Hidden in the Night

by Fall, Carly

  Aiden cleared his throat. “She saved my ass.”

  Thaddeus opened his eyes and looked at his brother. “It's more than that, Aiden. Your skull may be too thick to realize it now, but it's more than that. Anyone with half a brain can see that.”

  Aiden geared up for all of the reasons that it couldn’t be more than that. Mainly because she deserved better than him, but there were other reasons standing in line beyond that one as well. A line so long they snaked around the building waiting to get some airtime.

  “Shut up before you start, Aiden,” Thaddeus said. “Don’t want to hear it.”

  With a pin pop to take the air out of his bluster, Aiden didn’t say another word the whole way home.

  Chapter 23

  They were met at the elevator door by Cy and Holly. Holly looked over Aiden with a quick sweep of her eye, and convinced he was not severely injured, she went into her bossy nurse mode on Thaddeus.

  She told Cy to go get Emily, and then proceeded to tell Thaddeus that his idea of not telling Emily he had been hurt was the most moronic thing she had ever heard. Oh, and he needed to take off his shirt and coat.

  “I didn't want her to worry,” he growled at her as he shucked his shirt. "I worry about her and the babe."

  She rolled her eyes and snapped on some latex gloves, unfazed by the harshness in Thaddeus’s voice. “She is pregnant, Thaddeus. A little worry isn’t going to break her.”

  As she looked at the wound, she heard Cy talking to Emily in quiet tones down the hall.

  “He WHAT?” she shrieked.

  “You are so in for it now, my friend,” Holly said under her breath.

  Holly worked on Thaddeus while watching the scene unfold. Emily stormed into the room, worry and anger driving her. She took one look at Thaddeus and started to yell at him. After a few minutes, she ran out of steam, sat down next to him and took his hand.

  “Is he going to be okay, Holly?” she asked, worried, but levelheaded. Not the basket case Thaddeus had predicted.

  “I’m fine,” Thaddeus answered grimly.

  Holly took out a needle and gave Thaddeus a shot in the shoulder to numb it up so she could stitch it.

  “I didn’t ask you,” Emily said.

  “Fuck,” Thaddeus hissed under his breath. Holly wasn’t sure if the curse was from the needle or the tongue-lashing he received from Emily.

  “He’ll be fine," Holly said. "The bullet went all the way through. A couple of stitches, a little rest, and he will be ready to go out and fight again.”

  Holly went quiet and concentrated on cleaning the wound. Aiden watched her work. She was efficient and thorough, weaving the stitches in a neat line on Thaddeus’s back and then on the front of his shoulder. When she was done stitching him up, she applied a bandage, and then gathered up the used cotton pads and put them in a bag for disposal. She snapped off her gloves and put them in the bag as well. “Done,” she announced.

  Emily stood up and hugged Holly. “Thank you so much, Holly. I’m so glad you’re here.” She then turned her attention to Thaddeus. “Let me get you something to eat, Thaddeus,” she held out her hand and he took it. They began walking out the door to the hallway.

  Holly pinned Aiden against the wall with a ferocious gaze. “You,” she said in a low voice pointing at him, “come with me.”

  “Take your coat off,” she told him as she lined up her bandages. She heard the clanking sound of metal on metal, and she wondered exactly how many weapons he was carrying.

  Holly turned, her eyes burning. “Your shirt too," she said. “I can smell blood, and I know I don’t have any holes in me that aren’t supposed to be there.”

  She walked over to him carrying some gauze, some tape, some antiseptic, and a needle and thread. All that was missing was the kitchen sink.

  Aiden didn’t say anything, but took off his shirt. Holly studied him, her gaze traveled over his pecks, down his abs, but she didn't see any damage, just a lot of grooves and dips of muscle covered in chocolate. She sighed, and then stepped forward to look at his back, aware that her chest was mere inches from his face.

  “I knew it,” she hissed.

  “It’s nothing, Holly,” Aiden said.

  "Uh huh," she said, dabbing one gash with some antiseptic. Nothing turned out to be three large cuts on his back, one pretty deep.

  He flinched as she wiped at another gash, and cursed under his breath.

  Suddenly, he grabbed her waist and pushed her a step away.

  “Aiden, I need to get this stitched up,” she said, not looking at him, but moving back into place.

  “Maybe I should just turn around,” he said.

  “Fine,” she murmured stepping back. “Actually, just lay down. That will be easiest."

  Holly watched as he turned to lie on the bed. She awed at his body, a flood of heat going through her and landing in her center. With every move his muscles rippled and flexed under his chocolate skin. She had never seen anything so beautiful, so powerful, so raw, in all of her life, and wondered what it would be like to touch that skin, to have her hands roam on those muscles, feeling them moving beneath her fingers. She had to shake her head and look away before she got busted ogling. Hell, she couldn’t even go by the "look don’t touch" rule on this one. She would have to touch him, but it would be in a medical capacity. That was it. She had to get into nurse mode. Another body, another set of stitches, another bandage. End of story.

  After a few minutes, Holly finished getting him cleaned up.

  “Okay, done,” she said quietly. She had been surprised to see her hands shaking slightly, something that had never happened before in all of her years. She had seen motorcycle accident victims who looked like they had been attacked with a potato peeler, most of their skin not intact. She had dealt with gunshot wounds, stabbings, and people's brains leaking out of their heads. Her hands had always been rock steady. But here she was putting a couple of stitches in a male's back, and her hands were doing the jitterbug.

  She snapped her gloves off as Aiden turned over. He winced slightly as his back made contact with the bed, and then eased into it, closing his eyes.

  A moment later as she cleaned up her mess, his eyes flew open and he pinned her with a stare. She froze. She was busted. She had hoped she could get out of there before he smelled her arousal.

  Their eyes met, and the scent hung in the room like the smell of a heavy rainstorm in summer. It was warm, and thick, and fresh.

  Aiden sat up so they were almost face-to-face, their eyes locked. Holly wanted so badly to break the connection, but she was caught in those whiskey eyes, and the warmth, the kindness, the absolute desire that radiated from them. No one had ever looked at her that way before, and she was mesmerized, the coil in her lower belly getting tighter. She knew that she needed to extract herself from the situation if she wanted to get out of there fully clothed and with any sense of integrity intact. She knew how males of the Vampire Nation were—the need to mate was strong, especially when they were aware of an aroused female. Especially when they were aware that they were responsible for the arousing. A first generation half-breed such as Aiden? Her seconds were ticking by, her escape time narrowing. Yet, she couldn’t move. It was as if someone had glued her butt to the bed, her eyes incapable of leaving those warm pools of whiskey that were making her breathing shallow and her breath hitch.

  He was the first to break the eye contact, his gaze traveling to her mouth. Before she knew what was happening, his soft lips were on hers, and her whole system exploded into flames.

  After a moment, he broke their kiss and looked into her eyes. “Holly, make sure you want this. Make damn sure. I'm seconds from not being able to stop.”

  Did she want this to stop? Her rational side yes, her body achingly screamed no.

  "Don't stop," she whispered.

  Aiden quickly whipped the shirt from her body and threw it to the floor, and then made quick work of her yoga pants. She stood before him, naked, his mouth trailin
g hot kisses down her throat.

  Before she knew what was happening, he had her flat on her back on the bed, his whiskey-colored eyes staring up at her from between her legs, and she shivered as his tongue explored her center.

  As he tasted her, he pushed a finger inside of her. She tightened and gasped, but then as he moved it, she moaned and began to undulate against finger and tongue.

  After a few minutes, the storm of an orgasm brewed within her. Her hips were bucking, and he held her down with a heavy forearm. As he took her clit into his mouth and began to gently suck, he slipped another finger inside her, and the orgasm barreled down on her. Her whole body went rigid and tried to bow off the bed, but he held her down.

  As she slowly descended from the high, Holly knew it was wrong, but her mind flashed back to the last male she had been with. That had been over a hundred years ago. He had been of her race, and was particularly unremarkable. They had met at a party, and the relationship had bloomed into a friendship, and then sex. She found herself comparing what she could remember from that time to Aiden. There simply wasn't any comparison. She had never experienced anything such as this.

  He was on top of her in a second, his mouth finding hers.

  A moment later, Aiden bolted from the bed and undid his buttons and zipper, letting his camos fall to the floor where he stood. As he stalked back to the bed, Holly gasped. His dark body rippled with each stride, his erection stood out from his hips. He was raw, male power. His eyes were a warm, but filled with determination.

  Aiden pounced, and she was smothered by him, and loved every blessed second of it.

  His hands ran through her hair, down her ribcage, to her hip and then to her thigh. He pressed his erection into her heat, and moaned. Holly undulated her hips, trying to impale herself on him. He hissed, and backed off.

  “No!” she cried.

  “Please. No,” she said. “Please.” Holly couldn’t believe herself. She was begging? Begging him to penetrate her? Oh, this was going to be pathetic when it was over, but she couldn’t think about it now. She was nowhere near sated.

  It had been so long since she had experienced the touch of another, and she felt herself wanting more of it in needy desperation. She had been hiding under the radar, keeping herself safe. Sex hadn’t been part of the plan—it made her too vulnerable. While in hiding, she had needed her wits about her at all times because she was always looking over her shoulder. But now, now she was safe, surrounded by her own kind, and she let all that wound-up tension release itself, and she needed this sex like she needed air to breath and food to eat.

  Aiden pressed his hips forward and she gasped.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered. Holly felt an incredible burn, followed by sensations she had never felt before, or if she had, she didn’t remember them being like this. The invasion of his body was something that she relished, something that made her feel whole.

  “Holly,” Aiden asked huskily. “Are you okay?”

  Holly sighed. Her hands ran down the big body that was over her, in her, that had taken her over. She was better than okay, of that she was certain.

  “Yes,” she whispered into his throat.

  She kissed him gently, her small hands exploring his back, his shoulders. She ran them through his soft dark hair, over the hard plains of his face. Holly was pretty sure heaven existed, and she had somehow ended up there. Aiden's huge body, the way it rippled as he pushed into her, the sheer size of him—it was almost overwhelming. She simply wasn’t going to last long, as she felt the coil of need in her belly begin to unravel and explode.

  Aiden cried out as he orgasmed, his hips slamming into hers. He tried to roll off of Holly, but she would have none of that. She went with him, her legs tightly wrapped around his waist, not letting their joining break. As she sat on him, she planted her hands on his pecks and began to rock her hips. He reached out a gently and took one of her breasts in his hand.

  “I want this in my mouth,” he growled.

  She smiled down at him. “Then come and get it.”

  He sat up swiftly, and had her nipple in his mouth in a second. As he suckled and licked the hard, pink nub, Holly held his head to her, almost unable to fathom the pleasure this male brought to her body. Was it because she hadn’t had sex in so long, or was it because they were so good together? It seemed as though their bodies belonged together, despite the size difference. Did he feel even half the pleasure that she did?

  Somehow, this had become more than physical ecstasy for her. She found her mind and heart merging, to form a feeling she had never felt for another male before. Love. She was certain that was what was going through her veins, making her bones soft, making her feel as though she wanted to weep. It encompassed her, wrapped her in its warmth, and made her feel as if she had suddenly become a whole being. She gripped him tighter, never, ever wanting to let him go. He was kind and good. Her savior. He saved her from certain hell as a baby maker, he brought her here so that she could finally be among her own kind, so that she could be herself, so that she could finally, after so many years, relax and not have to look over her shoulder. Here, wrapped in his huge arms, she felt like she had finally found where she belonged.

  Three orgasms later for both of them, they were sated. Holly lay next to Aiden, her arm thrown over his chest. An uncomfortable silence wafted into the room, and she wasn't sure how to break it.

  Aiden shifted and squirmed for a minute, and then jumped from the bed as if the damn thing had caught fire. He grabbed his pants, and talked about meeting Thaddeus and needing to go over logistics with Cy as he dressed.

  "What's going on, Aiden?" she asked quietly as he looked for his boots.

  "Nothing, Holly. Nothing."

  "Bullshit," she said, sitting up on the bed. "Tell me what's going on here. You're acting like the devil himself just walked into the room and you don't want to meet him."

  "Holly," he said quietly. "It's nothing. Nothing is going on. Its just sex, right? Us. Its just sex."

  Holly inhaled sharply. Just sex? No, not for her. This huge, dark, menacing male in front of her had taken her heart and apparently unknowingly claimed it as his own. Right now he was stomping it with his size thirteen boots. It was much more than sex for her, but she wasn't going to let on to that. She would play his game and deal with the pain later.

  "You're right, Aiden," she said strongly. "Just sex. Make sure you lock the door on your way out." She then turned over and laid down, her back to him. She felt his eyes on her for a few seconds, and then she heard him gather the rest of his clothes and head for the door. The click of it closing was probably the loudest, most final thing she had ever heard in her life.

  She felt the hot tears begin. Just sex. Perhaps at the beginning it had been just sex when she awed at his huge, hard body. Maybe then. But not now. He had saved her life, and she had put her trust in him. He had been kind to her. She felt like she had been privy to the man behind the hard face and the deadly eyes. She felt like she knew him. He was kind, strong, and capable of such love. She had seen it with his son Robert. Because he wasn't the hard male with her that he seemed to be with everyone else, she thought that maybe, just maybe, something was growing between them. Something other than just sexual attraction, but apparently, she had been terribly wrong.

  She took a deep breath. She had to figure out what she was going to do. It was clear that she couldn't stay at this house much longer. Even though the place was huge, she felt like the space had become limited with both her and Aiden under the same roof.

  Chapter 24

  Natalie was not about to turn on the T.V. and check up on Aiden. She could feel what was going on, she didn't need to see it up close.

  She felt pleasure ripple through her body, and she had a good idea of what could cause that.

  She sat on the edge of her bed and burst into tears.

  She was more certain now that Aiden had found someone else. She knew this was exactly what she wanted, but it still hurt to thi
nk about him making love to another woman.

  Chapter 25

  Evening came quickly. After another fabulous meal prepared by Hugo, Aiden wasn’t sure if the male should stick around. At the rate they were going, everyone in the house would be putting on weight in no time. Holly joined everyone for the meal, but studiously avoided Aiden. She let him sit down at the large table first, and then took a seat as far away from him as possible. She never met his eyes. In fact, she acted as if he wasn't there.

  Really. What did he expect after his fantastic exit?

  As he had lay in the dark next to Holly, he felt cold fear ripple through his body. A voice within him was growing louder with feelings for Holly. The sheets started to itch his skin, and he had felt the need to bolt. He wasn't sure how to extradite himself from the situation without being a total bastard. He looked down at Holly who was curled up at his side, her arm thrown over his chest.

  His eyes met hers, and suddenly her arm felt like a heavy anvil, crushing his lungs, making it hard to breathe. What he saw there scared the white off his bones. He saw love. A love for him. It wasn't just sex for Holly. Somehow, even though he didn't deserve it, she had fallen in love with him. It shone from her eyes, a beacon to him to go and accept it. But he couldn't.

  She deserved more.

  He didn't deserve her.

  She was too good, too kind, too pure for him and his killing ways, not to mention the mess in his brains. Besides, he had promised himself that after Natalie's death he wouldn't allow another female to get close to him. Remember self-preservation, buddy?

  He knew he should stay in bed with her. The thing was, he wanted to be near Holly, but she scared the hell out of him, especially when she looked at him like that. With her, he was soldier with no defenses, and she was an unwitting opponent with a rocket launcher attached to her tank. She might as well have gutted him from sternum to pelvis and taken a peek inside when she looked at him like that.