When I finished my story, I opened my eyes to find Ash pressed against my side on the couch. She heaved out a sigh, which caused her breast to rub against my arm.

“I love that story,” she said.

“Where is Lynn, Ash?” I asked. I looked down at her and she licked her lips.

“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “But I’ll find out. I promise.”

She hopped up onto her knees so she could lean closer to me, pressing her front against my side. “Do you want to pretend I’m her for a few minutes?” she asked me, her voice little more than a whisper.

“No.” I cleared my throat, because I suddenly sounded like I smoked four packs a day. “No,” I said again.

“We did it the last time she was gone. Don’t you remember?” She ran her fingers through my hair, and my dick got hard instantly.

I remembered. I remembered everything.

“Close your eyes,” she whispered. “I smell like her. And we’re the same size.” She crawled across me to straddle my lap. Instinctively, I grabbed her ass and pulled her closer to me. But she wasn’t Lynn. She would never be Lynn. “I know I’m not her. You know I’m not her.”

I tucked my face into her neck and took a deep breath. She smelled like my Lynn.

“Pretend I’m her,” she said softly. “Take me to bed, Mason.”

I stood up with her legs wrapped around my waist and went to the bedroom. I brushed her things off the bed onto the floor with a quick swipe of my arm, and followed her onto the covers as I laid her on her back.

“Get a condom,” Ash said. If I ever slept with anyone who wasn’t Lynn, I used a condom. Lynn was the only woman I’d ever made love to without one.

I opened the bedside drawer and pulled a small package from the depths. I shoved my pants down and rolled the condom down my length. Reaching behind me, I grabbed the back of my shirt in my fist and pulled it over my head. As I did this, Ash shucked her clothes, flinging them across the room.

I crawled across the bed toward her waiting body, and she spread her soft thighs for me. “What do you need from me?” I asked, just before my lips touched the side of her neck. I took in the smell that was so much like Lynn’s and wished for what I couldn’t have.

She grabbed my hair and pulled it tight in her fist so she could look me in the eye. “I need you to pretend I’m her until it’s over. I want what she gets. Always.”

I shook my head. “I can’t give you that.”

“Pretend, Mason. Just fucking pretend.” She shoved me over onto my back, and then she straddled me, lifted my dick away from my stomach, adjusted so that she had the right angle, and then she sank down on my cock, taking me in slowly, inch by slow inch. When she had me buried deep inside her, she stopped and looked down at me. I closed my eyes and, for a moment, I could pretend she was Lynn. She started to move. I grabbed her hips, and helped her find a rhythm. “I love you, Mason,” she said.

And for a second, I let myself believe she was Lynn, that Lynn was riding my cock. When Ash came apart around me, taking what she needed from me, I flipped her over and fucked her hard, making her cry out as I lunged deep, taking everything she would give me. But even if she gave me all of her, she’d never be Lynn. No one could be Lynn, and I knew that deep in my soul.

I collapsed on top of her and she wrapped her arms around me, her fingernails tickling my back. I lifted my head and looked down. “Lynn?” I asked. I don’t know why I asked that. It was stupid, wishful thinking.

“Still me,” Ash said. “Sorry.”

I nodded and rolled off her, going to dispose of the condom. I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror, hating the man who stared back at me. “Ash? You should probably go sleep in the guest room,” I called out.

When I came out of the bathroom, she had left the room. The door down the hallway slammed hard enough to rattle the walls. I winced and flopped onto my bed. Ash had collected her things before she left. The only thing Ash had left behind was the photo of me and Lynn.

I set it on the nightstand, and then I laid there for hours trying to figure out what could have gone wrong. Why did Lynn leave? Where did she go?

How could I get her back?