by Charish Reid
Her face flushed with heat as she let him lead her body. “Actually, I don’t think I should cook in anger anymore...” Aiden’s face was only a scant breath from her own.
“Does that mean you’re not mad at me anymore?”
His hand slid down her bottom to the hem of her dress. He slipped under the wet fabric, easing it up her thigh. One strong leg parted hers and stepped in between them. Antonia shivered as the hot junction of her thighs rested against his denim.
“I don’t know,” she said, breathing in quick, shallow gasps. With her dress now hitched to her hips, she couldn’t think. She hardly had the strength to stand on her feet. The dizzying pleasure of his fingertips against her feverish skin forced her to sit on the table behind her. Antonia experienced the familiar suffocating haze that Aiden’s body emanated. It mesmerized her into babbling incoherence.
“How can I make it up to you, Antonia?” he whispered in her ear.
“I don’t know.”
He knelt to the floor before her, pushing her knees apart. He glanced up at her as he planted a feathery kiss on the inside of her thigh. The scruff of his beard grazed her skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake. “There’s nothing you can think of?”
Antonia shook her head. Her legs hung on either side of his body, spread scandalously. The exposure made her face burn. But she leaned back against the wood surface, waiting in trepidation as he slid his hands along the backs of her calves.
He turned his head to kiss her other thigh, the bristle of his cheek arousing her senses in the same way. She let out a soft sigh of pleasure when his lips locked to her thigh; his cheeks concaved as he sucked her flesh. When he released her, he looked up. “Do you have anything else I can taste?”
Antonia’s eyes widened at the sight of his wolfish smile. She knew what his smile implied and it alarmed her. Derek had only tried that once and had given up when it had done nothing for her. She was convinced that she just didn’t get any satisfaction from a man’s mouth. When Antonia found her voice, she was apologetic. “I don’t think that’s ever worked.”
“Then he didn’t do it right,” he said, tracing a lazy trail along her thigh with his finger. His tongue followed the path, sucking the plump flesh closer to her apex. She drew a sharp breath as she watched him. “Talking isn’t the only thing an Irishman’s mouth is good for.”
She couldn’t help but smile at his lusty wit. He was talking her right into her own satisfying experience. “Challenge accepted,” she said.
“Excellent,” Aiden said, raising himself to push her back against the tabletop. He leaned over her while she lay on her back, pushing the hem of her dress up to her chest. He stared into her eyes as he ran his hands down her bare belly and pulled her panties down her thighs. The slickness from her own fluids felt cool against her swollen cleft. She held her breath and closed her eyes when his fingertips grazed her mound. It was the softest touch, feathery light and quick. She opened her eyes and saw him appraising her hungrily. “Beautiful,” he said simply and leaned over her to plant another kiss on her lower belly. She quivered as his lips left her.
Antonia wanted him so badly, she could scarcely breathe. His kisses went lower, slowly and deliberately, as though her pleasure hinged on his pace. Perhaps it did, she didn’t know for sure. His hot breath fluttered against her already sensitive folds, sending a tingling sensation to her core. When his mouth closed over her, Antonia gasped. His tongue mimicked her movements from earlier, but with much more creativity. With his fingers, he delicately spread open her soft flesh, lapping along her inner lips, taking care not to touch her clitoris just yet. Antonia was wet and desperate, squirming against his mouth, her breath was ragged as tears came to her eyes. Aiden wrapped his strong arms around her thighs and held her firm against the table. She was locked against his mouth, going delirious with his titillating tongue.
He continued his focused ministrations, methodically circling her opening before plunging his tongue inside, in and out, in rapid succession. Antonia’s back arched away from the table as she moaned in ecstasy. He dragged his flattened tongue up and down, before circling and diving back into her. She reached down and raked her fingers through his thick hair, pulling his face against her. While he licked her, his own hand left her hips and snaked its way up her belly and to her breast. He squeezed and fondled her as he finally put her out of her misery. When he turned his attention to her most sensitive spot, her body seized. Antonia’s head thrashed side to side and she lifted her hips to meet his tongue. She released a low, trembling moan as she came. Her walls spasmed and jerked, sending a crashing wave of euphoria over her body. She tightened her thighs around him and rocked her hips until the violent rapture passed. When her body finally fell limp, she sighed contently.
Aiden placed a light feathery kiss on her mound before standing up. With both hands planted on either side of her body, he cocked his head to the side. “Is that proper thanks for the cake?” he asked.
Antonia finally opened her eyes and searched his gaze. “What?” she breathed. She was still shaking from his highly inappropriate use of a dining room table.
His face spread into a wide smile. “Will you forgive the way I badgered you?”
“Of course,” she said with a frown. “I should be apologizing too.”
“I think that was an apology,” he said, gesturing to the cake. “It certainly looks sorry enough.” He delicately lowered the hem of her dress back down her legs and offered her his hand to pull her up.
On her feet, Antonia wobbled slightly and grabbed on to Aiden’s shoulders for support. “I can’t walk,” she said bashfully.
He hoisted her up into his arms easily, her bottom resting deliciously against the hard club in his pants. “Let me take you to the bedroom,” he said as she wrapped her legs around his waist. He nuzzled his face in her damp cleavage and breathed deeply. “I’m not done with you yet.”
* * *
Aiden had a naked woman in his bed.
He propped himself up on one elbow and stared down at her sleeping face. The shadows of the room played on her relaxed expression. Aiden gently moved a stray curl from her face and tucked it amongst the others, taking care not to disturb her rest. It was almost painful to be this close to her and not kiss her breasts, which were wrapped and hidden away in his blanket. He ached with the overwhelming desire to be inside of her, to experience what his tongue had felt upon penetrating her.
But he had to wait.
Aiden had forgotten to pick up condoms and he was too old to act irresponsibly. He’d made it all these years without any surprises, there was no need to screw that up. But as he continued to watch the rise and fall of her chest, he wondered what it might be like to be a father. He wondered what kind of mother Antonia would make. Those were thoughts that should have disturbed him, but he couldn’t help himself. He’d never looked at Lisa and wondered these things. Understandably, children had been out of the question. Lisa was focused on her career which made sense for any pre-tenured scholar. Aiden hadn’t touched the issue with her, but kept it tucked away in the back of his mind. It wasn’t until he saw his niece, Soircha, that those feelings came creeping back. They always ended up depressing him.
Antonia began to stir under his intense gaze. When her eyes opened, she looked at him with a puzzled smile. “Are you watching me sleep?” she asked in a groggy voice.
“I couldn’t help it,” he said softly. “You’re too beautiful not to stare at.”
She ducked her head away from him and laughed. “You’re the damned devil.”
Aiden feigned indignation as he pulled her naked body close to him. Skin to skin contact with her reanimated his senses. “Will ye sign ole Scratch’s book?” he said in a menacing voice.
She fended him off through her giggles. “Never,” she cried.
“But I’ll give you everything you could ever dream of,” Aiden promised, kissin
g her neck. “You’ve already had a taste of the forbidden fruit.”
“You tempted me,” she gasped when his hand drifted down her belly and cupped between her legs. “Like you’re trying to do now.” She was wet again. He took advantage of this, carefully sliding a finger past her folds.
“This is what happens to women who show up on my doorstep in wet clingy dresses,” he whispered in her ear. He stretched along her writhing body and watched the deep red settle into her brown cheeks. He loved the way her eyes drifted shut as her mouth fell open. Aiden leaned his head down and ran his tongue across her dusky brown nipple, it puckered like a small pebble under his mouth.
“Aiden,” she breathed.
“No, my dear. The devil in me must make a cautionary tale out of you.” He then sucked the tight bud while his finger and thumb did their work below the covers. She grabbed his hand, pressing it hard against her and followed his pace, grinding her hips in time with his strokes. Her shallow pants and her curls plastered against her sweating temple were equal parts pleasure and agony for Aiden. His erection pressed uncomfortably against her hip and he didn’t know how much more he could take. When she spasmed around his fingers, he remembered why he enjoyed pleasuring her. It was to see her face in that final moment. The crease in her brow and her widened mouth, were almost enough to send him soaring. Antonia’s thighs closed around his arm like a vise. He kissed her deeply until she relaxed her body against him. Once his hand was released, he ran it up her belly, to her breast and squeezed.
“Have I done a good job of ruining you, m’lady?” he asked.
“The devil,” she repeated with a blissful sigh.
Chapter Twenty
They were going to give this whole “dating” thing another shot. After their misunderstanding in the Letterfrack café, Aiden had suggested they try something that wasn’t work related. As Antonia stood on the floating docks, she kept her legs relaxed and bent, wondering if this was his attempt to remain in control. While the ocean was lovely and inspiring to gaze upon, Antonia questioned being on it. The small vessel that Aiden climbed in looked no larger than a canoe with a motor strapped to the back. Antonia stood on the floating dock with her arms folded. It would be difficult for her to throw a fit and leave this particular outing. “Is that safe?” she asked.
Aiden nudged away the oars that lay at the bottom of the vessel. “Perfectly safe,” he said. “It’s a currach, Ireland’s oldest boat.”
“How old is this one?” she asked, drawing her raincoat around her neck. The winds were strong enough to make the gray-blue water choppy.
Aiden looked up at her while wrapping a long length of rope around his elbow and hand. “Oh, she’s only twenty years old. I brought her up from Galway a few years back so I could boat around the harbor.”
Her brows knotted as she gazed upon the expansive harbor. Tall cliffs surrounded them, but out west lay the open ocean. Seagulls screeched overhead, warning her to turn back to the car and stay where it was safe. “We’re not going too far, are we?” she asked. “Can we stay in the harbor?”
Aiden extended his hand, his eyes warm and understanding. “We don’t have to go out there,” he said. “If we go too far, we might hit Boston.”
Antonia took his hand and carefully stepped into the currach. They stood in the middle, she still clung to him with a death-grip. “I love the water,” she said, looking around her for somewhere to sit. “I swear I do, I just don’t have a lot of experience being in it.”
Aiden, who looked like he belonged out on the water in his cream Aran sweater, smiled. “Oh I think you might have a little selkie in you yet.”
“What’s a selkie?” she asked, taking a seat.
“Here,” he said, pulling her up again. “You should sit by the bow, so I can operate the engine.”
Antonia slowly moved around his body, gripping his shoulders as she went. Her movements were unsteady and wobbly, as if at any moment, she’d be pitched overboard. “Good idea,” she murmured as she watched her footing. “Are there any life jackets?” she asked.
“Under your seat.” He gestured behind her. “Slip it over your head and tighten the latches on your chest.”
She did exactly as she was told and sat firmly on the bench closest to the front of the boat. “What’s a selkie?” she asked again; anything to take her mind off the lapping water that rocked them.
Aiden unhooked them from the float dock. “They’re like mermaids, but seals,” he said with a grunt as he pushed them away from their last chance of safety. “Fishermen fall in love with these seal maidens and steal their coats. Once he’s hidden her coat, she must stay with him as a woman and wife. But really, she longs for the sea.”
Antonia was breathless. “I’ve never heard of that,” she said.
Aiden looked out at the horizon behind her as he stuck his oars out. “I think it might be a Scottish tale. The point is, you can’t let the selkie find her coat.”
“What happens?”
He pulled the oars, propelling them forward. “If she does, she’ll leave everything behind and return to the water.”
Antonia paused and thought about the folklore. Perhaps she did have a little selkie in her. “It’s beautiful out here,” she said as she watched the rocky shoreline float away.
Aiden smiled. “I knew it. You’re a bewitching seal woman who’s tricked me into taking her back to the sea.”
She returned his smile with a sneaky grin of her own. “It looks too cold for you to leave me here.”
“I’m going to start the engine so we can get to that tree clearing out there.” He pointed behind her. Antonia turned in her seat to follow his gaze. Near the harbor’s opening lay the ocean, but just before that, she spotted a rocky slope with tall trees.
“Is that a place...uh, where we drop our anchor?” she asked, glancing back him.
His mouth twitched with laughter. “I’m sorry?”
Antonia frowned. “I don’t know what it’s called.”
“She doesn’t have an anchor,” Aiden laughed. “But yes, we can disembark over there and walk around if you’d like.”
“Sure, that sounds fine.”
Aiden pulled the cord and the motor came alive with a growl and then a roar. It pushed them ahead at a slow speed. With his other hand, he gathered up the oars and passed them over to her. “Could you put those below you, port side?”
“Which side?”
“My left,” Aiden said, correcting himself. “Keep them together at your feet.”
“Gotcha,” she said. Feeling a little more confident to move about the vessel, she took the oars and tucked them beside her. “How do you know so much about sailing?” she asked. He looked like a natural, completely unbothered by the choppy waves and brisk wind.
“My father,” he replied.
She nodded. “He was a sailor?”
“A fisherman.”
His short answers and curt tone made Antonia raise a brow. “Oh, what did he fish for?”
He met her gaze with cool green eyes. “Women, mostly.”
She nodded. Got it. “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
His expression softened. “You’re not prying,” he said in a weary voice. “Try as I might, I can’t avoid thinking about Liam Byrnes. Especially these days.”
Antonia leaned forward. “Why these days?”
He returned his gaze to the horizon before replying, “I’ve been trying to figure that out. He ran off when I was fifteen and I haven’t seen him since. But lately, I’ve been preoccupied by him.”
Anxiety knotted his brow. “He just left your family? He didn’t go missing?”
Aiden’s smile was rueful. “Between trawling and arguments with my mother, Liam left and came back all the time. The last time was for good though. He was at least good enough to leave a note.”
Anton
ia’s heart ached for him and his family. When her father had died, it had taken her years to grieve his absence, but she had been with him for the end. Antonia at least had closure and fond memories of the larger-than-life man who was her father. At the age of twelve, Willy Harper had been her hero and she’d always remember him as such. Aiden, however, had a father out there who just couldn’t be bothered. He was as good as dead to his family. The idea of a man who would abandon his family on a whim made her tear up. She blinked her eyes and brushed them against her sleeve. “That’s pretty awful,” she said.
Aiden glanced back at her, saw her tears, and set his mouth to a firm line. He reached over to pat her on the knee. “Dear me, don’t you go crying for that eejit. Liam Byrnes doesn’t deserve all of that.”
Antonia sniffed. “What’s the rest of your family like?”
“Oh they’re fine people,” he said with a smile. “I come from good, hearty folk. My mother was once a school teacher, so she raised me and my brothers with a good amount of discipline.”
“Is she the reason why you went into education?” Antonia asked.
“More or less, I suppose. I had it in my head to do anything but teach, but I turned out to be a good scholar. Clare orchestrated my path with a watchful eye,” he said with a chuckle. “If you don’t keep an eye on middle children, they drift like a rudderless boat.”
His metaphor caused laughter to bubble in her chest. “You were clearly meant for the sea, Aiden. Are you sure you want tenure?”
He nodded. “I do. This past year has made me realize I need to stay on the path. Out here—” he gestured to the open water “—lies wasted potential.”
She was unclear on what he meant by that. It seemed less to do with him and more about his father. Antonia decided to change the subject. “And how many brothers do you have?”
