“Por Dios, you really did mean quick, didn’t you? Mmm...más rápido. ?Más duro!”
I don’t know if he was finally understanding some of my Espa?ol, or if he could just tell what my body wanted, because he delivered, heaving into me, filling me with a physical joy that burst just under my skin and made me come but also a warmth in my heart that made me close my eyes and clutch him to me as he followed with his own orgasm.
“Te amo,” I whispered.
He drew out a peace-filled sigh and pressed his forehead to mine. A moment of content silence followed, where we merely held each other in the aftermath. I stroked my fingers up his back and into his hair, realizing he was getting drowsy and would probably fall asleep on me in seconds, but not quite ready to wake him up and send him off to work.
But a chattering had me glancing past Asher’s bare shoulder to see Mozart standing on his hind feet at the end of the bed, watching us.
I yelped out my surprise and threw the shirt I still had wadded in my hand at him. Asher stirred on top of me and sat up to glance back and see what I’d done.
“I needed to put that back on,” he slurred, still half asleep.
“Well, your squirrel needed to stop being a pervert,” I argued back, scowling. “Seriously, he was staring at your ass.”
Chuckling, Asher crawled to the end of the bed so he could retrieve his clothes and put himself back together for work. “I’m so happy you two get along.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and watched him finish dressing. “There wouldn’t be a problem if he’d just learn his place.” Poking a finger into my chest, I called out into the room so Mozart could hear me...wherever he was. “That’s my man’s ass, squirrel. So eyes off, got it?”
“You tell him, gorgeous.” Grinning, Asher crawled back to me and cupped the back of my head as he kissed me hard and fast. When he pulled back, his smile was still smugly proud. “I kind of like you laying your claim on me.”
Arching an eyebrow, I eyed his neck. “Well, if you want me to mark my property...”
I sent him on his way five minutes later with a silly, dazed grin on his face and a hickey on his neck.
Giddy warmth bloomed through me as I turned to study his apartment, wondering what I was going to do for the next eight hours or so until he came back. I wasn’t sure why I actually wanted to stay, but the idea of being surrounded by his things just felt...nice. One of these days, I knew I’d have to go home and we’d have to return to normal life and try to begin our relationship from there, but for tonight, I was just going to enjoy being Asher Hart’s kept sex slave.
After dressing, because being naked for Mozart wasn’t nearly as much fun as being naked for his owner had been, I fixed myself something to eat. Then I tried to feed the squirrel some food, but I had a feeling I was about as whipped for that damn hairball as Asher was. When he refused my fruit offer, I broke out a couple peanuts. But I made him come up and take them from my palm...which the greedy little squirrel finally did.
As I watched him enjoy a nut, I rested my arms on my knees and shook my head. “I don’t know how the heck you don’t break out into hives with those things. Peanuts are freaking killers.”
But Mozart didn’t see the harm and kept eating, happily.
With a happy sigh, I pushed to my feet, then I raided Asher’s apartment until I found the cages he’d stowed away. What I thought would be a simple enough, helpful task ended up being hours of cursing and sweat and a little blood when I scraped my arm a couple times on exposed wire, but por Dios, the cages all got hung basically where he’d had them before.
When I was finished, I scratched my head, wondering how the hell Asher ever got his tree rat back into them after letting Mozart free, but then I threw up my hands and decided he could deal with that task when he got home.
So I played a little Call of Duty, but it was no longer as much fun by myself.
I missed my man.
It was late—I could probably catch a little sleep before he made it home—but I was restless for him to return. Something in me was worried that this was all a fluke and he’d never come back, or I’d never see him again...or something. I know, I was in his apartment, where else would he go? But the feeling persisted.
I just didn’t deserve this happy of an ending.
About half an hour before Forbidden was set to close, a knock came at the top of the stairs. At first, I jumped, but then a grin lit across my face, wondering what he was playing.
I raced up the steps and eased open the door, braced for whatever kind of entrance he had planned. But there was no Asher in the dark alley. Actually, no one was in the alley.