Chapter 465
Chapter 465:
An hour later, we were home, in the bedroom.
His jacket hit the floor first, then mine.
His shirt came off next.
I helped speed up the process by ripping off a button or two.
My palms skimmed his chest, warm and lean beneath my touch, skin stretched tight over muscle. He unzipped my dress.
The sound was soft, nearly drowned out by the patter of light outside.
His lips trailed along my throat, my collarbone, the curve of my shoulder. My skin prickled as he moved lower, tasting, kissing, breathing me in like he couldn’t get enough.
The room was warm and dark, full of breath and skin and rustling fabric.
I pulled him down with me onto the mattress.
His hands slid down my hips, fingertips tracing along the inside of my thighs.
I arched beneath him.
He held me still, then lowered his mouth. Everything narrowed.
Sensation, sound, time—everything vanished.
There was only the heat of him, the rhythm, the unrelenting pressure.
My nails dug into his back.
He grunted when I pulled him closer, deeper.
His breath stuttered when I whispered his name against his throat.
We moved together.
We came together.
And he never once let me go.
I woke sometime later with an ache in my lower back and the faint scent of sweat and skin hanging in the air. My head rested on Ashton’s chest, and his hand was curled loosely around my waist.
𝕷𝖆𝖙𝖊𝓼𝓉 с𝗁αρ𝗍𝓮𝗋𝓈 ﹒ⅽ𝗈𝗆
Everything from the night before came rushing back: the look in his eyes, the weight of his body over mine, the way he’d said my name just before the end. Suddenly, the questions about that woman from his past felt pointless, childish. Whatever she’d meant to him, it had nothing to do with what he and I had now.
I slipped out from under his arm and reached for my phone on the floor.
It was eleven.
I had fifteen notifications: a mix of emojis, bad Presidents’ Day memes, and one blurry photo of a roast chicken on someone’s dining table.
At the bottom was a message from Priya.
“Happy Presidents’ Day, Mira! I’ve saved up enough! This is the $30k you and Ashton lent me. Finally paying it back 🙂 Also, I found a new place, closer to the studio, nice area, only $3k a month. I’m moving out of Oakwood. Thank you for everything. Love you p>
I smiled and typed back: “No rush on the money. If you pay me now, you’ll be broke again, won’t you p>
Priya replied right away: “Come on, Mira. You’re paying me a proper salary now, plus that fat year-end bonus. I’ve got plenty left, even after this p>
I hit ‘accept p>
The money landed in my account a second later.
I typed: “Your parents haven’t been bothering you, have they p>