by Joanne Rock
“He couldn’t have and you know it.” Aidan wouldn’t let Jack beat himself up over this. He was too honorable of a guy to be caught up in crooked politics. “Your father could have never supervised my investigation into the Baxter case ten years ago when he was a director at the Bureau if he’d ever worked with Melvin.”
A string of curses unlike anything Aidan had ever heard issued forth from Jack’s mouth. And that was saying something considering some of the bad-ass trash talkers Aidan had tangled with in his day.
Then Jackson’s shoulders slumped, yet his body remained taut with a tension Aidan couldn’t begin to imagine. He knew he needed to hash this out with Jackson tonight, he just hoped he’d have enough time left to face Brianne before she hotfooted out of the club. He’d given her some space, but he’d be damned if he’d back off.
Aidan glanced back up at Club Paradise and wondered if Brianne had thought about him half as much today as he’d thought about her. About what they’d shared.
Yeah, he definitely needed to talk to her about last night. But first, the time had come for him and Jack to have a long conversation. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about your father….”
BRIANNE’S FINGER HOVERED over the rewind button for camera number seven. If she nudged the surveillance tape back by just a few hours she’d be able to see Aidan fending off some major tongue work from Daisy the cigarette girl.
Again.
Tapping the key, she reminded herself she didn’t want to watch any such thing. Bad enough she’d had to view them together—again—on live video feed earlier that night. Yet some inner demon kept reminding her of their odd interaction, urged her to roll the tape one more time so she could tell herself Aidan was a player.
That he would never be the man for her.
Her finger twitched, wriggled. Then finally stabbed the stop button with resounding force.
No way would she play adolescent games with herself. Or Aidan. They both deserved better from her, especially since she recognized Aidan had ended whatever relationship he’d had with Daisy. Body language told a more eloquent story than words ever could. And judging by Aidan’s tense reaction to Daisy’s lascivious lips, Brianne knew the petite blonde hadn’t exactly been lighting his fire.
Brianne just hoped she’d have the chance to try sparking a few flames with him again one of these days.
Sighing, she shut down the club for the night, locking doors and tightening security with the flip of a few switches. Aidan hadn’t returned since early that night when their exchange had been stiff, cool.
She’d been so busy chewing nails over the whole Daisy incident she hadn’t bothered to think it through rationally, let alone ask Aidan about it. Instead she’d retreated behind her safe walls and Aidan hadn’t seemed to mind giving her the space. He’d been distracted, edgy to leave the office.
And she hadn’t seen him—on camera or off—since then.
The empty ache inside her all night told her she missed him. She had no idea how his case had progressed in the last twenty-four hours because she hadn’t bothered to ask him in her haste to run away.
Not only was she intellectually curious about his investigation, she realized she cared about it because he did.
All signs pointed to her falling for him hard and fast despite her lame attempts to keep him at arm’s length. Maybe instead of pushing Aidan away because of her insecurities, she should be tackling her own problems in the hope that one day she’d be ready for the kind of relationship he seemed to offer.
The notion frightened and excited her at the same time. And as she wondered how she could ever get her act together enough to be with an FBI agent for more than just one night, a knock sounded at her office door.
Just as Aidan stepped into the room.
A thrill jumped through her at the sight of him. A tangible, head-to-toe current that tingled over her nerves, whispered across her skin and snaked along the hem of her sleek gray minidress.
“Hi.” She stood in the middle of her office with the lights already dimmed for the night. Only her monitors blinked on the wall behind her. Her greeting seemed inadequate for all that she’d been thinking and feeling about him in the last few hours, but one look at him had scattered her thoughts.
Rendered her breathless.
He locked the door behind him. Behind them.
“I’m not leaving.” He announced this with arms folded. Between the stance of his body and the black Harley T-shirt cut off at the shoulders, he looked like a Hells Angel guarding the backstage door at a Rolling Stones concert.
Okay, maybe not quite that intimidating. Despite his resolute posture, she did have the security of knowing she could make at least one part of this man move.
“Oh, really?” She leaned back on the edge of her desk, relishing his proximity with her whole body while she ate up his presence with her eyes.
“I don’t know what the hell I was thinking letting you scare me off with the old ‘I need space’ routine, but I’ve had time to think it over and I’ve got news for you, lady.” He stared her down with glittering gray eyes. He looked like a man who had tangled with danger and lived to tell about it. A man who could hold his own no matter what came his way.
“And that is?” Her heart pounded faster. Harder.
“It’s bullshit.” He relaxed his stance, walked toward her. Closer. Closer. “Pure, undiluted, smokescreen bullshit.”
Despite the fact that she’d reached a similar conclusion herself, Brianne couldn’t help a shade of defensiveness. Or maybe it had more to do with some stray desire to see how far Aidan would take the offensive. “I don’t know about that. I shared with you as much as I understood myself.”
Electric emotion crackled between them, heated the very air around them.
“Then you weren’t trying too hard.” His hands reached out for her, skimmed her waist through the cotton jersey fabric of her short dress. “In fact, I think all your talk about needing space was just another way of saying you were too scared to try something real with me.”
“I’m not scared now.” Okay, maybe she was a little scared, but not enough to make her turn away. She wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around him. To soak up his strength, his warmth that she’d been missing all night.
“That’s because you’re simmering with the same heat that’s firing me up inside.” His hands smoothed a path up her sides until his thumbs grazed the underside of her breasts. Sent a jolt of desire straight to her most secret places. “Tomorrow you’ll scram for that door so fast I’d have to tie you down to keep you here. Although, come to think of it…” He seemed to weigh the merit of the idea.
“No more running.” The certainty in her voice sprang from some place deep inside her. Some secret well of her soul she hadn’t known existed. She might not know how they would work around her fear of his job once their feet hit the floor, but she knew damn well she intended to try.
His eyes darkened at her words, his gaze narrowing a split second before he leaned closer. “No more running.”
If Aidan planned to issue the words as a command, they lost some of their intimidation in his husky, whispered delivery. But they didn’t lose their power to sway her.
Brianne melted into him as Aidan’s palms cupped her breasts, squeezed her gently between his hands as he caught her lips to his for a kiss. He tasted like the ocean, clean and salty. She clung to his arms for fear she’d drown in him. Whereas other kisses they’d shared had been about a seesaw battle for control, this kiss was all about surrender.
His. Hers.
Theirs.
Brianne’s knees weakened with it, allowing Aidan to draw her down to the floor with him. She lay on the new carpet, welcomed the warmth of Aidan’s tall body stretched over top of her. Heedless of their surroundings, she didn’t care that her office lacked the sensual appeal of the harem or the urgency factor of making love on her desktop.
She could have been anywhere and it wouldn’t have mattered. Her i
nterest lay solely in this man and not in any extraneous trappings of silk or satin.
She wanted him. Aidan Maddock.
And she’d gladly stretch out on the floor of the office for the chance to feel his body against her, the chance to welcome him inside her.
Aidan’s hands cupped her face, combed through her hair, delved into the neckline of her dress. His fingers lacked the teasing skill of their other couplings. Tonight his touch possessed an awkwardness, a needy possessiveness that she felt too.
Together they managed to discard Aidan’s trousers, his briefs. Aidan didn’t bother removing her dress, settling instead for peeling away her panties and lifting her hem.
He’d found a condom from somewhere—bless him—and he was prepared to protect her even here, on the floor of her office.
She loved that about him. That nobility, the steadfast sense of honor that ran through his veins despite his unconventional ways. No backwards baseball cap or cut-off Harley shirt could disguise the upstanding principles that had attracted her to him from the first time they’d met.
All traces of awkwardness disappeared when Aidan’s hands pressed against her thighs to nudge her legs wider. She stared up at him above her and read the intent in his eyes.
Simple. Primal.
Immediate.
She barely had time to process the import of that moment, the subtle warning they were crossing a line, when he lowered himself to his elbows and brought them nose-to-nose.
The heady heat of his body notched up her own temperature by another couple of degrees. The sea-blown scent of him made her want to bury her nose in his shoulder, taste and explore every inch of him.
He edged himself inside her as his tongue lay claim to her mouth. The possession was swift and total and Brianne clung to him with all her strength.
Other times when they’d made love she had held a part of herself back, some deep-seated sense of self she had never been willing to share with anyone. But now she allowed herself to let go, to give everything she had to this moment, this man.
The risk of losing herself loomed, yet she refused to let fear rule her. Refused to run away.
As his lips trailed kisses down her neck and called up shivers all over her skin, Brianne vowed tonight she would claim Aidan every bit as much as he claimed her.
Aidan nipped and tasted Brianne’s soft flesh as his fingers flexed into the low pile carpet beneath them. He prayed for some last vestige of restraint to rein him in before he slid under the seductive spell of Brianne totally. Completely.
Never to surface again.
Her body clenched around his as sweat popped out along his brow. Struggling to hold himself back for just a little longer, he knew damn well his release this time would leave all other experiences in the dust.
He’d had better control last night in the harem hotel room when he’d been underneath Brianne and at her mercy. But then, that time had been all about doling out sensual experiences and seeing who could still walk away at the end without turning bow-legged.
Tonight didn’t have a damn thing to do with sex or sensuality or playing provocative games. From the moment he’d kissed Brianne, this night had been all about surrender.
His pending, hers already given in the most humbling moment of his life. Somehow he got more than he bargained for in pushing her.
One minute he’d been lying over her, dying to taste her, needing to be inside her. And the next minute she’d given him everything he’d wanted and more, opened herself to him in a way no woman had.
Not even his wife.
This was different. Bigger. Scarier.
Her breathy moans in his ear called him to join her as her nails grazed his back. Some sane portion of his brain told him he’d be crossing a point of no return, but his every instinct strained to surrender right back. To lose himself in her as totally as she’d lost herself in him.
He hadn’t undressed her all the way, hadn’t taken her to new heights of pleasure, hadn’t touched her with a lover’s skill. Instead he’d been too hungry simply to join them. Bond them.
Even as the import of that daunting realization washed over him, he was powerless to find that damned elusive last remnant of control.
Brianne wriggled and nudged, kissed and licked him. She closed her eyes and wrapped herself more tightly around him, a feat he wouldn’t have thought possible two seconds prior. Her nails dug lightly into his shoulder and he knew the little crescent moon marks would remain there tomorrow.
And still those tender jabs weren’t nearly enough to haul him back to sanity.
Knowing he didn’t have a choice, hoping he could make it up to her later, he simply shifted between her thighs and buried himself all the deeper.
As his hoarse shout mingled with Brianne’s, Aidan knew his surrender had been every bit as complete as hers.
FEAR SET IN as the morning light filtered through the blinds in Brianne’s office to tickle Aidan’s eyelids. After they’d made love a second time—and a third—he’d slept fitfully for an hour or so on the floor beside her.
He’d told himself over and over that he’d be able to handle the reality of a relationship between them. He’d pursued it, pursued her even when she’d asked him for distance. After all, he’d been married before. And while that relationship had exploded in his face, it hadn’t soured him on the idea of commitment.
Except what he and Brianne had experienced hadn’t felt like simple commitment. No, they’d touched something bigger and—though it made him realize what a crappy husband he’d been to Natalie—more important.
Staring down at Brianne cradled in the crook of his arm, he realized two things. First, he’d underestimated her power to get under his skin. Second, he’d overestimated his ability to handle his feelings for her.
Not that he couldn’t handle it, necessarily.
He just decided Brianne’s idea of a little distance hadn’t been such a bad idea. It had probably been a fantastic idea, he’d simply been too determined to have his own way to realize it.
Reaching down to stroke her face, Aidan smoothed an errant lock of auburn hair trailing over her cheek. Tenderness for this woman stole through him even as he realized he couldn’t stay here with her. Not now. Not today.
As the morning light called to him, urged him to get a move on, he told himself that he simply needed to return to his case. Shoving to his feet, he moved carefully around Brianne, not wanting to wake her. Not ready to talk to her just yet.
Gently he scooped her off the floor and lay her on the leather couch in her office. Her brow furrowed as he moved away from her but she didn’t waken.
As he penned her a note he explained that he was at a crucial point in the investigation. That much was the truth. He couldn’t afford to remain with Brianne while Melvin plotted his next move.
But deep inside he acknowledged his own relief at having the safe out. Because no matter how much he’d told himself he could handle the next step between him and Brianne, the reality of taking their relationship to the next level in the wake of last night had him second-guessing himself.
He’d screwed up his marriage and although the regret and the sense of loss had torn him up, he’d managed to move on and reconstruct his life. Stay positive.
If he committed himself to Brianne, the tough-as-nails firecracker who had surrendered herself to him on every level, he knew the stakes would be a hell of a lot higher.
The cost to his heart might be more than he could risk.
14
SO SHE HADN’T BEEN showered with roses the morning after her surrender of heart, body and soul to Aidan. So what?
Prowling around the bedroom of her Palm Beach house the next day, Brianne punched a fist through each armhole of the slim black sheath dress she’d chosen for her meeting with her mother. She assured herself there were worse ways to wake up than with a note shoved between the office couch cushions.
Offhand, she couldn’t think of any.
But surely if she q
uizzed her partners in Club Paradise they could think of a scenario or two. Lainie alone could probably supply her with enough morning-after horror stories to make her feel grateful Aidan at least left a note.
He’d written something about needing to work on his investigation today and she could buy that. What she failed to understand as she rummaged through her closet for just the right shoes was why he had to leave without telling her face-to-face.
And he had accused her of being scared?
Hah! At least she’d stuck around long enough to tell him she’d been scared. Aidan had probably left tire tracks on Ocean Drive in his haste to run at the first sign of deep emotion.
No matter. Slipping into a pair of funky black mules with tiny silver studs on the heels, Brianne figured if his fears about a relationship between them were anything like hers, they’d be temporary. Surmountable.
Or so she hoped.
If his concerns ran deeper than that, she might have chased him away by allowing him to glimpse a bit of her heart last night. She’d be hurt, but she wouldn’t let that sway her from her course.
Spritzing herself with a tiny shot from her perfume bottle, she rushed around the bedroom picking up strewn clothes and trying to restore a little order to a life—and house—gone haywire. Regardless of how Aidan felt, she needed to get her act together, starting today. She’d been wary of men long before Jimmy Vanderwalk and the ensuing harassment, but she’d allowed her experience with him to push her even farther behind the safe walls of her high-tech world. She’d made it such a mission to keep herself secure, to control her world in spite of a man who wanted to invade it with phone calls and poems and threats. Aidan’s suggestion that she try life in the real world had made her realize how far she’d retreated.
But as of today, there would be no more hiding behind her camera lens or a computer screen. No more hiding behind her glasses when she went to Pauline’s house.
