He patted my ass and let his arms fall away from me.
“Fine,” I said with a big sigh, then rolled off him in the most dramatic way I could muster.
“I’m going to take a shower and wash off. Do you need one too?”
“No.”
“Are you sure? We could take one together.” He waggled his eyebrows as he sat up.
“Oh, well, inthatcase. Yes. I very much need a shower.”
Ash stood and held out his hand to me. I took it and let him haul me off the bed.
Ash grabbed his shower caddy, and we walked hand in hand to the bathroom, where Ash started the water while I stripped off my clothes.
“You too,” I said as I kicked off my sweats.
He tugged off his shirt, then shucked his pants, never taking his eyes off me.
“I can’t believe it.” I shook my head. My dick was half-hard again. “I don’t think I have another one in me, but he didn’t get the memo.”
Ash waved his semi. “Hard same. You’re just too damn sexy.”
“Pretty sure that’s you.”
“I mean, you’re not wrong. I’m sexy as fuck. But I’m not my type, so this”—he gestured at his cock again—“is all for you.”
A quick flash hit me.
A single memory.
A zipper being lowered in a quiet bathroom.
Cool air brushed over my ass, making the memory more vivid, more real.
Hands on my hips. Rough clothes against my bare skin. Fear. So much fear and confusion.
“Jules?”
Ash’s hand on my arm stopped the spiral I’d been about to fall into, and I looked up at him with wet eyes.
Fuck. I didnotwant to start crying again.
“It’s okay, Jules. I’m here.”
He tugged me against his chest and held me tight.
I breathed him in, his familiar scent settling the last of my nerves as a wave of welcome calm rippled through me.
“I’m sorry.”
“None of that.” He rubbed my back. “You have nothing to be sorry about, so stop apologizing, okay?”
“Okay.”
The silence between us stretched, but it was comforting, peaceful.
“Ash?”