“No. The professor gave me a quiz and they decided everything was okay after all.” I glance up at him and see the tension in his face finally release. “Was that your idea?”
“Yeah, kind of. I didn’t so much suggest it as tell them in no uncertain terms that if they thought you didn’t know the material, they should call you in and have you do some problems.”
I smile at him. “My professor said you were very forceful. I could even hear you out in the waiting room.”
Aidan sits down on top step and gestures for me to sit next to him. It’s not a wide area, but I leave a few inches between us, unsure of where things stand.
“I almost lost it,” he says. “I couldn’t believe they’d accuse you of cheating.” He runs a hand through his hair, and my eye is drawn to the dark stubble on his face. He must have rushed out without shaving this morning.
“Thank you,” I say softly. “For the tutoring, and for coming to my defense. If it hadn’t been you — if it had been someone else — I’m not sure they would have believed me.”
He jerks a shoulder angrily and shakes his head. “That’s bullshit. They need to have a better way of dealing with stuff like this.”
“That’s exactly what I said.” For the first time in several days, a small laugh surfaces.
Aidan smiles at me, warming me like the sun, but then his smile fades, and I know this is it. Either we talk things out, right now, or we’re done. Forever.
“Aidan—” I say.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “For going off on you that way. You’ve never given me any reason not to trust you. I just — I saw you with that guy and it made me crazy.”
I take a deep breath. A bit of anger flares, but I don’t want to get mad again. “That seems a little unfair,” I say, “considering how you are almost always surrounded by girls.”
“That’s —” Aidan breaks off. I know he was about to say that’s different. Instead he says, “You were holding his hand.”
I twist back from him and look at him with wide eyes. “I was not!” Then I remember. “I wasn’t holding his hand. I think I patted it for a moment. That was my roommate’s best friend, and he’s in love with her and was asking me for advice. There is nothing between us — less than nothing — except for having her in common.”
Aidan’s mouth opens, but it’s a long moment before he speaks. “Oh,” he says, then another long pause. “Shit. I really fucked up, didn’t I?”
“You kind of did,” I say, my voice softening. “You didn’t give me a chance to explain.”
Aidan blows out a breath and rakes his hand through his hair again. “I’m sorry. I was just — I thought you would come to the show. You didn’t even let me know how your test went.”
A flicker of hurt passes across his face and it’s my turn to feel bad. “I’m sorry about that,” I say. “I was going to, but Eric was waiting for me right after the test, and I thought it would just be a few minutes.”
He searches my face for a moment, then starts to get up. “Do you want something to drink?”
“That’d be great,” I say.
He unlocks his front door and I follow him inside the quiet house. I set my bag down in the entry and we go into the kitchen.
“What would you like? Coffee? Soda?”
“Just water, thanks.”
Aidan gives me a glass of water and pours himself a Coke. “Okay, I’m going to be honest, and don’t get mad, just hear me out.”
I can’t help but flinch internally at his words. I’m not sure I can handle any more drama or surprises today, but he continues before I can say anything.
“This girl came up to me after the show Thursday night, right before I saw you with Eric, and she was hitting on me.”
My stomach draws back into its familiar knot. “Well, that’s nothing unusual.” I don’t quite manage to say it in a nice, neutral tone.
Aidan lets out a little laugh that’s not at all amused. “No, but — sorry for being crude — I haven’t gone this long without sex in years, and I was —”
“Wait, what?” I interrupt. “What are you talking about?”
He turns his full attention to me then, and I see a glimmer of the sexy bad-boy Aidan appear in his eyes. “I haven’t been with anyone since I met you that night at the club.”
My jaw literally drops open for a second before I snap it closed. “You’re serious?”
“Completely serious.” His eyes grow darker, his voice deeper. “I don’t want anyone else. I want you.”
My entire body starts to tingle, my nerves all coming to attention as his words sink in and fill me with an unexpected joy. “But you — I thought — all those girls…”
Aidan shrugs a shoulder. “The band,” he says, like that explains everything. Like he doesn’t realize he’s the most gorgeous man walking this earth.
“And you haven’t —”
He’s been leaning against the opposite counter in his narrow kitchen, and now he comes off of it and is right in front of me, almost but not quite touching me. “No, I haven’t,” he says, holding my gaze, looking deep into my eyes. “Not with any of them.”
He reaches out, collects a strand of my hair, and starts winding it around his finger. He’s not touching me anywhere, just that lock of hair, yet my body starts to ignite. “You think I’m this horny with everyone?” he asks, mouth turned up into his sexy smirk.
I feel a little ashamed now, but I can’t deny it. “Well, yeah,” I say. “Everyone told me you were a player.”
He puts his free hand on the cabinet beside my head, crowding me, but still not touching me, except for the strand of hair, which grows shorter as his finger twists closer to my face. “Maybe I am,” he says. “But it’s you, Amber. I only want to play with you.”
I’m not sure I’m still breathing.
“It’s been you since I met you,” he continues. “I think about you. I fantasize about you. About all the things I want to do to you.”
I may not be breathing, but my heart is beating fast against my ribs. I feel dizzy with wanting him. “Is your dad at work?” I manage to say.
Aidan’s eyes grow darker still. His mouth is only an inch or so from mine. “Yeah,” he says. “Normal work day for him.”
“And you don’t have anywhere to be?”
“Band practice later,” Aidan says. “Much later. You?”
“Nothing. Schedule today free.” My words come out in short breaths.
He’s still not touching me, and I realize he’s letting me take the lead, letting me make the call. Instead of that adding to my nerves as it would have done a few weeks ago, knowing that he’s holding back pushes me over that final edge, and lets me know that this is right.
“Lock the door,” I say.
32
Aidan
I turn the latch on the front door before Amber can even finish her sentence, and I’m back at her side before she’s moved an inch. Her cheeks are flushed pink and her eyes widen when I return.
I lock eyes with her and take her hand in mine. Moving slowly, I take a step back and draw her with me, but I give her plenty of time to change her mind and say no.
She’s been through a lot today; we’ve been through a lot. I’m almost glad those idiots accused her of cheating, because it got us talking again. But I don’t want to rush her into anything she’s not completely ready for. Of course, I don’t plan to rush at all.
Amber shows no hesitation. She squeezes my hand, in fact, and follows me down the hall to my room.
“Sorry the bed is a mess. I left in a hurry this morning, but the sheets are clean.”
She lets out a nervous giggle; her palm is sweaty in mine. I close the bedroom door behind us and pull her against me. With my mouth at her ear, hoping to soften the question, I say gently, “You’ve never done this before, have you?”
She stiffens slightly against me and shakes her head. I’d suspected it, I’d been fairly certain, in fact, but the confirmation of her virginit
y has me sharing a little of her nervousness.
But then Amber caresses my jaw and pulls my cheek against hers. “I want it to be you,” she says, and I feel something burst open inside me, a dizzying feeling, a stronger rush than I’ve ever felt, even during my best night on stage.
I pull her tighter to me, and just hold her for a long moment. “You are so special,” I say as I take in her warmth and her sweet fragrance.
She stiffens again, and I pull back to look into her eyes, which are bright but look uncertain. “About that…” she says. “I don’t want to break the mood, but I really don’t get it. All those girls … you could have anyone. Why me?”
Her question makes me ache for her. How could she have to ask this?
“You’re not like all those girls,” I say. “They see me on stage and they just want a piece of me, of whoever they think I am, whatever they’ve made up in their heads about me. You see me. You always have.”
As she searches my eyes, the little furrow on her forehead relaxes and her face brightens. “You’re right. I do see you.” She breaks into a smile. “And right now I want to see you naked.”
Her body softens against mine, and I grow rock hard.
Amber slides her hands down to the bottom of my shirt, but I move my hands to stop her. “Whoa now. One thing at a time.”
“What? Isn’t getting naked the first step in the process?”
The sexy grin on her beautiful face makes me want to tackle her and ravage her, but that’s not how this is going to go. Not today, anyway. “The first step is getting you naked,” I say.
Her arms come up to cross over her chest, as if her clothes were already off. “That’s not fair. I don’t want to be naked by myself.”
I notice her eyes flicker to my window. The blinds are drawn, tilted only enough to let in soft light. “No one can see you,” I say.
“You’ll see me.”
“That’s the point,” I say, laughing. Then I realize she’s not just joking around. I take her face in my hands and make her look at me. “Please don’t tell me you don’t like your body.”
“I don’t know. I’m nervous.”
“Amber, you’re beautiful.” She shakes her head and looks back toward the window again but I wait for her to meet my eyes. “Believe me. You caught my attention that night at the bar, and I haven’t been able to look away from you since.”
And I don’t look away. I hold her gaze until I see her eyes soften, and then I kiss her. Gently, softly, slowly, I kiss her, and I try to put everything I’m feeling into it. I’m nearly overflowing with desire, with need, and — it hits me hard all at once — with something that feels a lot like love. I try to put it all in my kiss.
33
Amber
Aidan’s kiss burns with such intensity that any feelings of self-consciousness I had are gone. He kisses me deeply and thoroughly until I melt into him, weak with need.
His mouth travels down over my jawline and nuzzles my neck while he eases the hem of my top up. I reach down, pull my shirt over my head and toss it aside.
He kisses me again as he cups one breast, his thumb flicking over my nipple through my bra. His mouth traces the shell of my ear, then skims down to the spot where my neck and shoulder meet. His teeth close over the delicate flesh there as his fingers lightly pinch my nipple.
I gasp and arch toward him and he does it again, teeth and fingers working in tandem, and sensation arcs through me like a lightning strike. I moan and Aidan kisses the spot where his teeth had been. He sucks the flesh into his mouth while his fingers stroke the curve of my breast, then draw together over my nipple.
Even through the haze of lust, I’m hungry to touch him too. I slide my hands under his shirt, over his amazing abs, across his ribs, up to his chest. I cover his nipples with my palms, and mirror his motions, wanting him to feel the same sensations he’s causing in me. I draw my fingers together and pinch lightly.
Aidan lets out a soft growl against my neck. I push his t-shirt up further, and he obeys the unspoken command and peels it off. We kiss again, more urgently now, as his hands unhook my bra. He does it smoothly, easily, with no hesitation. This evidence of his experience would have fueled my doubts before, but now it excites me.
This is happening, finally, and everything about it seems so right. I thought I’d be nervous, but I feel like I’m exactly where I should be.
We’re still kissing as he removes my bra, then pulls me closer and deepens the kiss. The sensation of being pressed against him, bare skin to bare skin, is amazing. My nipples immediately go tight and send sparks shooting down into my core. My arms are wrapped around him and I can’t help digging my nails into his back.
Aidan jerks under my hands, and at first I’m afraid I’ve hurt him, but before I can draw back he crushes me against him and kisses me like a starving man. His mouth is ravenous; his hands seem to be all over me at once.
I hang on, kissing him back just as ferociously. My nails dig into his muscles again but it doesn’t matter; it’s just fuel for the fire.
When we finally break off, I’m drunk on arousal, drowning in my hunger for him. I reach for the snap of his jeans but he stops me. “Not yet,” he says.
“I want you. I need you,” I say, as if he doesn’t know that and I need to explain.
He cradles my face in his hand. “I need to make it good for you.”
I’m so impatient, nearly overwhelmed by my desire for him. “I don’t care,” I say.
“I do.” His voice is suddenly firm.
“You’re being awfully bossy.” I’m not complaining, but I am learning yet another side to this complex man.
He brings his other hand up to frame my face. There’s a hint of humor in his eyes, but something very serious running beneath it. “I will always be bossy about taking care of you.”
My heart melts at his words, but they leave me wanting him more than ever. “Then hurry up and take care of me!” I say with a laugh.
“No.”
The appearance of his trademark smirk has me beating my fists against his chest. “Dammit, Aidan!”
“I’m going to make it good for you,” he says. “And this time, that means taking it slow.” He backs me up toward the bed, yanks the comforter down and pushes me gently onto the sheets. Leaning over me, hands on either side of me, he smiles at me. “Trust me, you’ll thank me later.”
He reaches for my pants, but I undo them myself, arch my back and tear them off, along with my underwear, as fast as I can. Any lingering insecurities about my body are long gone, driven away by desperate lust.
Aidan’s eyes go so dark, they’re almost black. He stands at the foot of the bed, staring down at me, and the look on his face makes me feel like a goddess. Knowing that he’s experienced, that he’s no doubt seen many women’s naked bodies, and still he’s looking at me this way — it’s almost too much for me.
“You’re beautiful,” he says again, as he lies down on his side next to me. He kisses me, softly this time, while his hand strokes from my hair down the side of my neck, over my collarbone, and down to my breasts.
His fingers squeeze, caress, pluck, and pinch, followed by his mouth kissing and nibbling and sucking. I can feel his cock through his jeans, long and hard against my leg, but when I reach for him he grabs my wrist.
“Do I need to tie you up?” He sounds like he’s teasing, but I’m not completely sure he doesn’t mean it, and to my surprise, the threat sends an added thrill through me.
“Aidan!” I do my best to sound shocked, but he sees through my protest.
“Hmmm, okay,” he says, his grin growing wider. “We will definitely be doing that at some point. But if you promise to be good, we won’t do it right now — unless you want to?”
He’s looking down at me, eyebrow arched, hair tousled, a shadow of stubble darkening the beautiful angles of his face. I find myself intrigued about being tied up, and I realize how much I trust him.
But I’m also impatient. “
I’ll be good,” I say.
“Okay,” he says. He curves my hands, one at a time, over the top of his headboard. “Hands up there, unless I say otherwise.”
“So bossy,” I say, loving the wicked expression on his face when I tease him.
“You better believe it,” he says, his voice like a growl, before he gets back to business. His mouth attends to my breasts, while his hand glides down my body until he’s cupping me between my legs.
The heel of his hand presses gently against my clit and I arch up to meet it. His fingers part my folds, exploring my slick flesh, finding how wet I am for him. At the same time, he licks a circular pattern around one of my nipples and then sucks on it so gently that I want to scream. My hands grip the headboard as I try to keep from being overwhelmed by all the sensations he’s triggering all over me, all at once.
He sucks harder at my breast as he slips one finger inside me, pushing gently in and out of me while his mouth goes back and forth between my breasts. Every time he sucks I feel an answering tug deep inside me, almost in the same place where he’s working another finger inside me, stretching me just a little.
My head goes dizzy and I try to steady my breathing. “Aidan, I want to feel you inside me.”
He lifts his head and looks at me. His eyes are heavy-lidded, his pupils dilated; he’s getting turned on by what he’s doing to me, and seeing how it’s affecting him doubles my desire.
“Please,” I beg. “I need you.”
He shifts his body and moves closer to me, kissing me, the whole time never stopping the amazing things he’s doing with his hand.
“Almost there,” he says when he breaks the kiss. “Actually, I could do this for hours, but I know you’re impatient. You just need to come for me a few times.”
“Why?” I demand, knowing my voice sounds perilously close to a whine.
He smiles, and it’s the most wicked, gentle, assured, sensual smile I’ve ever seen. “Because I said so.” Before I can reply, his mouth cuts me off with a deep, drugging kiss, while his fingers continue to pump in and out of me and his thumb starts circling my clit.
SPARKED: A Bad Boy Rockstar Romance (With bonus book, PERFECT) Page 11
