Asher is stalking toward me and I couldn’t focus on anything even if I tried. “Uh…yeah. Good night, Gaige.”

I tap the hang-up button and push the phone and bag away.

“So you were a virgin, huh?” He crawls toward me, his hard thighs on either side of me.

He drags my jeans and panties down my legs in one ruthless go, and I fumble with my jacket and camisole. The straps get stuck in my hair and I nearly rip the strands out. It’s Asher who untangles it and unclasps my bra, letting it fall to the pile of clothes on the floor.

With a push, I end up propped up on my elbows as his body hovers over mine. The position is so intimate and…right. This is how Asher and I were always supposed to be.

“Answer me,” he grunts near my mouth, hovering but not kissing.

The tease.

“I was.” My breathing catches as I confess. “And you are the only one, Ash.”

“The only one?”

“Yes. No one before you or after you. I know it for a fact.”

Both his palms cage my face as he lowers his forehead to mine. “I thought I was the only one so hopeless for you.”

“I was hopeless for you, too, Ash.” I inhale his sandalwood and citrus scent, taking in his murmured confessions.

All of him.

The fact that he’s Cloud003, the one who knows all my secrets and still wants me anyway, the fact that he wanted to hate me but he couldn’t help coming back every year to be with me.

I inhale it all.

“You were my first and only, too, Reina.”

My lips part, my heart flipping and thumping. “But you were in England and…oh, my God. Wait. You were a virgin?”

“At eighteen. How fucking pathetic is that?” He smiles but there’s no humor behind it. “I guess I’m lucky you were too drunk to notice.”

“Ash…”

“You were the only girl I wanted to kiss since I learned what kissing is and the only one I wanted to fuck since I learned what fucking means. All the others were nothing compared to you. I couldn’t even get hard at the sight of them, and that didn’t change when I went to England. Every time I felt the urge, I pulled out your picture or thought of the nights we had together and jerked off to them. I might have wanted to ruin you, but I could never stop the need to own you, too.”

Asher’s forehead remains connected to mine. With every word out of his mouth, my breathing turns deeper and shallower, harder and faster.

We weren’t even in an actual relationship and he hated me, but he still remained faithful to me.

He didn’t consider the other girls because he couldn’t stop thinking about me.

“I never wanted any other man but you, and I never will.” I wrap my arms around his neck. “You ruined me for everyone else.”

His grunt is like music to my ears as he positions himself between my legs. “That’s my slut.”

Arousal coats my thighs at the rumble of his voice.

“Say it.” His fingers wrap around my throat, the movement erotic and so utterly dominant.

“I’m…I’m…”

“That’s not the word.”

“I’m your…slut.” Holy shit, why does it feel like such a turn-on to say it aloud?

“And you’re mine.”

“I’m yours.”

The words catch in my throat as he thrusts balls-deep inside me. My entire body bucks off the bed, but his merciless hold on my neck keeps me prisoned in place. I wrap a hand around the arm holding me as my other one remains around his neck.

“You always let me fuck you dirty and hard.” He grunts, picking up his pace. “I claimed both your pussy and your ass over and over again.”

Oh God, that’s why it didn’t hurt the other time, and was even pleasing. It wasn’t the first time or even the second.

“I own you, prom queen. All of you.”

“Yes…” I choke on my breaths, my heart rate intensifying with the rhythm of his thrusts.

He does fuck me like I’m his slut. He flips me around and pounds into me from behind with my ass hanging off the edge then slaps my thighs and my ass cheeks until I scream his name.

He’s not done.

As I shake and whimper with the force of my release, he maneuvers me so he’s sitting on the bed and I’m settled on his lap with his hard cock still throbbing inside me. He takes me slower and unhurried as our chests beat in sync. He pulls out as much as he can before stabbing inside me again.

With every in and out, my body ignites and stars burst behind my lids. I wrap my arms around his neck as both his stronger arms wind around my back, stopping me from toppling to the ground.

We hug each other as he moves slowly inside me. I realize with tears in my eyes that I’m not his slut now; I’m almost his…queen.

His one and only.

That thought alone pushes me to the pleasurable heights of another crippling orgasm. I scream his name, my teeth finding his shoulder and my nails digging into his skin. His lips find the hollow of my neck as he grunts and spills inside me.

My eyes flutter closed, exhaustion rearing on my nerve endings. He always fucks me so thoroughly I only have the energy to sleep afterward.

This is all I ever wanted.

All I ever needed in life, to sleep in his arms and feel so utterly safe.

“Why Cloud003, though?” I murmur in my sleepy haze.

“Cloud because of Gray, my middle name. 003 because of the day I first met you, January 3rd. It’s the reason behind this room number, too—1003.”

I smile against his skin. Damn this man and the lengths he went to for this.

I love you, my mind screams. I love you so much, and it kills me to think you don’t feel the same.

The sound of vibrating pulls me from a deep sleep. I groan as I flip on my side and try to fumble about, but a strong arm keeps me pinned in place.

A smile breaks across my lips as I slowly crack my eyes open. Asher’s unearthly face is a few inches away from mine, in a deep sleep. He probably hasn’t slept well since two days ago, and his thick brows are furrowed together.

I place a finger in the middle and try to alleviate the crease.

Isn’t it unfair for someone to be so handsome even when he sleeps?

The phone continues vibrating.

The clock on the wall reads eleven in the evening; we were so exhausted we fell into a deep slumber.

Asher’s face becomes peaceful again as soon as I relieve the furrow. I slowly lift his arm from my midsection and slip from the crook of his body.

The phone stops vibrating and I think about going back to sleep until I see the missed call.

Izzy.

She wouldn’t call me this late without a reason. Did something happen to Alex?

I run to the bathroom, put on a robe, and then go back in the room, grab my bag and phone, and duck to the other half of the room.

As soon as I’m out of Asher’s earshot, I call Izzy back. She answers after the first ring.

“What is it, Izzy?” I pant. “Is everyone okay?”

“I…uh…I’m sorry for calling this late. No one is hurt, don’t worry.”

Thank God. I flop on the couch, releasing a breath. “What is it then? Do you need anything?”

“I was wondering if you watched the video.”