Wickedly Good (Hex Appeal)

by Anya Breton

  Gemma shook her head. “I barely noticed it.”

  His brows angled inward with a quick snap. “You had to note my beard when I was licking your belly or almost going down on you, Gemma.”

  Blood rushed to her face, heating her whole head at the reminder of what this man had done to her in the darkness.

  “You never once called me Drew,” he went on. “Two nights spent in my brother’s bed and you didn’t once whisper his name. Who are you lying to? Yourself? Or me?”

  A response died on her lips—another protest. Earlier today she’d gone over all the curious differences she’d noticed that first night in Drew’s bed but reasoned away. And then when Drew hadn’t found her the next day, but his elder brother sought her out instead, it should have been obvious. Had some small part of her known?

  Worse, had all but some small part of her known?

  Her failure to answer urged him on. “You didn’t stop me in Portsmouth.”

  Gemma gathered all the strength she’d developed in the recent years of adapting to foreign locales and foreign personalities. She’d need every ounce of confidence to make it through this night. Her attention skipped around the room as she contemplated an escape route now that he wasn’t blocking the door. But as the taller individual who was closer to the exit, Aston would catch her.

  Unless she incapacitated him first.

  But he was her priest, her elder. She’d vowed never to hurt him. How badly did she want freedom?

  “I’m stopping you now,” she stated firmly.

  His expression remained unchanged as if he didn’t believe her capable of stopping anything. Aston’s lack of faith in her was frustrating. However, incapacitation would be a last-ditch act. First, she’d try reasoning with him.

  “You no longer have to worry about me interfering in your brother’s engagement,” Gemma informed him. “I want nothing to do with him.”

  “Prove it.”

  “I was proving it. I was going to my friend’s in Nashua before you brought me here.”

  “Strange how it looked like you were kissing Drew,” he said in a low, bitter voice. “Got what you wanted, did you? Now you’re ready to move on?”

  She knitted her brow in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

  “I saw you kissing him at that diner.” Aston waved a limp hand toward her. “Your face is all scraped up from stubble. Did you two work up an appetite and decide to get a meal before he went back to his fiancée?”

  Her cheeks seared in shame. She had driven to Keene with the intention of helping Drew cheat on his fiancée. It seemed justified at the time because she’d thought he was in a situation of Aston’s making. And that together they’d find him a way out of it. She’d failed to realize the glaring problem—Drew only cared about himself.

  The strength and confidence she’d gathered quickly failed her. “I made a mistake,” she said just above a whisper.

  “What mistake?”

  Gemma ignored his slow question as she battled to regain her grit. “I did romanticize him. But that doesn’t mean I’ll accept what you did to protect your family.”

  Perhaps her admission prompted his, for Aston leaned closer over the mattress and said, “I sent Drew here to stop the relationship I saw forming between you. Yes, I was protecting the family. And that’s why I waited for you in his room the first night. But it’s not why I was there the second night. It’s not why I asked you to Portsmouth with me. And it’s not why I followed you here.”

  This time Gemma’s head shake was one of confusion. “If not to protect the family, then why did you do it?”

  There was a beat in which his pale eyes held hers as if he was silently willing her to discover the answer on her own. And then he gave it.

  “Because I wanted to. Because I wanted you.”

  Aston hadn’t meant to admit it. Not when he’d recently caught her leaving another lover. But games were best left to the young, and he’d already toyed with her enough.

  Continuing with the truth telling, Aston added, “I still want you even though you’ve just fucked my brother. I know I shouldn’t but—”

  “I didn’t!” Her vehement interruption caught him off guard. “I admit I drove here assuming that would happen. But when he arrived at the diner, Drew was such a…”

  “Asshole?” he offered when she seemed to search for an appropriate word.

  Gemma bobbed her head in agreement. “He pawed me while he was talking to other women, making plans to see them tomorrow. I thought… I don’t know. I don’t know why I thought it would be different with me.” She set her face atop her palms, hiding her beautiful cyan eyes from him.

  Her breasts lifted as she inhaled heavily. Her hands dropped away from her face. Strength that had ebbed and flowed in her gaze shined brightly.

  “He was an asshole,” Gemma announced steadily. “I knew I’d made a mistake. But nothing happened beyond a kiss. I tried to go to Nashua so I wouldn’t have to see…him…”

  He understood exactly why she stumbled on her final word. “Us,” he corrected her. “You were going to Nashua to avoid us both.”

  “Yes.”

  Aston was pleased with the direct stare she gave him.

  She took her directness to a bolder, more intriguing level when she declared, “You need to be taught a lesson, Priest Haizea. You can’t arrange everything to suit you and your family.”

  “The only thing I want to arrange now is your clothes in a clump on the floor.” He nearly winced as soon as the words left his mouth. Dispensing with games didn’t mean he had to be clichéd, but he was unable to help himself.

  Gemma gave him look of pure disgust that was echoed in the twist of her pretty lips. “My clothes are staying on, and I’m going to Nashua.”

  Aston remained silent until she took a step toward the end of the bed. His urge was to stop her, physically if need be. But that hadn’t worked out well today. She was going to require delicate handling from here on out. “Please stay.” Simple. Heartfelt. He hoped she appreciated what it took to say the words.

  The narrowing of her eyes said otherwise. “Why?”

  “I like being with you.”

  She squared her shoulders and her chin lifted yet higher. Aston should have known this was going to require effort. Truly, he’d have lost respect for her if she simply melted beneath his request.

  “Gemma,” he began softly. “I am sorry. I shouldn’t have deceived you like I did. It had been so long since a woman touched me without wanting something in return that I didn’t want it to stop, even though you thought I was someone else.”

  The extra-loud inhale she performed on her next breath didn’t read well for his chances. Aston let his eyelids slide shut as he drew in his own loud sigh.

  Maybe it was time to be straight with her. He had wronged her. Honesty was the least he owed her.

  Aston captured her gaze. “I’ve always admired you.”

  Gemma jerked if hit by a powerful gust of wind.

  “What?” he queried when she failed to explain her reaction.

  “You used to growl at me whenever we crossed paths.”

  “Growl is a strong word,” he argued even though he knew exactly what she meant.

  Still, she persisted. “Whenever you saw me, you’d grumble at me to go back to the house.”

  “More often than not I ran into you near the brook. Correct?” Aston waited to continue until she nodded. “I go to the brook to clear my head when I’m irritable or angry. I can’t do that with an audience.” This time Gemma didn’t offer a snort. He took it as a good first step. “What I admired was how you were an optimistic member of the coven no matter what happened around you. You didn’t complain though many of your peers did. You offered to take on extra work and help those who needed it even while they groused of having too much to do. And you had a kind word to say about everyone—even those who didn’t deserve it.”

  Gemma dropped her focus to the carpet, perhaps recalling the most
recent person to fall into that category. Aston found himself wondering if she’d ever defended him like she’d championed Drew.

  “I noticed you before,” he went on with what he’d never spoken aloud. “You didn’t notice me. It was for the best. You needed to study abroad and gain the strength I see in you now. But you’re back. You’ve matured. And you’ve finally noticed me. I don’t want you to walk out that door and run away.”

  “I’m flattered.” Her bland statement stole the little confidence he’d maintained.

  “But?”

  “Like I said earlier, you’re the priest. You’ll be campaigning for regional priest. I’m the housekeeper’s daughter. It’s not going to win you any votes. And I’m not willing to be your hidden plaything.”

  The disappointment clawing within him had Aston snapping, “But you would have if Drew asked it of you.”

  Gemma shot him a mutinous look. “I made a mistake. I’ve already said that. How many more times do you have to hear I was wrong about him?”

  Aston shook his head because he didn’t have an answer.

  Her expression smoothed out. “I deserve to be treated better than either of you have treated me.”

  “You do,” he agreed. “I’m not asking you to be hidden.”

  There was a pause as she ran a wary eye over him. And then she said, “I don’t want to be the reason you don’t get this promotion.”

  He was confused. On the one hand she didn’t want to be hidden yet her latest statement implied she didn’t want to be publicly linked. “What do you want, Gemma?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I want you to stay,” Aston repeated. “What do you want?”

  “I…” Gemma stalled in mid-thought.

  It was clear to him. Gemma didn’t know what she wanted.

  He would simply have to help her decide.

  Gemma didn’t know what she wanted.

  No. That wasn’t strictly true. She knew she couldn’t have what she wanted.

  Listening to Aston Haizea flatter her so prettily was a surreal experience. Their location contributed to it. A private room in a bed-and-breakfast an hour from home.

  Here she was at his mercy. That should have been frightening—and it was, but not the way it would have been a week ago.

  “You can go,” he told her quietly even though he was still an obstacle to the exit. “But I’d rather you stay. I’d like the opportunity to show you how it could be with the lights on.”

  Gemma stiffened with a different kind of fear, the kind that came from years of self-loathing. Having the lights on was only a problem for her, not him.

  Aston took a step around the edge of the bed, moving at the slow pace one might adopt when confronted with a frightened animal. “And I’d like the chance to make love to you.”

  “I shouldn’t…” Gemma whispered. Her voice lifted in strength because she didn’t like how weak she’d sounded. “You used me to get me out of the way. I’m young, but I’m not completely naïve. You can’t do that to a person and get away with it.”

  “I know you’re not naïve. I’m not trying to get away with it. If I were, I’d have let you run away and wouldn’t have gone after you. I’m trying to salvage this because it matters to me.” He paused to fix her with a direct stare almost too intense to hold. “You matter to me.”

  A small snort escaped her. “You nearly had me convinced—”

  Aston quickly closed the distance, cutting off her mocking statement with a hand to the back of her neck. The strength was evident in his fingers though he didn’t grip her. Rather, the pads pressed lightly to her skin.

  Her next breath shook unsteadily as sensation wiggled down her back. His wintery scent filled her nose, drawing sensory memories of what he’d done to her over the past two nights.

  “I want to stay in bed all night,” he said softly. “With you curled against me, my hand on your belly, my thigh between yours.”

  Gemma resisted the urge to hide her belly behind her arms.

  “Please, Gemma, don’t go. Stay with me.”

  He’d apologized. He’d spoken what may or may not have been heartfelt words. Now he was practically begging. Leaving now would be cruel.

  And she didn’t want to. His fingers steadily built heat against her skin. Awareness of his proximity had roused lustful thoughts. No doubt he’d notice the beading of her nipples beneath the knit blouse she’d changed into at home. He might even scent her desire on the air if he magically cheated.

  “Okay,” she whispered before he called her on any of those symptoms. “I’ll stay.”

  Aston took a step closer, bringing her forward until their bodies met in the middle. Her nipples brushed his chest. A wave of heat flowed over her in the wonderful way that made her want to sigh. She attempted to gaze at him but couldn’t hold his intense expression for longer than a second.

  He reached out, guiding her attention to him. “What?”

  She worried at her lower lip. “Hmm?”

  “Why can’t you look at me?”

  “I didn’t—”

  “Gemma,” he gently scolded. “I’m not my rock-star brother. What is there to be shy about?”

  She took in the words, mulling them for several seconds. And then she let out a desperate laugh.

  No, he wasn’t Drew. Aston was so far above Drew she’d never considered setting her cap for him. Given Drew’s constantly changing paramours, it was easier to believe she’d one day join their ranks. Aston was the complete opposite. Aston was the unmovable mountain few females in the state attempted to scale.

  Gemma settled on a second truth. “I still struggle with my body image.”

  He lifted his free hand and settled it exactly where she didn’t want him to touch—the pooch she’d been unable to be rid of. Aston’s lips softened into a half-smile. “This is sexy.”

  Another nervous snort scraped through her nose.

  “It is sexy,” Aston insisted with an authoritative edge to his voice.

  He began tugging the knit blouse from the wide elastic belt, the only thing holding her skirt to her body. The blouse popped free with little fanfare. He took advantage of the opening to settle his heated fingers against her bare skin—that frustrating belly bulge she wished she could cut off.

  “You are sexy,” Aston went on. “Too sexy for my own good.”

  Gemma highly doubted that but he didn’t seem to be in the mood for arguments. It helped that she was too focused on the small massages his palm made over her abdomen to protest his opinion. Each slip of his skin closer to her pussy quickened her breath.

  Aston’s other hand drifted from her neck over her collarbone and on down her arm at a languid speed she wished he’d double. When his arms became level, he placed them both to her waist beneath the fabric. They soon teased her sides with soft, circular movements.

  She squeezed her eyes shut to avoid his displeasure as he disrobed her. Gemma relaxed her arms, allowing him to lift her shirt when her urge was stop him. The soft fabric fluttered over her forehead, fluffing her hair before landing on the floor.

  “Gemma, look at me.” The low demand could not be ignored.

  Her eyes fluttered open to find his fixed on her face. No longer was he smiling. But he wasn’t disappointed. Rather, his lids hooded a swirling, lusty gaze.

  If the expression wasn’t enough indication, Aston took her left hand, placing it against the front of his trousers before returning his palm to her waist. “I can’t hide that you arouse me,” he told her as she felt the erection surging against the fabric. “Tell that to your body image problem.”

  “It’s not my body that is doing that. You’ve got your hands on me. We’re in a bedroom. You’re—”

  “Shhh,” he interrupted with a tug at her waist until she was against his chest. “It’s your body. My hands on it. Your mind. The location. And the knowledge that I am going to have you on that bed within the hour.”

  “You could have me on the bed within the mi
nute.”

  “Do you really prefer it fast to leisurely?”

  “I…d-don’t know.” Gemma stammered over her response rather than admit the truth of the matter. Going fast cut down the length of time in which she could grow attached. She was torn on whether or not she needed fast now.

  This wasn’t Drew. She hadn’t been mooning over Aston for ten years. Then again, she’d never thought him an option.

  Could she grow attached if she wasn’t careful? Was his underhanded behavior over the past few days enough of a safeguard? Gemma didn’t truly know. And that made her want to prompt him into going faster.

  “I think I might,” she said at last.

  He didn’t fall for the ploy. “I’ll just have to work on changing your mind.”

  Aston needed to see her in the light, where he could take his time memorizing her every detail. Portsmouth had been a quick, dirty experience up against the car. He’d not had any time to take his fill. Now he’d fix that.

  He raked his gaze down her body with undisguised lust. The lacy bra she’d worn was both sweet and sexy, so like the woman wearing it. He brought his thumbs up, caressing her nipples through the light fabric. Gemma’s slow exhale was promising. As was her failure to remove her palm from the front of his slacks.

  Stopping at the bed-and-breakfast had been a good idea after all. Aston wouldn’t have been able to wait until he got her back to Manchester. Gemma would be a dangerous distraction on the winding back roads of western New Hampshire. Here, he also need not worry his mother would interfere.

  He brought his lips to the curve where Gemma’s neck met her shoulder. She made a small encouraging noise at the back of her throat. His fingers continued their circling over her breast. Aston made his way down her arm, only to reverse the trip when he decided he wanted to taste her mouth.

  Gemma’s lips were parted and her head lolled slightly to the right. The pose seemed like an open invitation to thrust his tongue within. Aston wanted to prolong the moment. He pressed a tiny kiss to the hollow above her chin and then settled his mouth over her plump lower lip.