I knew Asher didn’t like my idea. It was clear from the scowl on his face, but Asher swore this time we’d listen to each other. It wasn’t a one-way street anymore. We were on new footing. This was our second chance.

I felt as if we were in an armored vehicle as we rolled out from the Big Bear cabin. And we probably were. Asher had access to the most elite security devices and systems. During dinner last night, he explained how his first private security contract landed him a million dollars. After that, he branched out, moving into body armor, weapons, and cyber tech. His experience in the military and stint in celebrity private security, provided him insight few security experts had. He was one step ahead of everyone.

His hand was on my thigh in the backseat of the car. He dug into his suit jacket and held up my phone.

“I get it back?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, yes.” There was a line between his eyebrows. “But I encrypted it. So if any of those emails come in, they automatically alert my phone. Nothing goes through Dante anymore.”

“Did you tell him this?”

“Dante is going to learn there is a new set of rules.”

I eyed Asher. “He isn’t trying to get in your way, you know. He has a job to do.”

“Good. Then we should be on the same page.”

“That means you’re going to my dress fittings?” I teased.

He laughed. “I’ve been to a few of those.”

I saw the glimmer in his eyes. My cheeks heated. He was remembering the same moment I was. The first time we had sex was in a dressing room. The seamstress had left me with a broken zipper and no way out of the beaded fabric. I had called for help and Asher had run in, thinking I was in actual distress. The way he looked at me, I didn’t have to ask for help with the zipper. He was going to devour me. We had been dancing around it for months.

Sexual tension like that was tangible. I knew it was going to get us in trouble when I hired him.

He locked the dressing room door. Within minutes, the designer gown was on the floor and Asher was buried inside me. I’d never experienced anything like him. A man so primal. So raw with his emotion. He was strong and powerful. My heart never had a chance.

“Madame Karina isn’t going to like it if you defile her Oscar dress.”

“What about the dressing room?” His voice was flat.

I swallowed hard. Oh, God. What was he doing? His fingers rounded to the inside of my thigh.

“You don’t want to be responsible for an old woman’s heart attack.”

His fingers ran under my skirt, sliding under my panties.

I closed my eyes, leaning into the leather seat for support.

“No. I don’t.”

He pushed a finger inside me and I squirmed. “Or our driver’s,” I argued.

“The shield is up. He won’t know a thing.”

He sank another finger inside me, curling it upward.

“Oh shit,” I hissed.

He groaned. “Fuck. You make me hard.”

I smiled. “I do?” I reached out, feeling the erection stretching under his charcoal pants. “I can do something about that.”

I moved faster than he expected and landed on the floor between his knees.

“J.” He eyed me.

“What?” I teased.

I reached for the button and zipper on his pants. My hand moved inside until I clasped his cock and freed it. He sighed.

I leaned forward, tasting the tip with my tongue. His hands combed through my hair and settled at the back of my head.

I teased his cock with my tongue, swirling up and down his long shaft as if it were a lollipop. He jerked his hips when my mouth covered the head.

“Mmm,” I moaned, tasting the salty sweetness of his cock.

He thrust forward and I took him inside my mouth, adjusting to how big he was. He wanted to go deep. He wanted to hit the back of my throat, but I was out of practice. I needed to ease into it. I sucked hungrily, hearing him grunt with satisfaction each time I took him farther in my mouth. My muscles started to relax.

“I love it when you do that,” he growled.

My eyes locked on his as I mastered the final stroke and sucked him to the deepest part of my throat. There was a sense of accomplishment spurring me on as I brought him to his climax.

“Fuck,” he groaned. “Oh shit, J.”

He jerked as I latched at the base of his cock and settled in to suck until he came. He pressed his hands into my head and I mewed into his groin, loving that I could do this to him.

His spine tightened and I knew what was coming. He grunted, as I sucked hard and his release sputtered, running down my throat. I drank without mercy, swallowing and gulping until he closed his eyes and sank into the seat.

“Shit. That was incredible.”

I wiped my mouth and crawled into the seat next to him. “I love doing that.”

He grinned. “That makes two of us.” Asher pushed himself in his pants and fastened them.

I looked out the window as the trees from Big Bear faded behind us. L.A. was on the horizon and just beyond that was the beach house. I had argued that before I did anything else, I was going to visit Tristan.

Asher’s phone beeped. He looked at me. “I need to get this.”

I nodded. “It’s ok. I’m going to text Dante we’re on the way.” I had mixed emotions about having access to my phone again. It had been nice to have a break.

Asher answered quickly and launched into a tense conversation about a prototype that didn’t sound like it was working. It would take time, but eventually our lives would blend together again.

Only this time I realized it wasn’t going to be as easy.

Asher had been in every aspect of my life. He was next to me at every event. He was in the car wherever I drove. He slept in my bed wherever I stayed. And it was because I was the center of the relationship.

This new world we were creating wasn’t going to revolve around movie star Journey Tessier. This time I was the one who had to figure out how to navigate him—and Avajean.

I listened to him bark orders on the phone and I realized as much as I loved him, as much as I knew him—there was a side of him that was a stranger to me now. I had to take time to learn. He was a father.