Poinsettia Lane

Chapter Twenty-Seven

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

EVERLY FORCES HERSELF to walk calmly up the flight of stairs to her office, managing to make it inside and closing the door behind her before her pent up emotions from the last few days boil over. Her back falls against the closed door and she slides to the floor, her hands tight across her mouth, holding in the sobs. The last thing she needs is any of her staff to hear her crying.

Her brain flashes images at her: Moose barely able to walk and covered in burns, Asim running into a burning building, the charred remains of Magnolia Nursery. She’s been holding it all back, not wanting to put more on Asim when he’s already been through so much, but her anxiety takes hold and combined with her grief for Asim and Moose, it’s too much. A river of tears flows down her cheeks, and Everly can’t hold in her sorrow for their loss, her fear for their safety, the terrifying ‘what-if’ scenarios that plague her.

She fumbles with her phone, sends it skidding across the floor. Shuffling over to pick it up with trembling hands, Everly connects it to the bluetooth she has installed throughout the office suite and turns on a random playlist to cover the sounds of her crying. Tchaikovsky pours from the speakers.

Then a harsh sob tears from her throat.

She cries for Asim’s loss; his hurt and his heartbreak and his sadness. She cries for Moose and his injuries and pain. She cries because she told Asim she loves him, and he didn’t say it back, and she’s afraid of what that means. Her anxiety tells her that he’s going to end things. That he doesn’t love her, she’s a liability, and he won’t have time for her anymore. Fat tears slide down her cheeks and wet the top of her shirt. Everly holds her arms around herself and rocks against the door, not bothering to move to the couch or her office chair. The physically uncomfortable position feels better to focus on than her emotional pain anyways.

Her tears eventually slow, and her cries turn to hiccups, then to sporadic, shuddering breaths before they ease. Everly’s body slumps against the door behind her, and she closes her eyes with her head tipped back against it. Letting all of the emotion of the last week out at once was draining, and cathartic. She feels cleansed, in a way, and it clears her mind from the emotional upheaval.

Everly places her hands on the floor next to her, taking a steadying breath as she pushes herself to her feet and walks over to her desk. She carefully sits in her chair, straightening her back and rolling up to her work space. She pulls out a notebook and a pen, and she makes a list.

A short while later, Everly sets her pen down and picks up the list, reading it over. It’s a list of lies and truths. A list to prove her anxious thoughts wrong.

Lie: Asim doesn’t care about me or love me.

Truth: Asim has shown me he cares in a number of ways: date 1 and date 2, spending time with me instead of other priorities, helping me with a large project.

Lie: Now is not a good time for a relationship.

Truth: All relationships have ups and downs, and life will always throw curveballs. Even if he is more busy now, I believe we can make time for each other in a way that doesn’t put anyone in danger.

Lie: I’m a liability. All I bring is hurt to those around me.

Truth: I haven’t done anything wrong. I didn’t hurt anyone or put anyone in danger. Asim is an adult who can make his own choices, set his own boundaries, and decide how to spend his time and money .

Lie: I’m not good enough. I don’t deserve his love or affection.

Truth: I am a good person, and I deserve love. Everyone deserves love. Asim and I have a real connection, and we are good for each other. I am good enough.

Everly sets the paper back down on her desk, taking a long, slow breath as she sits back in her chair. Her heart wants to knit back together, but she’s scared. Terrified, really. Her anxiety fed her a bunch of realistic-sounding lies, and although she’s talked herself down for the most part, she needs to see him, talk to him, to solidify the truth.

Everly told him she wouldn’t let him push her away, and she’s not going to let herself push them apart either. She slaps her palms against her desk and stands, then strides across her office to the door.

She flings it open and lets out a piercing shriek that splits the air when she sees a hulking figure standing in the doorframe. Everly jumps back and slams it closed again.

Breathing hard and holding her hands to her chest, Everly tries to wrap her head around what just happened. She jumps again when a knock sounds on the door, right in front of her face, and a familiar voice calls her name.

Everly cracks the door open and peeks out, as though that will keep her safe from whoever is on the other side planning to murder her.

“Asim?” She pulls the door wide and tilts her head up at him. “What are you doing here?”

He shifts on his feet. “Can I come in? I’d like to talk, if you’ll allow me. I think I just need to make sure you’re okay. That we are okay.”

“Of course," she says, gesturing to him to have a seat on the couch. “I was actually just about to come talk to you. Wait… How did you know where my office was?”

Asim looks away, sheepish, running his hand through his hair.

“I tried to ask the front desk staff, but it took some convincing to get your concierge to tell me. The staff are very loyal to you, by the way," he says.

Everly huffs half a laugh.

“Yes, well, I was about to come talk to you, too.”

Asim angles his head in question.

Now that her emotions are more or less under control, she can think more clearly.

“I know that you’re going to be really busy the next few weeks, and if you don’t want to date or, you know, be romantic, or whatever,” she pauses and narrows her eyes at his quiet huff. “I’m just trying to say I won’t push you. I won’t let you push me away, and I’m not going to let myself hide. I’m still going to be here for you, for us, but I also won’t push you. I care about you so much, and I want to stick up for us. That’s who I am, or at least it’s who I want to be. The kind of person I’m working toward.”

Asim leans forward and kisses her, cutting off her rambling nerves.

Pulling back just slightly, he cups her face and speaks softly against her lips. “I couldn’t wait until tomorrow to tell you one very important thing.”

“What’s that?”

“I love you. I love you with my whole heart, and I won’t ever let you go. Even when I am most afraid, I know we can get through it together. You’re right, of course you’re right. You are the light in my life and you breathe joy and sunshine into every moment. I am unmoored without you, my darling Ever. I know it’s a lot to ask after I disappeared, but please, forgive me?”

Everly’s arms prickle as the hair stands on end. Her head rushes with blood and she gets lost in the blur of his bright green eyes so close to hers. Their lips meet and passion explodes from every pore on her body. Every touch and slide of his fingers burns her skin. She clutches his biceps, feeling the muscles flex under her hands as he grips the backs of her thighs and lifts her into his arms. Her legs circle his waist and he moans into her mouth as he pushes her back into the closed door she was sitting against only minutes ago.

The distress of earlier somehow feels like another lifetime. The memory of a fading nightmare. Her body is waking up under his lips and tongue and teeth and hands, and she wants more.

She wants it all.

Spearing her fingers into his hair Everly drags at him, attempting to pull him closer when the opposite happens. Asim lets out an awkward chuckling groan as he tips his head away from hers and looks around the office. His eyes light on her couch, but then he shakes his head as his eyes travel the length of it.

“Remember when I told you I wouldn’t rush? I’d have you in a bed and I’d take my time? I plan to have you begging for more until you can’t, but I won’t do that here. Not for our first time together," he says.

“Your room?” Everly doesn’t want to wait even the few minutes it would take to get back to her place. He nods and opens the door without setting her down.

“Back pocket," Asim mutters into her mouth when they arrive at his door, and she reaches down, struggling to extract his key card as his lips roam her neck. Finally she gets it, and he steps inside before slamming the door and pushing her up against it again.

As soon as they step in, Everly tugs impatiently at his shirt. She’s seen the divine, carved muscles of his body before, and she wants to trace every ridge with her tongue.

Asim obliges and helps with her efforts, pinning her hips to the wall with his, then angling his torso and grabbing the back of his collar with one hand. He yanks the shirt off over his head and flings it to the floor.

Everly dives in, licking and sucking her way down his throat and he groans again, vibrating under her touch. He spins around and carries her toward the bedroom, a messy, stumbling walk around unfamiliar furniture. They don’t quite make it when she nips at his neck and he pushes her against another wall, whooshing the air out of her lungs and making her laugh breathlessly at the look of feral desire on his face.

“Take it off before I rip it,” he growls, low and hoarse, and although Everly isn’t sure what specifically he’s talking about, she wastes no time getting rid of her shirt as he starts walking again, and is working her way out of her bra when he tosses her onto the bed .

She lets out an “oof” as she bounces on the mattress, flinging the bra away and then looking up to see him frozen above her. His eyes are glued to her body, racing from her navel to her breasts, to her throat and dark hair splayed out on the cream bedspread beneath her.

“I have never seen anyone so exquisite," he says, and she flushes from the praise, her entire neck and chest turning pink.

Asim leans down and traces her blush with his tongue, peppering kisses on her skin and leaving goose bumps in his wake. He travels down her neck and circles her breasts, cupping one in his palm while tracing the other with his mouth. Everly whimpers at his teasing when he gets so close to her nipple, but doesn’t directly touch it. She doesn’t think they have ever been this tight and hard, and the torture of not having his tongue on them is almost painful.

He huffs out a rumbling chuckle just above the skin of her breast and she feels it puff against her.

“Impatient, my darling?” he asks.

Everly grabs his hair and yanks, pulling his mouth to her and arching up into him so there’s no avoiding it; she’s getting what she wants. This time, she feels the vibration of his laugh through her nipple, and she moans at the sensation. His tongue circles her, then he gently bites down, teeth scraping sensitive flesh as he pinches the other and rolls it between his thumb and finger. She throws her head back and squeezes her eyes shut at the sensation, reveling in the feeling of being here with him, with nothing stopping them this time.

Asim licks and kisses his way down to the waistband of her leggings before he pauses and pulls back, his fingers teasing along the edge and dipping under.

“May I?” he asks.

“Oh my god, please.” She’s desperate and she doesn’t care if he knows.

Asim smirks up at her, a heated glint in his eye, then takes his time tugging and rolling the leggings down her hips as she lifts for him, slipping first one leg and then the other off before he drops them at his feet by the side of the bed. She’s left in a simple, black silky thong that she put on for the sole purpose of not having panty lines this morning, and she has never been more thankful for such a convenient, logical accident.

Grabbing her hands, Asim pulls her to her feet in front of him and steps back, dropping one hand and using the other to slowly spin her around. When she’s facing him again, his eyes are molten and hers widen at the intensity she sees there. He reaches down and adjusts himself in his sweatpants, and her eyes flare impossibly wider at the massive bulge tenting them.

Her mouth waters and Everly licks her lips, drawing his eyes there before he grabs her around the waist, lifting her again and yanking the thong off as he pushes her back on the bed and drops between her legs. He slides down to the foot of the massive mattress and flattens his body so his face is perfectly aligned with her core, then he throws her legs over his shoulders and uses his thumbs to spread her open to his hungry gaze.

Everly flushes, suddenly acutely aware of how bare she is. The bedspread and sheets are already a crumpled mess beneath her, stroking her flaming skin, and there is no inch of her that isn’t exposed to him.

“So pretty," Asim murmurs, and then he swipes his tongue straight up her slit, groaning in satisfaction. Everly arches at the sensation and her hands scramble for purchase, fisting in the sheets. He flicks her clit once and then pulls away, looking up her body into her eyes and then perusing slowly back down.

Asim reaches up, untangling her hands from the bedding and burying them in his hair instead. Everly’s fingers clench into his thick, dark locks as he licks her and she pulls him closer. She’s already at the edge; she’s thought of this moment for weeks, so it doesn’t take much to get there. Letting her eyes fall closed as she rides the waves of bliss, her core clenches around his fingers with his tongue on her clit and his name spilling like a prayer from her lips.

When she floats back down to reality, Asim is gently kissing his way up her body again and she smiles down at him, feeling languid and hazy in a world of contentment. He crawls over her and then twists his body down next to hers. He turns her onto her side, pulling her back against him and snuggling his face into her neck. Everly sighs, happy, feeling on top of the world, and lets him hold her for a few minutes, relishing the closeness and physical contact.

Soon enough though, she wants to move. She pushes her hips back into him, feeling how hard he is against her still. His nuzzles turn more sensual as he starts kissing and sucking along her skin again, hitting a spot where her shoulder meets her neck that sends a shiver down her spine. He pauses, because of course he notices, and she feels his smirk against her skin as he stays there and teases.

Everly can play this game too, though. She reaches a hand between them and strokes up his shaft to the waistband of his sweatpants, then snakes her hand under it and palms his cock over his boxes. Asim’s hips thrust into her and her lips curve into a satisfied smirk of her own. Turning in his arms, she pulls back and tugs his pants down to his knees, not bothering to deal with them any further. Asim huffs and shuffles them off the rest of the way on his own while she starts to play.

Everly pushes him to his back and straddles his hips, eyes roving over every dip of muscle, every line of tattoo, every hair on his broad chest and navel. Leaning down, she licks her lips, then her tongue darts out and she connects with his skin. She’s wanted to do this since the first moment she met him. Everly traces the tattoos on his arm and chest with her fingers, and then with her lips and tongue. She tastes the ridges and valleys of his muscles, and eventually makes her way down the delicious ‘V’ to where tight boxers are barely containing his throbbing erection. There’s a small wet spot near the waistband, a bead of precum already leaking from his tip, and the sight makes her feel more powerful than she ever has before.

Urging him to lift his hips, Everly strips the boxers off and momentarily gapes at the size of him. It’s been a while for her, but she doesn’t remember others being this large. Blinking, she flicks her eyes up to see he’s tucked one hand behind his head, causing his biceps to bunch obscenely on the pillow, and his lips are pulled up on one side, a knowing glint in his eyes. He’s truly not playing fair .

Everly swallows and licks her lips, turning back to the glorious view of his cock jutting up at her. She leans down and pauses, her breath skating over him, his cock twitching in response. Then she flattens her tongue against the vein running up the underside and looks up into his eyes as she licks him from base to tip, then swirls her tongue around his head before sucking it into her mouth. His smirk drops as his eyes darken and his hand clenches next to him, veins in his forearms and neck popping with tension.

She hollows her cheeks as she pulls back and he jerks up onto an elbow, his other hand fisting in her hair.

“Holy fuck, Ever.”

She hardly recognizes his voice between the smoke inhalation causing it to be more gravelly than normal, and the low timbre it’s taken on over the last few minutes. Her core clenches and she closes her eyes as she squeezes her legs together and pushes down on him again, taking him to the back of her throat.

He jerks in her mouth, and she hums approvingly. His fisted hand in her hair yanks hard, pulling her off him with a pop, and Everly looks up to see the breath sawing in and out of his lungs. They lock eyes and she freezes, her entire body clenching at the raw need on his face.