“I don’t want to go slow.”
He pulls back and now it’s his turn to smile in a devilish way that has all my insides clenching. “You’re a constant surprise, you know that?”
“Yeah.” Because damn, I’m surprising myself!
With that one word he pushes between my legs and enters me with the care and consideration of a tender lover.
“You good?” He kisses me softly and rests his forehead against mine.
I nod frantically. “Are you?”
He laughs and starts to move, picking up his pace with every deep, consuming thrust. “Better than ever.”
Our bodies move in unison, as if they were designed to work together for the simple act of bringing the other immeasurable pleasure. What I think will be rough and animalistic ends up being sensual. He worships me with touch and whispered words while we move together in perfect rhythm. Like some sexual shaman he manages to arouse not only my body but my mind and soul. Electrified with sensation he grips my hair tightly at the roots, awakening every nerve. “You’re so beautiful.”
“Aden . . . I don’t . . . I can’t hang on—”
“Shhh . . .” He licks at the seam of my lips. “Don’t hang on. Let go.”
I bite my lip to keep quiet as my back arches off the bed. My nails dig into Aden’s shoulders as what feels like a thousand stars explode beneath my skin. He falls forward and groans into my neck. His body crushes mine in a delicious weight that keeps me grounded while the aftershocks of my release threaten to send me sailing.
After a few minutes of what seems like synchronized breathing he pushes up, presses a kiss to the tip of my nose, and peels himself off me to go to the bathroom.
I stare at the bamboo fan spinning above the bed, following one blade with my eye and hoping that doing so will manage to untangle my thoughts.
I just slept with a virtual stranger.
Someone I’m not in a serious relationship with.
Someone I know nothing about.
Why do I feel so good? My heart is still racing, my thigh muscles tingling with exertion, and this stupid grin on my face won’t go away no matter how many times I try to force it.
“You look happy.” His voice sounds just seconds before the bed dips and the heat of his body hits mine as he gathers me to his side.
“Happy is an understatement.” My grin widens and I’m glad my cheek is pressed to Aden’s chest so he can’t see it.
“I hear that.” He yawns and turns the light off.
My pulse quickens. Is he spending the night? I assumed he’d get dressed, grab his phone and make some excuse for having to leave like I’ve seen happen in the movies after a one-night stand. What I didn’t expect was for him to hold me close, run his fingers through my hair, and . . . doze off?
I wonder how often he does this kind of thing. As handsome as he is, I’d guess he does this often. Thinking on that is another brutal reminder that I know zero about this guy. My naked body is pressed against his, and he could have a freakin’ girlfriend for all I know.
I chew my lip as unease seeps into my chest, pushing away my good mood. Surely if he had a girlfriend I’d know. Right? What if he has a wife? Kids? What if he’s a felon? What do I really know about this guy? How stupid could I—
“The fact that you’re able to think so hard I can fucking feel it tells me I didn’t do my job.” There’s humor in his voice, but I still stop breathing hoping to hide how right he is.
“Your job?”
He traces patterns on my hip. “To take your mind off things.”
“You definitely took my mind off things.” Pretty sure I had an out-of-body experience at one point. “Now I’m thinking about other things.”
“Like?”
I swallow and pull up whatever’s left of my courage, then tilt my chin up to look at him. “I’ve never slept with a stranger before.”
He frowns, looking almost offended, and I’m reminded of how terrible I am at post-orgasm pillow talk. “I’m a stranger, am I?”
“I just don’t know that much about you and I have my naked body wrapped around yours.”
He clears his throat and looks up at the ceiling fan. I’m about to tell him it’s a waste of time, that the damn thing has no answers, when he starts talking.
“I was born in Santa Barbara. Played football, was pretty decent at it, got a scholarship to play at Washington State, but my dad was Army, my granddad was Army, all my uncles were too, so I gave up football and enlisted one week after I graduated high school.”
Giving up college for war? “Why would . . . I mean, you didn’t fight your dad on that?”
“I didn’t want to fight it. I wanted to go. I was raised to believe the most honorable thing a man could do was serve his country.”
“But what about your education?”
“I got an education in the Army. What I learned in the military was more valuable than anything I’d learn going to college. I liked football, but there was no guarantee I’d go pro. Knowing our country needed men, that we were fighting to protect innocent people, to ensure freedom, football paled in comparison to all that.”
I guess I understand. “You mentioned you have a sister, are you two close?”
“Not anymore.” He clears his throat. “She’s married, has two kids.”
“I’m sure they love having you back.”
His body stiffens at my side. “I, uh . . . I don’t see them much.”
“Why?”
“I came back and they all looked at me like they didn’t know me. They wanted answers I wouldn’t give and the more they pushed the more I shut down.”
“Why not just answer their questions?” I’m not one hundred percent sure what we’re talking about, but I fear we’re breaching the subject of his military life and I promised him I’d stay away from it.
He’s quiet for a few beats. “I refuse to bleed on the people I love.”
I stare blindly at the wall in front of me, all too familiar with how difficult it is for family to see a loved one struggling with something and not being able to help them through it.
“What about you? Tonight, Polly mentioned you had a sister.” He’s trying to change the subject from him to me; it’s what I would do in his shoes. But I can’t tell him about Celia, about how hurt I am that she’d share my ugliest secrets with people she hardly knew.
“I do.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing!”
He raises his eyebrows.
“I mean . . .” I rub my forehead. “She’s not as bad as Polly made her seem. She’s not agoraphobic.”
I roll to my back and he pushes up on his elbow looking down at me. Silence stretches between us until it becomes suffocating.
“She thinks she may have killed our grandmother when we were kids.”
“How does a child kill her grandmother?”
“She gave her the flu. Complications of that caused her death and I guess ever since she got weird about . . . stuff.”
“Stuff like . . .?”
“She became much more aware of germs, that’s all. More than what they considered normal. After high school she spiraled a little but she’s better now.” I pick at the edge of my fingernail. “She’s mostly better now.”
“Are you two close?”
I shut my eyes and bite back the swell of emotion building in my chest.
“Celia?”
I jerk in his hold hearing him call me by my sister’s name.
He squeezes me closer, probably interpreting my reaction as meaning something different. “All right. Enough of this shit, you up for a little adventure?”
Yes, please. Enough. Wait, did he say adventure?
I peek up at him and he must sense the question in my stare.
He jumps from the bed bare-ass naked and heads to the bathroom. I prop myself up on my elbows to admire the view of his very firm backside and I frown when he returns with a towel wrapped around his waist and one in hi
s hand. He tosses it to me. “Come on, get up and wrap that around you.”
I sit up and the sheet falls down around my hips so I cover with the towel and scoot to the edge of the bed. “Why?”
“I have an idea.” He holds out his hand and I take it.
I barely have the thing secured and tucked around me when he drags me through the cottage to the front door. “Whoa.” I dig my heels into the shag rug. “I’m not going outside like this.”
“Why not? It’s dark, no one will know you don’t have a bathing suit under there. Plus . . .” He swings open the door and guides me out. “No one’s around anyway.”
I lean back and really push my heels into the ground but it’s pointless, he’s too strong, and if I fight any harder I might lose my towel. “Aden,” I hiss through clenched teeth. “Where are we going?”
He doesn’t answer me with words, but soon we’re at the top step of the staircase that leads down the cliffs to a small beach.
My mind scrambles as I stumble behind him down the stairs.
Naked.
Towels.
Beach.
He’s not expecting me to swim, is he?
Panic flares in full force and I really put the brakes on this time by dropping down to sit my ass on the cold concrete step. If he expects me to get into that water he’s going to have to pick me up and carry me.
He whirls around, studies my seated position, then shrugs before leaning in and putting his shoulder into my stomach. He scoops me off the step and hoists me up. “Aden, no, put me down!”
“Stop yelling or someone will call the cops.”
He jogs down the remaining few steps and the cold ocean air hits my bare butt, making my entire body flash with the heat of a red-hot blush. “Good! We’ll need the cops to pull what’s left of our naked bodies from the ocean after a shark kills us!”
I squeal when he jerks to a stop and drops me back down to my feet. The movement takes my towel and I scramble to cover my body when Aden stills my hands. “Don’t.”
“Are you crazy?” I spit through clenched teeth.
The corner of his lips pull up into that lopsided smile I’m starting to like more than I should. “Would it scare you if I was?”
I look deep into his eyes, unsure of how to answer his question. His crazy scares me, there’s no denying that. But it also makes me feel more alive than I ever have. “A little.”
He rewards me with a slow soft kiss and just as I tilt my head to get more he pulls away and leaves me pouting. “Lose the towel.”
“You first.”
He steps back and drops the terrycloth. Every ridge of his muscles catches the moonlight, making it look as if he’s cut from stone.
“Your turn.”
His voice brings me away from his impressive thighs and I shake my head. “I can’t . . . I don’t know . . . Shit!”
“What is it?” This time there’s no teasing in his voice, just pure concern.
“I’m not a great swimmer and I’ve seen one too many shark movies to feel comfortable in the ocean at all, let alone at night.”
He pulls me to his chest, tilts my chin up so he can look me in the eye. “You think I’d ever let anything happen to you?”
“I don’t think you have any power over whether or not something hurts me.”
He flinches as if my words delivered a physical blow. “Ouch.”
“Ya know how most people think things would never happen to them? I’m the other girl.” I’m rambling, my nerves making my lips move faster than my brain can keep up with. “I’m the kind of girl these things always happen to. If there’s danger out there it’ll find me, trust that.”
“This coming from the same girl who ran with bulls and pet a damn lion like it was a kitten.”
Oh shit.
A wave of heat washes over me from the top of my skull to the backs of my legs with the realization of what I’ve done. I forgot. “I . . .” I close my mouth, my emotions scrambling to come up with a justifiable excuse.
“You’ll be fine, now dig deep for that adventurous girl I know lives inside you.” He winks and pries my hands off the towel to get it loose from my body and tosses it aside. In an attempt to hide from any and every one, I hug myself to him, pressing into his muscles and hoping to disappear. He wraps me in his arms and for a moment we stand there holding on to each other.
“See, isn’t this nice. Wouldn’t you rather just stay here like this?”
He nuzzles my ear. “Nice try.”
Grabbing my hand, he leads me down the beach to the water’s edge. The cool waves hit our feet and send me stepping back as far as I can while still holding his hand. He looks at me as if to gauge my fear, but remembering who I am, who I’m supposed to be, I just smile back.
“It’s cold.” My voice trembles with anxiety, but I can’t deny the butterflies of anticipation that swarm in my chest at the thought of taking a risk, trying something new, and coming out on the other side alive. It would be a huge victory against the fear that shackles me. I allow him to lead me out into the breaking waves until we’re about thigh level.
“You good?”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” The last word ends on a high-pitched squeal that surprises even me.
He chuckles and leads me farther out into the waves. Something brushes against my leg and I jump and cling to him. He holds me close and hums in his throat as his hands cup my backside. “Scared?”
I look up at him and get lost in the warmth of his gaze. “No. I feel safe with you.”
“Yeah?” His lips part and his breath dances across my lips. “So I’m not a stranger anymore.”
“No.” I run my hands up the back of his neck into his hair and slide against his hard body. “You make me feel like I can do anything.”
His eyebrows drop low and his jaw ticks. “And you make me forget.”
“Forget what—”
His lips devour mine and all my concerns melt away until all that’s left is Aden.
TWELVE
ADEN
It was the best night’s rest I’d had in a while. Usually I can’t sleep with the memories that haunt me. Maybe it was the exhausting swim with Celia, or the sand-covered heavy make-out session that followed, or maybe it was having her warm back pressed to my front, my arm slung over her and resting between her breasts, whatever it was had sleep pulling me under quicker than it typically does.
I didn’t dream much because I was so afraid of having a night terror and scaring Celia I kept waking myself up. But even with those interruptions, I still slept better than I had in a long time.
The sun shines through her tie-dyed curtains and lights the small bedroom, making it look like an acid trip. I contemplate waking Celia up with my hands and mouth between her legs, but judging by the not so feminine way she’s snoring I think she could use a little more sleep. After staring at the back of her head and breathing in the saltwater scent left on her hair my stomach rumbles and it forces me up to hunt down breakfast.
I slip on my jeans from last night and sneak into the kitchen, making sure I don’t wake Celia. I swing open the fridge and prop an arm on top to lean in and peruse my options.
There’s a jug full of green juice that looks like swamp water, a loaf of sprouted bread, whatever the fuck that means, and—I pull out a package and glare at it. “Tofu egg substitute.” There’s nothing edible in here.
There’s a thump from the bedroom seconds before Celia comes racing out into the kitchen in a blur of bedsheet and blond hair. She slides on the hardwood, nearly falling over, and stares at me with wide puffy eyes and swollen lips.
I smile with pride knowing I’m responsible for her sexed-up disheveled look. “Mornin’.”
Her eyes land on me and she blows a wavy strand of hair from her face. “You’re still here.”
I shut the fridge door and cross to her, completely aware of her eyes as they hungrily take in my naked torso. “I am. I was going to make us breakfast but there�
��s no way I’m eating tofu or any other tree-huggin’ food you got in there.”
She licks her lips and a flash of irritation bubbles up in my chest at how easily she can distract me by doing something so simple. “You were going to make me breakfast?”
“I was, but . . .” I tilt my head and study her knuckles as they hold her sheet in a death grip. “If you’d rather I take off I can do that too.”
Hurt crosses her features. “You want to leave?”
I stop and take a deep breath. I’m not good at this shit, this morning-after crap, but I really don’t want to mess things up with Celia. She’s more sensitive than most girls I’d use as a distraction, and it’s clear she’s also more than a distraction to me now. If she were, I’d have whispered pretty words into her ear and left her sated and sleeping shortly after her last orgasm. No, she’s more, and I need to choose my next words wisely.
As much as I want to reach out and pull her to my chest, I don’t. I tuck my hands under my arms and hold her eyes. “I want more time with you.”
Her eyes dart from where they were dancing across my pecs and land on my lips. “Wait, what? Why?”
“I want more time with you because, well . . . you’re the most entertaining girl I’ve met in a very long time.”
A small smile curves her lips. “Really?”
“Yeah.” I nod to all the boxes that litter the small space around us. “I know you’re moving, I know you have shit to do, but before you go, for however long you’ll be in San Diego, I want to spend that time with you.”
Long thick lashes flutter over gorgeous eyes and she nods. “I’d like that.”
“Come here.”
She doesn’t seem to even contemplate disobeying, and her feet bring her closer. Her fingers are no longer curled up tightly to the sheet and it falls a little to reveal the gentle swell of her breast. I hook her around the neck and pull her to me. Kissing her head and breathing in the gentle smell of the sea on her skin, I relax even more with her in my arms.
“Anyone ever tell you these freckles are really sexy?” I slide the tip of my finger along the dip of her collarbone.
“Never.”
Fighting off the annoyance that not a single man she’s been with has appreciated her incredibly beautiful skin, I drop a kiss to her shoulder. “I was dying to know how far down they go.”
Wrecked Page 14
