Asher blinked and looked up at the ceiling above his bed. Something had woken him. He turned his head then sat straight up, startled to see Faith standing a few feet away, twisting her hands together.
“Faith, hey. Is everything—”
“Kiss me.”
The fog of sleep instantly evaporated, replaced by a fog of confusion. He scrubbed the stubble on his face. “Sorry, what?”
“Kiss me, Asher. I can’t sleep. I need to get you out of my system. I have to stop thinking about what happened between us. You have to help me forget.”
“You want me to help you forget that we ever kissed? By kissing you again?”
“Yes. No. I mean...yes. Just...kiss me, okay? If you don’t mind?”
“Oh, I definitely don’t mind. Can I brush my teeth first?”
“No. Yes, yes, probably a good idea. Go ahead. Hurry.”
He started to the flip the comforter back then hesitated. “You might want to turn around.”
“Why? I don’t...oh. You mean you’re...”
“Naked as the day I was born.”
She whirled around.
He chuckled and grabbed some boxers from his dresser before heading into the bathroom.
When he came back out, he left the bathroom door open to provide better light. Not that he expected her to still be there. He figured she would have lost her nerve and run off again. Once again, she’d surprised him. She was still there, standing by the bed, wringing her hands. He padded across the carpet to stand in front of her.
“Still want to do this?”
“Yes, I... You don’t have a shirt on.”
“You want me to put one on before I kiss you?”
“Yes. No.”
He grinned. “Are you even awake?” He waved his hand in front of her face. “Are you sleepwalking? Because you aren’t making much sense and that’s not like you at all.”
“Believe me, none of this makes sense to me, either, except that I can’t sleep because all I do is think of your damn golden gorgeous chest and your mouth and your tongue and...just do it. Kiss me.”
He settled his hands around her tiny waist and leaned down.
“Wait.” She pressed her hands against his chest, sucked in a breath as if she’d been burned and then snatched her hands away. Her breathing quickened as she stared at his chest, her gaze trailing down to his boxers. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. “No tongue. Just a quick soft kiss on the lips.”
“Faith.”
“Yes?”
“Look at me.”
She frowned and blew out a breath before opening her eyes. “What?”
“Explain it to me again, why you want me to kiss you? Not that I don’t want to. Believe me, I do. But I don’t want you to regret this later. I’m not sure you’re thinking straight right now.”
“I’m thinking as straight as I possibly can. I’ve been doing nothing but think for the past few hours. This is the only solution that I can think of.”
“To get me out of your system?”
“Yes! I have a theory.”
“A theory.”
“I believe that I’ve built up that earlier kiss in my mind, made it seem way more...incredible than it actually was. If I have something to compare it to, I think I’ll realize it was just the shock of it happening in the first place that has me in a dither.”
He tried hard not to laugh. “You’re in a dither? Is that what this is?”
“Don’t laugh at me. This is serious.”
“Of course. Forgive me. You want a quick soft kiss to make you forget the other kiss. Got it. Are you ready?”
She drew a shaky breath. “Ready. Oh, and I brushed my teeth too. It’s all good.”
He laughed. At her frown, he said, “Sorry.”
“Just do it.” She tilted her mouth up toward him and closed her eyes.
He slid his arms around her and gently pulled her against his chest.
Her eyes flew open.
He lowered his mouth to hers.
“Wait. No tongue. Remember, just a quick soft kiss.”
“No tongue. Got it.”
“Stop laughing. I hear laughter in your voice.”
He arched a brow. “Would you rather hear sex in my voice?”
“No. Good grief, anything but that. Just hurry up, I need to get this over with.”
“Ouch. My ego just limped off somewhere.”
“Sorry. We’re just friends, remember? I need to get things back the way they are.”
“By having me kiss you.”
“Exactly, we—”
He swooped down and kissed her, wildly, dragging his mouth across hers, nibbling on her lips.
She gasped against him and pushed at his chest, stepping back. “That wasn’t soft!”
“Sorry. Should I try again?”
“Hang on a sec.” She closed her eyes, frowned, then opened them again. “It didn’t work. You definitely did it wrong.”
“Because you’re still not thinking of me as just a friend?”
“Exactly.”
He grinned.
“It’s not funny.”
“It kind of is, actually.”
“Once more. Soft. Not...wild like that. A quick soft kiss. That should do it.”
“One quick soft kiss coming right up.”
She pressed against his chest. “No tongue.”
“Scout’s honor.”
“You weren’t a Scout.”
“I could have been.”
“But you weren’t. No tongue. Promise.”
“Promise.”
She gave him a suspicious look then relaxed her shoulders and closed her eyes again. “Let’s get this over with. I really need to get some sleep tonight.”
He was laughing when his lips touched hers. True to his promise, he gave her a gentle, tender kiss that about killed him not to deepen. When he ended the kiss, he inhaled a shaky breath, shocked at how such a brief, chaste touch had affected him.
Faith kept her eyes closed, her breaths sounding a bit uneven. When she finally looked up at him, the dazed look on her face had him instantly hardening. If she risked a quick glance down, there’d be no doubt about what she was doing to him.
He cleared his throat. “Did that work?”
She considered then slowly shook her head, looking disappointed. “Not even close. There’s only one more thing I can think of to try.”
“I can think of several things.”
She put her hands on her hips “I don’t mean that. We’re definitely not doing that.”
“Pity.”
She blew out a frustrated sigh. “I need you to kiss me one more time.”
His erection was becoming painfully hard now. He grimaced.
“Are you in pain? Do you need me to get you a pill?”
“No I’m... I’m fine. What kind of kiss this time?” Good grief, it sounded as if he was offering her up a menu.
“I think, in order to wipe out the memory of our first kiss, you’re going to have to kiss me like that again.”
His erection jerked. He cleared his throat again. “Like the first time? In the hospital?”
“Please. If you don’t mind. I really think reality won’t live up to the fantasy. That’s my hope anyway.”
His throat tightened. “You fantasize about me?”
“Just kiss me. I need a good night’s sleep and—”
He covered her mouth with his and swept his tongue inside. He slid one hand in her thick hair, tilting her head back for better access. The other, he slid down her back to the curves he’d wanted to touch for so very long, pressing her against him. He expected his hardness to shock her into running away. Instead, she moaned and fit her body more snugly against his, cradling him with her softness.
It was like a switch had turned on inside both of them. The kiss at the hospital was incinerated by this one. Both were wild to touch, to taste, wanting more, and more, and more. He whirled her around, pressing her against the bedpost, worshipping her mouth with his, tasting her sweetness, her sassiness, everything that was Faith. Lava flowed through his veins, burning him up. For the first time since he’d been stabbed, the constant pain in his healing back faded into oblivion. All he felt was Faith.
He lifted her bottom, fitting her even more perfectly against him, moving his lips to the side of her neck. She shivered and moaned, bucking against him. Holding her with one arm beneath her bottom, he raked back the comforter and began to lower her to the bed.
Her eyes flew open. “Stop!”
He immediately set her on her feet and stepped back, even though it nearly killed him. “Are you sure?”
“Yes! We can’t... I mean I want...but we can’t...damn it.” She stared up at him in shock and pressed a hand to her throat. “That kiss didn’t work at all.”
He motioned to his straining erection. “It worked for me.”
Her eyes widened as she looked down. She stood transfixed, then slowly stepped toward him, her hand raised as if to stroke him.
He started to sweat, yearning for her touch, waiting, hoping.
She suddenly snatched her hand back. “What the hell am I doing?” She swore a blue streak and ran out of the room, cursing the entire time until the door down the hall slammed shut yet again.
He groaned and rested his forehead against the cool bedpost, struggling to slow his racing heart. More than anything, he wanted to follow her, to get on his knees and beg if he had to. Faith. She’d always been in his heart. Now she was in his blood. He wanted her so much he ached. And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
He drew a ragged breath and strode into the bathroom for yet another shower. A cold one.
WHEN THE MORNING sun’s rays slanted through the plantation shutters in Asher’s bedroom, he was already dressed and ready to start the day. He’d chosen jeans and a loose, button-up shirt as he’d been doing since his confrontation with the perpetrator up on the mountain. His back was too stiff to make shrugging into a suit jacket remotely comfortable.
He tapped his fingers on his dresser, dozens of other useless minutiae running through his mind. None of it mattered. None of it was what he cared one bit about. All he was doing was putting off the inevitable. Facing Faith this morning and seeing what kind of a mood she was in today.
Would she blame him for whatever the hell had happened last night? Walk out? Tell him they were done? No longer friends, no longer work partners, nothing? Or would she smile and lighten his heart, be the friendly, fun woman he loved so damn much? Or would she be a mixture of the two? The only thing he knew for sure was that standing in his bedroom avoiding a potential confrontation wasn’t going to make things better. And it wasn’t going to solve the case either. He had to face Faith head-on and go from there. Somehow.
He strode to the door and pulled it open, almost running into Faith. He grabbed her shoulders to steady her, then let go.
“Faith. Good morning. Are you—”
“It’s Willow.” She held up her phone. “Leslie Parks is ready to talk to us.”