Spiked by Love(41)

“Yes?”

He brings my hands up, kissing each of my knuckles. “I messed up.”

My body goes still as I gaze up into his eyes. I somehow miss that damn patch, but I know he doesn’t. “How so?”

“I haven’t taken you on a date. Like, our first date.”

Jesus. Swoon. “Oh.”

“And I thought I should fix that.”

I’m breathless. “Well, that’s incredibly sweet of you.”

“I know,” he says, moving his lips along my jaw. “I don’t want our first date to be a hookup. I want it to be something special.”

“Um, it was a hot kiss through a net that started all this.”

He holds up his hand. “Actually, it was a hot kiss after I kicked some dude’s ass for you.”

“You’re right,” I admit, grinning. “Either way, how we started is special to me.”

He lets out a breath. “I know. To me too, but I wanted to give you something that will show you how much you mean to me.”

My jaw drops as I look up at him. “Wow.”

“Yeah, I know.”

I roll my eyes. “So full of yourself.”

His laughter tickles my gut as he leads me into the room. It’s warm from the fire, and I take off my jacket, dropping on the floor before lowering to my knees on the pillows he’s arranged around the blanket. He sits down by me and hands me a metal s’more maker. We gather ingredients and start to make the s’mores, carefully. I don’t want to get cussed out by Fallon for getting marshmallow on her fireplace.

As my s’more cooks, I fall back on my haunches and grin over to Asher. “I’m excited.”

“I know,” he says happily. “I know how you are about s’mores.”

“Remember that summer we went to camp? All of us?”

He nods, laughing. “Yes, my dad was so pissed I didn’t go to hockey camp with Aiden.”

I laugh. “Yeah, but we had so much fun.”

“I got fat,” he says, and I laugh even harder.

“You did not!”

“I did. And when I came back, my aunt called me Roly Poly. I really don’t understand why she picks on me.”

My laughter is uncontainable. “She picks on everyone.”

He widens his eyes. “That’s a lie!”

“She called Aiden Boogie Butt, and to this day, the guys on the team call him BB.”

He grins. “When I heard that, it made my month.”

We share a smile before I take a huge bite of my s’more. When I taste caramel, my eyes widen. “You got chocolate with caramel inside?”

He looks away bashfully. “It’s your favorite.”

Even with a full mouth, I lean over, pressing my lips to his. I can’t help it, he’s so sweet. He grins against my mouth as I back away slowly. “You’re amazing.”

He winks. “So are you.”

“This is awesome.” I sit back and cross my legs. “I’ve never been on a date like this.”

“No?”

“No,” I say, taking another bite. “It’s always dinner or a movie. Never anything like this. An inside picnic because it’s too cold outside is totally romantic.”

“Plus, no one can see my makeup-covered arms,” he teases and I giggle.

“I should have gotten that one palette I loved so much.”

A grin pulls at his lips. “I got it for you.”

My eyes widen. “No way!”

“Yeah, it’s in the car.”

I squeal before jumping in his lap. “You’re too much.”

He wraps his arm around my waist, holding me close before he holds his s’more to my lips. I take a bite, and as I chew, I smile at him. “Which do you like better? Boyfriend or best friend?”

I wish I could say how lucky I am to be in love with my best friend.

“Both.” I gaze into his eyes. “Asher, you did all this as my best friend too. You’ve always been considerate and sweet. Only now, I get to hump you. A lot.”

He nods, almost proud of himself. “I like the humping part.”

I scoff. “Of course, you do.”

“You have to admit, it’s pretty fucking great.”

“It is.” I nod. “But I love us. I’ve always loved us.”

His eyes meet mine once more, and I notice the heat creeping up his neck. He almost looks unsure of himself, but he nods. “I do too.”

If he loves us, surely, he loves me.

But I can’t chance asking that yet.

I lean forward on my knees, my ass pressing into his stomach as I try to reload my s’more maker. As he rubs my ass, he says, “My mom will kill me if we get marshmallow in her fireplace, so save me the ass-chewing and be careful.”

“Ah, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” I call over my shoulder, and he smacks my ass. “God, it’s like we’re kids again.”

As I sit back, he holds my hip. “I don’t remember smacking your ass as a kid.”

“Right? You should have.”

“Exactly, kind of wish I had.”

My face warms as I roast my s’more. I look over my shoulder at him and see that hooded look on his face that drives me wild. “You do?”

“I do. I think I would be different.”

I scrunch up my nose as I lean back, bringing up my s’more to check the temp. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, but I think with you, it’s really easy to open up,” he admits, but he doesn’t look at me. It’s like my mom’s words are coming true, and soon, my heart kicks up in speed. I move out of his lap, sitting in front of him, and I watch him. His hand stays at my waist, rubbing his thumb into it as he goes on. “With Jasmine, I kept everything locked down so tightly, and I’m not sure why.”

I clear my throat, unsure what the hell I’m doing, but I don’t stop myself. “My mom thinks it’s because you’ve been waiting for me.”

He meets my gaze then. “She’s been trying to get us together since we were kids.”

“She feels you were made for me.”

“Yeah, she’s probably right,” he says softly, and my heart swells in my chest. “So, you told her about us?”

“No,” I say quickly.

“Why not? Do you not want to tell them? Maybe I should ask your dad? Do you think he’ll be okay with us together?”

“I don’t know,” I say offhandedly because I don’t. “As long as you’re not Taco, he’ll be happy.”

He scoffs. “But I’m me. He knows me. Do you think he’d be okay?”

“I hope so. What about your parents?”

“My dad would be cool with it since he doesn’t really give a shit who Aiden or I date—the girls, that’s another story—and I think my mom would be good with it. Like your mom, she believes we should be more than friends.”

“You sound like you don’t believe that,” I say, and I wish I didn’t.

He cocks his head as he stares at me. “That’s not true at all. I’m here, rubbing your hip, totally okay I’m not inside you. I just want to be with you.”

My lips curve. “Guess I’m in my head.”

“You’re always in your head.”

“Yeah,” I admit, and he knocks me playfully under my chin.

“So, when do you want to come clean to our fan clubs?”

I force a laugh as I take another bite of my newly made s’more. While it pleases me that he wants to tell people, I don’t know. “I’m still hesitant.”

“Hesitant?”

I shrug shyly. “I don’t know, Asher. It’s all been so great between you and me—”

“It has, better than I could ever imagine.”

“Really?” I ask, surprised by that, and he nods.

“Actually, when I would allow myself to think of you in this manner, I’d think of all the ways I’d make you happy when the jackasses you dated didn’t do that. I hated that they didn’t cherish you.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, it was shit.”

“It was, but it’s not like that now.”

He curves his lips, meeting my gaze through his lashes. “Nope,” he says, and then he leans over to kiss me sweetly on the lips.

“Can I ask you something?” I ask against his lips.

He pulls back. “Way to break up a kiss.”

I snicker. “For real.”

“What?”

“Why did you close off your feelings?”

He looks uncomfortable as he moves to make another s’more. “It wasn’t like I planned it. I just never wanted to put myself out there. I think it started with you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you shut me down, and I couldn’t have you. I didn’t like that rejection, so I figured, don’t allow yourself to feel again.”

“Well, damn,” I say, caught off guard by that. “Way to put all the blame on me.”

He grins over his shoulder at me. “If the shoe fits, baby.” I smack him with my s’more maker, and he glares. “Hey, now,” he scolds. “Let me take my pants off first.”

I can’t. I fall over laughing as he grins over at me. Lying on my back, I eat my s’more, and I can’t think of anywhere else I want to be. This is so perfect. So right. Even with everything up in the air, I am happy.