The Boiling Point | ✔️

19 | insatiable

[nsfw chapter ahead, you've been warned!]

SUMMER

I think I've lost my mind. Yes, as I pull my parking break up in front of the Villa's house—it's beyond clear that I've unequivocally lost my freaking mind.

I look at Ashton, and he's looking right back with that gorgeous face and those deadly honey eyes and that smirk that must have been gifted by the devil himself.

Ashton's the culprit. I can almost see him dipping into my head and luring out my mind, toying with it in those ridiculously skilled hands. Taking pleasure in my loss of sense and reason. And I welcome him.

I don't care about anything except how badly I want him. I've spent weeks burying invasive thoughts. Thoughts about what I want to do to him and what I'd let him do to me. Thoughts that have finally overpowered me and awoken something unrelenting. Something primal.

A continuous roar surrounds us as buckets of rain hit the ground, pelting down on flower beds and expanding puddles. Ashton gives me his jacket to take cover, but I'm still dripping after we've raced to the front door. We're laughing, and my heart thrums with adrenaline when he pulls me in at the waist and plants his warm lips on mine.

I grip his shirt, wanting nothing more than to tear all of this wet material between us to shreds, and I know it's only a matter of seconds before the burning in my chest spreads like wildfire.

I rip away and try to regain focus. "Ashton—"

My breath hitches when his mouth relocates to the side of my neck, face buried in my hair, hands snaking lower to cup my backside. My knees just about buckle when he presses himself against me, that burning plummeting south.

I force my eyes open and peel away. "Listen."

"I'm listening."

"Ashton." My stern tone kicks in, and he draws back.

"Okay, okay. All ears." He smiles and rakes away the wet hair that's fallen over his forehead. It flops right back.

"I'm serious about the risk, okay? I have to sneak you in, and you have to be quiet. Promise me you'll be quiet."

"Cross my heart." He makes an X with his fingers. "But I can assure you... I'm not the one who's gonna have a problem being quiet tonight, Cupcake."

My eyes roll at his smugness, secret goosebumps rushing over my heated skin.

I go in first and make sure it's clear. The house is in darkness, and the main obstacle is getting past the Villa's bedroom before we make it to the stairs. Ashton closes the door and blocks out the thundering rain. He follows through the entrance hall, and my stomach tumbles when I hear a bump.

I turn just in time to see him catching a Fabergé egg, inches from smashing. I glare at him, immediately taken back to his egg juggling and sharp reflexes in class. He lets out a breath and sets it back on its display. I grab his hand to keep him close.

No sound is coming from the Villa's bedroom, but I still make a point of showing Ashton to skip the creaky fourth step as a precaution. My feet stop dead when I see the sliver of light under Mr. Villa's study door.

I move Ashton in front of me and hastily guide him down the hall to my room, head on a swivel. My muscles relax once I've secured him inside. It feels like I've just delivered ticking cargo that could have exploded at any second.

We've barely taken a few steps when a soft knock on the door winds my muscles up again.

"Summer?"

Ashton ruts his thick brows.