And, yeah, the fucker choked and sputtered and gagged and ended up with a mess everywhere. But when he climbed my body and removed the pillow, he couldn’t have looked prouder.

“Was that okay? Was it good? I’ve been thinking about trying that all night.”

“Nnugh…”

Asher laughed and kissed me, all the while jerking himself until he released all over my chest. I would have returned the favor once my skin stopped buzzing, but I guess he couldn’t wait.

We had a lot of stuff to share together. We didn’t need to rush.

Sunday was spent being lazy, watching movies in Asher’s room while curled up in bed. We didn’t talk about Jay’s offer or about the photo shoot. We simply were together like we’d never been before. All our lives, we’d been close, but this was more on every level. This was intimate. This was tenderness. This was fresh and new and gave me butterflies like I’d never experienced before.

Unlike a new relationship, there wasn’t a getting to know you phase. We already knew all there was to know about each other. What we had now was a whole other level of closeness to explore.

And explore we did.

Sunday was filled with touching, exploring, and nakedness against nakedness. Many orgasms. Mouths. Hands. Rutting. Grinding.

And showers.

Asher shied away from more, so I didn’t push him. I knew we’d get there. Eventually.

The day was fabulous, and not once were we Ender and Elliot.

Chapter Thirteen

THE FOLLOWING WEEK, I didn’t see Asher much. Our schedules conflicted. We were nearing the end of the semester, so there were a lot of projects to worry about and finals to prepare for. We kept in contact through texts. Whenever we tried to get together after class, something always got in the way, either it was a gym night for him or a work night for me.

The following weekend, Jay emailed the expectations for our next session—a filming session. It was scheduled in three weeks, and they’d booked the same studio. He forewarned us there would be a larger crew working, so we should be prepared for a bigger audience. Lovely.

In a private text, Jay asked, Have you two made a decision?

Because Asher and I hadn’t talked about it, I messaged Jay back: We’ll keep you posted.

The weekend was a bust. Asher had a game with the guys he played rugby with—a city team he’d joined with some friends from school—which meant a night of heavy drinking afterward and a hangover for him the following day. I was stuck working all weekend.