by Anna Durand
"When did you do that?" Maybe I'd spent too much of the morning fantasizing about him, but I couldn't stop myself from shamelessly flirting with him. Surprise jolted through me at how much fun this was.
"When did I come for you?" Aidan asked. He glided his hand up my arm, exposed by my short-sleeve T-shirt. "Last night. This morning. More often than I should probably admit to."
My hand floated up to my throat, like it had a mind of its own. Had he confessed to getting off to thoughts of me? Yes, he had. Rather than feeling embarrassed or shocked by his revelation, I grew wet and achy again. And my brazen mouth refused to shut up. "Was it good for you?"
His fingers sneaked higher up my arm and beneath my T-shirt's sleeve. "The best I've ever had."
"Guess you don't need the real me." My nipples had gone hard and pebbled, and the fine hairs on my arms shivered erect. "But for the sake of total honesty, I was thinking about you right before you knocked on the door."
"Thinking?" He moved his hands to my waist, tugging me closer. "Please tell me they were salacious thoughts."
"Very." I bent my head back and our gazes collided. He leaned in too, his pupils large and fathomless. I fanned my palms over his chest, swirling them in lazy circles. "If I hadn't been interrupted, I might've come for you."
His chest heaved with each breath, his teeth clamped together. Tugging my hips into him, he said in a husky voice, "Is iomadh rud a nì dithis dheònach."
"What does it mean?"
"Two willing people can do many things together." His hands slid down to my buttocks, his head dipped down until our lips nearly touched. "You fannadh for me, I fannadh for you. If we're both willing, why donnae ye let me show ye all the things I can do to ye? Ye'll stay a virgin, technically. But I have to touch ye, to feel your slick little brillean while I make ye come for me."
I clutched fistfuls of his shirt, all but panting with need. "I only understood half of what you said, but it sounds… good."
He ran his tongue over my bottom lip, his voice becoming more gravelly. "Fannadh means masturbate and brillean means clitoris. The rest I think you understand. Let me show you."
Chapter Ten
Breathless, my head light and floaty, I clung to him. Desperate to prolong this wonderful sensation, this heady desire, I hesitated for only a second before I said, "Show me."
His shoulders caved in with relief, and he touched his forehead to mine.
So much for resisting him. I could accomplish that only when he wasn't around, and even then it was dicey. I'd almost given in to my fantasy of him and now he stood before me, offering to do… decadent things.
He moved around behind me and spread his hands over my belly, drawing me snug against him and the raging hard-on barely contained in his jeans. One of his hands stayed on my abdomen, while the other wandered lower, sneaking inside the waistband of my sweats like I'd done moments earlier.
I stalled his progress with one of my hands on his. "Are you sure I'll still be a virgin after this?"
"Positive." He nuzzled my neck, then licked at my earlobe. "Technically. It's no more than what you do to yourself."
My mouth had gone dry, but wetness saturated my sex. No more than what I did? I couldn't believe that, and yet I couldn't muster any guilt over what I was about to let him do. After everything I'd endured, didn't I deserve something pleasurable?
Yes, yes, yes.
"Should I stop?" he asked.
"No. Please don't stop."
As he drew my earlobe into his mouth, suckling softly, he thrust his hand down inside my panties to palm my mound. I sucked in a sharp breath. The weight of his hand, the texture of his calluses, it was the most powerfully erotic thing I'd ever experienced.
Until he dipped a finger between my folds and began circling it around my clitoris.
I crumpled against him, my head falling back onto his chest, exposing my throat.
He rasped his tongue up my neck to the hollow of my throat. His finger toyed with my clit, first whisking round and round it, then rubbing in sure, swift strokes. I arched into his touch, my back bowing and my mouth falling open on a strangled moan. While his finger tormented me, his palm scraped across my mound, the sensation heightening my arousal until my sex throbbed from my clit straight down into my vagina. His free hand glided up under my shirt, cupping my breast through my bra, his thumb and forefinger plucking my nipple.
"Aidan," I gasped. "Yes oh god yes."
I threw my arms above my head to lock my hands around his neck.
While his heavy breaths gusted over my ear, his finger rubbed harder and faster, up and down, then switched to sideways strokes. The tension building inside me, stretching taut, almost snapped. I whimpered, writhing against him, frantic for release.
He shoved his hand deep between my slick folds, plunging his finger inside me. The heel of his hand worked my clit with ruthless fervor as his finger thrust in and out, in and out, joined by a second finger and then a third. He crooked his fingers inside me, pressing on a spot that made electricity fire through my entire body.
"Oh God," I cried, mindless with need. "Please, Aidan, please."
Shifting his hand, he freed his thumb to flick it across my clitoris over and over and over, while his fingers petted that incredible spot inside me.
My orgasm ripped through me.
I clawed at the back of his neck, my heels lifted off the floor, my back arched wildly. Spasm after spasm shot earth-shattering pleasure through me, stealing my breath. My heart thudded so fast and hard my head spun. He kept rubbing until he'd milked every last second of pleasure from my body, until the muscles inside me stopped contracting around his fingers and I went boneless in his arms.
He held me against him, his arms wrapped around me, until I regained my equilibrium, in body and mind.
I laid my hands on his forearms. "Wow. I can't think of anything more eloquent to say."
"Mm." He shifted his hips, hissing in a breath, and I felt his erection pulse against my back. "Please excuse me for a moment. Need the bog." He cleared his throat. "The bathroom."
He pulled away from me, robbing me of his body heat.
I spun around to see him hustling toward the hallway in a slightly bowlegged fashion. He veered toward the first door on the right, muttering a curse when he realized it was the laundry room.
"The door on the left," I called out.
He gave a curt nod, his face pinched, and rushed into the open doorway of the bathroom across the hall, slamming it behind him. How could he have missed the bathroom when the door was open? Something had him agitated, for sure.
Tiptoeing to the bathroom door, I raised a hand to knock but hesitated. Odd noises emanated from the other side of the door. Soft grunts. The shuffling of shoes on the vinyl flooring.
"Aidan?" I said, daring to lean a little closer to the door. "You okay in there?"
He muttered a strangled curse. "Aye. Fine."
The strain in his voice belied his words. What on earth was he doing in there?
He let out a sharp grunt, followed by a long, low groan.
Oh. All of a sudden I had an idea of what he was doing in there. He'd been highly aroused after pleasuring me, so much so his cock had pulsed against my backside. Then he'd excused himself and hurried off with an odd gait, as if his groin pained him. His desperation to get into the bathroom, combined with the noises he'd made, suggested one conclusion.
No, he wouldn't have done that. Not hiding in the bathroom. Aidan MacTaggart was clearly not the kind of guy who'd be ashamed of needing a release of his own. I could imagine him asking me to help him with that or inviting me to watch him do it, but hiding out…
The bathroom door swung inward.
Aidan, his cheeks tinged with red, gusted out breath after breath.
I raised my brows, noting his erection had shrunk. Arms crossed over my chest, I gestured at his groin with one finger. "Did you go in there to, uh… fannadh?"
Unsure if I pronounced it right, I di
d my best to imitate the way he'd said it earlier. I liked that word. It made something down and dirty sound elegant.
Though his breathing had normalized, the spotty redness on his cheeks spread into a full-on blush. He glanced down at the floor and mumbled, "Yes. That's what I did."
He was embarrassed. How strange.
I couldn't resist laying a palm on his blush-warmed cheek. "How can a wicked man like you be embarrassed about jerking off?"
"Ahmno embarrassed." His mouth twisted into a warped frown.
"Why did you run away? That implies you're em — "
"I am not embarrassed."
Palms out, I raised both hands. "Okay, okay. No need to get huffy with me."
Aidan rolled his eyes.
"Oh no," I said, locking my arms over my chest again, "don't give me the eye roll either. You're the one who did… what you did to me and then bolted like a kid caught stealing candy."
"I — " He shoved a hand into his hair, grumbling under his breath, probably cursing at me in Gaelic. After a few deep breaths, he seemed to compose himself. Leaning against the door jamb, he slanted his head down to gaze into my eyes. "I've never had this problem before. The way you reacted when I touched you, the way you came under my hand, you were stunning. And it affected me. So much I thought I'd burst in my pants."
"Burst?" I struggled not to smile. "You can say fuck in front of me, but you can't say you were about to come?"
"I can say it." He angled his body toward me, looping his free arm around my waist. "But I never caith in my pants. I never lose control with a woman. This is a new experience for me."
My arms fell away from my chest to dangle at my sides and I found myself leaning toward him just a little. "I'm sure it happens to every guy now and then."
"You don't understand." He skimmed his hand up and down my back. "It's because of you, because I want you more than any other woman I've known."
"Oh." Warmth bloomed under my skin, spreading throughout my body. I rubbed my lips together, not sure why, and stared at his mouth.
An explosive whack reverberated through the living room as the puppies tore through the dog door. The magnetic plastic flap snapped back into place behind them.
Misty and Mandy barreled straight toward Aidan.
The duo leaped up onto me on their way to him. I stumbled into the wall. The puppies attacked Aidan with gleeful ardor, totally smitten with the Highlander. I couldn't blame them. He was hard to resist.
After a moment of flinging their little bodies at him and flailing their tongues at any part of him they could reach, the puppies had expended the bulk of their energy. They settled down to lie at his feet and gaze up at him with rapt adoration.
"I have another problem," Aidan said in a casual tone, resting one hand on the door jamb.
"And is this one is also my fault?"
"Not unless you sneaked into my motel last night and ruptured the pipes."
Feigning deep thought, I tapped a finger on my chin. "No, I don't recall doing that. But I might've been sleepwalking."
"Hmm." Aidan danced his fingertip over my lips. "Why would you want me homeless?"
The faint pressure of his finger made me long to suck it into my mouth. "What do you mean homeless?"
"My room was damaged by the burst pipe and there are no other rooms available."
"There are lots of motels around here. I can get the phone book to look up — "
"Please don't." He grunted as Misty hopped up to plant her paws on his stomach. Babbling nonsense to her, he petted her head with one hand and spoke in a hushed tone. "No other rooms available. There's some sort of festival happening and a conference at a nearby university."
"What will you do?"
He shrugged one shoulder. "Donnae know. May have to go back to Chicago."
The thought of him leaving stabbed a pang through my chest. I blurted out a response without bothering to think first. "Stay with me."
He blinked, his eyes widening. "What?"
Now that I'd said it, I couldn't take it back. Didn't want to either, I realized with a start. "I have a spare bedroom. You, um, could stay here with me. As long as you understand this does not mean I'm going to sleep with you."
"Not yet."
I tried to look stern, but felt certain I failed. "Not ever."
"You want me and we both know it." He took hold of my right hand, guiding it to his groin, until my palm covered his semi-erect penis with only a single layer of denim between my skin and his. "And you know how much I want you."
More than any other woman I've known, he'd told me. The notion of any man lusting for me that much sent a lovely little shiver down my spine. The idea of Aidan lusting for me with such fervor…
That made my sex clench.
I pulled my hand away from his crotch. "You can stay here. But do try to behave yourself."
Aidan grinned. "Why? You don't behave yourself with me."
Before I could issue a smart retort, he trotted out the front door. I peeked through the curtains and watched him retrieving his bags from the rental car.
What on earth had possessed me to invite him to stay with me? Visits from Aidan tested my willpower more than I'd expected. Sharing a house with him — a secluded house in the woods, with no neighbors — this might prove to be the most dangerous decision I'd ever made. My self-control seemed to disintegrate in his presence. With Aidan as my roommate…
I could handle it. I could.
Aidan sauntered back into the house carrying his things. "Where am I, then?"
"Follow me." I led him to the far end of the hall and the open door to my bedroom. I pointed at another door, on the left, kitty-corner to my bedroom. "There's the spare room. Bed's made and extra pillows are in the closet."
Aidan glanced from the spare room to my bedroom, a mere arm's length away. "You want me close, don't you? Convenient for midnight cravings."
"You are incorrigible."
He smiled brightly. "Thank you."
"I think you're the strangest man I've ever met."
"You like the way I make you feel, though." Setting his bags down, he wrapped one arm around my waist. "One of these nights, maybe you'll show me how you touch yourself."
My mouth opened but my brain couldn't cobble together a single word.
"Think about it," he said, and then picked up his bags.
In that moment, as he lugged his things into the spare room, I understood one fact with glittering clarity. I'd invited him to stay because I wanted him to tempt me. He was right. I liked the way he made me feel.
Appreciated, desired, alive.
But I would not for him. No way.
Chapter Eleven
After lunch, I lounged on the sofa waiting for Aidan to return from changing his shirt. Mindy had spilled tomato sauce on him in her overly exuberant attempt to smack a doggie kiss on his mouth. Aidan had not only indulged my puppies' obsession with him, and seemed to enjoy it, but he'd also made lunch for me — spaghetti with meatballs and scrumptious blueberry muffins on the side. Then he'd cleaned up the mess he made and washed the dishes, shooing me away when I tried to help.
He really did understand women. After all, what was sexier than a guy who cooked and cleaned? If he scrubbed toilets and vacuumed, he'd be the perfect man.
I glanced out the windows into the backyard. Aidan's furry fans were frolicking among the trees and grass, leaping up on their hind legs to do battle with their front paws on each other's shoulders.
Aidan emerged from the guest room wearing a fresh shirt. Short-sleeve, dark blue, and emblazoned with a stylized lion logo above the words "Scotland the Brave."
"Cool shirt," I said. "I can almost hear the bagpipes. Or is that your phone ringing?"
"Not my phone, you cheeky lass." He veered around the sofa, he plopped onto the cushion beside mine. "Catriona gave me this shirt. She says American women love this sort of thing." He plucked the shirt with his thumb and forefinger. "I think she might be pulling a Lachlan
joke on me. What do you think?"
"I wouldn't say it's on par with 'every night is kilt night,' but she might be pulling your leg. I like it, though. You look good in blue."
He swiveled his upper body toward me, laying his arm across the sofa behind me. "You look good in anything, but I loved the green dresses you wore at the club and the wedding."
"Tara picked them. She insists green is my signature color, mostly because of my eyes."
"Your beautiful, luminous, emerald eyes." He leaned in closer, gazing into my eyes from a few inches away, the scent of him rushing over me. "They are mesmerizing."
I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. "You don't talk like any other guys I've met. They said things like 'you look fine' or maybe they'd tell me I had nice eyes. Nobody's ever called me mesmerizing before."
"They were eejits."
"Can't tell if I agree or not, since I have no idea what an eejit is."
"An idiot." Aidan slanted in closer, so near me his breaths slipped between my parted lips. His mouth grazed the corner of mine as he dragged his lips across my cheek to my ear. "Any man who describes your eyes as nice is blind and stupid. You are stunning, Calli."
"Thank y — " My words choked off when he nibbled on my earlobe, then coiled his tongue around it. "Unh."
He shoved his hands under my butt, lifting me up and onto his lap, seating me sideways across his thighs. "I like you speechless. You make the sexiest little noises."
I moaned as he grasped my ass in one hand. "Can't think when you're mouth is — mm."
He painted damp kisses along my jaw, down my throat. I turned my head to the side, granting him full access, and he took advantage of the opening to drag his tongue over my throat and nip at my flesh. I flattened my palms on his chest, the cotton of his shirt preventing me from experiencing the sensation of his skin on mine. When he lifted his head, leveling his smoky gaze on me, I ran my hands in circles on his chest.
"Do you know," I said, "I've never seen you shirtless. Fantasized about it, but — "
