I Love You, Always (16 page)

Stuck in this cycle

This endless momentum

Repeated forever

Okay, you’ve got my fucking attention

∞

The music kicks in, waking me up as I realise I forgot to switch the alarm off last night. It’s early and we don’t even need to get up because it’s a
much needed
day off. We’ve been recording for weeks now, almost constantly, and today I really have no desire to get out of bed at all. And if I don’t want to get up, then there’s no way Ash is going to want to get up. My girl is beautiful, gorgeous, and I love her more than anything else in the world, but she is definitely not a morning person. And today this is a very good thing, because there’s nothing I love more than spending all morning lying in bed with her.

I lean over and turn the music off as I shift my head slightly, burying my nose in her hair, as she lies curled in beside me. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I pull her against me, my hand resting on the now fading scar that saved my life. I should go back to sleep, but curled around her like this, I’m suddenly anything but tired. Right now, I’m
wide awake
.

I slide my hand up her arm, down her side and over her hip as I pull her even closer. Ash pushes herself against me, her fingers sliding over mine as they pull my arm back around her and rest our joined hands on her stomach. I feel my heart skip a full beat as the whole length of her warm, naked body presses itself hard against me and her feet slide between mine as she tangles our legs together. I should really let her sleep, but I can’t. I want her so bad right now. I lean up on my elbow, press my lips to her cheek and kiss her soft skin before leaning in to gently kiss her lips.

Ash doesn’t kiss me back and I laugh as she huffs and rolls over, burying her face against my chest. I wrap my arms around her, pulling her body against mine again as I start to kiss a slow path up her neck to her ear. Ash’s eyes are still closed but she lifts her head, angling her neck so I can get better access. I kiss my way back to her lips, stopping to kiss them some more, and this time Ash lazily moves her mouth against mine too. Smiling I make my way across to her ear again where I gently bite the lobe before whispering, “Go back to sleep, beautiful, we don’t need to wake up.”

“Hmmm,” she murmurs and I can’t help but laugh a little as I kiss my way down her neck, ignoring my own words. Ash’s head rolls slowly to the side as I trail my lips all the way down to her shoulder. My teeth graze over her collarbone and when I reach the dip at the base of her throat, I can’t stop my tongue as it reaches out and gently caresses her amazingly soft skin.

The groan I get in response is a lot louder now, so I gently push her onto her back as I continue trailing my tongue down her chest and between her breasts, pulling the covers off as I go. From the corner of my eye, I see her hand grip the
sheet
as her groan becomes a low rumble in her throat. Smiling, I drag my tongue further down her body, stopping to kiss her scar, before skimming over her stomach, circling around her belly button and slowly dipping in. My eyes drift to her hip and the words she has there, the words I wrote for her;
you are forever a part of me; i am forever a part of you.
It turns me on every fucking time I look at them, every time I think about them.

I kiss my lips over the ink and this time, both of her hands grip the sheet, so I just keep pulling the top one away from her body, kissing my way down as I do. When I move across her hipbone, I can’t resist gently biting it before kissing a slow path down the outside of her right thigh, her knee, her calf, and all the way to her foot. Softly biting her big toe, I flick my eyes back up to her now completely uncovered body and drink in the sight of her.

Naked, eyes closed, lips parted, breathing deeper, and hands gripping the sheet like she never wants to let go.

I run my tongue up the arch of her foot before kissing my way back up her leg, on the inside this time. When I reach her inner thigh, I pause for a second, gently nibbling on her skin.

“Oh God, Luke....” are her first words, which come out sounding more like a low growl.

Smiling, I suck gently on her skin before kissing all the way to the top and slowly moving my mouth inwards as I climb back onto the bed. Lying between her legs, I wrap my arms around both of her thighs, kissing her in the exact spot I know, from so much past experience, will bring even more moans, louder this time, from her throat.

And it does.

And like I’ve done so many times before, I just keep going, taking my time, tasting her, touching her,
teasing
her. One of my hands slides out, reaching for hers and I feel her fingers lock with mine, squeezing hard. I unwrap my other arm and run my hand slowly up her thigh, over her hip, her stomach and gently stroke the side of her breast. She groans my name again, a deep rumble that turns me on so fucking badly.

I keep tasting her, slowly, gently, and the low moans that come from deep within her body, start to get faster and longer. I stop for a second and feel her thighs clench in frustration. Smiling again, I squeeze her hand before giving her what I know she wants. I stop teasing her now and she presses down on me, arching her back and I push into her one more time and pull the last of it from her body.

The sound she makes is incredible. I open my eyes and catch the look on her face. The want and desire that moves through her. Her final groan and the whispered mumblings of my name get me so fucking hard, I think for second I will lose it without ever being inside her.

As her body starts to slow down, I kiss my way back up over her hips, between her breasts, over her now racing heart, and up her neck to her ear, where I whisper, “Go back to sleep, beautiful girl.”

Ash groans as she turns her head, putting her lips to my ear. “No chance,” she whispers back, breathless as her fingers reach down and grab my hip. As she pulls me to her, wrapping her legs around me, it’s my turn to groan in response as I lose myself in her. And it feels unbelievable, indescribable, and completely fucking amazing.

“Mmm,” I say, rolling over on to my back and taking Ash with me. “I’m so glad we have today off, I’m exhausted.”

I smile as Ash pokes me in the ribs. “You’re exhausted because you woke up too early.”

I grab her hand, bringing it to my mouth, where I gently bite her thumb. “I can’t help it,” I say, kissing all along her arm. “How am I supposed to sleep with you lying beside me?”

“Um, try,” she says, smoothing her other hand over the tattoo running down my side and making my stomach flip.

“I can’t help it, Asha,” I tell her, threading my fingers through hers. “I don’t stand a chance in hell of sleeping when all this,” I say, running my other hand down her back and over her ass. “Is lying beside me.”

“Okay, mister, whatever you say,” she says smiling. “Although it sounds like excuses to me.”

“Oh, does it now?” I ask, pulling her up my chest so I can see her face. “Because I’ll prove it to you, you know.”

Ash leans in to kiss me. “Really,” she says laughing and I know she’s teasing me now. “Well, I mean if you think you can, Luke, go for it.”

“Oh I most certainly can,” I say, rolling us over.

“Sure about that?” Ash asks, laughing as I cover her body with mine.

“Yeah, very sure,” I whisper, sliding down her body to do exactly that.

When I next open my eyes, the sun is high in the sky, filling the room with sunlight. Glancing at the clock, I see it’s after noon. I turn just as Ash sleepily opens her eyes. She smiles up at me as she says, “See, you can sleep.”

I lean in and press a kiss to her lips. “When you exhaust me like that, yeah I can,” I say, sliding my arm around her waist and pulling her closer.

“Mmmm,” she murmurs against my lips. “I’ll have to remember that.”

I smile as I catch the sound of her stomach rumbling, thinking this girl can exhaust me like this any time she wants to. “Please do, beautiful,” I murmur, kissing her neck.

“I will, but now,” she says, her stomach rumbling again. “I’m hungry.” Ash falls off me and on to her back. I slide over and rest my head on her chest and can feel her hand gently moving over my head. As I stare out of the open blinds at the beautiful summer day, the ocean in the distance, I start to realize for the first time since we arrived, I’m finally okay with being back here. However this has managed to happen, I’m finally now okay with it all.

“What do you want to do today?” Ash asks, her hand sliding down my shoulders.

“Nothing,” I say, closing my eyes. “Absolutely nothing.”

“Sounds like a perfect day,” she says and I can tell she’s smiling. “But can we at least factor in eating?” I smile, as I look up at her. “What?” she asks, smiling back at
me.

“Don’t know,” I say, resting my chin on her chest. “Everything just seems pretty perfect right about now.”

I watch as Ash runs a finger down my nose to my lips. I press a kiss against it as she says, “Yeah, it does. Well, except for the fact that I’m starving.”

“Come on then,” I say, laughing as I pull her out of bed with me. “Let’s shower and go eat. Maybe
this
do
nothing
day of ours can be done outside by the pool.”

“Relaxed and doing nothing?” Ash asks, as she sits between my legs on the sun lounger. We’ve been out here all afternoon, all seven of us doing exactly that by the pool.

“Oh yeah,” I say as I hear the doorbell ring in the background. I ignore it, wrapping my arms around Ash’s shoulders and pulling her closer.

Rehearsing and recording has been fun, there’s no doubt, but it’s exhausting too. We’ve spent some really long days in the studio, not getting home until well after midnight. It’s been worth it though and I know we are all putting this effort in as we try to create something that not only makes the record label happy, but which fulfills all of our expectations as well. In fact, most of the time, the sound guys are happy with a cut we’ve done, and it’s usually us who want to go another round. We want this album to be perfect.

“Good,” Ash says as we both turn and see Jared walking towards us. It’s the look on his face that immediately tells me something is wrong.

“What?” I ask, even though in my gut, I know what he’s going to say.

I watch as Jared turns to look at Mia, lying on the lounger beside us, before turning back to face me. The look on his face says it all, but it doesn’t stop Mia from asking, “Who was it?”

I turn to look at my sister. She’s looking at Jared, who is staring at me. She looks between the two of us now, like she’s watching a tennis match, and I’d be laughing at her if I didn’t know this was something bad, the one thing neither of us wants to face. I should’ve fucking known this was going to happen. It’s been at the back of my mind for the last six weeks, what I’ve been half expecting to happen since the moment we arrived. It was inevitable really.

“Jared,” she asks again. “Who was at the door?”

He clears his throat and glances back at Mia, his face softening as he looks at her. He knows this will affect her too, especially after all the shit that happened to them over a year ago. It’s
gotta
be affecting him right now, the tension radiating off the guy is palpable.

Ash squeezes my foot and I turn towards her. She knows. I know she does, because she knows I’ve been dreading this possibility ever since we stepped off that plane. “It will okay, Luke,” she whispers.

“Will it?” I immediately ask her.

She scoots towards me and wraps an arm around my neck, pulling me closer. Her other hand comes to my face, her fingers gently brushing over my cheek, the scar I have. “It will. And I’m here for you. Do you want me to come with you?” she whispers.

I shake my head as I lean in and kiss her. I don’t want her anywhere near him. As I stand up, Ash grabs hold of my hand and I stop and say, “I’ll be back, okay?” She nods before squeezing my hand and letting me go.

As I walk towards the house, I hear Mia ask Jared again, “Who’s at the door?”

“Your dad,” he says in a strained voice.

I walk into the house alone, hoping Mia doesn’t follow me. He obviously knows I’m in L.A., probably her too, but I’m not taking any chances. It’s better for her and easier for me, if Mia stays out of this one.

Walking towards the front door, I take deep breaths as I prepare to face the man I haven’t seen in years. The last time I did see him, it ended with his fist in my face, and I can’t help but think about how similar this feels to that very morning.

When I reach the door, I half smile at the fact Jared
has
closed it on him. There’s no way he’d leave it open so Dad could possibly see Mia, and not a chance in hell he’d actually invite him in. I glance back to the pool area and I can see Jared standing at the sliding doors now, his arms crossed over his chest like he’s letting me know he’s got my back. Everyone else is still outside and I’m relieved. I smile at Jared as he nods at me, and then I turn back to the door and open it. Dad is standing on the other side and he looks annoyed. I’m not sure if it’s because he hasn’t been invited in, or because he’s been kept waiting. I don’t care either way.

“Luke,” he says to me and his voice is still the same, laced with disappointment. His eyes flick to my chest, taking in my newest tattoo and I briefly see a look of confusion, maybe over the name he can read, before his mask falls back into place.