Above is a video that probably looks something like the acroyoga Leed and Ashlynn are working on.
Leed
Ben and I are debating take-out when I get a text alert. It's from my girl.
I wanted to do something special for you, too.
Seb stopped by and found me failing at selfies.
He offered to take a picture for you, so I let him.
"Just quit your bitching and order my goddamn cauliflower pizza," I grin at Ben as I rise. Another alert comes through, but I don't look at the picture. Instead, I swiftly make my way down the hall to a little privacy in the bedroom where I'm staying.
When I turn my phone over, there's a second text.
This is all for you, Leed.
I'm nervous, but I promise, I'll get there:
Then the picture comes through...
Fuck. I forget to breathe.
For like two minutes.
I'm seeing more of Ashlynn than I ever have, and she's a goddess...her smooth skin, her shoulder blades, the slope of her spine, the definition of muscle. The barest peak of her breast is torture. But the look on her faceâthat's the part that stole my breath.
As soon as I'm gasping again, I'm dialing her number.
"Baby. Fuck. That picture. I love it."
"I'm glad," she says shyly.
I'm still staring at it. "That look in your eyes...what were you thinking about?"
She laughs nervously, but she doesn't answer.
"Tell me," I murmur. I have to know. The look is hunger. Whatever she was craving, I want to give her. As soon as fucking possible.
She takes a big breath. "I was thinking about touching you."
"Fuck, baby," I groan. This girl surprises the hell out of me. She's nervous; she's bold. She's shy; she's seductive. She's a fucking mystery to me. A mystery I want to spend a long time unraveling.
"So I'll stay over Wednesday, okay? And we can...touch a little. Maybe I can touch youâa lot?"
"There's no rush, you know..." She's skipping ahead, here. I thought we were going to spend time with our clothes on, before we got this far.
"I want to," she coos. "It will help me...get to know your body. Relax around you. I told you...I like sexy stuff. I'm...just...better...giving, than receiving."
"This is really how you want to start? You're not a fangirl, baby..."
"I'm your biggest fangirl, Leed Lawson." Her words are liquid heat.
"Goddamn," I swear again. I'm so hard right nowâand no matter what I do to handle it, Ash has kindled a fire in me that only she can quench. I have to wait days for my girl to touch meâand for me to touch her. Cause no matter what she thinks right now, she's not giving me pleasure and going without.
"Leed..." she whispers and it sounds almost like a plea. "I'm really looking forward to Wednesday..."
"I never thought I'd say this, but you gotta stop sayin' my name and talking sexy, okay? You are killing me right now."
She laughs that sweet intoxicating laugh. "Okay," she says switching to to falsely stern. "What do you want to talk about? You wanna play a game? You want to guess my childhood dog's name in twenty questions?"
"Hmmm...no, but I do have a question for you."
"Shoot?"
"Baby, who the hell is Seb and why has he seen more of your body in the flesh than I have?"
She laughs again. "Seb is the guy who's doing the art for the Loving Marcs Campaignâremember?"
"The gay art teacher slash photographer?"
"That's him."
"Ah...okay, but that doesn't answer the second question..."
She gets quiet. I wait patiently. It's not in my nature, but patience seems like the thing she needs most from me. Finally she says. "Because I could show him only what I wanted him to seeâthe pretty side. The side without scars."
I make my voice as soft as I can. "We all have scars. The ones on the outside are easy to fix, baby. Get them lasered if they bother you, but I promise you...they won't bother me."
Her breath is fast. "Why do you make me believe that?"
"Because it's true."
She sighs. "I'm not ready to have them lasered. When I was in rehab, I promised myself...I'd wait until I was sober a year until I had them treated. I thought...I thought I would need them as a reminder of the life I never wanted to go back to."
"You still feel that way? Like you need them as a reminder?"
I hear the smile in her voice, "Lately I'm feeling like I'd rather look forward than backward."
"Look forward to having lunch with me at the Bliss Bowl after your practice with Ravi tomorrow morning, okay? Ollie's better, and I'm gonna move some things back to my place in the morning..."
"Okay, but I'll meet you there around one? I have an appointment after my practice."
I frown. I don't want to wait that long to see her. "Acupuncture appointment? I'll come with...I want to see it..."
"It's not that. It's a...stay-pretty-appointment."
I grin. I love the cute things she says. She makes conversation fun. "Well, I doubt you need it, but I know how you girls like your salon shit. Fine. I'll meet you at the restaurant. See ya then, Sunshine..."
Who am I kidding? I talk to Ashlynn four more times before meeting her at the restaurant the next day. Every time I call her she giggles and says..."I was just thinking about you..."
Yeah, me and my girl, we are so fucked for each other right now. Thank god I don't have to perform between now and Wednesday. I couldn't remember lyrics if I had to. All that's in my head is Ashlynn.
Who knew falling could be such fun?
Ashlynn's never been to the Bliss Bowl, but I come to this place a lot because I dig their Asian fusion food, but also because they have several terracesâand one is small. Only a few tables. I call ahead and they always do me a solid and keep it private for me or my crew. Today, it's just me and my girl. When the hostess leads her to patio, she's looking cute as fuck in one of those floral, flowy, long sleeve, short-short boho dresses, thigh-high suede boots and a matching hat.
She drops into the seat beside me. "Hey, Rock Star."
"Nice boots, Hotness," I tip the hat off her head and put it in front of our faces, shielding us from the inside windows. I give her a slow lip greeting. Every time I kiss her, I'm shocked at how fresh and sweet her taste is. I've hardly ever kissed a girl that wasn't pumped full of alcohol, weed, cigarettes, and my own senses dulled by all the same shit. Even Tam and I were almost always together in a party situation.
This sober smoochingâit's fucking tasty.
She sighs against my lips. I love it when she does that. I give her one more peck and plant the hat back on her head. She runs her hand across the front. "You like my incognito apparel?"
I laugh at her. "You look fucking adorable, but if you were trying to stay in the background, you failed with the boots. Goddamn, baby," I look down between us, and slowly peel her dress up her thigh, showing a little skin between the boot and dress. When I slide my fingers inside the cuff of her boot against her inner thigh, she shivers and giggles, squeezing my hand between her legs, as she leans forward. She focuses her attention on the tea pot the waitress has already brought, taking off the lid and scenting it. "Balinese ginger tea," I tell her. She pours us one cup, and drizzles honey in it. She tastes it so delicately and smiles, offering me a taste.
I have no idea why Ashlynn offering to share tea with me gives me an instant hard-on, but it does. Everything about this girlâhow elegantly she moves, how caring she isâturns me on. I massage her inner thigh lightly as I drink from her cup and she doesn't seem to mind at all.
We sip tea serenely, listening to the little fountain on the patio. "No menus?" she asks, in a dreamy, soft way, and that's when I know, I'm turning her on, too.
"They usually just bring me a few plates of the best dishesâunless you want to order something..."
She waves away my offer, with a smile.
I see the little trio of bald dudes in linens making their way out to us, and I casually withdraw my hand from Ashlynn's thigh and put it around the back of her chair as they each bow and hold out a brass bowl.
"This is why they call it the Bliss Bowl," I tell her, as the trio begin to strike the bowls, making lingering, harmonious tones.
"Singing bowls," she murmurs. "How cool. I love it."
I whisper in her ear. "Supposed to clear the mind in preparation for enjoying the meal." I take the cup from her, kiss her temple. "Sit back, relax."
We meditate for a few minutes. The singing bowl performers finish with an emphatic gong to let us know the food as arrived and Ashlynn gasps at the beautiful presentation. The chef comes out personally to explain all the dishes to Ashlynn. I don't ever worry about what they are called because they are all good, but the chef is Balinese...so the dishes are all exotic and not your normal Asian fusion fair.
We eat slowly, sensually, sampling the tastes, the textures, the spices, the presentation. Sometimes we even feed each other. The heat in this food and the heat between us, raises our energy. I wonder if she can feel the buzz between us, like I can. It's better than any alcohol buzz, that's for sure.
The slow savoring lasts for more than an hour. At the end of the meal, Ashlynn moans in contentment and stretches back in her chair. "Oh god, Leed...this was incredible. I honestly don't think I ever had a better meal."
I lean close to her ear. "Maybe that's because you are relaxed. Calm. Centered. Mindful of what you were tasting."
She turns her aqua eyes to mine, searching. "Ah, so this is your first sex lesson?"
I nod. "Eating and sex have a lot in common. Both primal drives. Two of the greatest pleasures in life, if you take the time to do it right."
She takes a final sip of tea. "I see your point. I really do...want to learn how to enjoy sex as easily as I can enjoy a good meal."
"Desire is half the battle," I tell her seriously. "But desire is not all I'm about, when it comes to you. I'm all about the fun, too." I pull her to her feet and twirl her around. "You like to dance?"
She nods. "Yeah. When I was little, I lived for piano and dance. I was always practicing one or the other, while Kat was falling out of trees and skating through busy intersections with Trace."
"Adam likes to say that dancing is just fucking with clothes on. He's not exactly wrong. I'll put dancing on the date-night-to-do list," I wink at her as I escort her back to her car. "This, by the way, was not an official date. We still haven't had that yet."
"You keep saying that, but we keep going places together..."
"Mmmmm...mostly it's been stalking," I admit. "And today...today was a...lesson. Acroyoga will be a trust exercise. Also not a real date because Gabe does not to get to ride-along on our dates. So our first fun date is still next Friday...if Mac will let us out of her Nashville fortress. After that, we'll go dancing."
"Hey, do I get to plan any of these dates?" she teases.
"Mmmm...eventually, sure. Give me a month's worth to impress you, yeah?" I close her door and she rolls down the window. "When will I see you again?" she asks.
I sigh. "Wednesday. I'm back home, but I have to work tomorrow. The label's on my ass to catch up on my endorsements. Riley's got five of them lined up to come to the house tomorrow and shoot promo's."
"Hmmmm...anything good?" she asks.
"All my endorsements are good," I grin. "I don't endorse randomly like some people. I've got an organic, vegan food box subscription, a natural men's skincare line, a fair-wage Peruvian jewelry outfit," I shake my wrist with a hemp bracelet at her, "an organic hemp clothing company and a meditation app."
She runs her fingers down my forearm. "You're such a bleeding heart, aren't you?"
I put her hand on my chest. "It could be worse. I could be bleeding for you. You...you could cut me, Ashlynn. Never felt that way about a woman before."
It's the first time I've come close to telling her how I feel. She doesn't look me in the eye, but she pats my chest. "I don't want to leave any scars on you Leed. Ever."
"That's good, because I only want to be good to you, too."
I cup her jaw in farewell and she meets my eyes then, and smiles.
"I'll call you later."
Wednesday can't come soon enough, but I'm glad that Tuesday is a jam-packed work day, because it will keep me from missing Ollie and Ashlynn. I think Ben is finally getting through to Tamara about our co-parenting situation because she is super cool about me moving out. Doesn't give me any grief when I grab the last of my shit Monday evening, and say good-bye to Ollie by putting him down for the night. When I hug her goodbye, she pats my chest and says. "Remember, the new make-up and hair artist is named Natalie. She'll be at your place at nine sharp. Your clothes for the shoots are already pressed and in your closet. I labeled them for each endorsement."
"When did you do that?"
She rolls her eyes but she's grinning. "While you were wooing Ashlynn with your crazy singing bowl restaurant."
I make a tsk-ing sound. "The Bliss Bowl is amazing. And I don't woo. I awe."
She tucks back a smile. "She's easily awed if she was impressed by that place."
I laugh. Tamara is more of a meat and potatoes and side-salad girl. I think maybe that's why she hated modeling...because she hated the diet culture that went along with it. I give her one more bear hug. "Are you gonna throw my kombucha and hemp hearts away now that I'm leaving?"
"Oh, I already tossed that crap," Ben says with a wink, sauntering from the kitchen. We say back-slapping goodbyes and then I'm out. By the time I get home, the realization that I am no longer part of the Ollie-Parent-Trifecta hits me. As I roam through my quiet house, I realize that now I'm a single dad, with only part time care duties for Ollie. I feel liberated at the same time I know, I'll be missing the little man by this time tomorrow.
I debate whether or not I should try to get Ashlynn over here, but I decide against it. I told her I would see her Wednesday and even though I'm a fool for her, I still have a little pride. I can't let her know just how desperate I am to be in her presence, can I? Desperation is not attractive.
So I do a little yoga, watch a little tv, sip a little tequila and spend a little time with Ashlynn's picture. Then I call her to say goodnight, and I dream sweet dreams about her.
The promo's all go smoothly the next day. It's a lot to shoot in one day, but Riley knows I'd rather hustle til ten pm than spend two days on endorsements, and I'm as chill at the end as I was at the beginning. Plus, it's pretty fun to hang with Riley all day. I miss being with the guys now that we are off tour.
At the end of the shoot, Riley tells me he's headed to Atlanta tomorrow to try to find Bodie. If anybody can track down someone drugging and trying to stay on the down-low, it's Riley. I tell him I heard from Bodie last week and from some of the things he said, I don't think he's hanging with the high-dollar music and movie industry types that he's been seen around the ATL with. I think he's down in his old hood, but I'm not sure why. "He sounded high, but functional," I tell Riley. "If he's in his old neighborhood, I bet it has something to do with TJ."
TJ was the only friend from his old life that Bodie kept when he did the whole Fresh Prince thing and escaped the Atlanta neighborhood to live with his aunt and uncle in Athens. TJ is not really a bad dude, but he's...a product of his environment. I met him a couple of times. He was never comfortable down in Athens. There was always a look in his eyes I never really understood until Soundcrush made it big and we started needing security, and we went with this firm that puts veterans to work. TJ has that same look Ben gets when he's on the job and a crowd gets hectic. The kill or be killed look.
I give Riley as much information as I can about TJ and tell him Bodie's momma might know more, but she doesn't live in on the South Side anymore, since Bodie bought her a nice big house up in Duluth, so she might have lost touch. I extract a promise from Riley that he will not go into Bodie's old hood without at least making contact with TJ first and getting a feel for whether or not Bodie will see him. I have a feeling TJ is the kind of dog that could put out a word of protection for Riley. Or the opposite.
Riley promises to be careful, and finally the crews are all packed up and my house is silent again, except for Sawyer quietly picking up the house.
I spend another lonely evening with Ashlynn's picture. I've talked to her briefly four times today, but it's not enough.
Wednesday is another lonely day, until I finally pick Ashlynn up for Acroyoga in the late afternoon. As always, she looks cute as fuck. Her hair is braided down her back. She's wearing a long floral sweater duster but beneath it, to my surprise, she's wearing a sports bra and high waisted yoga pants, both in a pretty mauve color. The sports bra is one of those long line ones, so she's only showing about two inches of abs, but I can't keep my hands off them. I press my palms flat on her tummy as I greet her inside her place with a kiss.
"Hey, baby. Kat here?" I murmur into her mouth.
She doesn't answer, she just shakes her head as we keep kissing. I grab her thighs and haul her up around me, plopping her down on the sofa and climbing on top of her, attacking her neck.
"Leed!" She squeals, but it's a happy squeal.
"Ashlynn," I moan back, but I'm only playing and she knows it. After a minute or two of deep kissing, I roll off the sofa and bring her with me. She lands hard on top of me, but there are more happy squeals.
"See, I was just getting our fall out of the way," I tell her, and then I roll her over beneath me, on the floor. Her eyes are shining, her sweet smile is wide and her fingers are exploring my abs beneath my shirt. Holy mother of god, I never want to be any farther away from Ashlynn than I am right now, holding plank above her.
I am down to get a little bit closer, though.
Buuuuuuuuttttt...not right now.
"Come on, we're going to be late," I tell her, and she pouts. I laugh to see it. "If you'd rather cancel acro class and have a sex coaching session..."
She backhands me in the abs. "Is sex all you ever think about?"
"No. I used to think a whole helluva lot about my sister, but now that Adam's on that job, two thirds of that head space has switched to Ollie. And I think about the band, of course. Recently, I've been thinking a lot about how to make you smile. Though, some of those thoughts do involve sex," I concede. I pull her braid on the way out of the door.
She turns and gives me an over the shoulder look, almost like the one in the flower-wreath pose. Christ. I put both hands on her ass and push her out the door. "Let's go. I need to get started on the headstands."
She laughs. "You have seen acroyoga before, right? You're going be lying flat on your back the whole time."
"Yeah, but with views of you that won't quit, Sunshine. That's why I need to warm up with a few headstands. And thank god I wore baggy yogi pants."
When we get to the studio, Gabe stows us in a side room while the class arrives and he gives them the "celebrity in our midst, privacy please" speech. He leaves an advanced acroyoga video on a monitor for us to watch. It's got crazy flips, twists, throws and pops in it. "That's what you are working up to, but don't worry, we'll start simpler today."
When he brings us into the class, there is a murmur or excitement, even though there are only about eight couples.
"Hey!" I grin at the class. Two girls actually gasp.
"You just had to take your shirt off, didn't you?" Ashlynn teases me as Gabe asks us to demonstrate some partner stretches.
"It's a performance, baby. Besides, you know you love it." We spread our legs wide, touching our feet together.
"True," she concedes raking my tats with her gaze.
The first thirty minutes of the class are basic skill building components. Ashlynn and I have no trouble demonstrating the partner stretches he asks us to perform. Then we start with the basic aerial poses. I learn that my role is called the base and Ashlynn is the flyer.
The first and easiest is bird poseâI lie on the floor and raise my legs, while Ashlynn leans into them, and I lift her with my feet on her hips as she extends her arms and legs. Back bird is the same, except my feet are on her lower back. Throne pose, where Ashlynn sits on my extended legs and tucks hers around mine, is also no problem. Plank pose is just like bird pose, except that this time Ashlynn reaches down and I take her hands. He has Ashlynn move her arms and legs into various poses while we hold these poses and again, no problem. She has great balance and moves fluidly. I have a lot of strength, so I'm not tired yet, though about halfway through the class I see a couple of people struggling.
As the class moves along, Gabe starts to emphasize movement in the poses, because the whole goal is flow. So he asks me to practice flying Ashlynn like an airplane in bird poseâadjusting her yaw, pitch, roll while she maintains balance. I can feel Ashlynn tense. "It's okay, Ashlynn. I'm not tired at all. Just relax and move with me."
She looks down at me and her eyes soften a little. "Okay." She maintains her core tightness, but she yields her balance to me, and I'm able to twist her on all three axes. A couple of flyers have to step down during this exercise, but Ash and I are still going strong.
I won't lie. If this were more challenging I'm not sure I would find it such a turn on, but right now, this is just an excuse to touch Ashlynn in ways I hadn't, and I'm loving it.
I grin up at her. Now her thighs are locked around my shins and she's in throne pose, her hands to her heart. I put my hands to my heart.
"You feel me?" I ask her.
Her smile is barely there, because her expression is focused but her eyes...her eyes, looking down at me. I can see the whole damn Universe in her eyes. I see joy. I see possibility. I see unknowns and questions and unfamiliar terrain so vast it scares the shit of me. My heart starts to race.
"I feel you," she says so serenely, that I am able to take a few slow breaths and slow my heart.
Star pose is basically a side plank for Ashlynn, with two points of contactâone of my legs supporting her at the waist, and bracing her arm with mine. This is where things get tricky. Gabe he asks us to switch sides by me rolling Ashlynn to the other side between my feet. This is the first real transition, where we have to switch hands at the same time I roll her over. I'm starting to sweat a little from the exertion but I give her my cockiest grin. "We got this, Sunshine."
I roll her to her other side perfectly.
Gabe is nodding. "You guys are going to be really good at this," he laughs.
He asks the class to sit in Sukhasana while he talks us through side star to cartwheel to straddle bat, which has me tipping Ashlynn from a side plank onto her back and inverting her like a bat, so that my feet are supporting her thighs as her legs are spread wide above us. She grasps my legs behind her back to help me maintain the pose, and we...hang. I lift my head slightly to look at her upside down.
"Your eyebrows look so creepy when they are upside down," I tell her.
"My eyebrows are the least of my worries right now," she pants. "Sweat is running in all the wrong directions."
A bead drips from her forehead onto my chest, and I have a strong urge to bend forward and lick her from her creepy little upside-down eyebrows, down her pretty nose and to her chin. But I refrain, because most girls are weird about sweat. They don't think it's a sexy as I do.
After she hangs upside down and drips more sweat on me for about half a minute, I reach for her hands and roll her back up into star pose on the opposite side. I give Ashlynn the cue to dismount and she does so gracefully, and Gabe gestures for me to roll up and take a break.
"So, what we see here is what makes a great partner pair," Gabe gestures to us. "The base needs to be fluid and deliberate in his movements, so that the flyer feels supported. And the flyer has to stay rigid to maintain the poses, but she has to yield the timing and the responsibility for transitions to the base and soften at the points where he needs to move her. Leed and Ashlynn do that...almost instinctively. Great work, guys."
The class claps, but I only have eyes for Ashlynn. She's glowing.
"You like this, huh?"
She nods. I rub her back, mindful not to kiss her in front of all of these people. "Me, too."
After a short break, Gabe resumes by showing us a short, three-minute flow that he previously taped with another partner. We watch it several times, stopping and starting it to practice the elements. "We all want to get to the flow, right?" he smiles and the class nods enthusiastically. "Okay we will work on the first minute of flow for the rest of the class."
The flow is basically a reversal of the elements that Gabe taught us, with a little more challenging inversion at the beginning. He tells the class to stick with the inverted bat, but he spots Ashlynn , and we take it up to me supporting Ashlynn by the shoulders in a full inversion. Once we move from the inversion, the rest of the flow...well...it just flows. At least for us. It's set to music and that makes the timing more natural for me. I cue Ashlynn with my hands and words like left and right, and we end up finishing the whole three minutes, with her folding down onto my chest and me cradling her with my legs and arms. She tries to move when the video ends but I hold her tight.
"Be still, I'm setting my intention."
"You were supposed to do that at the beginning."
"My intention at the beginning was not drop you," I whisper in her ear. "My intention now is to perfect the advanced flow Gabe showed us. I'm visualizing how we will celebrate."
She's relaxed into my arms now. "How's that?"
"By making l-o-v-e," I tell her, and she chokes. She sits up, but the coughing fit only gets worse.
Yeah, I said it. She heard me.
The whole class is crawling out of their savasana now, watching as I pound lightly on Ashlynn's back while she coughs. "Didn't mean to scare you there."
"I was worried enough about s-e-x," she mutters. "Now you're talking next level."
I rise and pull her to her feet, ducking to her ear to whisper. "I think we could spend some serious energy exploring the full range between fucking and making love. We can start somewhere in the middle."
Her face is so red, I'm wondering if she's going to pass out.
I frown, worried that she's misreading me. "I didn't mean tonight."
"I know...just...stop making me blush in front of the class," she whispers hoarsely. Gabe is talking, students are talking, and we are just standing super close, whispering to each other like there's no one in the room.
"They just think you are red from the coughing fit. But...let's get out of here...Gabe..." he turns. I bow to him. "Namaste." Ashlynn follows suit.
He turns the farewell. "Great work. See you guys next week."
Ashlynn is quiet while we drive to my place. We discuss what takeout to order and decide on Italian because we both dig eggplant lasagna, and I put the call in for the delivery.
We pull into the garage and Ashlynn takes a deep breath, like she's fortifying herself to get out of the car. "Hey," I take her hand. "You nervous? About spending the night with me? I told you baby, no expectations in bed. Well, that's not exactly true," I grin. "I do hope you're going to fall asleep in my arms..."
She leans over and kisses me. "You're so sweet. I'm not nervous...I'm just...excited. Just trying to slow down. Be mindful."
"Mmmm...well, in that case, I think I've planned the perfect thing for us to do tonight."
I take her hand and her overnight bag and lead her into the walk-in closet off my bathroom.
I drop the bag, and open a drawer. It's full of black stretch silk. Tank tops, panties, boy shorts, teddies, long and short tees, capri pajama bottoms.
"What's all this?" she asks, fingering the expensive fabric.
"A variety of appropriate apparel for a little surprise I've planned. Do you trust me?" I ask her.
She looks up into my eyes and nods.
"Grab a shower and put on...whatever you feel comfortable in. I'll grab a shower in Mac's old suite. Meet me downstairs in the yoga studio?"
"We're going to do more yoga? In our underwear?" she smiles.
I kiss her forehead. "Not quite. Just...wait for it."
She rolls her eyes. "I can go to Mac's shower. All your stuff..."
"No way. The whole point is for you to be comfortable here. In my space. In my bedroom," I growl. Then I snag a pair of tight running shorts and a bottle of my ridiculously overpriced 3-in-1, and head out the door, telling her, "Take your time."
By the time I'm finished with my shower, the delivery guy is buzzing the gate. I put the eggplant in the oven to stay warm and check that the non-alcoholic champagne I asked Sawyer to order is in the chiller. Sawyer is still downstairs, setting up.
"Looks great," I tell him as he lights the last candle. "Thanks. Now get the fuck out."
He snorts. Normally he stays in the house, but I've got a new policy that when Ash stays over, he's booted to the pool house.
A few minutes later, I hear Ashlynn's uncertain voice calling me above. "Leed?"
"Down here, baby." I step out of the large, dome-shaped bohemian tent that is erected in the middle of the studio. The rest of the studio floor is lit with candles. Ashlynn looks like a goddess in the soft light, in stretch silk boy shorts and a strappy camisole. She laughs.
"What is all this?"
I gesture for her with an outstretched hand, and she navigates the one open path from the stairs to the tent. She peers inside at the tapestries and the large mattress on the floor, draped in luxurious, colorful bedding, pillows and throws. Her gaze trails the lights strung inside and the low table with a dozen fancy glass bottles of oils and lotions and a bowl of hot stones.
"You said you wanted to touch. I made us a mini-spa. Let's give each other massages."
I roll my hands softly over her shoulders but she needs no coaxing. She tenses her fingers and slides them down my bare chest. "Giving you a massage is exactly what I want to do." She bows her head toward her fingers and slowlyâfucking excruciatingly slowlyâshe continues to rake them lower, and lower, down my tensed abs, her pressure lightening until she is making the barest contact. She sweeps down my crotch and my rapidly hardening dick. I know, without a doubt, what's coming, but my instinct still doesn't stop me from jerking when she gently cups my balls.
"Fuck, Ashlynn," I moan, but her touch is already gone.
Then she twists around me, entering the tent, crawling across the mattress toward the bottles and vials. She smells them all while I just stand there gaping at this goddess on her knees. She pours the base oil and begins mixing some essential oils in.
Not looking at me, she says. "You get your massage first, okay? You might want to get naked now."
Well you guys that have been with me through Epic and Urgent know what happens next...a Radio Edit / Explicit Cut Chapter!!! Wooo-hooo!!! Who's excited!?!?