by Tawny Weber
She hadn’t moved.
Still sitting on the edge of the table, her braless breasts pressing against the wet silk and her skirt bunched at the top of her thighs, she was the image of temptation.
He closed his eyes and started reciting again.
“Aiden?”
“This is a bad idea. We need to not be doing this,” he said, his eyes still closed as he gestured between them.
“But it feels so good,” she purred.
He didn’t have to open his eyes to know she was stretching across the table like a sensuous cat, just waiting to be petted again.
God, he wanted to pet her.
“It could ruin our relationship. And as a by-product, my relationship with the Professor,” he said, using the argument that was now looping through his brain. The only one that had any impact.
Clearly it had an impact on Sage, too.
He heard the rustle of fabric, the shifting of her body as she got off the table. After a few seconds, long enough for her to find her panties and put them back on, he felt it safe to open his eyes.
Damn, she was sexy.
Her skin still flushed with passion and her hair in disarray over her shoulders, she looked like exactly what she was. A delicious woman who’d been worshipped by a very appreciative man’s lips.
His lips tingled to get back to the worshipping.
“You’re sure about this?” she asked quietly, her fingers on the hem of her blouse as if she was ready to pull it off at the slightest indication from him.
“I’m sure,” Aiden said. And he was.
Painfully, miserably, regrettably sure.
Sex between them would be crossing a line they could never return from.
It’d change everything.
He was trying to figure out what mattered. Where he belonged. Until he was clear on that, he couldn’t risk ruining everything for sex.
Not even incredible, mind-blowing, body-melting sex with the most intriguingly sensuous, amazingly addicting woman he knew.
He waited for Sage to get pissed.
Or worse, act hurt.
Please, don’t let her cry. He cringed inside, knowing her tears were going to slay him.
But being Sage, she didn’t do the expected. Instead of anger or sadness, she offered him a bright smile, brushed a kiss over his chin and patted his cheek.
Like he was some freaking little kid or something.
Aiden scowled.
“Your call,” she said, heading for the door. “But if we’re not going to do the deed, I should get home. We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”
That’s it? She wasn’t upset?
It didn’t mean anything to her?
“You’re really okay with this?” Why did that bother him so much? Was that his ego whining? Or something deeper?
“Okay with you being allowed to decide if you want to have sex or not?” Eyes wide, she made a tut-tutting noise and shook her head. “Seriously? Isn’t that a double standard?”
“I made you come with my fingers and tongue,” he pointed out, shoving his hands in his pockets to keep from grabbing her to do it again. Maybe she needed a reminder.
“And it was quite delicious, thank you,” she assured him, laughing. “Aiden, do you want me to be upset that you don’t think sex between us is a good idea? Should I pout or throw things?”
It sounded stupid when she said it like that.
But, well, yeah.
“Sweetie.” She crossed the room, close enough to touch. But she kept her hands to herself, so just her scent wrapped around him. “You know me better than that. I’m not going to emotionally manipulate you. We’re both operating under complete free will here. Isn’t that what you go out and defend? Our right to freedom.”
“So you’re totally cool with the fact that this—” he waved his hand back and forth between them “—that anything physical between us is over. That we’ll never be having sex with each other.”
She sucked in a quick breath, her beautiful eyes rounding before she bit her lip. She looked away, blinking fast, then took a couple more deep breaths.
Aww, shit. Now he’d done it. She was going to cry.
Her eyes damp, Sage pressed her lips tight together. But, apparently unable to hold back, she burst into laughter.
The woman was seriously killing him.
“What’s so damned funny?”
“You actually think you’re going to be able to resist this heat between us for long?” She shook her head in a pitying sort of way. “There’s no way that’s going to happen. Sooner or later, you’ll sort through all those thoughts running through your head. You’ll justify your body’s demands. And then you’ll find me.”
What he’d do when he found her went unspoken.
But they both glanced at the table, then looked at each other again.
What he’d do was perfectly clear.
He wanted to deny her words. To tell her that she was completely wrong.
But just like she didn’t emotionally manipulate, he didn’t lie.
So he chose valor by discretion and clamped his lips shut.
From the way her eyes danced, she probably read his thoughts and was calculating how long it’d take before he gave in.
“It’s going to be fine,” she promised quietly, stepping away. Aiden didn’t breathe easy until she’d put eight feet between them, though. Far enough that her scent was just a promise and that he couldn’t quickly grab her back.
“In the meantime, now I can assure all my friends the rumors were right. That you are, in fact, huge,” she said wickedly before sashaying toward the door. Once there, she turned, gave a little finger wave, and was gone.
Aiden waited until he saw her clear the front porch before he laughed.
Then he headed for an icy-cold shower.
7
AIDEN HAD ONCE SPENT a week traveling through a swamp with a piece of shrapnel lodged in his shoulder.
That’d been a piece of cake compared to this last week, playing the other half of Happily Engaged Couple opposite Sage. Like now, at the fancy engagement dinner the Professor had put together. He’d thrown open the doors to the house on the hill, catered a delicious meal and invited everyone he, Aiden or Sage knew to celebrate his delight.
But as hard as it was to celebrate something fake, the joy and peace on the old man’s face made it totally worthwhile.
So, nope. It wasn’t the pretending that was difficult.
Nor, surprisingly, was it spending a lot of time with Sage. She was pretty awesome. Fun, funny, easy to talk to, easier to listen to. Her view of the world was both bright and optimistic, but so down-to-earth real that it made Aiden pause and reconsider some of his own views.
Nope. What was hard was the memory of their little coffee-table encounter that was killing him. The vivid recollection of Sage’s body beneath his. The taste of her was still there on his tongue, the sound of her moans whispered in his ear.
It was the most incredible sex he’d ever almost had. And he refused to do it again.
Yep. That was the hard part.
That, and his dick. He’d been in a constant state of arousal since Sage had greeted him in that tiny bikini of hers.
He peered across the room at Sage. Despite the crowd, she was easy to spot. As tall as most of the men, taller in those spiked heels, she glowed. Her dress was some kind of flowing aqua fabric that swept over her body like a waterfall from the tiny straps at her shoulders all the way to the ragged hem at her knees.
His fingers itched to touch that fabric, to see if it was as silky as her skin. His mouth watered for a taste like he was a starving man and she a feast.
He wondered if she’d wear that bikini again anytime soon.
Hey, if a guy was gonna be chronically horny, he might as well enjoy the inspiration.
“Great party, dude.”
“I hate these things,” Aiden muttered into his beer. He hated wearing suits even more. So much so that he only owned one. A wool m
uch too heavy for April in California that he’d found in the back of his closet.
“At least your future father-in-law kept it mellow. My engagement party we wore monkey suits.” Gary tugged at the cuffs of his own suit and grunted. Then he gave Aiden a questioning look. “Except you, who if I recall wore your dress whites.”
“My uniforms are back on base. Sage and I were planning to keep our engagement a secret, so I didn’t think I’d have need of them,” Aiden said, using the story he and Sage had settled on. That they’d figured, given both of their lifestyles, to give their engagement a while to settle before telling people. So far, nobody who knew them had questioned that.
Aiden shifted his shoulders, wishing the fabric would stretch a little. Neither the suit nor the situation were a good fit. But he hadn’t been willing to wear his navy dress uniform to a fake engagement party. Lying was bad enough. Doing so in uniform would feel sacrilegious.
“You’re a lucky guy,” Gary said, not for the first time. He gestured, not to Sage, though, but to her father. “You’re on great terms with your future in-law. Having a hot wife is all well and good, but it’s the in-laws that can make your life heaven or hell.”
Aiden ripped his gaze away from Sage’s laughing face, searching the crowd to find the Professor. He was cozied up with Dr. Brooke, the two men looking pleased with themselves. The almost-empty glasses of brandy in their hands might play into that. But more likely, it was that the Professor was reacting really well to the experimental treatment. And, of course, to his daughter’s engagement.
“He’s a great guy,” Aiden said, gesturing with his beer toward the older man.
“He feels the same. It’s always a toss-up who he’s going to be bragging on more when he corners someone on the street. You, or his daughter.”
“His daughter,” Aiden said automatically. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
Gary gave him an are you kidding look.
“Um, no offense to your fiancée, but it’s not like she’s racking up the bragging points.”
“She spent last summer volunteering for the Peace Corps,” Aiden pointed out. “She’s on a dozen charitable boards, all focused on helping the needy. She spends time at three hospitals doing that Reiki stuff of hers. She grew a community garden in Seattle, taught art at a women’s shelter in New Orleans and fostered kittens in Phoenix.”
“Dude, you got it bad.”
What?
Aiden replayed his own words.
Crap.
He sounded like a lovesick idiot.
He could try to tell himself that he was just getting into the role, but he’d forgotten he was playing a part in that little defensive rant.
But he hated lying. To himself.
That didn’t mean he had to have a serious heart-to-heart with himself either. He could simply accept that he admired Sage.
He glanced across the room again. And sighed. There were so, so many things to admire about her. As if she had a special radar that let her know when he had hit his limit—in partying and in horniness—Sage glanced over. She said something to the group she was with, touching Nina’s hand briefly. Then she made her way over to the corner where Aiden and Gary were leaning.
“Hiding, gentlemen?” she teased when she reached them.
“Enjoying the view of my wife from afar is all,” Gary shot back. “And now I’ll go ask her to dance and leave you two lovebirds alone.”
“Mmm, lovebirds?” Sage said, sidling close to Aiden’s side and sliding him a laughing look. “We’re doing good.”
He grunted.
“Dad looks so happy, doesn’t he? He even danced with me. He hasn’t done that since I was twelve and he was teaching me the swing.”
He grunted.
“All in all, it’s gone pretty well. And I think after this things will mellow out. Especially as we’ve told everyone we’re looking at a long engagement. They’ve even stopped asking me about wedding plans and shopping for a dress.”
Aiden grunted again.
“You are such a chatterbox tonight,” Sage said, wrapping her hand around his bicep and cuddling close as she gave him a big, wide-eyed smile. “Slow down, let me get a word in edgewise.”
He almost grunted again, but her arch look warned him that she might do something drastic if he did. Violence, he could handle. But Sage was more a lover than a fighter. And that might be more dangerous than he wanted to deal with.
“Your dad seems like he had a good night,” he said instead. “Actually it’s been a good week, hasn’t it? He’s looking a lot more energetic and healthy than when we got home.”
“Dr. Brooke said he’s responding much better than they’d expected,” Sage said quietly, leaning her head against his shoulder as she followed his gaze. “Still, he’s talking about retiring. The only thing keeping him from telling the university is that he’s holding out for the perfect replacement.”
“You gotta admire the guy.” Aiden shook his head. “He’s fighting for his health and he’s worried about handpicking his successor.”
“That’s not necessarily a bad thing,” she said with a laugh. “He told Mrs. Green that he’d always dreamed that you’d eventually take the job. Given that you don’t even have your PhD, and that you’ve got a pretty intense career going already, he’ll be hanging around a lot of years waiting for that dream to come true.”
“I wouldn’t need my PhD to take over,” Aiden said automatically. “At least, not at first. Dean Schumer mentioned it a few days ago.”
Sage looked up, confusion and something else in her eyes. He couldn’t tell if it was worry or excitement, she blinked it away so fast.
“You talked to the dean about teaching at the university?”
“No. The dean talked to me about someday, after I leave the service, considering it.” A consideration that, for some crazy reason, was holding more appeal than Aiden would have expected.
“You’d move back here after you were done in the navy?” Sage asked, her frown making Aiden nervous for some reason. Not because she looked like she was up to something. But because he had this sudden need, deep in his gut, to convince her that it was a good idea.
Something he wasn’t actually sure of himself.
“Looks like we might be ready to call it a night,” he noted, glad to change the subject as he nodded toward her father. Then he frowned. Ten minutes ago, the Professor had been smiling and looking hearty. Now he looked worn and gray.
Aiden glanced at Sage. Crap. She looked devastated. His mind raced, searching for something comforting to distract her. He came up blank.
Shit.
When she took a shaky breath, he did the only thing he could.
He leaned down and kissed her.
After a second of surprise, she enthusiastically leaned into him and gave a low hum of appreciation.
Damn, she tasted good.
So good it took a couple of wolf whistles before Aiden could pull himself away.
“Mmm,” Sage murmured, blinking slowly up at him as if reluctantly coming out of a trance. “That was nice.”
“Look at the two of you,” the Professor said with a hearty laugh, patting Aiden on the shoulder. “You’re going to be so happy together.”
A cheer worked its way through the room, then died away as the older man offered a quiet toast. Then the Professor gave everyone his best wishes. He kissed his daughter, then gave Aiden’s hand a firm shake and serene smile before he excused himself to leave for bed and let the younger crowd enjoy themselves.
His departure seemed to be a signal of some kind. Half the guests departed within five minutes, leaving Aiden and Sage’s circle of friends.
Each and every one of them wearing a gleeful look of trouble on their faces.
“What’s going on?” Aiden murmured to Sage as they returned from walking the last guest to the door.
“Dunno.”
“Surprise,” called out the dozen people left in the room.
“You were all here al
ready,” Sage said with a laugh. “Aren’t you supposed to, oh, I don’t know, surprise us before you say that?”
“It’s a preemptive surprise,” Nina said, pulling a tote bag from behind her back. “This is the traditional engagement treat. The two of you missed all the fun the last few years, but you’ll catch on fast.”
“What in the hell are you talking about?” Aiden eyed the slinky fabric the brunette was hauling out of her bag and shook his head. “We didn’t ask for a treat.”
“You don’t have to ask. It’s our gift to you,” Gary said, grinning. “We tie you up, blindfold you, haul you off someplace romantic, then pick you up again tomorrow night.”
One, two, four, six guys, eight women and some determined smiles. Shoving his hands in his pockets, Aiden sighed. This wasn’t going to be pretty.
“All of you?” Sage asked faintly, her eyes moving from person to person, before she gave Aiden a baffled look. “What if this isn’t a good time?”
“You’re all packed, your dad knows you’ll be gone,” Cailley told her as she took a couple of the scarves and made a twirling motion with her finger to indicate that they turn around. “Now come along quietly or we’ll get ugly.”
“Aiden is a SEAL,” Sage said, looking baffled and confused, as if the idea of a roomful of guys thinking they could take him was beyond her comprehension. “You don’t think you can make him do anything he doesn’t want to, do you?”
Aiden had shaken hands with the president of the United States and been thanked for a job well done once. He’d received a number of commendations and medals. He was pretty sure none of that stacked up against the feeling of pride glowing in his chest at that moment, knowing Sage thought he could take on this entire room.
She was right, he acknowledged, eyeing the group. The only one who was any real challenge was Gary, and the guy couldn’t even jog outdoors.
Still, hurting friends was never a good idea.
“Nah, we’re not crazy enough to think we can take Aiden,” Nina said with a wave of her hand. “But we are loud, and would yell a lot if you didn’t go along peacefully.”
