He scrubbed a hand up over his head, ruffling his sleep stuck hair.
"Cass?"
He pushed the door open slightly, but there was no response. When he opened the door fully, there was also no Cassidy. He used the facilities and pulled on his pants before checking the rest of the house ending in the sun-bathed kitchen. She wasn't anywhere.
"Damnation!"
Aiden's fist met hard with the tile countertop. She'd left him again. And this was her fucking house. He blinked into the sun as a strange sound caught his attention and he followed it, first into the living room, then down the hall until he found Harold, locked outside and scratching to get in. It only took a moment to figure out the locking mechanism letting the furball in.
She wouldn't have left for good without her dog, at least that thought was comforting. He bent down and ruffled the dog's mane. “How long have you been out there, little guy?"
The only answer was a hyper spin and a few more passes of his wet tongue. Aiden laughed despite himself and the gray mood that was pushing in on him.
"Have you had breakfast?” He got up and went back towards the kitchen, Harold lopping along on the tile behind him. “Well, I haven't. I suppose you could join me."
He started going through her cupboards and in the end settled on a handful of strawberries and one of her microwavable meals. He also found the dog kibble and poured Harold a bowl, throwing an egg on top. His mother did that regularly. It was supposed to be good for their coats or something. Sitting at the small table in the only chair he began to get a feel for what Cassidy's days must be like. Then he started wondering about other men she may have had over.
"Bad idea."
Harold cocked his head at him. Apparently even her dog thought he was crazy. The odd pair finished their meal, and Aiden went back into her living room, rooting through her desk, looking for paper and a pencil if he were lucky, but didn't expect much, knowing few people ordinarily kept pencils anymore.
Armed with a small pad of paper, apparently from a local realtor, and a pen, he went back outside, Harold dogging his every move. He laughed. He was beginning to like the silly little dog. Every summer spent with his mother and her dogs had never bred this kind of affection in him for a critter, but one afternoon with Cass did. It was really bad if he was even falling for her dog.
That thought made his stomach roil. He couldn't fall for Cassidy, as nice as the thought might be. He had a plan and a very busy life and a step-mother planning his wedding at this very moment. Plus, a woman who felt she had a special place in his life would start demanding things from him—like time, for one thing—and he didn't have any spare time to give. Whatever marriage arrangement he came to, he knew the woman in question wouldn't expect a lot of his time. It was a rather bleak future, but he'd already invested too much of himself into being accepted into his father's world to rock the boat now.
He sat in the dirt, the morning breeze starting to give way to the afternoon heat, and began sketching.
* * * *
Cassidy followed the breeze through the open back door to find Aiden sitting in the dirt, little bits of paper all around him and her dog in his lap. Her heart stopped for just a moment at the domesticity of the sight. After swallowing back the silly lump in her throat, she went outside to join him.
"Hey."
He raised his head slowly, giving her a long, slow-burning look that was mixed with something in his eyes she hadn't learned to read yet. When he said nothing, only stared at her, Cassidy had to clear her throat again before she could speak.
"What?"
Even Harold hadn't moved. The little dog—that for eight years had been nothing less than a ball of energetic fur that couldn't wait to greet her the second she came home—was sitting as peaceful as anything in Aiden's lap. She'd been replaced.
Grabbing all his papers, he placed Harold off his lap and stood.
"So, you decided to come back?"
His voice had a needy thread to it, and he almost seemed angry.
"I was at work, Aiden. And by the way, you've created quite a stir. No one seems to know where you are, and the rumors are flying everywhere from alien abduction to—my favorite—that you've donned a disguise to spy on them all."
She folded her arms across her chest, and her voice held a hint of insecurity when she added, “Of course, Garrison thinks you're just holed up with some hot woman somewhere. Wouldn't he be disappointed to know it was just me?"
"Fuck! Work.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Believe me, disappointment was probably the least of what Garrison would feel if he knew.” He absently added. “How could I have forgotten work?"
She watched the little lines furrow between his brows. Harold was still standing loyally by his new best friend. Starting to see the humor in the entire thing, she forced herself to hold back her giggle, seeing as Aiden was obviously upset. He glanced at his bare wrist, the wrinkles deepening.
"What time is it?"
"Around noon, I think."
His gaze met hers, and he seemed to utterly relax. Taking a step toward her, he tugged playfully on a strand of her hair.
"Your hair reminds me of the sand after the waves have receded."
"My hair looks like wet sand? Thanks."
He laughed, dropping his head back, and then pulled her into his arms.
"It's the color of wet sand, yes.” He looked into her eyes. “But haven't you ever noticed the way the sun makes it glitter as if diamonds were hidden in it? That's what your hair reminded me of. It has specks of gold in it. They glitter in the sunlight."
"Oh."
Cassidy felt silly and a little unsteady. The man did have a way with a compliment. A giggle bubbled up and out before she could stop it.
"I have to make a few calls. May I use your phone? I left my cell on my desk yesterday."
"Yeah, you can. Then will you help me?"
Aiden gave her a wicked grin “I'd love to help you, little girl."
Cassidy felt the blush all the way to her toes and chose to ignore the underlying sexual implication. “I have a Tasmanian tree fern in my car and a shovel. Oh, and some dirt."
He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip. “Why, Miss Cassidy, have you all of a sudden decided to make yourself at home?"
Last night, she'd made the decision because it had seemed like her life dreams were over, but after all the times and different ways Aiden had loved her, it seemed silly to think that now. And, in a way, Aiden's presence was making her place feel more like a home.
"I guess. After what I said last night about this not being permanent, I realized twelve years is a long time to sit in limbo, waiting.” She shrugged. “So I bought a few things."
He kissed her.
"It's so strange how you and I seem to travel the same path. I spent the better part of the morning sketching these for you.” He handed her the papers he'd been lost in when she came home. “They're rough."
He let go of her, took a step back, and ran a nervous hand through his hair. “What do you think?” He rubbed the toes of one bare foot over the top of his other.
Why that turned her on she wasn't sure, but it did.
"You have good light back here,” he said, “and enough space to make something really intimate and special."
Cassidy was lost in the sketches of her little plot of dirt. He'd utterly transformed it. It was the most amazing thing she'd ever seen, and she was about to tell him that when he grabbed for the sketches.
"Never mind. It was stupid."
"No."
She took a step back, reflexively reaching behind her with his sketches so he couldn't get them.
"Why did you do this?"
His posture went defensive, one arm folded around his waist, his other hand tugging at his ear while he stared at his bare foot shuffling the dirt. “Crazy impulse, I guess."
With the tension that had been radiating off him ratcheting down some, she took another look at the black and white sketches. They were roug
h, pen marks feathered out and scattered over about twelve little pages, but she could see it all the same. The rich lawn she ached to curl her toes in, the trees and the flowers overflowing from the periphery. She could almost hear the bees humming from bloom to bloom, and the sound of water trickling over rocks into the small pond he'd figured in.
"It's beautiful,” she whispered, almost reverently. “No one's ever done anything so thoughtful for me before in my life, Aiden. I love this."
His head slowly raised, his deep blue eyes meeting hers, and for just a second she saw how much her words had meant to him. She saw a vulnerability she'd never expected from him.
"Really?"
She looked again from the notes to him.
"Yes."
She moved a little closer, pressing her palm against his cheek.
"It means the world."
He smiled like a small boy and her heart squeezed.
"We can customize the colors, whatever you like, maybe blues and yellows like the colors you've used inside. We could concentrate a particular color in a particular bed, or we could just use a scattering of different colors all over. And wait until you see the dog house I'm going to build for Harold. It goes over here."
He reached over her, pointing to a corner tucked under a large shade tree where he'd marked the words dog gravel. He looked shy again, and she didn't have the heart to tell him that she could never afford all this. She looked over her shoulder to the corner of the yard where he'd sketched in a tree swing. How she longed for hot summer nights laying on the swing in Aiden's arms, but by summer he'd be long gone and she'd be wise to remember that.
A second later and she was in his arms, surrendering to his passionate kiss, and despite all her warnings to herself, all of her other thoughts were momentarily forgotten.
"Didn't you have calls to make?"
He gave her a quick kiss and a dizzyingly handsome smile. Those dimples were going to be the death of her, she was just sure of it.
"I do. And actually I should probably go to the hotel, pick up my cell...” He started toward the back door as if everything else had been forgotten. On the landing, he turned to look at her.
"I know this thing between us kind of came up out of nowhere, but...” He started looking shy again, and she thought she'd never get enough of that look. “Would it be all right if I brought a few of my things over here?” He held up a hand to stop whatever she might have said. “Never mind. Too pushy."
He smiled one more time and then disappeared through the door. Cassidy quickly ran after him, catching up to him as he headed up the stairs.
"Aiden."
He stopped and looked down on her with another beautiful smile.
"Um, three weeks, right?"
A sadness swept the smile from his face, but his eyes never left hers. She saw the truth in them before he answered.
"Yeah. That's all I have, Cass."
She nodded. Folding her arms around her waist to fend of the sudden coldness trying to swamp her heart.
"It's all right.” Even though it wasn't. “But ... “She couldn't quite believe she was about to be so forward. “Go ahead and bring your stuff.” She intended to live a lifetime in the next three weeks and refused to regret it when he left. Aiden was a gift, the lifeline she'd needed all these years and after the way he seemed in her garden just now, maybe he needed her as well.
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Chapter Seven
Hours later, they lay sated and happily drowsy in one another's arms again, Aiden lightly tracing figures on her back. There had never been a time in her life when she'd felt so content.
"When do you have to leave?"
His voice startled her, bringing her head up.
"What?
"For work. When do you leave?"
"Oh.” Work had been the farthest thing from her mind, but she managed a glance at the clock and winced. “In about an hour."
"Stay."
His voice reverberated with need. A need she more than understood. If she had it her way, neither of them would ever leave this bed again, or at least her home. They'd barricade themselves in here from the world, just the two of them and Harold.
He brushed the hair from her face and shoulder, baring it for his soft kisses.
"Stay. Don't go to work."
"Aiden, I can't."
He snuggled a little closer, wrapping her even tighter in his arms and capturing one of her legs between his.
"Why not? Garrison won't mind."
She sat up a little, propping herself on her elbows.
"But I would. You're not planning on calling in sick, are you?"
"Cass I don't call in sick, I own the place, but besides that, I can't. The only reason I'm in California is to see to this land purchase."
She pressed her palm against his stubbled cheek.
"Right, and in three weeks when you leave, I still need to have a job."
He rolled over, staring at the ceiling pouting like a child. The distance he put between them rushed around her like a tangible force leaving her feeling cold and lonely.
"How's this going to work then, Cass? There's your work and mine, and we'll need sleep at some point."
She watched him close his eyes and give his head a small shake before he rolled over again, pulling her body back to his.
"I'm sorry. It was completely pig-headed of me to ask you to call in, and you're right.” After another lengthy kiss he pulled his head back to look down at her. “I'll see how much of my work I can do from here. What time do you usually get home in the morning?"
"Um, I get off at seven, then I usually run errands, then..."
"Ah-hah! I can run your errands."
Cassidy laughed, then sat up, pulling the sheet around her bare breasts, still uncomfortable with his looking at them, regardless of all they'd done.
"You're going to run my errands?"
Aiden sat up beside her, taking one hand and twining their fingers.
"Yes. Why not?"
Cassidy shook her head, not sure she could think of a good enough reason why not. Looking thoroughly satisfied, Aiden seemed to warm to his project of finding them time together, and over the next twenty minutes he had her entire schedule, from sleep to food to cleaning and errands all memorized and was busy reorganizing both her things and his until he got them a large chunk of time between ten in the morning and four in the afternoon.
Cassidy shook her head, looking at the quick notes he'd made and wondering how her life had completely changed overnight. She ran her hand through her thick hair and drew a breath.
"Aiden?"
He looked up from the notepad, his eyes sparkling and dimples showing.
Cassidy leaned over and kissed him, and before she lost her nerve, plunged in. “I can't let you buy me all that stuff for the yard."
Aiden grinned. “I was wondering how long before we got to this. Well, sit back, honey, because I have my argument already formed. And it's a damn good one, at that."
"Aiden, you..."
Smiling, he pressed three fingers over her lips, and Cassidy was a little shocked at the urge in her to suck them into her mouth. She went with it, and heat flared in his eyes. He slowly pulled his fingers from her mouth, then proceeded to slide them down her body. He ran them over her clit and slowly pushed them inside her.
She groaned.
"I already talked to your property manger. He said we could do anything we wanted to the place. You've been a very good tenant, Miss Flint, and they trust you. Now if you ever move, most of the stuff stays, you can't very well pull up a thirty-foot jacaranda, and though the Jacuzzi is movable, it's a real pain in the ass and you might not want to. So really, I'm buying all this stuff for your landlord.” He smiled, smugly satisfied. “Not you."
He pulled his fingers out slowly then ran them across her bottom lip.
"Suck them, Cass. I want you to taste yourself."
Cassidy knew she should feel annoyed at his high-handed ma
neuvering and his seeming belief that he could take over her life for the next three weeks. But with a statement like that, there was simply not enough blood left in her brain to make a rational argument.
He applied pressure to her lips and she acquiesced, slowly sucking his finger into her mouth. She pressed them between her tongue and the roof of her mouth. The scent and flavor of herself overwhelming her senses.
She figured she'd earn the plants with every crack in her heart once he left, and it wasn't like she didn't want to spend every minute of the day with him anyway, so the schedule thing really was mutually beneficial. After all, he had compressed his own schedule quite a bit in the process, so it wasn't as if he was expecting her to do all the changing.
With very little reluctance, she gave a small smile as his eyes overflowed with lust. He pulled his fingers back out slowly.
"I do love the jacarandas.” She pulled in her lower lip. “And the grass. I've never had a lawn before."
He ran those fingers over her bottom lip again, then started the trip back down her body. This time after filling her and withdrawing, he ran them over one nipple, before sucking it into his mouth. She arched, feeling so incredibly aroused.
"So, we're settled?"
Far too aroused to think straight, she would have said yes to anything. She nodded, and he smiled. He slid his body over hers and down until he was settled between her legs, lascivious intent glittering in his darkened eyes.
She watched him. Their gazes riveted to one another as he made a long, slow pass over her. She spread her legs wider without even thinking on it. His fingers pressed into her hips, pulling her more firmly against his mouth. She writhed and moaned. Then he surprised her by taking her hand and placing her fingers against her clit.
"Touch yourself, Cass. Show me how you like it."
She froze for a minute. She had found masturbation a lonely, unsatisfying activity and hadn't done it much, but the look in his eyes made her brave. She reached down, further dipping her finger inside and pulling her juices out, spreading them over herself. She watched him watch her and became unbearably heated.
The Seduction of Cassidy Flint Page 8
