He'd gone beyond his player ways for her.
She'd grown beyond her traumatic past for him.
Together, their love was beyond.
Until one fatal accident.
__________
When she loses the love of her life in a car crash, Althea has nothing left in California...
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*ALTHEA'S POV*
October 22, 2016.
"Peach kisses?" Charlotte read out loud, the seven-year-old fascinated by the rosy tube between her small fingers, well, before a bigger hand snatched it, lifting it out of her reach.
"Cody! Give it back! Thea promised she'll put it on me."
"Why? You wanna kiss boys? Ew!" Cody laughed, sticking out his tongue and waving the lipstick above his head, well, until I grabbed it.
Being the oldest around here had its perks, and for the past two weeks, I'd been appreciating them, including the larger bed and desk, even if Cody was currently jumping on the soft mattress, and I lifted Charlotte on the desk to apply the lipstick on her grin.
"It's not to kiss them—"
"It's to tease them," the blue-eyed girl finished for me, also repeating the pop I'd made with my lips when she'd asked me if I planned to kiss someone, and adding even more sass.
However, it was easy to be confident in front of a ten-year-old who gagged at the mention of a kiss or in front of a bathroom mirror as you checked your appearance one last time, but Asher Rohan's piercing gaze could strip down any assured facade.
No matter how many times I'd reminded myself on the five-minute walk to the school that if I'd chosen this cute dusty pink outfit, it was only for myself and my liking and that he wouldn't get to touch it—and even less take it off—when I joined him, his green eyes instantly claimed my appearance in a tingling trail from the modest neckline of the tank top to the seam of the short flowery skirt, even from the other side of the empty parking lot.
"You look gorgeous." He pushed himself off the hood of his shiny SUV, his hands in the pockets of his jeans and his gaze still not leaving my outfit.
Well, at this point, he was gazing beyond the flowing fabric, from my warm cheeks all the way down my bare legs.
"But the heels won't do."
Of course, I could have almost forgotten I was going on a date with a typical jock, who was probably macho on top.
"Why? Your little ego can't take it if I reach higher than 6'2 with them?" My facade quickly rose back with my chin as I crossed my arms over my chest.
Yet as he stepped closer, his raspy chuckle still tickled my forehead.
