by Jill Sanders
“Yeah. Her mother was originally from Pride but moved to Edgeview when she was in middle school. Had the girl out of wedlock. Not that that’s a bad thing, but then she turned around and abandoned the baby with her parents. She only came back to raise the child after her folks were killed in a plane crash when Lizzy was around eleven. By then, Stephany, that’s her mother, was a drug addict.” Carol shook her head. “That girl hasn’t been right since.”
“That’s terrible.” Suzie started feeling sorry for the woman instead of angry at her.
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in this case. Lizzy may walk the walk and wear scrubs, but there are plenty of rumors she’s just as dirty as her mother is,” Carol finished as Suzie handed over her credit card to pay.
As she put her groceries away, she thought about telling Aiden about running into his ex but figured tonight wasn’t the time to mention it. Tonight was all about her and him. She didn’t want anything getting in the way of finally getting what she wanted.
She had just put the chicken in the oven, after showering and changing into a summer dress, when Aiden knocked on her door.
Calling out for him to come in, she smiled as he stepped inside with a bundle of flowers in his hand.
She leaned on the counter and narrowed her eyes at him. “You better not have gotten those from my competitors,” she joked.
He laughed. “Your mother’s garden.” He winced. “Don’t tell her that though.”
She laughed and then buried her face in the fresh cut wildflowers. “They’re beautiful.” She turned and busied herself arranging them into a vase.
“Something smells good.” He moved over to put his hands on her hips.
When he dipped his head down to trace his lips across her jaw, she realized he was talking about her.
“I just put the chicken in.” She sighed and wrapped her arms around him.
“Good, then we have plenty of time to sit on your sofa and neck.” He pulled her towards the couch as he trailed kisses over her skin.
She melted into his arms, giving him access to her neck and shoulders, since her sundress had thin straps. When he pushed one off her shoulder, she sighed and swayed in his arms.
“I’ve wanted this. Wanted you,” he said against her skin. “Tell me you want this too.”
His voice shook as her fingers moved over his arms, his shoulders.
“Yes.” She sighed and reached to pull his shirt from his jeans. He helped her pull it over his head, and she smiled as she ran her fingers over his toned skin.
“Impressive,” she sighed before he kissed her again. When he hoisted her up and carried her down the short hallway to her bedroom, she held onto him and enjoyed the feeling of him under her fingers.
“How long did you say that chicken needs to cook?” he asked as he laid her down on her bed.
She smiled. “At least half an hour.” She pulled him down until he kissed her again.
Her body heated as his hands roamed over her, pushing her dress aside. When he nudged her bra to the side and cupped her, she arched into him and begged him for more. Then he was pulling her panties off and it was easily one of the best feelings in her life.
She arched into his hands, moaned as his mouth covered her nipples, and cried out as he took them in and sucked lightly until they peaked for him. His fingers dipped in and out of her, causing her to grow even hotter and want even more.
When she reached for the button of his jeans, he pulled back and stood up to quickly dispose of them. He took a condom package from his pocket before coming back to her in only a pair of gray boxers.
She touched his thigh and shifted under his weight. “Have I said impressive yet?”
He chuckled as his eyes ran over her now-naked form. When his gaze rested on her breasts, his smile slipped.
“Perfection,” he said under his breath as he reached over and brushed a finger down her ribs.
She gripped his shoulders and pulled him back down to her. She couldn’t remember wanting someone as bad or for as long as she’d wanted Aiden.
He was her dream man. The one she’d fantasized about all of her life. And now he was touching her and looking at her like she was the most amazing thing in the world.
Chapter 18
He must have been blind. That was all he could think as he looked down at Suzie. All his life she’d been right there in front of him and yet he’d had no idea how powerful she was.
Just having her fingers touch him, her nails scrape over his skin as he kissed her and touched her, turned him on so much that he wondered if he’d be able to last.
She was so soft against him. She tasted so sweet that, as he dipped his head for another taste, he wondered if he would ever be able to get her out of his mind.
As he ran lower over her skin, she moved with him and wrapped her legs around his hips, pulling them closer together.
He ran his hand up her thighs until he felt her softness. When he pushed a finger inside her again, she cried out his name as her back arched off the bed.
He trailed kisses down until his mouth covered her.
“Aiden.” She buried her fingers into his hair. “Please.”
As with before, once he’d had a taste of her, he wanted more. Much more. He nudged her legs wider and used his mouth and fingers to please her until he felt her convulse under him and tasted her sweet release on his lips.
Then he moved up, slid on the condom, and settled between her legs. When her legs wrapped around him this time, he knew there was no turning back. He waited until her eyes opened before sliding into her slowly.
“This,” he said next to her ear, “means something.”
She nodded and bit her bottom lip with pleasure as he started to move. Her nails dug into his hips, holding onto him as he took what he wanted.
He knew exactly how long it had been since he’d felt anything this amazing before. Knew that in all his years, he’d never experienced this much buildup, this much want with anyone. This was Suzie. If he thought about it, he could remember her during every part of his life. The good and the bad.
And this was good. Very good. He didn’t know what was in his future, but at this very moment, he could almost believe that he was where he was meant to be.
When he felt her release, only then did he let himself follow her. His breathing was labored as he rolled and tucked her next to his side.
“Soon,” she sighed, “I’ll get up and finish dinner.”
He chuckled. “No rush.” He trailed his fingers over her soft skin just above her hip.
When she tensed, he smiled and asked.
“Ticklish?”
“Yes.” Her hand covered his and moved it up a few inches. “There.” She sighed. “Now that feels wonderful.”
A few moments later, he heard a buzzing sound and she shifted in his arms.
“That’s the chicken.” She sighed as she rolled away from him. She slipped on her sundress again, and he smiled when she left off the underwear and bra.
When she’d disappeared into the other room, he pulled on his boxers and jeans and followed her. She’d removed his shirt in the other room, so he walked out of her bedroom bare-chested. Normally, it wouldn’t have been a bad thing, but she had those large windows that everyone in town could see into.
He glanced at her and nodded towards the wall of glass. “Want to hand me my shirt?”
She had just taken the chicken out of the oven and turned to look at him. Then she laughed and shook her head. “No, I don’t care who in town knows you were in my apartment without a shirt on.”
He shrugged and walked over to her. “If you don’t mind, then why not give them a little more to talk about.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
He had to admit, it felt wonderful to not care.
They sat at her table and ate the dinner she’d made as they talked about the big case he’d cracked. He told her every detail of how he’d found the boxing ring and how he’d tricked Herol
d Jenkins into admitting he wasn’t the mastermind behind it all.
“So, who do you think is behind it?” she asked when they were sitting on her sofa enjoying some of his mother’s homemade blackberry pie.
He shrugged. “Whoever it is had a lot of money to begin with. Someone paid close to ten thousand for the barge and the other boat that carried the gamblers and the fighters out there. Not to mention the online accounts.” He remembered finding out that the money, because it was offshore, was untouchable. At least by his office. Other authorities higher up than him were looking into the accounts. He felt frustrated that he had to hand everything over to the state and federal police but felt pleased that he had gotten the recognition for the bust.
“Will they let you know if they find anything?” she asked.
“I’ve asked to be updated.” He set his empty plate down. She shifted closer to him and sighed.
“So.” She glanced up at him. “Are we going to talk about this?”
His fingers were busy brushing through her hair, and he cupped her face and kissed her. “What?”
“Us,” she responded. “I know you said you didn’t want anything more… permanent.”
He nodded. “For now, let’s just enjoy one another.” He knew he was probably breaking a code. After all, he’d never gone into a relationship meaning to have anything more permanent. The longest he’d dated anyone was about five months, he admitted to her.
“Wow, that long?” she asked with a smile.
“Okay, how about you?” He looked down at her.
She tilted her head and he could tell she was thinking about it. “About three weeks.”
He balked. “What?”
She shrugged. “I’ve never found someone who could put up with me for long,” she joked.
“Is that really the longest?”
Her smile slipped as she nodded. “So, you see, when I said I was looking—”
He stopped her by kissing her and pulling her closer until she straddled his lap. “I’m sorry,” he said between kisses. He didn’t really know what he was apologizing for, but he knew that he owed her one. But, at the moment, she was grinding against his cock and the response was immediate.
Lifting her once again, he carried her back into her bedroom.
When her feet hit the ground, she stopped him from lying her on the bed.
“My turn,” she said with a smile as she reached for his zipper.
“Suzie.” His tone was a warning, but she just laughed up at him.
“You think you are the only one who knows how to tease?” She pushed his pants down his hips until he sprang free. When her fingers wrapped around him, he hissed at the wonderful feeling of her touching him.
She ran her fingers up and down him and when she gripped him and continued to stroke him, his eyes closed shut and he threw his head back.
When he knew he couldn’t hold out any longer, he pulled her up into his arms.
“Enough,” he said as he laid her down and covered her. This time, there was no point in removing her dress. He hoisted the material up high and felt her softness underneath.
As with before, when he slipped into her, he had a moment to realize that he’d never experienced anything as wonderful as Suzie.
There was only so much Aiden could take. He’d held himself apart as long as he could, but the little things she did were breaking down his barriers.
Even now, as she slept, he was losing his hold on his heart. Just watching her sleep next to him he could feel his careful control slipping away.
Why was he still there? He should have left shortly after she’d fallen asleep. Instead, her head rested on his arm, blocking off the blood flow and causing his fingers to tingle.
Then she shifted and he realized it was his chance to slip out of the bed. However, when he moved to roll away, her hand snaked up and rested over his heart. Once again, he relaxed back and watched her sleep until he too drifted off.
His phone alarm woke him at a quarter to six. She moaned next to him and reached out to shut off the alarm, only to smack him in the chin.
“Ouch,” he chuckled.
She sat up and looked at him with huge eyes. “Aiden?”
“Sorry.” He got up and hunted for his phone. Finding it in the back pocket of his jeans, he turned off the alarm.
“Why so early?” she groaned as she rolled over to watch him slip on his jeans.
“Because I have the early shift. Which means I have about fifteen minutes to rush back to my place, shower, and get my uniform on before I need to walk into the office like I didn’t spend the night doing what we did.” He smiled as he sat on the edge of the bed.
She smiled. “Or you could call in sick and crawl back in bed with me.”
He laughed. “Can’t.” He shook his head. “I’d love to, but… I can’t.”
She sighed. “It was worth a try.”
“Go back to sleep.” He kissed her and then got up. “Thanks for dinner and… after.”
She smiled. “Thanks for dessert.”
He kissed her again. “See you later?”
She nodded. “Later.” She rolled over and he finished getting dressed and left, making sure to lock her door as he went out.
When he walked into the office, he was surprised to see his father sitting behind a desk looking at a computer screen.
“What are you doing here?” he asked his dad.
“Working.” His dad smiled up at him.
“Does Mom know you’re here?” He reached for his cell phone and his father’s smile faltered.
“She knows.”
“But?”
“But she thinks I’m only going to be around for an hour. Tops.” He shrugged and turned back to the screen.
“How long have you been here?” he asked, looking around the office for someone else who might know.
“About ten minutes.” He motioned to his leg. “See, my leg is up.”
Aiden could see his father’s leg propped up on another chair.
“Okay, so what are you working on?” Aiden asked him.
“That case of yours. I got to asking myself, why Pride.”
“And? Come up with any answers?” he asked, trying to look over his shoulder.
“Maybe. Before my accident—”
“If you can call it that anymore,” Aiden broke in.
“Right, well, before that, I was looking into a few recent land purchases.” He motioned to the screen. “A big developer had recently been looking at purchasing two plots of land not far from town. He made an offer to the owners, but they turned him down.”
“Okay, so what’s strange about that?”
“A few months later, the price was driven down because of activity…”
“Activity?” he asked his dad.
“Drug activity. We found a couple trailers full of drug paraphernalia a few months back. The owners, not wanting to continue to have squatters using their land for those kinds of activities, lowered their price. You know, since word got around town.”
“Okay.” Aiden pulled up a chair and sat down beside his father. “Let me guess. The company came back with an even lower offer for the land?”
His dad nodded and pointed to the screen. Aiden looked at the screen and whistled. “Wow, that’s almost fifty acres for that price?”
“Yes, for this one.” His dad clicked the screen. “This one is close to a hundred acres.” He tapped the screen. “Something tells me there’s more behind this. So, I figured I’d come in and look into the business.”
“Find anything yet?” he asked.
“No, but I’ve only been here ten minutes.” His dad smiled. “Want to help?”
“Hell yeah.” He scooted his chair closer to his father’s.
Chapter 19
“I really screwed up.” Suzie rested her head on the table at Baked, the local pizzeria. She’d met her cousins for dinner after getting off work the night after she’d slept with Aiden.
“What’
d you do this time?” Riley asked.
“I slept with Aiden. Even though he made it clear that he didn’t want a relationship,” she said with her head still resting on the table.
When she’d woken that morning, she’d been floating on air after a night of amazing sex. But around lunchtime she’d started thinking again and realized that he hadn’t really committed to anything with her. Other than to enjoying himself while he was stuck in town.
Then she’d grown more depressed when she realized that, in a few short weeks, Aiden was going to leave town and she’d remain there. She just knew that everyone in town would treat her differently. They’d treat her like she hadn’t been important enough for him to stay.
“Maybe I should break up with him. You know, someplace very public,” she said, sitting up and looking between Lilly and Riley. “That might show everyone in town that I’m the one that broke things off when he leaves.”
“Maybe he won’t leave,” Lilly suggested. Riley nudged her. “What?” Lilly asked her. “Maybe he won’t.”
“Everyone knows he’s been talking about leaving since he arrived back home.” Riley rolled her eyes.
Lilly shrugged and leaned on the table. “Yeah, but then again, we never thought we’d be sisters-in-law.” She smiled across the room to where her husband was working behind the counter.
“Right.” Riley’s own glance turned to her husband, a mirror image of Lilly’s husband.
“I’m just saying that stranger things have happened,” Lilly added with a shrug.
“I just don’t see Aiden staying unless something drastic changes.” She sighed and rested her head back down. “Breaking up with him first is my only hope to salvage something of myself.”
“Don’t do anything yet.” Lilly touched her arm. “There’s still plenty of time. Robert isn’t even back up and walking yet.”
“Right.” She sat up when Carter walked over and set a large cheese pizza in front of them. Then he bent down and kissed Riley until Lilly groaned. “Get a room.”
