Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 58211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
I toss my phone onto the bed. I can’t be mad at his response. As he said, he’s being the mature one.
My door handle turns, the door creaking as it opens. Asher stands in the doorway, wearing a shirt and shorts. Every inch of his sculpted form bulging like all his stress is physically bubbling up. He closes the door and walks quietly across the room.
“One last night,” he whispers.
He lies down, lifting his arm. I crawl into the space and put my cheek against his chest. His heart is pounding through his pec. He gently strokes his hand through my hair.
“I’m going to miss you,” I tell him.
“I’m going to miss you too, Snowflake.”
“This was never going to be a Christmas miracle, was it?”
He sighs, “I don’t think so.”
I prop my hands on his chest, looking up. He’s staring at me, his frosty eyes containing so much.
“What?” I ask, laughing quietly.
He smiles. “I’m just trying not to kiss you.”
“When you look at me like that … ditto.”
I lean up. He leans down. We meet in the middle, and passion blazes through us. I moan as my hands tighten against his skin, my fingernails pushing against his solidness.
He rolls over, his hand gliding down my body, over my hip, toward my ass. Pleasure coaxes me to forget about our responsibilities. I slide my hand under his shirt, over his belly, feeling the ridges of his abs.
He groans like he’s going to tell me to stop but then kisses me harder, hungrier.
I slide into his lap and move my hips, feeling so sexy when I’m with him. Any doubts about my body are difficult to entertain when he grabs hold of me like I’m the only woman he ever wants to touch.
We stop when Brianna yells, “Asher? Asher? I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do.”
Asher springs to his feet, rushing for the door. “Mom?”
CHAPTER 26
ASHER
The change in mood is abrupt. One moment, I am kissing and touching my virgin. Now, Mom is staring at me with tears in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“It’s that awful man. You were right. I think he’s gone on a bender.”
“Derek?” I snap. “What now?”
“He’s at the church, wrecking the decorations. He’s got some men with him.”
“What the fuck?” I snap. “Why won’t he just leave us alone?”
“Where are you going?” Mom calls as I storm toward the stairs.
“Where do you think?”
“Wait for me, Asher,” Holly yells.
The church is near Mom’s place—why she loves living there so much—and we get there before the cops. Two staff members stand off to the side, anxiously wringing their hands as Derek and two other drunk assholes stomp around on the greenery, kicking up decorative gifts, upturning the sleigh. One punches a hole through Santa’s wooden face, and the other two and whoop.
A few teenagers hang around on their bikes, all with their cellphones out, recording the chaos.
I throw the car door open, livid. Who the fuck do they think they are?
This is my mother’s safe place. After so many years of struggling to get her mind and body in order, she finally found it here.
“Derek,” I roar.
He turns. In the semidarkness, he’s never looked more ghoulish. His two buddies are bigger, glassy-eyed.
“This is the one,” Derek slurs, clearly drunk. “The one who thinks he’s some tough guy. The one who ruined my life.”
They stumble toward me. I clench my fists, trying to breathe slowly.
Beside me, Holly whispers, “Careful, Asher. There are three of them. Wait for the cops. I don’t want anybody to get hurt.”
“It’s not me you have to worry about.”
“And look who’s here!” Derek yells, gesturing wildly at Holly. “Come to rub it in my face, have you, big man? You got the girl. I got shit. Is that it?”
“Derek,” Holly says in a calm tone. “Please, just think about what you’re doing. The police are on the way. You don’t want to make this worse than it already is.”
“I would’ve treated you right,” Derek snaps.
“We don’t even know each other,” Holly seethed back, losing her temper.
“Don’t shout at me, bitch,” Derek bellows.
I step in front of Holly, somehow restraining myself, not tearing his limbs off and beating the other two with them. Nobody talks to my Snowflake like that.
When he steps forward, I almost growl. It’s only Holly’s touch that stops me. “Don’t. I can hear sirens.”
She’s right. Sirens pierce through the air.
“You hear that?” I bark at Derek. “Those kids have got you on video, you dumbass. You’ve lost your job, and you’ll have to deal with a run-in with the law. And for what? All because you couldn’t take no for an answer.”
“All because of you …” He looks bitterly at Holly. “What did I even see in you? What’s the matter with me? There’s nothing special about you. I saw something else: what you could’ve been for me if you’d seen how decent I was trying to be.”