She buried her face against his shoulder, her breathing slowly recovering. He burrowed into her hair and together they slid down the dark wall paneling until they hit solid ground.
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Chapter Four
"I bit you."
Cassidy softly ran her fingers over the abraded skin, having no idea what had come over her. Swept away with passion, she mused. On the one hand, there was a certain level of mortification. On the other hand, she'd spent the last dozen or so years of her life dreaming about exactly this.
Despite their currently level of undress and the fact he was still inside her, or maybe because of it, she shyly met his gaze, only to find him beaming like an idiot.
"You sure did, honey. That was a definite high point in my mind."
He squeezed her even tighter. She wasn't sure what to think, but the next three weeks were going to be an adventure—that much was for certain.
With her forehead pressed against his shoulder and his mouth nuzzling against her neck, a part of her wanted to burrow inside him and live there forever. “I didn't hurt you?"
He laughed, sounding almost pleased that she'd bit him like a rabid dog. “Hurt me?” He curved his fingers beneath her chin and propped her up until she was forced to meet his tender gaze. “Isn't that supposed to be my question to you?” He kissed the side of her head. “Mr. Finesse, I wasn't."
"But...” She had to swallow and clear her throat. She didn't have much to compare finesse with. Charlie's idea of mind-blowing sex was if he got off before the game started, then again at halftime.
Regardless of Aiden's finesse or lack thereof, she'd behaved no better than an animal. Three seconds alone with the man and she'd let him take her like a cat in a back alley. Glancing around at the plush furnishings of his office, she amended her thought. Hopefully, the fact that it was an upscale alley redeemed her a little in some small way, at least.
"I left a mark.” She touched the tiny red line of teeth indentations. She couldn't imagine he actually appreciated her sinking her fangs into him.
His head fell back with a sharp bark of laughter, and he squeezed her again. If she had a clue about sex and men in a general sense, maybe she'd be able to make heads or tails of this. One thing that was for sure, she wasn't putting off enrolling in that human sexuality course over the summer at the college any longer.
"In my book, a mark is a badge of honor. Hell, honey, I hope you drew blood."
He tilted his head back again far enough so she could see into his eyes. They smoldered, holding humor as well as a strong flame of desire still burning deep within them. The look gave her butterflies, and she involuntarily clenched her inner muscles.
Aiden groaned, and she felt him flex against her.
"Good Lord!"
"And then some, honey."
She felt her cheeks heat and pressed the backs of her hands against them. His smile grew a little crooked, and Cassidy's stomach did a flip.
"But, uh...” He ran a hand up over his head and looked away from her. “...I didn't lock the door."
It took a second, but the ramifications of that settled quickly into her brain. She instantly jerked her body in an effort to get away from him. Aiden held her firmly, kissed the top of her head, then slowly pulled away from her. It surprised her how vulnerable and alone she felt when he left her. It wasn't like she was any more alone than usual, but suddenly it felt like it.
She watched him, feeling a bit starry-eyed, as he pushed himself back into his clothes, and then held his hand down to her. Feeling stupid for not standing on her own when she had the chance, she gave herself a break this one time, considering that her head wasn't working right at all. Placing her hand in his, she allowed him to pull her to her feet. She made an attempt to gracefully and subtly slide the skirt currently wrapped around her waist back down to a level required for decency. All the while she wished the ground would just open up and swallow her.
While the sex had been amazing, better than she ever could have imagined, the after part was more than awkward. She had no idea how to handle it. She seriously began to wonder if the sex had been worth this or not. This of course was the very thinking keeping her on the fence all these years in the first place?
She thought about all those books she'd bought. All the magazines she'd subscribed to just so she would be ready for a moment like this. Although, even if she had read all those articles, she couldn't remember seeing one on handling the moments after you've just allowed your boss to fuck you wildly against the wall of his office.
Remembering the sound of the pictures hitting the wall, she groaned, wondering if banging wouldn't have been a better word choice.
She closed her eyes tight as the memory washed over her again. The wonderfulness of it battled with the shame she felt for behaving so brazen. She wished she was more like normal women and feared maybe it was too late for her. Another thought grabbed her, only deepening her shame. She covertly looked around the floor but couldn't see her underwear anywhere. She shifted her weight and with as much dignity as she could muster, she forced out in not much more than a mumble, “I need my underwear."
She didn't look up at him, in fact, she kept her eyes glued to the carpet trying to lose herself in the swirling pattern of multiple shades of blue and green, one ankle wrapped around the other, arms folded tightly over her breasts.
"What?"
She closed her eyes and sighed. Then with granite fortitude, she repeated herself a little louder.
"I. Need. My. Underwear."
Where was that hole when you needed it? It didn't have to be a very big one, she could suck in her breath and make herself fit. Any old crevice would do. Anything she could crawl in until the humiliation passed. Say a thousand years or so.
"Oh! Right."
She watched in horror as he went into action. First searching the floor, then the sofa, then-she cringed-could a person die from embarrassment?
Literally die?
They had landed on his desk.
Maybe death wouldn't be so bad.
She couldn't look at him as he handed the cream silk and lace to her. She'd decided to burn the pair the minute she got home, even if they did match one of her favorite bras.
She could sense Aiden smirking which didn't make the situation any less uncomfortable. After she died, she thought she might come back and haunt him.
"Honey, I just had you bare assed against that wall. There's hardly anything to turn so red over now."
She groaned again and inwardly pleaded for him not to remind her.
He came closer and brushed his thumb along her cheek. His body was close enough now for hers to ache for him again. She felt the heat rising inside her, felt her breasts calling for his touch. She wished they would just shut up. She wasn't making this particular mistake again. Sex—incredible or not—was not worth this.
"We have to go to your place, you know."
"What?"
She hoped the strangled sound didn't expose how horrified she felt, but when the left side of his mouth quirked up the way it did, she imagined it had.
"We can't go back to my room.” He brushed her hair over her shoulder. “In a half hour the entire hotel would know, and I can't imagine you want that."
"Well, no, but...” She took a step back, pushing her spine against the wall hoping to create distance, but it wasn't working. “We, we, w-we ... can't."
His lips brushed her temple then softly covered her lips and left her burning for more of their seductive touch even as she wanted to run. She wondered if she would always feel this way now. It was as if her body had been asleep all these years and sadly now he'd awakened it. Now every cell knew what it had been missing—she knew—and her head continued to argue with her body until she felt nauseous. She imagined this would make ignoring the opposite sex a lot harder from here on out.
"Why not, beautiful?"
His thumb made another pass at her cheek, and his voice was so tender she alm
ost wanted to cry. However, even more than that, she wanted to collapse into his arms and never leave. Wanted to let him do whatever he pleased to her and never go back to life as she'd known it.
Distance.
Reminding herself ruthlessly that was all she needed right now, she pushed him back, wobbled slightly, and then stepped out of his reach.
"Can ... can you turn around?"
"Why?"
She dropped her head, staring at her beige shoe against the sea green carpet.
"Because I have to ... to...” She made a very small movement of the hand that held her underwear tightly at her side and he laughed ... hard!
Haunting would be too good for him.
"I'm sorry.” He held up his hands in a show of innocence. “Truthfully. I shouldn't laugh, but you take me by surprise. I've never known a woman like you. I find you charming and refreshing. I had no idea how much I longed for fresh air until I met you, Cassidy, but baby, you can't be serious."
She was appalled. Did his other women put on elaborate displays for him? Come to think of it, they probably did, and she probably seemed like the town prude about now. Sure that her skin was turning another shade of red, she recalled one of her articles entitled Masturbating for Your Man. She'd torn those pages out of the magazine and taken the bag of trash she'd put them in with her to the store and shoved it in the dumpster in the back. She hadn't the nerve to read the article, but even the title apparently had been enough. So much for her inexperience limiting her imagination.
If she wasn't going to die, she was pretty sure fainting wasn't too far out of the question. She was naked under her skirt, and he wanted to know if she was serious.
"Of course I'm serious. Why can't I be?"
He spread his arms wide and then dropped them with a loud slap against his thighs.
"Because we just had sex."
Somehow she'd hit the deep end her first time in the pool and hadn't even known she'd been out for a swim.
"I'm well aware,” she muttered under her breath.
He took a step closer, and she took a step back, banging into that damn wall again. “And I intend to take you home now, strip you naked, and examine every square inch of your beautiful body.” His voice dropped into that sultry silky tone, causing her hormones to betray her. His eyes slowly slid down over her, leaving fire in their wake. She felt as if he'd been able to see right through her clothes.
There wasn't any way she was going to put on a show for him. She just couldn't. It wasn't in her nature. The she remembered her teen years when she wanted to put on exactly this kind of demonstration for a man. She was so confused now she didn't know what to think. She'd let everything spin too far out of control. Her body wanted one thing, but her mind demanded another.
"There won't be a freckle I'm not well acquainted with by the time I'm done with you, Cassidy."
She shivered at his erotic promise. He took a step toward her and once again brushed his finger down her cheek. “I'm going to lick my way from your lips to your toes. I'm going to suck on your nipples and eat your pussy until you scream my name, honey."
Her knees buckled, but he caught her and pulled her against him.
"Sweetheart, I made you a promise, and I'm not going to let your sudden attack of nerves push me away."
He brushed that wicked finger down the bridge of her nose. It was everything she'd wanted, but now that it was in front of her, the ramifications scared the shit out of her.
"I think...” She rubbed her forehead before speaking. “No."
He did a double take, blinked three or four times, and closed his eyes completely. “Are you serious?"
She blinked back tears, not sure if they were out of embarrassment or because he sounded so hurt. “I can't. I'm not the right kind of woman for you, Aiden. I'm probably not the right kind of woman for any man. I'm shy and insecure and I haven't a clue what I'm doing. I waited too long and now it's too late. I'm more than flattered and very tempted by your offer, but I just can't. Now would you please turn around?"
He opened his eyes and nailed her with a gaze that was nearly black. “No."
Cassidy inhaled sharply. “But...” She tucked hair behind her ears, for the first time realizing almost all of it had fallen from the clip. She must look ridiculous. She tore the clip from her hair, ran her hand over her head hoping to sort it a little, and grabbed her purse, shoving her underwear in it as she did. “You're an ass."
She ran towards the door, just barely making her way through it before the tears fell.
* * * *
Aiden stood in shock staring at the back of his closed door.
What the fuck had just happened?
He'd been with a lot of women in his life, but none of them had behaved like that one. She'd been a wild woman one minute, as hot for him as he was for her, then as skittish as a newborn foal the next.
He ran his hand over his chin and mouth. Women weren't so fucking complicated most of the time. The sex they'd just had was hot, and their bodies fit together well. She was a little shy, but he was sure he could bring her out of it. So what was the problem? A little love bite? That didn't seem right.
He'd never met such a dichotomy of passion and near virginal innocence. Never would have thought it would appeal to him if he had found it, but on Cassidy it was damned irresistible.
So what happened?
A part of him said to let it go, but the more he thought about it the angrier he got. One thing's for certain ... He grabbed the keys from his desk drawer, slamming it shut again. I'm getting some answers.
* * * *
Aiden pounded the heel of his hand against the leather-covered steering wheel. The sun beat down on him through the windshield, since he'd already removed his jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves, he went for the tie, and the first three buttons of his shirt looking for relief. All the while wondering only one thing, Where the hell is she?
He'd been sitting in front of her home for over two hours, but there was no sight of Cassidy. Unfortunately, the time alone had only served to worsen his condition. In his dash from the office, he'd left his cell on the desk, so the only thing he had to fill his time with was re-thinking what had happened earlier in his office with Cassidy.
Over and over again, the sound of those pictures banging against the wall filled his head. Cassidy's soft moans sounded in his ears and the memory of her scent filled every fiber of his being with need. He could still taste her kiss, still feel her hands on his back, her teeth in his shoulder. It was driving him crazy.
He pulled open his shirt collar, glancing at the purple and blue mark rising to the surface of his shoulder, and smiled. A warmth ran through him and it wasn't all lust, either. He efficiently shoved any tender thoughts aside and concentrated on the pure satisfaction he'd felt at being able to arouse her to such levels of passion.
Remembering an earlier woman, he tapped a finger against his chin and studied the clouds through the sun roof. What the hell was her name?
Didn't matter. Anyway, he remembered her liking to run her fingernails over his back during sex, but in a concern for her manicure she'd never become over zealous about it. Maybe it was just that he'd been lost in his father's world for so long and the women there were all so guarded and cold. He ran his fingers over the tiny indentations still there as she'd all but broken the skin thinking this was a passion he hadn't come across in a very, very long time. There was no way in hell he was going to allow her to walk out on what they'd discovered.
He grinned.
Not for at least three weeks, anyway.
He looked over his shoulder up the road. Cassidy lived on a dead end branch off a main thoroughfare, and from where he sat he could see in both directions. There was a steady stream of traffic but no old blue relics. She wasn't coming.
His mind wandered back to this woman who'd captured all his thoughts from the second he met her. Cassidy Flint was real in a way that surprised him, and she was gorgeous in an everywoman sort of way,
not in the manicured-and-styled-to-within-an-inch-of-her-life way. With her silky hair spilling every which direction, her amber eyes alight with desire and her cheeks flushed with a healthy dose of lust, he couldn't imagine anyone more beautiful. Passionate, spontaneous and sweet, Cassidy was an exquisite woman.
He groaned and scrubbed both hands over his face. He was toast.
The sound of gravel crunching beneath a car wheel brought him alert. Relief he didn't entirely understand washed over him at the sight of her old blue car. Then he was hit hard with a need to buy her a more reliable vehicle and a cell phone if she didn't have one so he wouldn't have to worry about her if he couldn't find her for two hours. He brushed it away as mere concern he'd have for any woman driving such an old model.
He came up behind her, instantly noticing her bare feet. This caused him to wonder whether or not she'd put her underwear back on. He couldn't stop his eyes from scanning the area in question, which only incited a rising heat and accompanying ache in his groin.
Beyond toast.
"You scared the life out of me, Cassidy. Where have you been?"
* * * *
Cassidy sighed inwardly. She thought she'd composed herself. The sight of his car hadn't totally freaked her out, after all. The sound of that sexy voice, though—even if it was thinly laced with anger—completely undid her. Without looking at him, she reached across and grabbed her shoes and hose from the passenger seat, then stood straight to face him. He was crowding her and effectively sandwiching her between his hard body and her car. He looked like a normal man for once, his jacket and tie gone and his sleeves rolled back. His hair even looked tangled, as if he'd been running his fingers through it repeatedly. She glanced to see if he still had his shoes on.
The scent of his cologne gave her vivid flashbacks, and she was left feeling a little woozy again. But in the time since she'd seen him, she'd decided that she was stronger than this silly attraction. That very thought straightened her spine.
The Seduction of Cassidy Flint Page 5
