Poinsettia Lane

Chapter Twenty-Eight

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

BEFORE SHE CAN so much as twitch a muscle, he’s scooping her in his arms and rolling her underneath him. Everly’s legs spread to cradle his hips between hers, their breath ragged with need.

Asim plants his elbows on either side of her face, and somehow her wrists are in his hands, pushed into the pillow above her head. She tips her face to look up at him, seeing his eyes searching her.

“Protection?” he asks, his accent punching out, making his voice sound harsh with want, and Everly shakes her head.

“Birth control. I don’t want anything between us," she says and he closes his eyes, another groan reverberating through his chest at her words.

He releases her wrists before pulling her hands up further until she feels the wood of the headboard above her.

“Hands on the headboard, gorgeous," he says.

Her body floods with desire and she can’t get enough oxygen into her lungs. Asim smooths the head of his cock between her pussy lips, slicking himself up as he rubs himself against her clit.

Everly writhes underneath him, angling her hips up as he starts to push into her. She wants it all, and she wants it now.

“Patience," he says. “I’ll give you what you need, I promise.”

She can’t help it though. Everly stills for a moment, but as soon as he starts pushing in again, she wants more and her body arches into him, trying to find the seemingly never ending length of him as she lifts her head to suck on his neck at the same time.

Her head sinks back into the pillow as his hand loosely circles the base of her throat and her eyes widen when he pins her down.

“I want to see you when I take you. I want to feel you clench around my cock, and I want to watch you come as I fill you up.” His voice rumbles into her.

She swallows against his hand and his pupils dilate when he feels it. Everly’s lungs stutter as he starts moving again, easing into her wet heat.

“But I will not hurt you, so be patient," he says, baring his teeth as he forces himself to go slowly.

Everly tries her best not to push him. She presses her hands into the headboard above her, feeling the scrape of the wood against her palms as her breasts heave with every shallow breath.

“God," he says. “You’re so tight, Ever. So perfectly tight and wet for me. Fuck," he mutters obscenities in both English and Arabic as he takes her, and it sets her blood on fire. Her pulse hammers through her as his cock slides in and in and in. Every inch is torture and bliss and she whimpers when he stills.

“You can take it," he says, pulling out and then sliding in again. “Almost there.”

Everly does her best to breathe and relax under him, to let him in. His weight pressing her into the mattress, his biceps flexing above her, and his hardness filling every empty space inside her is heavenly agony. She needs him to move, to pound into her, to fuck her.

Finally with the next thrust, she feels his hips flush against hers and his balls hang heavy against her ass.

“That’s my good girl," he says.

Asim leans back, stroking a gentle hand down her body, over her peaked nipple, his gaze hot as he follows with his eyes until he’s looking down at their joined bodies.

“Look at you," he says, pulsing himself in and out of her. “You’re perfect.”

It’s all Everly can do in this moment to remind herself to breathe .

“Tell me what you want. How do you like it?” he says.

“Harder," Everly pants out, her voice hoarse, simultaneously demanding and needy.

Asim hooks his arms under her knees and leans over her again, covering her body with his while pulling her legs up and opening her wider for him. Everly gasps at the blinding pleasure as he plunges into from a new angle. He covers her mouth with his, teeth and tongues battling between them, inhaling her gasps and whimpers of pleasure. Threading a hand in her hair he angles her head to the side, nipping and licking and sucking, and just like that, he wins. Everly gives in to the sensations, his cock pounding into her, his tongue and teeth rasping along her neck.

She surrenders, letting him own her in every way until her walls clench tightly around him. He lets out a guttural moan as her body contracts and his cock becomes impossibly harder, sending her spiraling even higher, higher, higher, then he pulses inside her as her walls tighten with her climax. She clenches and throbs around him as he rocks them through their releases together.

Through a distant, floaty haze, Everly feels Asim’s arms adjust their bodies before his weight presses down on her, comforting and secure, surrounding her in warmth and safety and the earthy smell of him . She sighs as she comes back to reality, and her eyes blink open to see him hovering over her.

Asim smoothes her hair off her forehead and kisses it, a sweet and tender smile on his face as he looks deep into her eyes.

“You are…” He shakes his head, gaze scorching her soul, searching for words. “Utterly unbelievable.”

Asim leans down again and scatters kisses along her face; across her cheekbones, the tip of her nose, her eyelids and forehead, and from one corner of her lips to the other until she’s smiling so widely she can’t possibly contain it.

“That was amazing.” Everly breathes out, and his sweet smile angles into pure satisfaction.

He rolls onto his back and pulls her with him, so she’s cradled against his side with her head on his shoulder. Asim traces light patterns with his fingertips along her side and back, sending shivers over her skin, so she does the same to him, lightly running her hand over his chest and side, down his arm, and swirling over his hip. Asim pulls her tightly into him, kissing the top of her head and holding her possessively while she drifts off, and she knows he won’t let anything in the world tear them apart.

~~~

The last two weeks have been nothing short of nirvana with them working side by side as Asim straightens out the logistics of his business so he can get it back up and running again. Every day he has been taking phone calls, sending emails, ordering new supplies and fighting with the insurance company, scheduling contractors for repairs, and who even knows what else.

Everly pauses her typing when Moose starts snorting in his sleep, his paws and ears twitching like mad. She looks to the left across the desk from her where Asim sits with his laptop and they share a smile, Everly biting her lip to hold in a giggle.

She insists he work in her office and share her desk, even though he states he could just as easily work from his room or the canopy tent he set up on the property. Everly likes having him here though, his scent invading her space and permeating throughout her office every day, and his smile only seconds away at any given moment. It was a challenge at first, figuring out how to share the space effectively, and she learned he has a bit of a temper when it comes to working with “incompetent idiots” as he phrased it, also known as insurance agents. She was surprised to see this side of him, but after a walk to “cool off” he always comes back calm and collected again, ready to move forward. This impresses her even more, because she certainly could not have maintained that level of professionalism given the situation he’s been dealing with.

Asim’s work is endless, yet every time she looks his way, he meets her eyes and smiles or winks at her. The love she sees there is undeniable and it threatens to fill her heart to bursting every single time.

Moose gives a loud yip and startles himself awake, looking up at them with sad puppy eyes. Everly giggles and gets up from her seat, walking over to give him some comforting pets as his tail starts thumping against the hardwood floor.

“Should we pause for lunch?” Asim stretches his arms above his head, catching Everly’s attention, and her hand pauses on Moose’s back. Her eyes travel from one outstretched wrist, down the length of his arm and across his broad chest to the other one, tracing over his tattoos with her eyes. She’s had a lot of fun the last couple weeks learning every curve of those tattoos.

“Ever?” He’s smirking now, drawing her name out as he flexes his arms, and she makes a face at him.

“Yeah, lunch sounds good.”

Everly straightens and walks to the other room of her office suite, grabbing their lunches from the mint green vintage fridge she scored at an estate sale a couple years ago, along with a couple napkins and utensils on her way back.

Pulling out the vegan chicken salad sandwiches they prepared together the night before, Everly reflects on the therapy session she had with Carrie earlier that morning.

“Let’s step back for a moment,” Carrie said. “What changes have you noticed since last year?”

“Well, I think the most obvious one is that I’m seeing someone now," Everly replied, and Carrie nodded, but didn’t speak. “I guess maybe there aren’t a ton of changes. I’m not really all that much more social, and I haven’t made a ton of friends, but I do feel different.”

“In what way?”

“I feel… more like me, I guess. I don’t know. It’s hard to put into words.”

“Let’s take some time to figure it out. I think this is an important thing to find the words for," Carrie had said, encouraging her not to give up.

“I don’t feel like I’m wearing a mask all the time anymore. It’s almost like,” Everly had scoffed at herself, but continued, “almost like I’m shining?”

“Shining?” Carrie’s eyebrows went up and she looked to be holding back a smile.

“Yeah, like something inside me is lit up. I feel brighter.”

Carrie had smiled then, but she wasn’t done yet. “Why do you think you feel brighter?”

Everly sighed. Carrie never makes it easy for her or lets her off the hook, but that’s why she’s worth every penny. “Um, well, it could be that my thoughts are changing. I don’t have as many negative thoughts anymore.”

“What else?”

“I don’t worry about being perfect for other people.” She realized she’d had a general impression of this already, but hadn’t reflected on the depth of it yet. “I haven’t been anticipating people’s expectations just so I can try to meet them, like I used to do. Constantly. I didn’t even realize until now how much I used to do that, and I haven’t been anymore. Except at work but that’s normal I’m pretty sure. I think that’s a big part of it," Everly said.

“What have you been doing instead?”

“Nothing?” Everly crinkled her nose up, not sure how to answer that one.

“Not nothing, you’re always doing something," Carrie prompted. “Instead of being focused on what other people want from you or what others think about you, what thoughts are going through your head instead?”

“I’m just… thinking about other things, I guess. Life things or what I have to do that day or what I will say or do in the moment depending what’s going on," she said.

“So you’ve let go of some of those perfectionistic tendencies and insecurities. You’ve created a new thought pattern for yourself, a much more healthy one by the sounds of it.” Carrie summarized it much more insightfully than Everly did.

“Yeah, that," she said, pointing at Carrie’s image on her computer screen, and Carrie laughed.

Thinking about it now, she realizes that emptiness inside her is gone too. It sometimes pops up when she’s having a bad day, but for the most part she feels genuinely happy. It may be in large part due to Asim’s presence in her life, but even more so, it’s the internal changes she’s pursued, changes he welcomes and encourages. Everly looks over at Asim again, eating his sandwich while he scrolls and reads something on his laptop. His eyes are narrowed, focused, and he’s leaning forward in his chair, forearms propped on the desk in front of him.

Everly turns back to her own lunch and takes another bite, pondering what her next steps might be now that she feels more herself, when she’s startled out of her reflections by Asim’s finger swiping a bit of food from the corner of her lips. She looks up to see him pop his finger in his mouth to lick it off, one side of his lips twitching up at her gaze.

Her thighs clench reflexively, and she licks her lips in response. Before she can so much as take another breath, he’s leaning across the table and grasping the nape of her neck, pulling her up out of her chair into a heated kiss. Everly drops her sandwich and leans into the kiss, her tongue teasing his lips, and she feels him smile against her mouth before taking it deeper. Her hand fists in his shirt and she pulls him harder against her, arching into him and wishing the desk wasn’t in their way.

“UGH, MY EYES!”

Everly shrieks and nearly jumps right out of her skin as Asim breaks the kiss but doesn’t lean away. He looks over his shoulder at the intruder and gives them a mock glare. Everly and Asim release their holds on each other and sink back into their seats. Frankie laughs and saunters in, pushing some papers out of their way on the far end of the desk before hopping onto it and folding their legs, criss-cross applesauce style.

“Gah, seriously?” Everly gripes at her friend. “At least take your shoes off.”

They kick off their omnipresent black combat boots with a grin at Everly’s muttered “freaking heathen” and then pull out their own lunch and chopsticks.

“Looks like I’m right on time. How’s everyone’s day going?” Frankie says and takes a slurping bite of pad Thai.

“You’re obnoxious," Everly says to them, one side of her mouth twitching up.

Asim laughs at their antics while Everly rolls her eyes and they all start chatting about their mornings. Soon the conversation consists mainly of Asim and Frankie sharing the latest town gossip, gasps and wide eyes and gesticulating hands left and right.

Everly tunes them out; she’s accepted that she will never be as social or popular around town as the two of them are, and she’s okay with that. She enjoys their banter and is inordinately pleased at how well the two of them get along.

Her best friends. The only piece missing is her sister, and Everly hopes to have this close of a connection with her someday as well.