Rock Him (16 page)

She scowled. “For heaven’s sake, Asher. It’s like this every morning. I have a hard
time because my joints are stiff, so for the last time, it’s not because of the
fucking!
”

He sat back on his heels.

Maddy glanced down his body, lifting wide eyes to his. “Seriously, Asher, put on your
damn clothes, would you?”

“Should you talk to the doctor? I thought the drugs — ”

This time her sigh was definitely more peeved than patient.

“The drugs are not some miracle cure. It’s rough in the morning for most people with
RA, no matter what medications they’re on. I’m always going to have pain and stiffness,
especially in the morning. It’s the nature of the disease.”

“Will a hot shower help?”

She nodded. “That was next on the agenda.”

He helped her to her feet. “Do you get up every morning and lie on the floor to stretch?

Her gaze slid away and she shrugged.

His eyes narrowed. “No, you don’t, do you? You do them in bed. It’s painful otherwise,
isn’t it?”

She dipped her head.

“Then you do them in bed with me.”

“I’m not going to wake you up — ”

Asher reached for her and tucked her gingerly into him. “It’s not going to wake me
up and if it does, too bad. If you need to stretch first thing, you do. Agreed?”

She nodded against his chest.

“Now let’s go take a shower.”

Maddy pushed open the door to Asher’s master suite, clothes spilling out of her hands.
He’d offered to move her things to his bedroom, but she refused. Ella was desperate
to have Uncle Asher throw her around in the pool since they’d arrived back in California
this afternoon.

She wandered into the walk-in closet, a closet almost the exact size and shape as
the living room in her apartment. There were elaborate wood shelving units and bureaus,
and though she’d rarely seen him in anything other than jeans, concert t-shirts and
combat boots, the space was nearly filled. Everything was neatly hung and folded.

It was a bit like being in a store. Surely he didn’t arrange the closet? A laugh escaped
her. No, this must be the housekeeper or a stylist’s doing. Asher was no slob, but
he was not this organized. She laid the clothes, about seventy-five percent of her
wardrobe, on the ottoman in the center of the room.

She thought she’d gotten used to Asher’s level of affluence as his employee. Transitioning
to girlfriend, living with him, and sharing a closet was completely surreal. Add to
that the fact that he was still paying her to take care of Maddy and it made things
awkward — at least for her.

Asher appeared in the doorway, a shivering towel-wrapped Ella in his arms.

“Maddy!” the little girl exclaimed, grinning in spite of her blue lips, “I’m freezing.”

Asher cocked his head. “Everything okay?”

She nodded, and held her arms out to take Ella.

He shook his head. “No, I’ll pop her in the tub to warm up. You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Need anything?”

Her smile was a bit forced. “No.”

He studied her. “Let me get the bath running.”

“I need Ariel and Ken,” Ella demanded.

Maddy’s smile broadened. “Are they an item now? I’ll get them.”

They disappeared and Maddy retrieved the dolls from Ella’s bathroom. She handed them
to a naked Ella, sitting hugging her knees to her chest at the bottom of the giant
tub.

When the bath was full, Asher turned off the taps. “Be right back, love, gotta change
out of this wet suit.”

Asher drew Maddy out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, leaving the door ajar in
case Ella needed them.

He took Maddy into his arms. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, really. I’m good.”

He leaned away, eyes boring into hers.

She bit her lip and broke the contact.

“Maddy.”

“It’s just weird, Asher, I mean I’m your employee and I’m living with you. Like, in
your room.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Isn’t that weird to you?”

He shrugged. “No.”

Maddy retreated and sat on the bed, staring at her hands. In Virginia, it was easier
to think of him as Asher, not Asher Lowe. Coming back to LA, living in this house,
it was impossible to forget what he was.

He strode to the far side of the room, dropped the towel and peeled off the wet boardshorts.

“Asher!” He glanced up and grinned. “Whaddya expect, Maddy? I got hard ‘cause I was
holding you.” He grabbed a pair of cargo shorts from the chair and stepped into them.

Maddy cast a scandalized look toward the bathroom door.

“Relax. I’m not going to try anything.” He had trouble with the zipper of his pants
and gave a muffled laugh.

Through the door, Ella scolded the Ken doll for some imagined infraction.

He took her hand and pulled her down to sit next to him on the bed.

Maddy stared down at their linked hands. “It’s awkward.”

Putting a long, callused finger under her chin, he lowered his lips and kissed her
gently, so gently tears sprung into her eyes.

Her heart lurched.

Oh, God. I’m in love with him
.

“What, specifically, is the problem?”

Maddy covered her face with her hands. Asher put an arm around her. She raised her
head and gestured to room with a sweep of her hand. “All this, Asher. How is this
going to work? If I’m your girlfriend how can I be your employee as well?” It came
out as a wail.

He settled her across his lap and kissed her again, with more hunger. He tasted of
salt and smelled of pool chemicals. Arousal burned through her, turning her limbs
to pudding.

He ended the kiss on a groan and settled her next to him. “What am I?”

“What?” she asked, head spinning.

“You said ‘it was easy to forget what I am.’ What’s that?”

“A rock star? A
Lowe
?”

“Maddy, Dee and I grew up with tremendous affluence. Your life has been fairly normal
in comparison, judging by what I saw over Christmas. Yes, I’m a Lowe — and I’ve told
you there were advantages — I can golf, ski, play polo — both kinds — sail; the things
I have a basic proficiency at would surprise you. And the ability to do those things
with the children of other rich people, threw open doors of access and opportunity
like you wouldn’t believe. Even in my business. Add to that the fact that I’ve had
the best education available — formal and informal, all of it---”

“Okay Asher, it’s just going to take me some time to adapt.”

“I’m not done. The list of things I don’t know how to do is longer. How to be part
of a family, how to care for a child, how to balance life and work and a million other
things. I had lousy examples. And mine aren’t even the worst out there. Talk to Shane
one day about what it’s like to be a child star — a commodity. You know about my dad.
And my mother? I don’t even want to go there. She’s a nightmare.
You
were raised with the only things that matter. Your mom … ” His voice roughened,
and he paused, taking a minute to bring himself under control. “You were luckier than
me. You’re still luckier than me in so many ways. The love I gave and received growing
up was almost exclusively from Dee. I don’t want to think about what I would’ve been
without her. So don’t give me this ‘you’re rich and famous’ crap. Not you, Maddy.”

“Maddy? Uncle A?” came a little voice. “Ken wants to know what’s for dinner.”

Maddy had barely finished wrapping herself in a towel after her shower when there
was a knock.

“Babe?”

She opened the door. Asher was standing there, looking sheepish. “Can you come out
here a minute?”

Worry clouded her brain. “Is it Ella?”

“No, I’m sure she’s having a ball with Justin and Scott.”

With a puzzled frown, Maddy hitched up the towel. Just past Asher on the bed lay a
scarlet dress and the most beautiful shoes she’d ever laid eyes on. Not high, she
could never wear heels thanks to her rheumatoid arthritis, but these were perfect.
Her eyes welled with tears. He’d even remembered the kind of shoes she needed.

“Asher,” she said, reverently.

He put his hands up. “I’d love to take the credit, but it wasn’t me. Scott and Justin
picked it up.”

She crossed over to the bed and ran a hand gently over the material.

“Wow.”

“I’m sorry, Maddy, I hadn’t even considered that you might not have something to wear
to Shane’s premier tonight.”

Maddy studied him through narrowed eyes. “I had something okay to wear. I’m not a
total pauper, Asher.”

“No, I know,” he said, hurriedly.

She turned back to the dress, examining its vibrant hue and clean lines. “But nothing
like this. It’s exquisite.” Maddy ran her hands over the dress again.

Asher cleared his throat, his expression disgruntled. “I wish you looked at me like
that.”

She laughed.

In two steps he reached her, yanked off the towel and pushed her back toward the bed.

“No … stop! The
dress
.” Maddy pulled out of his arms and walked the dress over to the closet. Turning it
on the hanger, she hesitated as she caught sight of the low back.

The heat from Asher’s body behind her registered just before he plucked the dress
from her fingers, hung it up, and grabbed her.

She clutched at his powerful shoulders, laughing as he carried her to the bed and
dropped her on it. She bounced twice, still laughing. “Caveman,” she managed.

He growled and stripped off his brown Henley in one smooth motion, exposing broad
shoulders, a well-defined chest, slightly furred with hair, and those tattoos. God,
his tattoos. What was it about that inked up tanned skin that liquefied her sex?

Maddy could spend the rest of her life staring at those tattoos, outlining the edges
with the tip of her tongue, licking their black and colored centers. He made short
work of his well-worn jeans and boxer briefs and glanced up.

At the intensity in those beautiful eyes, the laugher died in her throat. A surge
of lust spun through her and her nipples formed taut peaks under the fluffy white
towel.

He put one knee on the bed and used her ankles to pull her slowly toward him. A shiver
ripped through her body at his stark arousal. Would she ever lose her sense of wonder
that this beautiful man wanted her?

His hands pulled apart the edges of the towel, exposing her body to his narrow-eyed
gaze. He gently spread her legs at the knees, then trailed long, calloused fingers
up her thighs. The temperature in the room bumped up ten degrees. She closed her eyes,
embarrassed and excited at being so exposed to him in broad daylight. Heat flooded
her damp skin and she squirmed.

He paused at the juncture to stroke her lightly, teasing her, before his big, warm
hands trailed up her belly to cup her breasts. He leaned over and pulled one nipple
into his mouth and she gasped. His mouth was so wet and warm, hands moving to press
her hips into the bed. Her legs shifted restlessly as the ache became a throb of need.
She threaded her fingers through the thick hair at the nape of his neck and pressed
his mouth more firmly to her pebbled nipple, gasping. “Asher, please.”

He raised his head from her breast and grinned wickedly.

She yanked his hair, hard. He grunted and flipped her over onto her stomach, lifting
her hips until she was on all fours. She clenched her quaking thighs together but
his firm grasp moved them back apart. Standing behind her, he stroked the curve of
her ass, all the way down to her calves, setting off more tremors. The bed sheets
captured her moan as his palms made their way up her body with deliciously long strokes,
deliberately avoiding the place she needed them most.

“Asher … ” Hating the desperation in her voice, warmth spread across her upper chest.
Finally, one hand paused in its journey, slipping down between her thighs. He pushed
two long fingers into her and she clenched around him with a muffled moan. His other
hand pushed between her shoulder blades. She pressed her heated face to the soft,
cool sheet, supporting herself on her forearms as he explored her, curling his fingers
up into her drenched, swollen flesh. Her hands twisted in the sheets and she shifted
her weight, pressing back, desperate to take him inside her aching body.

She was so close, she could feel the telltale throbbing, the weakness in her limbs.
She didn’t want to come like this, without him. Maddy clamped her legs together, trapping
his marauding fingers, and he grunted, pulling them away. The soft sound of the condom
wrapper tearing was followed by his hands, urging her thighs apart.

The fat head of his cock stroked against her slippery entrance and she pushed back
again with her hips, impatient. Her body shook in earnest — excited and inflamed.
Her breath caught as he pushed into her, incrementally. Her hips flexed, eager to
bring him fully inside.

It was his turn to gasp as she shifted back, impatient with his tempo. His hands went
to her hips to still them, but it was too late. He wasn’t even halfway inside her
when she came with a long, low cry.

He pumped into her, hard and fast as she convulsed around him, his rough palms stroking
her ass, gripping it, riding out her tremors. Over and over he stroked into her, slick
and hard until she had no recourse but to bury her face into the mattress as she sobbed
out another climax. His pace accelerated, his fingers gripped her hips, digging into
the flesh over her hipbones, until he came with a low guttural sound.

Maddy collapsed, too satiated to do more than roll to her side.

Asher fell next to her and spooned up against her. He licked a spot between her shoulder
blades and she shivered. “Okay?” he asked softly.

“Two orgasms and the playboy wants a critique?”

He propped his head on his elbow and pulled her tighter into the heat of his body.
“You know what I’m asking.”

She turned her head to meet his concerned gaze with a level one of her own. “I do.
But you don’t need to ask every time. Maybe you should talk to my doctor. ‘Doc, tell
me, can people with RA make love like regular people? Should I use bubble wrap instead
of a condom so I don’t injure her?’”