Chapter 48

I stayed late at Nyx Collective. Midnight late. Everyone else had bailed hours ago, but I was still at my desk, hunched over my laptop. Technically, I was working. Realistically? I was hiding. From Ashton. From the terrifying possibility that he might suggest we consummate our brand-new, totally normal, definitely not weird marriage with a roll in the hay. Because I was scared I’d say yes without blinking. Or worse—what if I was the one to bring it up? Sure, we were legally husband and wife now. But the only time we’d actually slept together, I’d been blackout drunk and didn’t even know his name. Still, from the fragments I did remember, he’d been... insane. Stupidly good. The kind of good that ruins porn for you. Like, knew what to do with his lips and hands and tongue and you-know-what good. And okay, yes, my libido wanted an encore. A sober one. But the rest of me was terrified I’d come on too strong, act like some unhinged nympho, and scare him off. I mean, I did rip his shirt that