Love, Hart [Discontinued]

BONUS CHAPTER!

ASPEN

She bent over, rummaging through a shipping box. I wasn't sure what she had been looking for, but I couldn't keep my eyes off her.

Ruby was humble where other girls would be doped up with arrogance. Only a blind man wouldn't be able to appreciate the slight curves of her torso and the taught and lean muscles of her ever so long legs.

Ruby made it easy for a man to forget everything she had to offer despite her looks. Her personality was one of one. She's given me the time to pick her brain and learn her. The discoveries alone would make one forget she had a pretty face and beautiful body to add to the mix.

As if feeling my gaze, Ruby looked at me over her shoulder, frowning. "What?" She demanded.

"I can't look at you now?" I asked, drawing my lips in between my teeth as my eyes roved over her legs. They were wet from the rain and downright taunting me. Like, ha ha, you can look but you can't touch! Yeah, fuck that.

"Not when you're giving me those eyes." She put her hands on her hips, "I'm not giving you sex, Aspen."

"I didn't ask for sex." I raised my arms in peace.

"Your eyes did."

"My eyes can't speak, Hart."

She huffed with no answer, which left me another second to admire every inch of her. The words were out of my mouth before I could stop myself. "Come here."

She hesitated, then obediently—leaving me shocked from the way she didn't put up a fight—walked over to me and stopped half a foot in front of me. To bridge the distance, I pulled her closer by the hips.

Instantly, her cautious hands flew to my wrists, "Aspen, what are you—"

"If I asked you to kiss me right now, would you say yes?"

RUBY

"What?" I spluttered, taken aback by his...question. It wasn't quite crude, but it was so straightforward and so him that my surprise wouldn't have been expected.

Aspen shook his head. "If I asked you to kiss me, would you say yes?"

"Uhm..." I cut a glance to the side, nervous and flustered and tingly all over. His hands were on me, I was all wet and so was he. This moment seemed so cliche and undeniably perfect at the same time.

"Can I say no?" I asked, half-joking. Because, let's be honest here, I'd never thought about kissing Aspen Clark, but it was in that moment that I mentally slapped myself for not hoping for it sooner.

Well, except for that one time at his house in the middle of the night, where my unexpected boldness left me to believe we were going to kiss, only to be thrown into a pool.

"That's up to you," he told me, "But a guy can only hope that the girl he wants to kiss would like to kiss him back."

He wants to kiss me?

Por el amor de dios...

"And if I say yes, you would go ahead and kiss me, just like that?" I asked stupidly.

"Just like that." Aspen nodded, assuring me.

I breathed deeply. If I didn't want to kiss him, it wouldn't have been so hard to say no already, right? He was right up against me, hands on my hips so firmly. I felt safe, at peace almost.

His hair was disheveled and slick from the rain. Our clothes were damp. The library was empty. It was just us. Him and I. Aspen and Ruby. Bordering dangerous waters and headed straight towards the impending storm.

I folded my lips between my teeth and nodded.

Aspens grin only grew. "I need you to use your words, Ruby."

I gulped back my nerves and press my palms against his abdomen, leaning closer. "Yes."

And just like that, the storm broke out.

Aspen's hand gripped the back of my neck and he leaned down, pressing his lips to me tenderly. Our lips meshed and moved in synchronization. He wrapped his whole arm around me and pressed our bodies tighter—if even possible.

I sighed, content with the butterflies flurrying up my stomach and into my throat. The hand that gripped the back of my neck palmed my cheek, and his thumb caressed my wet skin.

And then, our kiss then went from light and apprehensive to downright dirty—I mean, holy mother of God.

He flipped us, so I was now against the wall and he kissed me like he couldn't get enough of me...and to be frank, I didn't mind it one bit.

His hands glided down the length of my torso to my thighs, and then the crease of my knee, bringing my leg up and around his hip.

Holy...

He pressed him self against me, and I gasped.

I felt the shape of his smile meshed with my own. The moment was surreal, and I felt juvenile as giddiness spread exploded within me. It had been a while since I felt like this, with someone touching me so fiercely and intimate.

Aspen pulled back, watching me as I caught my breath, heaving with excitement and...something else entirely. The absence of his lips against mine felt cold and unusual, something I didn't quite appreciate.

"If that's how you felt you could've just said that, Red." Aspen smiled down at my hands that fisted his shirt.

I smacked him playfully in the chest, telling him, "Shut up," with laughter spilling from my throat.

And without wasting anymore time, I pulled him back to my lips and kissed him till the rain stopped and light bloomed from the sky.