’m slaying my no-makeup makeup look.

I could say I’m wearing the short dress because of the stifling heat of New York summer but I’d be lying.

I revel in the way Asher devours me with his gaze.

“Yeah, I’ll pick you in ten.” He speaks to the person on the call and my stomach dips. My whole body stiffens when I hear a female’s muffled voice.

I try to keep my face as blank as possible because Asher is still watching me intently.

The woman over the phone says something I can’t make out, but it is clear enough that he won’t be having lunch with me like usual.

He has plans. Plans that don’t involve me.

“I’m looking forward to seeing you. It’s been a while. I missed you.” He says those things to her while his eyes stay locked on mine.

My nose tingles and my eyes start to burn. What the fuck?

Blinking rapidly, I turn and march to the sofa where my purse lay along with my laptop.

I hear him hanging up but I don’t wait for him to rub the fact that he’s going out in my face.

“I’m going out for lunch,” I announce, taking my purse and slinging it over my shoulder.

For the first time in my life, I lost my fucking appetite.

I start toward the elevator. This penthouse is ridiculously huge. The walk is never-ending. It's taking me forever to reach my destination.

I’m almost close to the elevator when a hand closes on my elbow, turning me so fast I almost end up losing my balance.

My purse slips from my shoulder and falls to the floor.

“Let go of me.” I snap at Asher. Instead, he grips my upper arms and jerks me against his body.

“Are you fucking deaf? I said let me go!”

He leans down. “No.” his nails dig in my arms, making me wince.

“You’re hurting me, damn it!” my voice cracks as I fist my fingers and hit his chest. Over and over and he takes it.

After a minute, I am out of breath with the exertion.

“Are you done?” He snaps. His golden eyes glinting like liquid fire as he stares at me.

“Are you? I’m starting to believe you are suffering from multiple personality disorder.” I glare up at him, my neck hurts from how far back I have to tilt it to see this tall bastard!

“Seriously, what do you want, Asher? Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” I ask, swallowing the lump in my throat.

He just continues to stare down at me with rage and heat swirling in his eyes.

“I don’t want to go.” He says, and I frown at him.

“Ask me what I want again.” Asher leans into me, his lips almost touching mine.

“No!” I pull away, or as far as I can.

“God, you’re stubborn. And I fucking love it.” He glances at my lips and my insides tighten.

My breathing quickens as I see him inching closer.

Asher’s going to kiss me.

My eyes start to close but then I remember how he said I missed you to the woman on the phone.

My eyes snap open at that.

“Go and toy with the woman you were talking to. I’m not interested.” I push away from his hold.

I can’t believe I was about to let him kiss me.

I might be attracted to him, but I refuse to be his play thing.

I will never be anyone’s second option, no matter how much I want or crave that person.

“I was talking to Mrs. Shah.”

“WHAT?” My eyes widen. Asher and Mrs. Shah? I think I’m going to be sick.

At my horrified expression, he starts chuckling.

“Don’t jump to the conclusions just yet. Mrs. Shah was equally horrified by that bizarre phone call.” He rubs his neck as he looks away.

Huh?

Wait, what?

“Don’t tell me you pulled that stunt to make me what? Jealous?” I watch him, stupefied by the fact that he could do something like this.

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I want you!” he snarls and within seconds, Asher is on me. His hands cupping either side of my face. Like he is about to kiss me.

I close my eyes. My fingers slide up to his chest and I fist his t-shirt. I push on my toes to erase the gap between us. His warm breath caresses my lips. I want his lips on mine like I need air.

Our lips connect and…

Ping!

We break apart at the sound of the elevator door opening.

A man clad in a gray sweater and dark wash jeans enters the penthouse. A man who’s a spitting image of my boss.

“Fuck, I forgot Alan was arriving today,” Asher mutters

“Thank you for picking me up, arsehole.” Alan walks in with a tan brown duffle bag, followed by Martin, who’s carrying his luggage.

“Thank you.” He nods at Martin.

After Martin leaves, Alan reaches to where we are standing.

By the proximity, I can see his eyes. They are a shade of chocolate. Dark brown.

I watch as they share a quick hug.

“Emily, meet my younger brother, Alan,” Asher says after he pulls away.

Alan extends his hand to me and I take it.

“Hello, nice to meet you, Ms…?” he asks in a deep, serious voice.

“Moore. I’m Mr. Will’s PA.” I squeak. I have no idea why I added that but I did.

“You must be tired. Why don’t you go ahead and get settled in your room?” Asher says abruptly, glaring at our hands that are still clasped in a handshake. I pull it away quickly.

Alan lifts an eyebrow as he regards us with amusement─though it is pretty hard to tell.

He appears to be my age, but he looks very intimidating.

“No, I am not. I grabbed a cup of coffee on my way here. It chased away every bit of my exhaustion.” Alan says with a faraway look in his eyes.

“Do you want me to order something for you guys to eat on my way out?” I ask and flush when the two men turn their attention at me.

I notice how freakishly tall they are compared to my five feet three.

Asher is an inch taller than Alan.

Anyone could tell they are brothers as they both have ink-black hair. They even have the same muscular ‘but on the leaner side’ physique.

The only difference is that Asher’s eyes are golden and bright. Whereas Alan’s dark brown eyes are impenetrable.

Wiping my sweaty palms on my dress, I wait for them to speak.

My heart is still throbbing from the almost kiss and now I’m under the scrutiny of two handsome men, of course, I’m nervous and fidgety. And I’m trying hard not to swoon over their accent.

“Please join us.”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

The two brothers speak at the same time.

Obviously, Asher’s the one with that commanding tone. I’m so tempted to defy him but I rein it in for Alan.

“Sure.” I give Alan a polite smile and pick up my purse from the floor.

Chapter 10

Emily

“Emily!” Rochelle cries out, startling the shit out of me. She takes the water container from my hand and manhandles me to the side.

She then takes my place behind the kitchen counter where I was adding water to the mixture in the bowl.

“What?” I scowl at her profile.

“Look!” She points at the bowl. I have never seen Rochelle this agitated.

I gaze down and cringe. Now I know the cause of her wrath.

I’ve added water to the flour a bit more than the proportion. Now it’s all runny.

“I’m sorry!” I feel guilty when I see Rochelle pinching the bridge of her nose.

“That’s it. Spill,” she says, looking up.

“What are you talking about?” I avert my eyes and head into the living room.

Sitting on the sofa, I turn on the TV, hoping she would drop the topic.

“Why did you call in sick when you are absolutely fine?” Rochelle stomps over and stands in front of me with her hands on her hips.

“You are blocking my view, Ro,” I grumble.

“I’m not giving up until you start talking.” She folds her arms over her chest and taps her right leg repetitively on the ground.

“I didn’t feel like going and I didn’t take a single day off since I have started working at T&A, so it's not a big deal.” I roll my eyes.

I’m not counting the day where Asher gave me the day off and I spent it relaxing in the spa. Hmmm. Good times.

“Okay, fair enough. Do you have any possible explanation about why you are so fidgety this morning?”

“I am not fidgety.” I glare at her.

She only stares pointedly at my knee. I look down to watch it bouncing up and down. I stop the movement with a hand.

She moves to sit next to me and takes my hands in hers.

“You wanna talk about it?” She murmurs softly.

I shouldn’t have forced Rochelle to teach me cooking. I thought keeping myself occupied would take my mind off certain someone.

The way Asher said he wants me so bluntly ignited a spark inside of me.

Every nerve ending in my body was sizzling with want and need.

But my mind is full of what-ifs.

What if I get too attached at the end. Who am I kidding? I am already attached to him. I’m already so addicted to being around him.

He wants me, but what if it’s just for a fling. Or a one-night stand. I’m so not the fling kind of girl. Not because I have something against the concept or judge the people who prefer it.

The reason why those things aren’t my cup of tea is that I form attachments too soon. And physical intimacy with Asher would only grow my feelings for him.

So instead of talking to him, what did I do? I took the day off by texting him a flimsy excuse.

Did that do me any good? Hell no. My inner turmoil just kept swirling until I couldn’t take it anymore. Hence, the cooking lessons with Ro.

When I told her that I wanted to try my hand in cooking, she just stared at me as if I’ve grown another head, but she agreed nonetheless.

After ruining the omelet by sprinkling powdered sugar instead of salt, and now totally messing up her cinnamon rolls dough, she has lost her patience.

At my silence, she asks, “Is this about Asher?”

I groan and lean back against the sofa.

“I’ll take that as a yes. So what has Asher done that forced you into hiding away from him?”

“I’m not hiding!”

“Are too.” She teases, bumping her shoulder against mine.

“Rochelle!”

“Emily.”

We stare at each other for a few seconds before giving into the urge to laugh.

After our laughter recedes, I start talking.

Like really talking until I can’t breathe. I start from the very beginning and tell her everything.

From how Asher kissed me in the Maldives to how he lied about meeting someone, and to him confessing about wanting me minutes before his brother arrived.

“Do you like him?” Rochelle asks.

“He’s infuriating… and cocky.”

“Answer me, Emily. It’s a simple yes or no question. If you don’t like him, you should be upfront about it and I’m sure he would stop his advancements. You running away is confusing him, don’t you think?”

“What if I do like him?” I mutter and feel my face warming.

“Then I think you should tell him. It is always better than living with regrets.” She smiles wryly at me. “If you do decide on making a move, be careful. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

With that, she gets up and heads to the kitchen to clean up the mess.

∞∞∞

I’m lying in my bedroom, scrolling through Instagram while munching on snacks.

Rochelle is off to her afternoon shift and I’m getting bored out of my mind.

My phone starts to go off in my hand and I see Asher’s name.

“Hello,” I say, my heart beating out of my chest.

“Emily.” I’m momentarily transfixed by the deep timbre of his voice. I missed his voice. I missed seeing him today. Even though he annoys me, I missed being around him.

I’m starting to think he is not so bad.

When he repeats my name, I reply with “Huh?”

“I asked if you’re done pretending to be sick, can you make it to the meeting with the Youngs?”

I take my words back. I still hate him!

“But Mrs. Shah was supposed to accompany Tatum for the meeting.” I try hard not to sound pissed but Asher’s not helping.

“Well, Tatum can’t make it. He has plans with Serah. So you and I are going to this dinner meeting. I’ll pick you up at six.” He hangs up. My fingers curl around my phone.

He makes me want to hurl something. So I do.

Oh no, not the phone. It’s fucking precious.

Grabbing the pillow, I throw it across the room with all my might. Feels good.

Chapter 11

Asher

I’m parked right where we first met. Or more like collided. I am ten minutes early because I missed her today. I never thought I would say this, especially about a woman.

Growing up in a household where parties and social gatherings were more significant to my parents than their own children, I built myself to never grow attachments with anyone.

The main reason I never dated is my dysfunctional family. I never looked back when I went to Harvard after Dad’s passing. Mum never tried to repair our broken relationship and to be honest, I was relieved.

I was drowning in liquor and girls. Meeting Tatum in Harvard was kind of like a saving grace.

Even being polar opposites, we realised how great our team was when we were paired for an assignment.

The rest was history. I settled in New York and forgot all about London.

My only guilt is leaving Alan behind. He was barely fourteen when I left for college.

Five years my junior, Alan was pretty close to me. He saw me as his hero.

It might be because we were each other’s only company growing up. He was always this laid-back, fun-loving teen. Like me. But it changed the year I left.

With all the distractions in college, I forgot about him. Or maybe I turned a blind eye. And then, T&A took up a good portion of my time.

When T&A was up and running, I wanted to call him and share the news but I stopped myself. It took me months to gather the courage to contact him.

Calling didn’t seem right, so I flew there to meet him on his nineteenth birthday. He wasn’t the young, carefree boy anymore.

He was more… closed off. His eyes were oddly unemotional. Sharp but solemn.

He wasn’t himself anymore. We had the most awkward dinner where I was the one making miserable attempts to talk. But getting him to talk was like pulling teeth.

That didn’t deter me though. I made it my mission to rectify my mistakes and repair our relationship. I flew back and forth frequently to spend time with my brother. It took time, but he accepted my unspoken apology.

I am happy to be closer to him. It is not like the old times where he was more open and expressive towards me, but I can live with what he has to offer.

I had to endure few encounters with Mum while I visited Alan. She always wanted me to take over the family business and I had no interest in being a hotelier.

During one of our family dinners, she expressed her distaste towards my company. She had very colourful things to say about me being in the States and whatnot.

That was the last straw of testing my patience with Lydia Will.

I feel bad for Alan. He still has to put up with her bullshit.

Regardless of this, he completed his MBA from Oxford and climbed up the ladder in our family business with his steel will and ruthless dedication.

He could’ve easily opted to be on top but instead wanted to work his way up. Now he is the owner of Will’s Valley Hotels.

Earlier, The Will’s Valley was only operating from the UK. In the past few years, Alan has travelled places like Kauai, Hawaii, Berlin, Denver and built Will’s Valley according to the preference of people in that region.

He’s here to expand The Will’s Valley in New York. Alan’s vision is to offer easy access to the city’s most popular sites. So he’ll be around for a long time. And I’m beyond thrilled.

Being the perfectionist, he set out to work the very same day he landed here. The first thing he did this morning was moving into the penthouse two floors down from mine.

Apparently, he made the necessary arrangements several months prior. Which left me all alone today and Emily took the day off.

She doesn’t know the fact that I had to convince Tatum to let me attend this meeting so I could spend some time with her.

By convincing means, I owe him a fucking favour that he would cash in whenever he sees fit.

A knock at my passenger door window grabs my attention. Emily crouches to peek in and I’m struck by her beauty.

She knocks again, this time with furrowed brows.

Oh, shit, she is still outside. I should go out and help her in like a gentleman.

Unlocking the doors of my Aston Martin DB11, I am about to get out when she opens the door and gets in.

I suck in a breath when my eyes take all of her in. She is wearing a tight little black dress that shows a hint of her cleavage.

My jaw clenches when I see the dress has ridden up on her mid-thighs, showcasing her pale legs.

“What are you wearing?” I growl, looking at her.

Emily regards me with puzzlement. “A dress?”

“Go back inside and change.” I grind out. The push and pull between us is driving me fucking nuts.

When I admitted I want her, what did she do? She took the day off to avoid me.

I would’ve moved the fuck on if I had an ounce of doubt that she isn’t interested or that I make her uncomfortable.

My patience is already running thin, and on top of that, we are meeting the Young siblings. Scarlet and Emmett.

I’ve met Emmett Young a handful of times to know he is a nasty pervert. If I had the slightest idea that Emmett would be attending the dinner I would have never persuaded Tatum to let me attend this business dinner.

I can’t let that bastard see her like this.

“No,” she says calmly.

“Do as I say, Emily, or we are going to be late.”

“Give me one good reason why I should change?” She glares at me. Her green eyes glinting with anger.

Fuck, I want to kiss the defiance out of her.

“It is inappropriate for a business dinner.”

“Didn’t stop you from ogling me a minute ago.” She gives back and we glare at each other.

I lean into her, invading her personal space. “I want you to change because I can’t stand any other man staring at what’s mine.”

“W-What?” she stutters but doesn’t pull away.

“How long are you going to keep this up, Emily?” I demand and her pupils dilate.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She breathes before gulping.

“This pretence that you don’t want me, that you don’t burn for me as I for you.” I gaze at her lips.

Fuck me, those plump lips are painted in red, and the sight makes me want to bite on them. Suck on them. Feast on them.

Groaning inwardly, I pull away abruptly and face ahead. I won’t lay a fucking finger on her unless she wants it. Unless she asks for it. I don’t want her to regret anything that would happen between us.

Clearing my throat, I speak, “Are you going anytime soon?”

“No. Either you drive or I leave,” she says, and my jaw hardens.

Without a word, I start the engine and head to our destination.

Chapter 12

Asher

I shove a bite of palate cleanser in my mouth. What little patience I had is waning fast.

“You know, you need a sorbet when you’re doing a seven-course meal such as this,” Emmett says to Emily.

“It serves as a break in between dishes so you could enjoy the richness of flavors of the next dish.” He continues to speak to her.

From my peripheral view, I see Emily nodding politely at his bullshit.

Emmett has been flirting his arse off since the moment he and his sister joined us for dinner.

They arrived fifteen minutes late, blaming it on the rush hour when clearly they wanted to imply that they are the bigger deal amongst us.

The Youngs are old money with investments in many sectors such as oil, tourism, and many other sectors.

Tatum scored this meeting two months ago. Mr. K. Young, the father of Scarlet and Emmett, wants to create an app to manage his tourism sector of business.

It would’ve been nice if Mr. K. Young, himself tried to meet us instead of sending his brats.

“Tell me more about yourself, Asher.” Scarlet purrs. I glance at her.

“There’s not much to tell. How about you tell us about your vision for this app.” I put my fork down and give her my full attention. Anything to get my mind off her brother, whom I am so close to beat the shit out of.

We are seated at the round table with Scarlet to my left and Emily to my right.

It really pissed me the fuck off when Emmett ended up sitting next to Emily.

“Oh, we could discuss that at another meeting. A meeting that involves only the two of us…” She gives me a sultry look with her hooded eyes as her hand lands on my thigh.

I clasp her hand before it could travel any further and take it off me. I’m about to give Scarlet a piece of mind when Emily stands abruptly.

“Excuse me, I have to use the bathroom.” She says, her eyes down, and leaves.

“What did you say to her?” I ask Emmett. My hands balling into fists. He must have done something that had Emily upset. I’m done being polite.

“I’m sorry?” He frowns.

“You’ll be fucking sorry if you don’t tell me what happened.” I snarl.

“What the fuck did you just say to me?” Emmett stands. I push to my feet to stand when Scarlet’s fingers close around my forearm.

“I suggest you keep your hands to yourself, Ms. Young. Do you want me to teach you some manners that you and your brother are obviously lacking?” She gasps and snatches her hand away. Much better.

“The deal is off.” She stands.

I roll my eyes at that. Bloody typical. “I am shocked.”

“You…” Emmett starts but Scarlet stops him.

She gives me one last glare before saying, “Come on, Emmett.”

∞∞∞

“Oh, you’re back. Thought you ditched me and left.” I say when I see Emily walking towards me.

“What happened? Where are they?” she motions to the two empty seats.

“They left.” I shrug, sipping the scotch I just ordered.

“What?!” She whisper-shouts before taking a seat next to me. “Why did they leave in the middle of dinner?”

“I might’ve said something to Emmett after you left.” I shrug, taking another sip.

“What?” her brows furrow.

“You are fucking beautiful,” I say, reaching up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. Her cheeks turn pink as she averts her eyes.

“You’re avoiding the topic.”

“Like you?” I smirk when her eyes fly to mine.

“What?” She gasps.

I lean into her, “If I hear that word one more time, I’ll take you across my knee.”

She gapes at me and I grin.

“Go on, say it.”

When she remains silent, I sigh. “I confronted him after he made you leave the table like that.”

“Wha─” She stops herself before the word could get out. Smart girl.

“He didn’t, I mean I wasn’t upset because of him.” She says.

“Then what was the reason?” I sit straighter, abandoning the glass.

“You.” She glares at me.

“What?”

“I saw you two...” She grinds out the words.

“You have to elaborate, Emily.”

“I saw Scarlet touching you.” Emily’s face reddens, this time with anger.

“Were you jealous?” I smirk.

She scoffs. “More like embarrassed. Can’t you keep it in your pants for two seconds?”

∞∞∞

Emily

I know I messed up the moment those words escape my lips. I start to apologize but Asher stands abruptly and motions for the check.

Not waiting for me, he starts in the direction of the exit and I follow. I have never seen Asher this angry. My stomach sinks at the thought of hurting him. What was I even thinking? I acted rashly, working on pure jealousy.

“Asher, I am sorry.” I grab his hand, stopping him when he gestures to the valet to get the car.

He jerks his hand away from my hold but I grab it again.

He turns to look at me with a blank expression. Intertwining our fingers, I twist on my heels and start walking, dragging him with me, and stop at a darkened alley.

He pulls away from my grasp and folds his hands over his chest when I face him.

“I’m sorry.” I bite my lip, concerned at his silence.

“Say something, please,” I murmur.

“What do you want me to say? Thank you so much for thinking so low of me?” His voice is ice cold and detached.

I start to shake my head but he cuts me off with a hand. “You know what’s ironic? Ever since you came barreling into my life, I didn’t even think about touching another woman.” He lets out a humorless laugh.

“Asher, please listen,”

“Now you listen to my next question very carefully, Emily, because I’m never going to ask you again. Do you want to be mine?”

My breath hitches and words get stuck in my throat. I could feel my heartbeat in my ears.

Silence looms. It feels like an eternity when in reality only seconds have passed.

Swallowing hard, I part my lips, “Asher─”

He chuckles darkly. “Save any rubbish excuse you’re about to say.” With that, he starts walking away.

My heart sinks with each step he takes.

I bolt toward him and grab a fistful of his suit jacket and force him to face me again.

“I can’t pretend anymore,” I say, gazing up at him. Wrapping my fingers around his tie, I pull him to me.

“I’m yours,” I murmur before pressing my lips to his.

A rough groan emits from his throat before he kisses me back with a force that takes my breath away.

His hands wrap around my waist, pulling me flush against his body.

Pleasure radiates through my veins like molten lava.

I can’t believe we are kissing. Finally, kissing. Days' worth of pent-up desires erupts, heightening my senses.

All I can do is feel him. Nothing else exists in this moment. Just him.

Asher pushes me up against the wall, breaking the kiss.

His wild golden eyes roam over my face hungrily. I can feel my panties growing damp with every passing second from his look alone.

The sight of Asher panting makes me weak in the knees.

My knees buckle, but Asher stops me from crumpling by jerking my hips to his.

I gasp when I feel his length against my stomach.

He leans down and I close my eyes, craving his lips on mine again.

“Don’t you dare hide from me.” he rasps against my lips.

I open my eyes to gaze at his beautiful face.

Eyes locked on mine, Asher pushes his thigh between my legs. The movement rides my already short dress up.

“Please,” I breathe as I rub my lace-clad pussy on his hard thigh. The fact that I’m straddling Asher’s thigh with my dress riding up in a darkened alley is dirty and shameful, but it still doesn’t stop me from grinding on him.

He crushes his chest to mine while his hand guides my hips up and down his thigh.

“Please what?” The feeling of his warm breath against my lips drives me crazy with need.

Snaking my arms around his neck, I flick my tongue over his lower lip. “Kiss me, Asher, I want you to claim m─” He slams his mouth down on mine, making me gasp.

He uses the chance to plunge his tongue inside. I kiss him back with equal hunger, matching his fire.

I suck his bottom lip in my mouth, and when he moans, my nipples harden.

He tilts his head to the side, deepening the kiss.

I claw at his hair as I continue to kiss him like a starved woman. My lungs protest for air but I don’t want to break away from him.

After a few more minutes of devouring each other, Asher bites my lower lip. Hard.

Whimpering, I break my mouth free.

“Ow, That hurt.” I glare at him, breathing hard.

“Good, Can’t wait to make you scream,” Asher says before he grabs my hand and starts walking.

Chapter 13

Emily

As soon as we enter the penthouse, I hurry to the floor-length glass window and fish out my phone from the clutch. The beautiful view of New York City at night from this height is breathtaking.

I’m texting Rochelle that I won’t be returning home tonight when Asher’s hand snakes around my waist.

My breathing grows shallow as his hand travels up to cup my right breast over the dress.

“Patience,” I chide. Asher responds by squeezing it hard and pushing his hips into my ass. His erection feels hot and hard through the layers of our clothes.

As soon as I hit send, Asher snatches my phone from my fingers and tosses it on the couch.

“Hey!”

He turns me swiftly and pushes me against the glass window. The first thing I notice is that his suit jacket and tie are missing.

And the second thing I register is his height. Our height difference makes me shiver, in a good way.

He leans in and my eyes droop with pleasure, his lips lingering just above mine. Instead of kissing me, which I was guessing his next move would be─He asks, “Are you hungry?”

“Huh?”

“We left before the fifth course.”

“Oh, yes. I mean no, I am not hungry.”

“A drink then?”

“No, thank you.” I smile up at him awkwardly as I try my best not to squirm at the close proximity.

“Good,” he says, before his lips capture mine.

Bending down, his hands slide down to my ass and hoist me up. Purely on instinct, I wrap my legs around his waist like I’ve been doing this forever. I moan into his mouth when he grinds his erection against my pussy.

My breasts feel heavy and my pussy aches with need.

It can be because I haven’t gotten laid in forever, but that would be a lie.

I crave this man.

My previous two serious boyfriends couldn’t bring these undercurrents, this thrill, this madness in me that Asher does.

I have no idea when my hate turned into burning lust for him. No idea when I started craving him.

Asher continues to ravage my mouth as he moves to sit on the couch.

After what feels like forever, he pulls away. Our eyes tangle and I feel the heat of his body radiating against mine. The intimacy of the moment takes my breath away.

His eyes devour me. The way he is looking at me with so much want, makes me feel sexy and brave.

Placing my hands on his shoulder, I start to grind on his hardened cock. A groan rips from his throat and it gives me more confidence.

Leaning down, I start kissing his jaw, making my way down to the side of his neck.

His fingers slide in my hair as his other hand grips my ass.

I breathe him in. The hint of cologne and his natural scent is intoxicating.

Dropping one last kiss on his neck, I pull away slightly and stare at his lips. I feel him watching me.

Unable to resist, I take his lower lip between my teeth and tug. Asher lets out an animalistic growl and in a blink, he’s on me and we are both tumbling down on the living room rug.

Asher yanks the straps of my dress down to my shoulders and my breasts spill free.

I moan loudly as his hot mouth settles on my throbbing nipple. I bite my lip hard to rein in the needy sounds that are threatening to escape me.

He releases my nipple with a loud pop and stares down at me. “Don’t do that. Let me hear you, baby.”

Wrapping my hand around the back of his head, I pull him down for a kiss.

Yanking the dress up, Asher slips his fingers into the band of my thong and tears it off me.

I whimper in his mouth when he thrusts two thick fingers inside me.

“Fuck, you’re soaking my hand, baby. So wet for me,” he whispers, breaking the kiss.

Clawing at his arms, I lift my hips, matching his thrust.

His heated gaze is fixated on where his fingers are fucking me.

Pressing a thumb against my clit, he says, “Do you feel that? Do you feel how your cunt is clenching around my fingers?”

I moan as my eyes roll back in pleasure.

He keeps thrusting into my pussy.

“Asher…”

“Mmm,” his voice is so calm as if his digits aren’t powering inside me mercilessly.

“I want you, Asher.” I pant and his eyes darken. The amber eyes almost turning black.

“You have me.” He says and quickens the pace of his thrusts for emphasis.

“I want you… inside me.”

“You tormented me for weeks. For weeks, I was jacking off with the thoughts of you and came every time with your name on my lips. Now that I have you, I want you to say it. Give me the words. Show me what you want and you shall get it.”

“I want you to fuck me. Hard. I need to feel your cock inside of me right this second!” I blush hard but I daren’t break the eye contact.

In a flash, Asher is sitting on his heels, and unbuttoning his shirt.

Sitting up, I fumble with his belt. “I want it. Now.” I look up at him.

Abandoning the task of unbuttoning his shirt, he helps me in freeing his erection from the confinement of his pants.

And that’s when the fear sets in. His cock is huge and it looks painfully hard.

I bite my lip. That thing will break me.

Asher pumps his cock and I stare at the scene wide-eyed. The sight makes me nervous and excited at the same time.

“Don’t worry, baby,” he says as he pushes me down on the rug with a hand to my chest.

He crawls up my body and settles between my legs, his elbows on either side of my head.

“I’ll never hurt you,” Asher says. His expression is nothing but honest and it feels like he’s not referring to sex anymore.

Sliding a hand between us, I guide him at my entrance.

“Condom,” he groans and starts to get up but I wrap my legs around him.

“I’m on the pill and it has been years since I had sex,” I admit.

“I’m clean too and ever since you came into my life four months ago, you’ve owned my cock.”

A new feeling tickles inside my chest at his words. I don’t know why, but hearing him say that felt good. More than good. I am ecstatic.

“Then what are you waiting for?” I urge him on by tightening my legs around him.

Asher rubs his head up and down my slit. He pushes his head inside and I fist my hand into his shirt.

Taking my hands, he intertwines his fingers with mine and pin them beside my head on the rug, and buries his cock inside me in one hard thrust.

“Oh fuck!” I cry out.

He stills. “Shit. You okay, baby?”

I’m mewling and gasping as I squirm under him, adjusting to his girth.

Asher senses my discomfort and ducks his head and latches on my nipple.

He sucks and tugs at it. Then sucks on it again. He kisses his way to the other nipple and gives it the same treatment.

Within seconds, the twinge between my legs turns to need and I find myself moving my hips.

Asher gets the hint and he starts thrusting slowly.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

The slow pace is driving me crazy with want. The wave of toe-curling lust possesses me and I urge him on by digging my heels into his firm ass.

“Don’t do that.” He breathes in my ear. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’re not. Fuck me. Please.” I suck his earlobe in my mouth and Asher releases a curse.

A switch seems to go off as Asher pulls out and pumps inside me, working me faster.

“Ohhh,” He muffles my moans in a passionate kiss.

His grunts are louder like mine. He voices how I feel so tight. That I feel so good around his cock. The words fuel me to match his every thrust.

He thumbs my clit and within seconds, I am screaming his name as I climax.

Asher is still at it when I grab hold of my senses.

His lips are at my neck, my throat, and my collarbone, kissing and nibbling on the skin.

He pinches my nipple and that delicious pull in my stomach returns.

If he doesn’t stop playing with my already sensitive nipples, I might lose myself again.

He replaces his fingers with his mouth. “Fuck, I’m…”

“Come for me again, baby.” He says before biting my nipple. Hard.

“Asher!” I shout as I come again.

He thrusts once, twice before throwing his head back and calling out my name as he fills me with his seed.

∞∞∞

“Mmm,” I moan low in my throat.

“You awake, baby?” Asher speaks around my left nipple before resuming his task of sucking and swirling his tongue around my areola.

My back arches, even though I’m not fully awake.

I vaguely remember passing out on the floor after my second orgasm.

Asher must have carried me to his bedroom. And judging by the soft feel of the silk sheet against my skin, he stripped me off my clothes too.

My eyes open when he starts nibbling his way up my collarbone, I tilt my head to the side and he drops open mouth kisses on my throat.

“Fuck, I can’t get enough of you. I want you again.” His lips move against my throat, the sensation ticklish and erotic at the same time.

His words make my pussy clench on nothing. It’s still deliciously sore from the pounding it received earlier, but I still want more. Much, much more.

Raking my fingers through his dark locks, I turn my head. My lips grazing his temple. “I want you too,” I whisper.

I never came during sex before Asher. The only way I could climax was from my fingers.

This is the reason I was not a big fan of sex. But it seems the yearning, the passion, the want was lacking in me.

My feelings for Asher are so fierce that it has suddenly turned me into an addict. I’m addicted to him.

He settles between my legs and starts grinding his cock on my already slick pussy.

I push at his shoulder to get him off me and he frowns.

“I want to try something if that’s okay…” my voice trails, and I know my face is probably beet red.

I don’t know how, but I feel more confident in my skin and comfortable around Asher at this early stage.

I peek up at him to gauge his reaction. Other than the faint light coming from the city light through the ceiling-to-floor window, the room is dark.

“In that case,” Asher climbs off me and leans back against the headboard beside me, “I’m all yours, baby.” He grins and I blush some more.

Letting go of the sheet, I sit up. Asher’s gaze drifts down my naked body. When I move to straddle him, his nostrils flare. Despite the low light, I can see his washboard abs. The tattoos on his right arm stand out against the stark bedsheet.

“You’re a fucking goddess,” he lifts his fingers to graze my lips, then runs them down my neck, my chest and cups my breast.

I lean forward and kiss him under his jaw. “What does that make you then?” I ask.

“Well, right now I am ready to be whatever you want me to be, baby,” His hands slide lower, circling my ass. I gasp when he grinds upwards and squeezes me at the same time.

Asher sits up and presses his lips to mine.

His hips keep thrusting up, his cock rubbing against my soaking pussy. He devours my small gasps and moans as he continues the torture.

“Let me take control,” I gasp out, breaking the kiss. Asher acts dumb as he shifts his focus to my breasts.

Oh, God. His mouth feels so good.

I shiver when he flicks his tongue on my pebbled nipples. I might come by this alone. No, I have other plans.

“Asher,” I squeeze my thighs against him to stop his movements.

When I get him to leave my breasts, I push him to lie down and turn so that I am facing away from him.

Still straddling him, I rise up on my knees and take his cock, which is now slick from our grinding, and press his head against my entrance.

“Oh fuck,” Asher curses and clutches my hips in a painful grip. He’s trying hard to give up control and I love it.

Inch every inch, I take his huge dick inside of me. I cry out when Asher thrusts up inside me. All the way to the hilt.

I lean forward and plant my hands on his knees and start moving.

Lifting my hips slowly, then letting gravity do its work.

Up.

Down.

Up.

Down.

“Motherfucking hell, you’re so tight.” He grinds out, his sexy accent getting thicker as he surges up.

“Asher!” I cry out in pleasure.

Just a few minutes in, and my knees start to ache, my movements slowing.

Asher somehow senses it and instructs me to brace my palms on his chest. I do and the gesture pushes my breasts out.

His hands grip my thighs and then Asher starts to fuck me.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!” I keep chanting the mantra as Asher fucks me into oblivion.

Regardless of him being at the bottom, Asher has complete control.

“Fuck, Oh Fuck yes. You’re made for me.” his voice, breathless and filled with so much lust and reverence it takes my breath away.

The sound of our skin slapping echoes in the silence of the room. The scent of sex filling the air.

Supporting myself with one hand, I reach down with the other to rub my clit.

“Fuck, no. I’m the one who’s gonna make you come from this day on.” Asher snakes his arm around and takes over the task.

I scream my orgasm when he pinches my clit. Asher follows after few more thrusts.

Chapter 14

Asher

“Could you knock that ridiculous grin off your face? It’s pretty annoying.” Alan grumbles.

Annoying Orange.

That’s what she named me the very first time we met.

“Are you even listening?”

“Of course I am.” I glare in his direction.

It has been three days since Emmett and Scarlet walked out of the business dinner.

Three days since I claimed Emily as mine.

I’m loving the soft side of the otherwise snarky Emily.

Never knew she would be so insatiable.

Never realised I’d be addicted.

This doesn’t mean we stopped bickering. Not at all.

The only difference is, whenever we start a fight, we end up fucking.

My cock stirs as the images of fucking Emily in the shower from this morning flashes in my mind.

“Please remind me again why am I here, wasting my time with you when I should be in bed with my wife?” Tatum adjusts his glasses.

“It’s noon.” Alan deadpans.

“Your point?” Tatum asks.

“You two are giving me a headache! I think I should head back to my place.” I start to get up from my chair.

Two sets of eyes glare at me and I slump down again.

“After the disastrous dinner meeting with Scarlet and Emmett, consider yourself lucky that you’re alive,” Tatum says calmly.

“Did he just threaten me?” I turn to Alan.

“Appears so.” He shrugs.

“Wow. You two are playing nasty with me!”

I point at Tatum, “and just for your information, Scarlet was too busy to flirt her arse off and Emmett is lucky I didn’t knock his teeth by the way he was eye-fucking my Emily.”

Tatum quirks an eyebrow. “Your Emily?”

“Fuck yes.” No point in denying it.

“If your little chit-chat is over, can we concentrate here, please?” Alan speaks abruptly.

We are in Tatum’s office to discuss Alan’s new project.

Alan is set to take over Hotel Paradise and refurbish it. Later, it would be named Will’s Valley Hotel.

But the owner, Mr. Taylor, a seventy-two-year-old hotelier is hesitant to sell.

He seemed interested enough in the meetings they had before and now when the transaction is about to take place, he got cold feet. Alan is in this too deep to back off now.

As Tatum is well acquainted with Mr. Taylor, we decided to gather together and brainstorm.

“Mr. Taylor is a very reputable and an honourable man. He had hired our services to rebuild the online website of Hotel Paradise a few years back. He is very attached to his hotel. It took me by surprise that he is thinking of selling it.” Tatum rubs his jaw.

“He personally flew to see me in London. So it is clear he wants to sell. The real question is, why the delay?” Alan asks as he leans into the guest seat beside me.

I dig my phone out of my pocket.

Not one message from Emily. I type a quick message.

Hey, beautiful.

I look up and nod my head slowly to show I’m listening. They appear in deep discussion. My phone vibrates in my hand.

Grinning from ear to ear, I read her response.

Hey, handsome. I miss you.

Lowering my hands, I type.

I miss you more. This meeting is boring.

She takes few minutes to reply.

Don’t be an ass. The hotel deal is important to your brother. So stop texting and concentrate!

Now my dick is hard. It doesn’t need much motivation these days. Even a text from Emily is arousing me. We aren’t even sexting.

I respond.

Behave.

I place the phone on the desk and try to focus on their conversation.

I don’t even last ten minutes. I retrieve the phone to check for a new message from Emily and find one. It was sent seven minutes ago.

Or what?

I close my eyes briefly and breathe before typing the response.

Someone’s going to get spanked tonight.

She doesn’t reply for five minutes and I start to think I might’ve gone too far but when the phone buzzes again I’m relieved.

Is that certain someone─ you?

I laugh out loud at her text which earns me another death glare from my brother and a familiar eye roll from Tatum.

Keep going. I’m going to have fun cashing in my revenge on your body.

I turn the phone off and take part in the meeting seriously this time.

∞∞∞

“I said don’t make a sound.”

Smack!

“Asher…” Emily squirms.

Cupping her naked behind, I raise my hand and spank her so hard, my hand tingles.

“Fuck!” She groans loudly, her nails digging in the back of the lounge chair she is currently bent over.

I caress the heated skin and smile when she lets out a low moan at my touch.

I slide my fingertips between her legs. “So fucking wet. Do you enjoy getting spanked, Emily?”

“No,” she murmurs.

Smack.

She hisses but pushes herself in my hand.

“But your body tells me something entirely different, baby.”

“Please,” she begs and turns to look over her shoulder at me.

I’m shirtless and my trousers are tented by my rock-hard cock. It twitches at her sinful sight.

Emily’s hair is dishevelled, her lips swollen pink by my rough kisses and her naked, lithe body bent over for my eyes to feast on.

“Please, what?” I ask gruffly.

“I want…” She sobs in need.

“Hmm?” I play with her pussy, circling around the area of her clit but not quite touching it.

“Fucking touch my clit, damn it!” She glares at me and I smirk but follow her order in my style.

Dropping to my knees behind her I spread her cheeks apart and latch onto her clit.

“Asher! Oh, God!”

I suck her swollen clit until she is riding my face. She screams my name when she comes but I don’t let up, my tongue lapping at her.

“Asher. Stop… no more, I’m sensitive.” I get up and fist her hair and bend over to devour her lips.

She moans when she tastes herself on my tongue.

“Fuck me,” she speaks into my mouth and I don’t have to be told twice.

Unbuckling my trousers, I grip the base of my cock and position it at her entrance.

I thrust hard, burying myself in her slick little pussy in one go. We both groan in unison.

“You’re mine,” I thrust in and out of her in a steady rhythm, my hands squeezing her tits.

“Yours,” she moans and I go crazy with lust, my hips working in a frenzy, and in a few moments, we are coming together.

∞∞∞

Emily

We are currently lying on Asher’s king-sized bed, freshly showered and without a stitch of cloth.

The soft quilt is covering our bodies as we lie on our sides, facing each other, a lazy smile playing on our lips.

“How did the meeting go?” I ask, tucking my hands under my left cheek.

He copies my gesture, making me giggle.

“It turned out to be a lot more productive than we thought it would. Alan is currently working on building a team to work on this project.”

“Fantastic. Think I should apply while I can, huh?” As soon as the words are out, Asher has me on my back in two seconds flat.

“You think it’s funny?” Asher glares at me.

“Asher, I was just joking!” I push at his bare chest weakly.

“I don’t like jokes.” He scowls.

“I don’t like you,” I jest, sticking my tongue out.

“Oh yeah?” Asher regards me with a mischievous smirk and I squint at him.

His hands move to my waist and then he’s tickling me and I shriek. “Hey! that’s cheating!”

“Everything is fair in love and war, tiny person,” He pins my flailing arms on the bed and blows raspberries on my stomach, making me laugh harder.

“I’M SORRY!” I choke between fits of laughter.

“Wrong answer,” he nuzzles my stomach before resuming his task of tormenting me.

“I like you, okay? I like you more than chocolates! Now for god’s sake stop before I pee myself!”

Asher laughs out loud and finally climbs off me to stretch beside me.

“You are evil,” I huff, still panting from all the laughing. My stomach hurts.

“You still love me,” He says casually before rearranging my tired limbs so that he’s spooning me.

Do I?

Dear Universe, please give me a sign.

Grrr…

I wince and Asher’s body starts shaking in silent laughter.

“Come on, baby. I’ll whip something up for you to eat.” He gets up and strides into the walk-in closet buck naked. All while I’m cursing the universe. That was so NOT the sign I was aiming for!

He reappears a few moments later clad in gray sweatpants and throws a hoodie my way.

“Wear this and come out,” he gives me a heartwarming smile before walking out of the bedroom.

Quickly pulling the black hoodie over my head, I jump out of bed. The hoodie covers most of my thighs so I avoid wearing panties and head toward the bedroom door.

I enter the kitchen area.

Asher looks up and smiles at me before nodding at the barstool across from him. I climb onto the stool and watch him.

He looks like every woman’s wet dream in those gray sweats. His beautiful features are highlighted by the kitchen lights.

Asher turns to the massive double-wide freezer drawers and takes out a container of orange juice.

He pours it in a crystal glass and places it before me. “Drink.”

And I do. Sipping it, I watch as Asher sets to work. By the time my drink is finished, he is done with the Greek salad.

It has olives, lettuce, red onions, and feta cheese. He then gets eggs from the pantry.

Asher starts with beating eggs in a bowl, seasoning them with salt, and then pouring them into a preheated pan with melted butter.

“Impressive,” I swoon at him and he winks at me.

“Where did you learn to cook? Let me guess! From your mom, right? My parents never let me near the kitchen. I almost burned the house down─” I stop my rambling and notice Asher has gone awfully quiet.

“Hey,” I reach across the counter to touch his arm and he retreats back.

Asher gives me a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes, “Tell me how did you manage to almost burn your house down,” he busies himself, avoiding my eyes.

“Asher, what happened?”

“Nothing,”

Everything was fine until I asked him about cooking…

“Is this about your mom? Is she…?” my heart sinks.

“She is very much alive and healthy, according to Alan.”

I breathe in relief. I jumped at the conclusions by judging the change in Asher’s mood. He said she is healthy according to Alan.

That means he is not on talking terms with his mother. But why? I nibble at my lip as hundreds of questions races through my mind but I won’t force him into opening up to me.

He has me. I’ll be there whenever he is ready.

He plates the scramble eggs and rounds the counter to sit beside me.

He picks a forkful and brings it to my lips. “Open,”

I part my lips and he feeds me. I nod in approval. He feeds me the salad and I literally moan.

“I had no idea salads could taste this good.” I grin at him, trying to lighten up his mood.

He takes a deep breath, his eyes cast down.

“I was only twelve when I started taking interest in cooking. Kaelyn, our family cook, took me under her wing when Mum and Dad were too busy to raise us.” I still when Asher starts talking.

Taking his hand in mine, I squeeze it gently.

“I think the main reason behind my learning to cook was Alan. A seven-year-old boy who needed his parents the most at such tender age.

“He longed for Mum and Dad to show up at PTA meetings, instead of a governess. He needed his Mum to smile proudly at him whenever he drew something for her but she wasn’t there.

“So I tried to fill in the role of a parent. I was the one he turned to every time he aced a test. I was there to soothe his pain when he fell from the bicycle. We were each others’ rock within those lonely hallways and spacious but empty rooms.” Asher closes his eyes shut.

I scoot closer and rest my head on his shoulder. He rests his chin on top of my head and starts speaking again.

“Dad passed away when I was eighteen. Mum started to pressurise me into starting the intern duties so I could train faster and take the reins of Will’s Valley. I left.”

My heart breaks for Asher as he talks about how he left for Harvard. How his move put a strain on his relationship with Alan.

I groan when he blames himself for the third time. I reach for his face, cupping his jaw in my hands.

I press my lips on his forehead. And then look him dead in the eye. “Stop being so hard on yourself, Asher. You were only eighteen. The mistakes we commit in life don’t define us. That’s what makes us human. You’re an incredible man who’s accomplished so much just at the age of twenty-nine. You are a tech genius! You─” I stop and frown at him.

“Why are you smiling?”

“Because I adore you,” he smiles before pressing his lips to mine.

Chapter 15

Two weeks later

Emily

The elevator door opens to Asher’s penthouse. Making sure not to make a sound, I make my way to the long hallways and reach near the kitchen room to drop the food containers I am carrying.

I got Asher’s favorite food for breakfast. We fell into a routine of having most of our meals together.

Asher and I have grown closer and pretty inseparable since our heart-to-heart conversation that night.

I couldn’t stay with Asher last night as I was spending the much-needed quality time with my girls, Serah and Rochelle.

I missed him so much. Even a night away from him is unbearable.

I know I’m falling for him.

Hard.

The idea of falling for someone frightened me before. Being with Asher has taught me that love doesn’t have to be complicated. I never thought I would ever say this, but falling in love with Asher was easy. He is funny, smart, and caring.

The cockiness that I loved to hate in the past is the thing I have come to love now.

My legs halt at the sound of female humming that comes from the kitchen doorway.

I stop breathing as I take steps further until I am staring at the beautiful brunette flipping pancakes.

She is taller and has alluring olive skin. My heart races when I take in her attire.

She is in a comfy-looking t-shirt with her hair piled over her head in a messy bun.

She looks as if she has spent the night here. In Asher’s place.

“Who are you? How did you get in?” The brunette asks me with a frown.

How ironic.

Without answering her, I turn and march to the living room and take my phone out from my jean pocket to dial Asher.

He answers on the first ring, “Hey beautiful.”

“Where are you?” I am surprised by the calmness in my voice when every fiber of my being is panicking.

If I were my old self, I wouldn’t have waited here after seeing the woman in the kitchen, much less call him.

But I have changed. I forbid the thought of him betraying my trust. After spending the time and getting to know him, I am certain Asher wouldn’t cheat on me.

“I’m right here,” Asher emerges from the hallway to my left.

“Who’s she?”

He curses under his breath. “Let’s go upstairs to my room and talk.”

He ushers me upstairs to his room and closes the door behind us.

I wrap my arms around my midriff and turn to face him.

“She is Lexi. We attended the same college. I don’t want to hide anything from you, so I want you to know that we had a brief fling. But my past has nothing to do with what she’s doing here, Emily.” He studies me for a moment but I keep my face blank.

He has slept with her. Only not yesterday, but in the past. Nevertheless, his words are like broken pieces of glass cutting at my insides.

I take deep breaths.

“Then tell me, Asher. I’m willing to listen. Tell me everything. Do not make me regret trusting you.”

“I reconnected with Lexi when I ran into her and her husband Colin last year in a charity gala T&A sponsors. We went on our ways after the event ended and I didn’t hear from her until last night. She called me crying that her husband was physically abusing her. She called the cops on him.”

I cover my mouth with a hand in shock.

“She has no family in the city so she called me and asked if she could stay the night at my place. She sounded emotionally distraught so I did what I thought was right and went to pick her up. I even called your phone multiple times at midnight before leaving, but you didn’t answer.”

I remember seeing his missed call this morning.

“You did the right thing.”

“Am I forgiven then?” he smiles at me and I feel somewhat guilty.

“There’s nothing to forgive, Asher,” I murmur.

“Great. Then can I get a kiss?” He grins broadly as he strides toward me, making me giggle.

Wrapping his arms around my waist, he picks me for a kiss.

“This was our first lover’s quarrel,” Asher murmurs against my lips.

“Lover’s quarrel, huh?” I ask as he puts me down on my feet.

“Yeah, and I’m a great boyfriend. See, I made you laugh.” He wags his eyebrows.

“You are? My boyfriend?” I ask stupidly.

He pulls me against his chest by circling his arm around my waist. He tucks an errant strand behind my ear and stares deep into my eyes.

“Hell yeah, I’ve never been in a relationship before. You’re my first girlfriend, tiny person.” He grins.

I pinch his nipple over his t-shirt. “Ow,” he pulls my hand off him.

“That’s what I’ll be doing if you call me that again, Annoying Orange.” I tease. In reality, I love the endearment.

He shakes his head and sobers up. “Would you move in with me?”

“What?”

“Hear me out. She is reluctant to return back to her place. You are a woman and she can open up to you more. Your staying here might be helpful for her.”

“Of course.” Placing my head against his chest, I hug him. “You are a good man.”

“So can this good man convince you to move in permanently?”

“What?” I am starting to pull away when he tightens his grip around me.

“Relax. I was jesting.”

I break into giggles when he adds, “Not.”

∞∞∞

I knock on the guestroom door Lexi is staying in. She opens the door and startles when she sees me.

“Hey, can I come in for a minute?” I smile at her.

“Yes, please.” She opens the door wider and I step inside.

“About earlier… I am really sorry if you’re upset─” she casts her gaze down.

“No, no. Please don’t apologize. Asher told me everything. He did the right thing.” I give her a reassuring smile.

“I’m Emily” I introduce myself.

“I’m Lexi. Are you and Asher…? Oh, my God, I am sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.” Her eyes widen in panic.

“You’re okay.” I wave it off with a soft smile. “And yes, we are together.” I bite my lip to suppress a grin that’s about to break free as I remember the kisses he showered me with minutes ago.

Clearing my throat, I say, “Why are you in here? come on out for breakfast. I want to taste the pancakes you made!” I clap my hands in enthusiasm to make her smile.

I succeed when she cracks a small smile.

∞∞∞

Asher drove me to my apartment in the noon to pack a bag. When I explained the situation to Rochelle, she understood and helped me pack.

She even cooked a tasty lunch for us.

Poor Rochelle kept blushing like a tomato every time Asher complimented her cooking.

When we returned to his penthouse, I was checking out one of the guest bedrooms to stay in when he snatched the bag from my hand and strode straight to the master bedroom.

I didn’t want to ask him about the sleeping arrangements and was happy when he decided on my behalf.

Now, I am lying on his bed, waiting for him to come out of the shower.

I’m wearing one of Asher’s t-shirts to sleep in and scrolling through Instagram, swooning over cute videos of puppies when Asher comes out with a towel wrapped around his hips.

Hot Damn. He is so hot!

“Thank you, baby.” Asher chuckles and I realize I said that out loud.

He drops the towel and my eyes zones in on his cock. It’s a wonder how it fits inside of me.

He laughs again before climbing in bed and propping himself on a hand beside me. “Please go on. You are too good for my ego.” Amusement is glinting in his eyes.

“I said that out loud too, didn’t I?” I hide my face with my hands.

Grabbing my wrists, he lowers them. He leans down and kisses my nose. “Your quirkiness is one of the qualities I love about you.”

My lips part in surprise.

One of the qualities I love about you.

“What else do you love about me?” My face heats as I ask the question.

“Your blush.” He touches my cheek before leaning down to plant a kiss there.

“I love how my words affect you. Love it when you are shy.” Smiling, he kisses the corner of my mouth.

He is inching closer to my lips and that’s when we hear it.

A faint sound, as if someone was screaming. It stops. We both freeze when we hear it again. This time it is louder.

“Lexi.” I gasp.

We both sit up.

Swinging my legs to the side, I get out of bed and run downstairs and knock on her door.

The sound of cries is now clearer as I am standing outside the room.

“Lexi!” I knock again but when she doesn’t respond, I twist the knob and open the door.

Turning on the bedside lamp, I find Lexi covered in perspiration, crying in her sleep. I clutch her upper arms gently and try to wake her up.

“It’s okay, Lexi. You’re having a bad dream, it’s okay.”

Asher joins me a minute later, now dressed in sweats.

Lexi gasps awake on a scream.

“Hey, you’re all right, Lexi. Look at me.” Asher murmurs. Lexi gazes at him.

“Asher?”

“Yes. We are here. You are all right.” Asher sits next to me on the bed.

“Emily?” Lexi reaches out with a hand and I grab it.

“Hey, you okay now? Do you need anything?” I enquire.

She is still shaking. Asher leaves and returns with a glass of water.

“You wanna talk about it?” He asks in a concerned voice.

“Not really. I’m so sorry I disturbed you guys.”

“Stop apologizing, Lexi. You are our friend. Will you be okay sleeping alone. Do you want me to stay?” I offer.

“I’d like that, thank you.” She squeezes my hand.

“Okay then, we’ll talk until you are sleepy.” I smile and turn to Asher. He sighs and gets up to leave.

“I’ll miss you.” He murmurs before giving me a chaste kiss on the lips.

“Don’t hesitate to wake me if there’s any problem.” With that, he walks out of the room.

Chapter 16

Emily

“Asher… let me go…” I moan as he kisses my neck. I feel him smile against my skin.

“No.” he tightens his grip on my waist, his erection digging into the small of my back.

“Lexi.” I gasp and Asher’s head snaps up to find no one. Using the opportunity, I slip away from his embrace.

“You play dirty.” He scowls and I grin.

“Come on, I have to make sure everything’s in order before our friends arrive.”

After spending the night with Lexi, I wanted to chase away the sadness from her eyes.

So I came up with the idea of introducing her to our friends. Asher was on board when I suggested arranging a small get-together. We’ve invited Alan, Serah, Tatum, and Ro.

With a hand on my arm, Asher pulls me against his chest. “It is hard to get you alone even for a minute these days.” He pouts. He actually pouts.

I wish I could say he was exaggerating. He isn’t.

Lexi could only sleep if she wasn’t alone. So I moved into her room three days ago, the same night she had that nightmare.

I don’t remember the last time Asher kissed me.

Oh, I remember. It was two days ago. Asher and I were lost in a heated makeout session when Lexi walked in on us.

She was mortified when she saw us all hot and bothered.

It happened again later into the evening when Asher was carrying me on his shoulder on his way to the master bedroom.

I yelped when I saw her shocked expression which caused Asher to almost trip.

She was looking for the laundry room, she explained. And I don’t blame her for getting lost in this enormous penthouse.

I didn’t want her to feel left out, which is unavoidable when you are living with a couple. Hence the small party.

“You’re the kindest person I have ever met, Emily.” He kisses my forehead and I close my eyes, basking in his words.

I pull away and take his face in my hands.

I love you.

The words almost tumble out of my lips but I swallow them. I know he adores me. But I’m not sure if he feels the same strong emotions I have for him yet.

I don’t want to pressure him by uttering the three words. I don’t want him to say it back for the sake of saying it. I have silently handed him the reins of our relationship. He can handle its pace.

So instead of saying what my heart wants, I place a small kiss on his lips.

∞∞∞

Asher

I chuckle when I see Emily practically bouncing in her platform sandals. She squints at me and I try to school my expressions.

She picked a grey button-down shirt and dark jeans for me to match her grey dress. Twinning. It’s a couple thing. She had said with a raised chin.

Now we are standing in the foyer. As soon as she received a text from Serah indicating that she is in the lift and will be up in a minute, she dragged me to stand by her side.

To welcome our friends. She had said.

But I know better. She wants to show off our matching outfits.

The lift opens and Emily leaves my side and rushes to hug Serah.

“Don’t look at my wife.” Tatum approaches me.

I scoff. “I have eyes only for my beautiful girlfriend. No offense.”

“None taken.” He says, amused.

“Tatum!” Emily goes to hug him but I pull her to me.

She cuts me a glare.

“You guys are so cute together.” Serah grins at us. I smirk at Emily when she blushes. She elbows me in the side and says, “I’ll go get Lexi, she is a bit nervous.”

“Wait up, I’ll come too.” Serah disappears with Emily down the hall, leaving me with Tatum.

We head to the wet bar and I pour him a glass of welcome drink Emily made for brunch. It’s pinkish and tastes like strawberries.

“Since when have you started favouring sweet drinks?” Tatum arches an eyebrow after taking a sip.

“Don’t make me regret inviting you.” I scowl at him and he chuckles.

“Did you hear anything from the police?” Tatum questions after a couple of minutes. He knows about Lexi’s situation.

“I received a call from my lawyers yesterday. Collin is out on bail.”

“So soon?” Tatum’s brows furrow.

“He has a team of lawyers behind him.” I grit out. That bastard thinks he can get away with what he did to Lexi by throwing money around.

The lift’s door opens for the second time and Rochelle comes into view.

“Rochelle, we meet again.” I smile when she crosses the room to us.

Giving her a quick hug, I ask about the ride here. I sent my driver to pick her up.

“I got cupcakes.” She raises a bag that she is carrying in one hand.

“You baked?” I grin at her and take the bag from her fingers.

“Rochelle,” Tatum offers her a smile in greeting and she returns it shyly.

Serah and Emily emerge from the hall with Lexi between them.

After few minutes of mingling, we take the party to the solarium where we would start our brunch. I take the phone out of my jeans pocket and dial Alan.

He picks up on the third ring.

“Hello, brother.”

“Alan, where are you? You’re twenty minutes late.” I ask gruffly.

“I’m driving. I’ll be there in ten.” His voice is low and calm.

“Don’t tell me you just left your office,” I growl.

“You are prolonging my arrival by talking.” He tells me.

I laugh in disbelief. Arsehole.

“Well, I’m going to stop by a café… do you want anything?” he says distractedly.

“No. We’ve got everything covered. Emily has prepared the menu keeping everyone’s favourites in mind. Including yours. So don’t hurt her feelings. Just show up.”

“Okay.” His voice goes soft at that. We hang up and I go to calm my girlfriend who’s hyperventilating over things.

∞∞∞

We are lounging on the sofas and munching on starters when we hear the lift’s ping. Emily pushes to her feet before I could move.

I scoot to where Rochelle is sitting and indulge in small talks.

“So how’s your job? Anyone giving you trouble? Do I have to beat someone up?” I ask with a grin.

She laughs softly in response.

I pass her the plate of paneer tikka and she picks one and nibbles on it. I take a big bite of the juicy paneer tikka and ask, “So when do your classes start?”

“By the end of this month. Or at the beginning of Septemb─” She freezes mid-sentence, her lips parting with a gasp.

I gaze at her to find her eyes trained straight ahead.

Frowning, I follow the line of her sight. Alan is stepping inside alongside Emily.

“Finally, Alan has graced us with his presence, people!” I tease, making a sweeping gesture toward him.

“Sarcasm doesn’t become you, brother…” he trails off as his gaze falls on me. Or more like to my right.

I turn to Rochelle and see her gaze fixated on Alan. I look back at Alan. He seems frozen in place. A hint of recognition flash in his eyes.

All the chatter has died in the room. The staring contest between my brother and Emily’s sister is garnering attention.

Clearing my throat loudly, I ask. “Do you two know each other?”

That seems to break their moment and Alan jerks slightly.

“You know my sister?” Emily asks, her eyebrows jump up in surprise.

My phone rings, distracting me. I frown when I see the building’s front desk number flashing on the screen.

“Asher Will,” I absentmindedly answer.

“Sir, There is a Colin Jenson along with his lawyer in the lobby. They want to speak with you.”

What the fuck is Lexi’s husband doing here? How did he know she is staying at my place?

“Tell them to contact my lawyers.” I am about to hang up when she speaks again.

“Sir, they are quite adamant about meeting you.” She listens to someone talking to her before continuing,  “Mr. Colin says it is about Ms. Moore’s safety.”

That gets my attention.

“Send them up.” I hang up.

“What’s wrong?” Tatum asks.

“Colin is here with his lawyer. They’ll be here any minute.” My jaw clenches.

“No,” Lexi stands and we all watch her as she panics. Serah, Rochelle, and Emily rush to calm her down.

“I apologise, everyone. But I think it’s best if you all leave. I don’t want to drag you all in this.”

“We are staying,” Tatum says, and Alan nods in agreement.

“But the ladies should go,” Alan says as he glances at Rochelle.

“We are not going anywhere,” Serah says, and I sigh.

I step towards the ladies and look Lexi in the eye. “Lexi, you have nothing to worry about. We are here for you. He can’t hurt you anymore.” Lexi surprises me by wrapping her arms around me.

“Thank you.” She murmurs.

“It’s okay.” I pull away quickly and usher them outside the solarium.

When we enter the sitting area, Colin is already waiting with a man who appears to be in his fifties.

Colin is dressed in a simple white shirt and black trousers while his lawyer is dressed in a dark suit.

I instruct the ladies to have a seat on the sofa while Tatum, Alan, and I keep standing.

Colin closes the gap between us and extends a hand. “Colin Jenson.”

Ignoring the hand, I say, “We’ve met a year ago so spare us all with the bullshit and get to the point. How did you know about Lexi’s whereabouts?” My jaw hardens when he regards me with silence.

After a couple of seconds, he says. “Since how long have you known Lexi?” He doesn’t look in her direction at all.

Instead, he just puts his hands in his trouser pockets and stares at me. Waiting for my answer like he has all the time in the world.

I take a step forward and tower his five feet ten inches with my six feet three.

“I let you inside my house where my loved ones are present because you mentioned Emily’s safety. So this is a huge deal. You have ten minutes to explain yourself.

“Did you stalk me? How do you know Emily? Think hard before lying because make no mistake, I can fucking destroy you if you have ill intentions for the ones I care about.”

I step back and mimic his gesture and put my hands in my pocket.

His lawyer tries to say something but he stops him with a hand. “Fair enough.” He nods at me.

“I’ll start with the night she called the cops on me.” He takes a deep breath.

“Around seven in the evening, I reached my house with a bouquet in hand for my wife.” He chuckles darkly. “You see, I wanted to surprise my wife as I returned a day early from a business trip. Never knew I was in for a shock of my life. I found a man exiting our house.”

“That gives you the right to hit your wife?” I clench my teeth.

He looks at me then. “Did you spot any bruise, Will?”

I gaze at Lexi and notice her fidgeting.

Colin continues, “I didn’t go inside to confront Lexi. I couldn’t. My rage overpowered me and I followed the motherfucker to his house and cornered him when he was about to step out of his car.

“Turns out, my wife wasn’t cheating on me. At least not with him.” He shrugs, a wry smile curling his lips.

“The man was a detective my wife hired. He started talking when I offered him double the money she was paying him. He was hired to stalk you.”

“He’s lying. Asher.” Lexi rushes to where I am standing and grabs my elbow.

“Do you really want me to believe that?” I glare at Colin.

“That’s how I knew you were dating Ms. Moore. The detective was dropping by at my place that night to deliver the pictures of you and Emily. I was enraged and hurt. Without thinking, I let him go and went back home. Because I wanted to know the reason behind this madness.

“When I did, she confessed that she wants out. She had the gall to say she wants you to my fucking face. When I warned her about informing you of this whole stalking thing, you know what she did?

“She called the cops on me. And as she was a woman, they believed her even though I didn’t lay a finger on her. When I was being held in a room, through a window, I saw her climbing into your car. That’s how I know she was here all this time.”

Lexi’s finger digs into my arm. “You have to believe me, Asher. He is lying.”

Emily

“You have to believe me, Asher. He is lying.”

A tightness forms at the bottom of my stomach as all the events from earlier flash through my brain.

I stumbled upon her when she was getting out of the bathroom in her underwear one morning and she didn’t in fact had any bruises covering her skin.

My heartbeat roars when I recall Lexi walking in on us every time Asher and I were intimate.

The nightmare episode. Was that a lie too? Did she make that up to prevent me from sleeping in Asher’s room?

I watch in time to see Asher and Colin standing toe to toe. But that doesn’t make me lose my breath. It’s Lexi.

Gripping Asher’s arm, she arches her back ever so slightly.

Asher is oblivious but I see how she is practically wrapping herself around his arm.

My fingernails dig into my palm when I see a small smile playing on Lexi’s lips.

She isn’t even aware that her mask has slipped. How can I be so blind? All the signs were right in front of me and I couldn’t recognize this manipulating woman.

I stand. “Prove it.” All eyes turn in my direction as I stride toward them, my eyes dead set on Lexi.

“Huh?” she blinks up at me, feigning puzzlement.

“Do you have any proof that would prove his allegations untrue?” I fold my hands over my chest.

“I-I…,” She looks up at Asher.

“What are you doing, Emily?” Asher frowns at me.

“I’m simply asking a question, Asher because I think Colin is telling the truth.”

“Do you have any contact number of that detective?” Asher asks Colin.

“Unfortunately, no. I sent my men to his apartment but they couldn’t find him. He just disappeared. Lexi might’ve managed to warn him before we could get to him.”

“Do you think this is some sort of a thriller movie?” Asher snaps.

“I think we should hire a P.I to look for this detective guy,” Tatum says.

“He is making this up.” Lexi cries out.

“What about you?” I grind out.

“Emily,” Asher warns and I peer up at him. How can he be so clueless?

My friends who were sitting quietly, come to stand beside me.

“Until the investigation completes, Lexi should stay somewhere else. I don’t trust her anymore.”

“How can you trust this stranger?” Asher’s frown deepens as he points in Colin’s direction.

“Same as I trusted her.” I motion at Lexi. “Besides, you can move her into one of your spare apartments.”

“I’ve given my word to Lexi. I can’t go back on it.”

“How can you still trust her after listening to all that? You should at least trust my instincts, Asher.”

“I’ve known her longer than you.”

I hear Serah gasp beside me.

My heart thuds in my chest. “You mean you are choosing her over me?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth, Emily.” His jaw hardens.

“I came to warn you about her obsessive behavior. My work here is done.” Colin turns to leave but stops and stares at me with sympathetic eyes.

“Are you sure he’s your boyfriend?” He shakes his head before leaving.

His question rings in my ears on loop long after he is gone. It feels as if I can’t breathe. As if the snake of betrayal has engulfed my throat in a tight grip, making it harder to draw another breath.

The foundation of a healthy relationship is trust. The way Asher sided with her proves how little trust he has in my judgment and instincts.

He knows her longer than he has known me. They go way back. Why would he listen to me?

“What am I doing here then?” I laugh without humor.

The air feels heavy with anguish as my question is met with silence.

Something breaks inside of me. Might be my heart.

What were you hoping for, Emily? For him to stop you from leaving?

I glance at Lexi one more time and see her smirking at me.

I stagger back in shock at her open challenge.

I bolt to the elevators as tears blur my eyes.

“Emily, wait!” I recognize my sister’s voice along with Serah’s but I don’t stop. I can’t. It feels suffocating to be here.

Stepping into the waiting elevator, I press the button, and the door closes.

The last thing I hear is Asher calling out my name and my heart breaks all over again.

Chapter 17

Asher

“Get the hell out of my way.” I bark out as Tatum pushes my chest for the second time.

I shouldn’t have said that to her. I have to talk to her before it's too late.

I freeze at the sound of the lift door closing. She’s gone.

Fuck!

I can’t let her go. With renewed energy, I push through Tatum but Alan moves to stand in front of me.

“Don’t test me, brother. After the stunt you just pulled with Emily, I suggest you leave her alone for now.”

“You are an asshole.” Serah glares at me who’s standing beside a very pissed Rochelle.

“Serah─”

She cuts me off. “Tatum, we are leaving. Drop us at Emily’s place.” Without giving me a second glance, they march towards the lift.

“We are out of here.” I see from my peripheral view as Tatum follows them out. The house feels empty with only Alan, Lexi, and me standing here.

“Do you want me to stay?” Alan asks curtly as if he wants to be anywhere but here with me.

“You don’t have to,” I stride in the direction of the wet bar and pour myself a stiff drink and down it in one gulp. I am pouring myself another glass when I feel Alan at my side.

He reluctantly puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes.

“Think carefully on what happened today, Asher. You might be putting your trust in the wrong person.” He squeezes my shoulder one more time before leaving.

I feel dreadfully hollow so I down the remaining liquid, trying hopelessly to fill that gaping hole inside my chest.

Taking my phone out, I call her. It rings. Restlessly raking my fingers through my hair, I wait. No answer. I try again.

When she still doesn’t pick up, I clench my phone hard.

My eyes land on my reflection on the mirrored wall of the wet bar. I screw my eyes shut when I recall my own words.

I’ve known her longer than you.

I am ashamed to even look at my reflection right now.

“Asher…” I turn my head to find Lexi still standing here. Ignoring her, I twiddle on my phone.

Should I text Emily? I want to go to her but I know the last thing she wants is for me to show up at her doorstep.

“Please don’t be upset with me,” Lexi murmurs.

I don’t have time for this.

“Lexi, I’d really like to be left alone, if you don’t mind.” I’m still staring at Emily’s contact on the screen, contemplating whether to call again or leave a text.

“You know, everything happens for a reason. It’s better that your relationship with Emily ended now. She just wasn’t right for you.”

My thumb stills on the screen at her words.

What the fuck did she say? My gaze snaps up and I watch her through the mirrored wall of the wet bar.

Suddenly, I have this awful feeling that tells me I made a terrible mistake in defending someone I shouldn’t have. And in doing so, I hurt the woman I love.

Yes, I love Emily.

An idea strikes and I search for the app I require to execute it. After clicking on the phone screen, I place it face down on the counter and speak without turning.

“Maybe you are right. She should’ve known better than to go against me like that.”

My jaw hardens when I see Lexi smiling through the mirror.

“Would you like a drink?” I paint a smile on my lips when her head snaps up, her conniving eyes meeting mine through the mirror.

She nods enthusiastically and reaches me with few eager steps.

I pour her a glass of scotch and she takes the glass from my hands, brushing her fingers over mine deliberately while taking it.

Grinding my teeth, I control the urge to wrench my hand away from hers.

“You know, I was actually considering settling down with Emily.” She goes still but covers her reaction quickly and turns in her seat to face me.

“Are you regretting taking my side?” Fuck yes, I do. I have never been so wrong in my life.

I just can’t fathom someone could lie about such a serious offense that many women face on a daily basis in different parts of the world.

I mistook Emily’s genuine concerns as insecurity. She wasn’t jealous. She saw things I didn’t.

I’ve always hated men who physically abused women. Part of the reason why Tatum and I have several NGOs for the cause.

Lexi disgusts me. She used domestic violence as a crutch to get to her goal. But what is her end game? Colin said she was stalking me. She had pictures of Emily and me together.

Did she go through all this to ruin my relationship with Emily? Only one way to find out.

“No, I don’t. It just saddens me that Emily couldn’t understand me, you know.” I give her a wry smile.

She places a hand on mine. “You need someone who would never leave your side, no matter what, Asher. A person who would do anything to have you. Anything.”

My blood runs cold at the way she emphasises the word ‘anything’.

Composing myself, I pull my hand away slowly. “Yeah, but it is hard to find someone like that, no?”

Her eyes brighten. The veil of innocence lifts for a fraction of a second.

“Sometimes, the person is right in front of you, but you fail to recognise them.”

I frown at her, feigning confusion. “But what if it's too late? What if the person gets tired of waiting to be recognised and gives up?”

“It's never too late, Asher. I would never give up on you.” Her breath turns shallow. Excitement coats her features.

“You?” I ask, putting up my best surprised face.

“Yes, me. I… I’ve wanted you for so long, Asher. Even in college but you were never ready to commit. I gave up on my dreams of being with you and married Colin, but when I saw you one year ago at that gala, my feelings came rushing back. I’ve been planning to be with you ever since! See? I never gave up on you. I never will.” She stands, her eyes manic as she cups my jaw.

I place my hand over hers, hating every second of it. “What did you do, Lexi?” I tuck an errant strand behind her ear to make my act believable.

It works as she grins from ear to ear. “I didn’t want to come onto you strongly after the gala so I hired a detective to keep an eye on you.

“I have to say, seeing you with other women hurt me.” she pouts before continuing, “But it stopped suddenly. You weren’t hooking up with women. It’s like you were saving yourself for someone.” She giggles.

“My detective would come up with usual updates of you working from home. Sometimes he would send pictures of you out for grocery shopping. You look hot in your sweats, too.” She whispers as her hand travels down from my jaw to my chest.

She rubs her palms up and down, and I grip her wrist gently to stop the movement.

She doesn’t seem to notice it and continues, “Three months. You were not seen with any woman for three freaking months! I finally thought this might be the best time to approach you as I thought you were done being the ladies' man and were thinking of settling down. You started working from your office.

“I was planning on filing for divorce when I first got your pictures with her.” A scornful look passes over her features.

“You were having lunch with Emily. I was so angry.” She fists my shirt.

“But it was nothing compared to the wrath I felt when I learned she was your girlfriend. A title you never gave anyone. You even threw away the big opportunity with the Young empire out the window for her. I know everything.”

I can’t fucking breathe. This woman is not right in the head. She needs some serious help.

“So when Colin confronted me, I was done hiding my love for you.” Her eyes go soft when she looks up at me.

“He threatened me, said he would tell you about my “obsession”.” She scoffs. “So I called the cops, crying and hiccupping.” She makes a show of wiping the outer corner of her eye with a fake sob.

“I didn’t give the lady officer a chance to question me by my fantastic performance. The poor woman believed me.” Her eyes zone in on mine.

“So you see, Asher? You have the person right in front of you who would never give up on you. Ever.”

I clench my hands and force a smile to my lips. I’m too fucking numb after her verbal vomit. “You are right. I couldn’t see. I was blindsided. But no more. Go and get changed. I’m taking you out for dinner.”

“Really?” Her grin makes me sick.

“Yes. Go on.” She runs in the direction of her room. And for a second or two, I just stand there.

Shaking off my stupor, I pick up my phone and click the sound recorder off.

I recorded our conversation which would prove Colin’s innocence. I mail the recording to my lawyers.

It would be safer to send this to Collin, Tatum, and Alan for good measure. So I forward the mail before typing a text to Alan.

Call the cops. It's an emergency.

His response is instant.

On it. Are you okay?

I type a message.

Yes, I am fine. I’m going to lock Lexi in the guest room. Get here soon. She is not stable.

I pocket the phone and do just that. Locking her door, I wait for the cops to show up.

Chapter 18

Asher

“I had my doubts, but it still stuns me to believe Lexi could plan all this,” Tatum says as he takes a sip of his coffee. Alan and I are sitting side by side in my den across from him.

As Tatum and I were classmates, he already knew Lexi.

She was a bright student. That’s probably one of the reasons I trusted her so blindly and in the process, I ended up hurting someone dear to me.

I shudder when I recall Lexi’s screams when she realised I locked her in. Then she tried to softly placate me, and when I didn’t respond, her tone did a one-eighty as she openly started threatening me.

Later, her threats turned into sobs. She claimed of being scared, but I knew better. She wanted me to open the door. But I stayed put. After Alan showed up with the cops, only then I could breathe easily.

Lexi completely lost it when the officers unlocked her door. This is a lesson I could never forget and it may force me to think twice before helping anyone from now on.

“Are you all right?” Alan regards me with concerned eyes.

“My life is filled with chaos.”

“That’s life.” Alan shrugs. “You just have to man up and face it. There’s no shortcut.”

“I want to go see Emily but I am scared she’d refuse to see me.” I rub my face in defeat.

“Well, when I lost all hopes of ever having Serah back, you were the one who guided me. What happened to the old version of Asher?” Tatum asks.

“He fucked up.” I groan as I lean against the sofa.

“At least you acknowledged it. The real question is what are you going to do about it?” Alan asks.

“I’m going to beg her forgiveness.”

“That’s a great start.” Tatum smiles.

“Then what are you waiting for, Christmas?” Alan’s eyes crinkle. “Go get her.”

∞∞∞

I ring the bell and wait. My hands turn clammy around the bouquet I am holding in my hand.

Rochelle opens the door and scowls when she sees me. “Now’s not the right time, Asher.” She starts to close the door but I prevent it from closing with my free hand.

“I’m sorry,” I mutter as I barge inside. Turning left down the hallway, I enter her bedroom through the already opened door without knocking.

Emily is lying on her stomach. I can’t see her face as it’s turned to the other side but the slight rocking of her shoulder tells me she’s crying.

Placing the chocolate bouquet on her desk, I stride to the side of the bed and grip her waist.

She gives a startled cry when I flip her on her back.

“What─” she blinks up at me with wet eyelashes and my heart shatters. I move to lie on the bed with my head on her stomach, my hands still clutching her waist.

“I’m sorry,” I murmur against the fabric of her dress.

“Asher, what are you doing?” she tries to push me off her but I hold tight.

“Please hear me out.” I look up at her but she is staring at the wall to her right instead. Her chin wobbles but she is trying hard not to cry.

Still, a tear escapes from her left eye and rolls across the bridge of her nose, and falls on the pillow.

I can feel the tremors in her stomach as she takes short breaths.

I’ve hurt her bad and the knowledge kills me.

“Baby, please.” My voice gets thick with emotions.

At that, she turns her bloodshot eyes at me, and my breath stutters.

Taking her small hands in mine, I kiss them reverently.

“Please,” I murmur.

She just looks at me with those solemn greens.

I crawl up her body. “Please.”

She turns away from me and I feel like my heart stopped beating inside my chest.

After what feels like forever, she mutters, “You have five minutes.”

I release the pent-up breath and feel my heart beating again. I stretch beside her and she moves farther away.

With a hand around her waist, I pull her to me so that her back is snug to my front.

If she thinks I’ll let her create a wall between us, she’s got another thing coming.

I press my lips to her shoulder as a thank you when she doesn’t pull away.

And then, I start telling her everything that went down after she left.

She stiffens when I tell her the part where I let Lexi touch me to make the actions believable. I don’t keep anything out. I want her to know everything.

Emily relaxes when I tell her about her arrest. I also mention that I’m getting a restraining order against her.

“I’m so sorry, baby.” I screw my eyes shut when my own words from earlier haunt me again.

She squirms out of my hold and sits up to lean against the headboard. I do the same.

Her eyes slide to the chocolate bouquet and she raises an eyebrow at me.

“You love chocolates.” I shrug and give her a small smile.

“Asher, I forgive you.” My smile broadens.

“But I can’t forget what you said so soon.” My smile falters at that.

“I need time to think.”

“Think?” I frown as my heart starts to worry.

“About us.” She doesn’t look at me.

I take her face in my hands and turn her eyes to me. “Don’t end us, Emily. It would wreck me.” I show her my vulnerable side. A first for me.

She squeezes her eyes shut. A tear rolls down her cheek and I kiss it away.

“Take your time. Think.” Her eyes open. She looks so fragile. I continue, “But think about the time we spent together. Think of all the times I annoyed you. Think of the ways to teach me a lesson, anything, but don’t ever think about ending us, Emily. Because I can’t live without you.”

Emily’s lower lip trembles and I confess. “I love you.”

She opens her mouth to speak but I silence her with a finger against her lips.

“You don’t have to say anything in return.” With a kiss on her forehead, I get up and leave.

Chapter 19

Emily

The doorbell rings for the fourth time and I groan in frustration. With an effort, I get my ass up and out of the room.

When I enter the living room, I find Ro on the couch. I give her the stink eye on my way to the door.

I open it but there’s no one. I’m about to close the door when I smell it. Italian food.

I look down and find takeout bags on the doorstep.

Picking it up, I step out and scan the surroundings.

With a frown, I head back inside and close the door behind me.

“Did you order this?” I head to the kitchen and start unloading it on the counter.

“No.” she makes her way to where I am standing.

There’s a note at the bottom. I pick it up and unfold it.

I miss you.

Yours,

Asher.

The ache in my chest returns when I read his name.

“I’m not hungry. You can eat without me. I’m gonna lie down a bit.” I start walking out of the kitchen when she stops me.

“Give it to me, I’ll throw it away.” She nods at the note that I’m still clutching. I hide it behind me.

“It’s okay. I’ll do it.”

“Here,” she steps aside so I can throw the note in the trash can.

The sound of the phone ringing from my room saves me from Rochelle’s studying gaze. I sprint to the room and lock myself in.

It’s a Skype conference video call.

I click on accept and Serah’s face appears on the screen alongside Mason’s.

“How are you, Millie?”

“Are you okay?”

Mason and Serah ask at the same time, making me smile.

“I’m fine, guys. Stop fretting.”

“Do I have to fly down there to kick Asher’s ass?” Mason asks with a solemn look and I smile sadly at him.

Asher did hurt me, but when I remember his confession from yesterday, it somehow eases the weight off my chest.

The way his vulnerable amber eyes were searching my face, I ached to wrap my arms around him. But I refrained from doing so because I want him to learn to trust me.

I’m aware that Asher thinks I need time to ponder on whether or not I want to be with him.

He is wrong. After hearing him out, I know he didn’t mean to hurt me and that he just wanted to help a woman in difficulty.

I need this distance for both of us. I know now that he loves me too and in the long haul, I want us to be together in thick and thin. I don’t ever want to have any trust issues between us.

He needs to learn to trust and respect my decisions. And this time apart would teach us whether or not we could make adjustments in our life in order to be together.

“No, you don’t. Where’s Lucas?” I ask to divert the topic from my personal life. They get it and don’t force me to talk further. Mason tells me that Lucas has gone absolutely crazy over the wedding planning.

After a few minutes, Lucas appears next to Mason and takes over. I take the phone to the living room so Lucas could invite Ro to the engagement party that was postponed due to their tight schedule.

“Okay… I have something to tell you guys.” Serah nibbles on her lip, her face turning red.

I bring the phone closer to my face and shout. “IS IT WHAT I THINK IT IS?”

“Uh…”

“What? Hey, don’t leave me out! Tell me!” Lucas whines and I see Mason patiently explaining to him that no one’s leaving him out and that we all are unaware of the thing Serah is about to share.

“I’m…” she blushes furiously and I groan.

“Out with it already!”

That’s when Tatum comes into the view. He leans over Serah so he could talk to us.

“It would take her ages to say it. Guys, we are pregnant.” Tatum grins.

“I KNEW IT!” I exclaim at the same time Lucas says “SHUT UP!”

“Oh my God! Congrats, Serah and Tatum. I’m so happy for you both.” Ro gushes.

Tatum grins proudly and Serah blushes and murmurs a thank you.

“Congratulations, Doll,” Mason is teary-eyed.

“Thanks, Mase.” She gives a watery smile. And I know she’s about to cry. I have to do something. Fast.

“HOLY SHIT! I’m gonna be an aunt!” I exclaim with a grin, making everyone laugh.

∞∞∞

Asher

I bend down to gently place the takeaway bags at her doorstep before ringing the doorbell.

Hurrying to hide behind my parked car, I wait for Emily to open the door. It's been three days since I’m dropping off food in the hopes of catching a glimpse of her.

She has been working from home so even if she emails me regarding work, I long to see her. I want to tell her that I miss her. That I love her.

I sneak in small notes in the bags every day to let her know that I’m not going anywhere. That I’m thinking of her.

I check my watch and frown. Why isn’t she opening the door? It is taking her longer than usual.

“I don’t see her.” a voice says from behind me.

“Me neither,” I murmur distractedly, then freeze.

Slowly, I turn my head and find a very amused Emily.

I straighten from my crouching position and clear my throat, heat creeping up on my neck.

“How long have you been standing there watching me?” I squint at her.

“Not long.” She covers her mouth with a hand to hide her laughter.

“You’re laughing at me.” I close the distance between us and her eyes widen.

Pulling her hand away from her mouth, I take her in. God, I missed her.

”W-What are you doing?” she gazes up at me with her big green eyes.

“Shh.” I place a finger on her lips. “Just let me look at you.”

Her face reddens. She looks good.

Her face, free from makeup, dressed in a simple pink knee-length floral dress, she looks like a beautiful little butterfly.

Her blonde locks drape around her small face, giving her an angelic aura.

I scan her features and take a content breath when I find no sign of crying. This is progress.

With one last look, I smile and turn towards my car.

“Where are you going?” She stops me before I could unlock the car.

I turn back again. “Home.”

“Why?” Emily’s voice is so low, I almost don’t hear it.

“Why what?” I ask in confusion.

“Why are you leaving?” she looks down.

“Um.. because I did what I came here to do.” I rub my neck. Dear Lord, that was lame. What do I say?

I came to see her and got more than I bargained for by talking to her, even if it was just for a minute.

She lets out a frustrated sigh. “How long are you gonna keep this up?”

I frown at her in bewilderment. “What are you talking about?”

“The Food delivery thing.”

“But I only got your favourites,” What was I doing wrong now?

“Oh, Asher.” She shakes her head then strides to where I’m standing.

She cranes her neck to look up at me. “Ask me again.”

“O-kay. What is your favourite dish?” I look down at her with more confusion.

She starts laughing then.

“What’s so funny?”

“You are.”

“Is that so?” I challenge.

“Mm-hmm.” I pounce on her then. She gives a startled cry but I don’t give her a chance to escape.

Wrapping my hands around her waist, I turn to place her on the hood of my car.

“Now tell me, what did you find so funny?” I ask as she wraps her arms around my neck. I still for a second when her touch registers.

“Ask me.” She says again.

I wrack my brain to find out what is she referring to.

The memory of the day we almost kissed floods my brain.

Ask me what I want again.

The day when I finally told her I want her.

I swallow thickly. Does this mean she has forgiven me?

“Go on, Asher.” She nods encouragingly, her eyes filling with unshed tears.

“What do you want, Emily?”

“You.” She presses her lips to mine and I close my eyes in relief.

Chapter 20

Emily

Breaking the kiss, I hop down and take his hand in mine. Asher regards me with amusement as I charge toward my apartment.

I’m unlocking the door as he picks up the takeout bags he left earlier.

“Where’s Rochelle?” he asks as he heads into the kitchen to drop the bags.

“She’s at the café.” I watch him watch me.

Eating up the distance between us, he bends down to lift me and I immediately wrap my legs around his narrow waist.

“Hi.” He murmurs with a smile that melts my heart.

“Hi,” I repeat stupidly.

He kisses my nose. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” I rub his stubble-coated cheek with both hands and lean in to kiss his brow.

“You didn’t. You would’ve texted me if you did.” He narrows his eyes at me.

I huff in annoyance. “Did you text?”

His fingers dig into the flesh of my ass. “I did send you those notes.”

My heart sings at the mention of his notes. Throughout our time apart, I used to look forward to his notes rather than the delicious meals.

Shocker, I know. I can freely admit now that I love Asher more than I love food.

By seeing Asher’s efforts, Rochelle forgave him for what he did. She is extremely protective of me. So winning over my little sister earned Asher brownie points.

“You did. I love them so much.” I smile softly at him. His notes are somewhere safe. I’ll always cherish them.

“What about me?” his soulful eyes gleams with vulnerability and love as they roam over my face.

“Those notes acquired a place in my heart but you, Asher are my whole heart. I love you so much.”

Asher kisses my forehead.

“I longed for you to say those words, baby. I love you.” He murmurs and I tighten my arms and legs around him.

We stay like this, locked in an embrace for a few moments before he starts walking in the direction of my bedroom.

Kicking the door shut behind us, he gently places me on the bed and starts to pull away but I don’t give up my grip on him.

With a chuckle, he moves atop me as he props himself on his forearms on either side of my head.

This position has my dress bunched up around my waist and his crotch settles between the juncture of my legs.

Asher leans down and captures my lips. My hands roam over his sides then travel up his back.

I part my lips, giving him access to play with my tongue. I moan in his mouth when our tongues stroke at one another. Our breath mingles, our passion unites.

Asher releases a needy groan in my mouth as his hand finds its way inside my already soaked panties.

His touch sets me off and I start clawing at his clothes. Within minutes our clothes are off and Asher is settling between my legs again, his cock thick and heavy against my pussy.

“Please.” I whimper and Asher’s eyes flash with carnal hunger.

Without a word, he positions himself at my entrance. In a single unforgiving thrust, he buries himself to the hilt, causing me to cry out.

“You’re mine.” He thrusts hard and fast. His fingers tangling with my strands as he tugs at it, making me even wetter.

“Say it, Emily.” He grits. His eyes are trained on me as he pounds into me with an almost punishing rhythm.

“I’m yours, Asher. All yours. Forever.” I wear my heart on my sleeve. Rambling all the things I feel for him.

“Forever, huh? Be careful what you wish for, tiny person.” He thrusts and grinds his pelvis, rubbing my clit in the process.

My eyes roll in pleasure.

“Fuck, I’m gonna come.” I moan loudly.

“No, you’re not.” He slows his pace and I glare at him in frustration.

Digging my nails in his firm ass, I say, “Don’t make me bite you, Asher!”

“I’d like to see you try.” His eyes gleam brighter and I raise my head and take his lower lip in my mouth. I bite. Hard.

He curses in a low voice but doesn’t make any move to pull away.

His hips piston into me with renewed energy. Almost in a frenzy, causing me to release his lip on a cry.

“Come with me.” Asher shivers above me. “Now.”

As if his slave, my body bows to his command and we both come at the same time.

Epilogue 1

Three months later

Emily

“I vow to laugh and cry with you. I promise to trust and respect you, to lift you when you’re down. To hold you when you’re sad over your favorite Netflix show ending.”

Everyone laughs at that. Asher tightens his fingers around mine and I gaze at him through watery eyes.

He wraps his free arm over my shoulders. I scoot in my seat next to him and he tucks me at his side and presses his lips against my temple.

We focus on the couple again.

“You’ve taught me the real meaning of love. I vow to love you unconditionally.”

Asher passes a tissue and I take it to wipe the tears as Mason says his vows.

We are witnessing Mason and Lucas’s beautiful wedding ceremony in one of the striking banquets in Los Angeles. The place is styled with marble, wood, and gold accents.

But the gorgeous engraved ceilings and the stylish décor of the hall aren’t something I’m focused on.

Today, all eyes are on the happy couple clad in tuxes. My best friends.

“We did it, love.” Lucas’s voice wobbles and Mason holds his hands in his.

I hear Serah hiccupping to my left and I turn to see Tatum whispering in her ear as he rubs her small baby bump gently.

Serah meets my eyes and I give her an encouraging smile. Mason holds a very special place in Serah’s life and I am aware of how huge this is for Serah.

She finally gets to witness Mason getting what he was so cruelly denied by his parents. Freedom. Freedom to love. Freedom of choosing who he wants to be with.

I’m glad Mason’s parents aren’t present.

Regardless of what they did to him, he sent them an invitation.

They didn’t show up. I look over to my right and thank god internally for Lucas’s family.

They truly are the sweetest with how they welcomed Mason with open arms.

“We are here with our friends and family who truly love and accept us.”  Lucas glances at us and says, “Thank you.”

And the dam just breaks. Asher hands me the box of tissues and I blow my nose very unladylike as the officiant pronounce them husband and husband.

“I love them so much.” I sniffle.

“And I love you so much,” Asher says, making me look at him.

I melt every time he says those words. I’m the luckiest girl in the world.

“I love you too.” I lean in to kiss his lips.

∞∞∞

“Come on, Rochelle. It’ll be fun!” I pull her to the grand staircase just outside the banquet where the photographer is all set to take our group photographs.

She reluctantly agrees and I drag her to our friends. She starts fidgeting as soon as we near them.

Rochelle’s face turns pink as she glances at something. I follow the line of her sight and find Tatum and Asher conversing with Alan.

Huh?

“What’s up with you?” She has been acting weird for a while now.

“N-nothing. I’m just feeling a little out of place with all the make-up and the dress.” She motions at herself and I take a moment to look at her. She looks flawless as always but the calf-length rose-gold colored dress has magnified her innocent beauty.

I forced her into letting me do her makeup. She has let her down. It looks refreshing as she always tied her dark locks up in a ponytail.

“Okay, guys pair up!” Lucas claps his hand.

In the next few minutes, the photographer has Lucas and Mason stand right in the middle of the entryway.

He then asks Tatum and Serah to stand on a step below at the left corner. Asher and I take the spot in the right corner.

Lucas’s sister and her husband are seated like models on the third step of the staircase leaning to the left side.

“We need one more couple to go over there.” The photographer points at the empty spot opposite Lucas’s sister.

“Rochelle, honey, what are you doing there? Come here.” Lucas waves her over and she worries her lip.

“Umm, This is a couples’ only photo. I’ll sit this one out.” She smiles awkwardly.

I am about to tell Lucas not to force her when I see Alan stride over to her.

He shocks the daylights out of me when he clasps her wrist and starts dragging her until they are at the designated spot.

“Pinch me,”  Asher murmurs and I do.

“Dear lord, this is indeed real.” He says distractedly as we watch Alan posing with his hand around Rochelle’s waist.

I narrow my eyes at them. “Your brother better keep his hands to himself. Rochelle is only eighteen.” I growl.

“Calm down, my tigress. I’ll have a chat with him later. Don’t worry.” He kisses my forehead.

∞∞∞

“Okay, girls! No fighting!” Lucas grins from ear to ear as he turns around to face away from us.

I flush as I meet Serah’s eyes. Lucas made me stand with the rest of the unmarried girls for the bouquet toss.

Lucas being himself, somehow convinced me with his adorable grin.

“Reaaaady?” Lucas sing-songs, making us giggle.

“Here you go!” he exclaims and makes a show of throwing it but doesn’t. Lucas follows this a couple of more times.

The girls beside me moan in frustration and I find myself thoroughly amused as I glance at them. They are all tall, model-like, and beautiful. Their enthusiasm is contagious.

I’m glad Asher spoiled me with a shopping spree before the wedding. In a burgundy cowl neck bodycon dress, I feel sexy and confident. I even made Asher wear a three-piece burgundy suit so we could match.

“Quit playing around, Lucas! We're getting old here.” One of the girls tease and more laughter follows. The soft music makes me sway softly and I scan the crowd to search for Asher.

I frown when I can’t see him.

“Okay, okay! You are no fun.” Lucas sticks his tongue out and then turns back.

“One… two… three…” Instead of tossing the bouquet, he starts to turn.

Slowly, he faces us.

And then starts walking in our direction.

No, in my direction.

He hands me the bouquet and my heart rate starts to spike. I swallow thickly when Lucas kisses my forehead and steps back.

I feel him before I see him.

Slowly taking a deep breath and curbing my tears in, I turn. There he is. My Asher, on one knee. I don’t even look at the ring. I can’t when Asher’s exquisite golden orbs trap me.

“Emily, in just a short span of time, you managed to capture my heart. You own it. All my life, I have been running. Be it a country or from people. After meeting you, I realised I wasn’t running anymore. Because I’ve finally found my home. And that’s you, baby.”

I let out a sob and kneel to hug him before he could ask me the question. “I love you.”

He chuckles and it’s music to my ears. “I love you too, baby.” He engulfs me in a tight embrace.

After a minute, when I’m still holding him captive in my arms, he asks, “Baby, let me ask you properly.”

I untangle from him and smile. “Okay, go for it, but I’m staying put.”

He shakes his head with a smile and kisses the tip of my nose. “Emily Guinevere Moore, will you be my home for the rest of our lives? Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” My voice is nothing but a breathless whisper as tears roll down my face. The grin he gives me is no less like the stars in the clear night sky. Beautiful and mine.

I watch with blurry vision as he slips a four-carat diamond ring into my finger.

He kisses my ring finger and I jump him for a kiss. Literally. And he goes down with an oomph.

Like our first meeting.

Only this time, we both are grinning.

Epilogue 2

Five years later

Emily

“Don’t talk to me.” I take a big bite of my cookie. From the corner of my eye, I see Asher trying to suppress his laugh.

“What’s so funny?” I snap after swallowing the content in my mouth.

“Nothing, baby. Just maybe try taking smaller bites of the biscuit to avoid choking.”

I scoff and sidestep him “They’re cookies, thank you very much.”

“Ethan?” I look around the living area and find no trace of my four-year-old.

Asher wraps his arms around me from behind. “He is probably in the den watching the idiot box with Eva.”

I shrug out of his hold and go look for them. Sure enough, Ethan and Eva are snuggling in a fluffy blanket, watching Toy Story for the umpteenth time.

Eva will turn three this week. I was planning a get-together with our friends. As they love having Jeremy, Judy, and Harper─Serah’s kids over, I was aiming to throw a costume party. Not only for the kids but for us parents too.

I was so looking forward to wearing an orange jumpsuit and surprise Asher by showing up as Annoying orange. It would be fitting as I am round and chubby with my seven-month baby bump.

Baby number three was a surprise and we were only thrilled to know there’ll be another addition to our crazy bunch of four.

We didn’t opt for the gender reveal. I want to be surprised this time.

I take a deep breath before gently asking the kids to come for lunch.

Asher had me all riled up this morning. Nothing new in that, of course.

But I’m more sad than angry as he’s leaving on a week-long business trip today.

That means no surprising him.

We are just wrapping up the lunch when Asher excuses himself to answer his phone.

I vaguely hear him and gather that the driver is here to pick him up for the airport.

“Ethan, Eva, wanna drop daddy to the car?”

“Yes!” they both run to him and he picks them up in his strong arms.

“Baby, aren’t you coming?” His golden eyes regard me with a tender expression and I sigh.

I’m in a green printed maternity A-line dress which is good enough to go downstairs. Thank God it doesn’t have any stains on it though.

The car is already parked when we reach. I watch as Asher kneels in front of the kids.

“What do you want Daddy to get you this time?” Asher ruffles Ethan’s dirty blond hair.

“I want a… ROBOT!” His green eyes brighten with excitement.

“A robot. Okay.”

“Buzz Lightyear!” Ethan adds.

“To infinity…” Asher starts.

“And beyond!” He jumps in Asher’s arms and cuddles him tightly.

“And what does my princess wants?” Asher asks after a minute.

“A doll.” She says shyly, her golden eyes cast down. She takes after Ro.

He gives her a forehead kiss. “Why don’t you check inside the car? Maybe the toys you both want are already in there?” Asher waggles his eyebrows at them.

No longer are the words out, the kids take off.

“Aren’t you getting late?”

He moves to stand and close the gap between us in long strides.

“Indeed, I am.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”

“You.”

“What?” I ask in confusion.

“Get in the car. We’re getting late. I know we own a private jet but tardiness isn’t good, baby.”

“What are you talking about?”

He smiles and frames my face in his hands.

“My beautifully clueless wife. We’re leaving for a surprise family trip. You didn’t think I would miss my daughter’s birthday, did you?”

A grin breaks free on my face. I push on my tiptoes and kiss him on the mouth.

“When did you plan this?” I am still grinning.

“A month ago.” He smirks.

I swat at his chest.

“Why the torture then?” I pout.

“If you think you’ll ever get me to stop riling you up, you’re delusional, baby.”

I chuckle. “I love you, my annoying orange, and I wouldn’t change a single thing about you.”

He dazzles me with a million-dollar grin. “Ditto, tiny person.”

The End

Curious about Tatum and Serah? You can read their story by clicking here.

Wondering what's brewing between Alan and Rochelle? Find out by clicking here.

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Thank you so much for reading Asher and Emily’s love story. We hope you enjoyed Sinful Lust. It was a crazy ride writing this one and we loved every second of it. ☺

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Also by Sanjana Nidhi

SINFUL LIAISONS (Office Romance)

Blurb

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For months, I watched her from afar, bidding my time.
The close proximity to her drove me wild with need.
When an opportunity strikes, I waste no time snatching it.
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Time to stake a claim on what’s mine.
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I kept my infatuation with Mr. Blackstone buried deep within me.
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What would you do to make your one true love yours?

All it took was one sunny afternoon, a pissed-off customer, and a cup of coffee for Rochelle Moore to fall in love with the enigmatic stranger.

She never expected to come face to face with the man of her dreams again. But then came a day when she not only got to meet the handsome stranger, but she also ended up being an intern at his firm.

What would you do to make your one true love-who happens to be your boss-yours?

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He never let anyone close because he had no time for relationships nor did he have any plans to entertain the idea of it.

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For the first time in his life, he wants to say 'screw it' to his rules and indulge in the forbidden fruit that is Rochelle Moore.

About the authors

Sanjana and Nidhi are two sisters who share a passion for reading and writing everything romance.

The two recently dipped their toes in writing and immediately fell in love with the characters in their mind. They love their heroes alpha and loyal at heart.

Being hopeless romantic themselves, their books promise to have no cheating and a fulfilling HEA!

When they are not writing, the duo can be found painting and sketching or swooning over Asian dramas / Netflix shows.

Sanjana Nidhi would love to hear from their readers!

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