He removed her shorts and sucked in a breath at the beautiful V-shaped haven staring back at him. She squirmed a little under his heated gaze and Aiden swore it winked at him, waiting to meet his tongue. Without waiting a second longer, he spread open her thighs and dived into her sugary treat.
“Aiden,” she whispered as she bucked slightly off the bed. Gripping her butt cheeks, he brought her closer to his mouth as he dragged her down the bed so he could kneel on the floor. The change in positions gave him better access to her sweet spot, and within seconds, she was covering her mouth to conceal her moans.
This was what he’d been thinking about for years. Over a decade, even. The moment he’d learned what oral sex was, Summer had popped into his mind. She was in so many of his fantasies. So many of his memories. Even now, he was having a hard time deciphering which events of the night had allowed him to be blessed with the opportunity to taste her uninhibitedly.
“Aiden...” She bucked again. “Oh, my God.” She grabbed a pillow and clamped it over her face. Of course he’d rather see her when she came, but he didn’t want to break his mouth-to-haven contact to tell her so. Instead, he dived into her center even deeper when he felt her body tense. She was right on the edge and it was getting harder to keep her thighs apart.
When she let go of the pillow and brought her hands to his hair, he flicked his tongue three more times over her sensitive bud. Summer reached an orgasm quickly after, biting her fists to muffle her moans. Aiden stared at her in awe as he watched satisfaction spread to every part of her face.
He stood, lay on the bed and pulled her into his arms. “I feel like I’ve waited my entire life to see that look of pure ecstasy on your face.”
She hugged him back and he could feel her rapid heartbeat finally start to slow down. When she glanced up at him, he saw so many emotions in her eyes, he wasn’t sure which was more prominent.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Her smile was slow and satisfied. “In this moment with you...I’m perfect.” She tilted her head to his. “And now, it’s my turn.”
Chapter 12
When she’d envisioned how Aiden’s mouth would feel on every part of her body, never had she imagined it would be so liberating. He’d made sure she felt every kiss he placed on her.
As much as she’d enjoyed having his lips pressed against her core, there was something that had been keeping her up at night. Something she just had to have.
A bare-chested Aiden was definitely a sight to behold, but a stark-naked Aiden was even better. Her fingers played with the top rim of his shorts as he lifted his hips off the bed to help her remove them. She relished the satisfaction she got from sliding the fabric over the thighs she’d been drooling over for weeks...even longer than that, when she really thought about it.
She was very well aware that he was watching her every move, and the fact that they were both so uninhibited in their nudity somehow made the moment much more intimate.
“You’re beautiful,” she whispered, as she journeyed up his body. When she reached his face, he pulled her down for a passionate kiss, expertly using his tongue the same way he had moments before.
Now that they’d shared several kisses, she welcomed the tingling sensations traveling throughout her body. Instead of subsiding with every touch of their lips, the burning only grew stronger. Whenever she kissed Aiden, she knew there was never just kissing involved. His expert fingers weren’t only great for taking photos, painting, or creating other beautiful artistry. Kissing Aiden was like an otherworldly experience, demanding that she gave as much as she took.
Summer placed leisurely kisses down his neck, then moved her tongue across the defined crevices of his abs. Each dip of her tongue across his chiseled body brought her mouth one step closer to his shaft. Each groan into the electrified air encouraged her to push him over the edge of ecstasy.
When she reached his member, she brought her mouth over the tip and lingered there for a while before glancing up at him. His eyes were dark and dangerous, no doubt having imagined her in this position numerous times before.
“I’ve never done this before because I was waiting on this moment with you.”
“That’s funny.” He gave her a sexy side smile. “I’ve pretty much been waiting on this moment, too.”
“I don’t think you understand.” She moved to the other side allowing her breath to linger once more. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to do this?” she asked holding his gaze. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed.
“For how long?” he asked, his usually melodic voice raspy with need.
She flicked her tongue once, then twice, just because she liked his response. “I can’t place the exact date, but I can tell you that the first time I imagined sucking you into submission was in a dream.” She ran her eyes lazily over his body. “And I have to say, the fantasy looked a lot like this.”
With that, she closed her mouth over him and relaxed her throat as much as she could to accommodate his length. As she began moving her tongue and mouth in a pleasing rhythm, she couldn’t help but watch the myriad of facial expressions he made as he got closer to the edge.
She was mesmerized by the way his abs contracted with each soft suckle and she wondered how she’d ever gone so long without seeing him like this.
“Summer,” he said as a warning. “You should stop before...” His voice trailed off, but she’d gotten his message loud and clear. He didn’t want to release himself into her mouth and he was on the brink of no return.
Instead of backing away, she locked her lips to him even more, enjoying the way he repeated her name over and over again. His orgasm was quick and fast as he convulsed into her mouth. She stayed with him the entire journey only releasing him to smile at the surprised look on his face.
“That was incredible,” he said breathlessly, getting over the initial shock. She smiled as she nodded her head in agreement. Incredible was definitely one way to think of it. At the same time, she could think of several other ways to describe what they’d just shared. She doubted she’d ever forget this instant. Sexiest. Moment. Ever.
* * *
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
Aiden’s voice was filled with concern. Summer glanced up from her seat on the couch to look at him.
“I’m fine,” she said, gently touching his forearm. She scanned the living room. Noticing that they were alone, she continued. “Last night was beautiful. You don’t have to check on me every five minutes.”
He gave her a soft smile. “I know I don’t have to, but I can’t help it. We never got a chance to talk about what happened to you back in college and I swore to myself we would talk before anything physical happened.”
Summer glanced around again before standing and motioning for Aiden to follow her into the laundry room. She shut the door behind him.
“Aiden, what happened back in college was unfortunate, but I don’t want to talk about it.”
Her eyes focused on the vein in his neck that popped whenever he was frustrated. “Okay, I get it, but I really don’t think it’s healthy for you to hold in your feelings.”
“I’m not holding in my feelings,” she said, a little louder than she’d wanted. “You can’t get upset at me for not wanting to talk about bad circumstances. Shit happens every day and people deal with their problems. The world doesn’t stop because something unlucky happens.”
“Unlucky?” He studied her eyes and stepped closer to her. “Summer, after all these years, you still can’t talk to me about this?”
She averted her eyes to the window momentarily getting lost in the stillness of the lake. They’d had such a beautiful night, and now he had to ruin it by bringing up the past. Her past.
She turned back to Aiden. “After all these years, you can’t let it go? I was unluc
ky. End of story.”
His face tensed, but his voice remained calm. “Unlucky is what you call it when you miss your plane or when you fall down the stairs. Not when you’re sexually assaulted.”
She cringed at his statement. At times his directness was too much to handle. “Listen, when you called me four years ago and asked me to talk to that psychiatrist you’d met, I went to her. It helped.”
“But you stopped going to her after two sessions.”
“Because I didn’t have anything left to say about the situation. Did you know that one out of five women are sexually assaulted? Do you know what that means?”
“That there are lot of women who can relate to your story?”
“Yes, that’s true, which means what happened to me could happen to anybody.”
“But it didn’t happen to anybody.” His voice got lower. “It happened to you and until you actually talk about it and realize that it wasn’t your fault, you’ll never be able to heal from it.”
Summer closed her eyes and started counting in her head to try to ease the building tension in her temples. I can’t believe he’s trying to take me back there. She considered herself the type of person who could overcome anything and based on the obstacles she’d already had to face in life, she’d proved that fact to be true. Yet Aiden didn’t seem to care about how much she’d grown. All he cared about was making his point, despite how she may feel about it.
“How the hell would you know if I’ve healed or not?” she yelled, her anger rising. “You weren’t around when it happened and you weren’t there for me right after it happened, either!” Aiden’s jaw twitched, but he didn’t say anything.
“You’ll always be there for me, right? That’s what you said.” She felt the tears form in the back of her eyes. “When your grandfather passed away, I was there. When your mom left without a backward glance, I was there. When your dad started drinking and you had to take him to rehab, I was there. For every situation, you called me and within minutes or hours, I was by your side helping you through it. Don’t get me wrong, I know you were there for me, too, when my mom left and when I was sad, and happy that my dad was moving back to France to follow his dream. You were there for me for a lot of other times, too, so I’d never discount that. But you weren’t there this particular time, so if I don’t want to talk about it, that’s my prerogative.”
However, now that she’d started her outburst, she couldn’t stop. “I understand that we went to different colleges, but our schools were only a few hours apart from each other. You weren’t there when I was going through the worst experience of my life and even after, I drove all the way to your school for help. For guidance. For support while I tried to figure out why it had happened and what I should do. Even when I got there, you weren’t at your campus apartment and your roommate said he thought you’d gone out of town. So I called. And called. And called. But you didn’t return one call that night, or even that week. Or the next.”
She finally lowered her voice. “Ask yourself this question, Aiden. Do you want to talk about what happened so badly because you truly think I need to heal? Or do you want to talk about the situation because you’re the one who needs to recover?”
His eyes held hers, but they were void of emotion. Whenever Aiden really got upset about something, he would eventually hit a point where he grew eerily silent...like he was now.
The more she looked at him, the worse she felt. She hated fighting with Aiden. Especially when he really had always been her rock. Except that one time...
Instead of standing there and waiting for him to talk, Summer opened the door and walked briskly to the bathroom at the end of the hall. She closed and locked the door, just in case he got any ideas of following her in there. Between last night and this morning, her emotions were in a ball of mass confusion.
Don’t you dare cry! Don’t you dare shed another tear over this! Opening her eyes, she leaned over the sink and glanced at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Her family had a big outing today, and even though she didn’t want to go, she knew she’d have to or her sisters would worry.
She turned on the faucet on splashed some warm water across her face. Time for her to do what she did best...pretend that everything was okay.
* * *
“We’re here early, so I have an idea,” Malakai Madden said to the group. “I know my brothers already talked to the men who are in love with my cousins, but I need to check them out for myself.”
Summer glanced at Autumn and Winter, who rolled their eyes. Malakai had already talked to both men plenty, so she assumed he just wanted to have a guys-only talk. They were at a beautiful Michigan winery that had several paths for exploring the property’s forest full of brilliant ginger, crimson and buttery-colored trees. Michigan was one of the most beautiful places she’d seen in the late fall.
“So, how about all the ladies head down the first path and the men head down the second? We’ll meet in an hour for the official wine tour.”
Everybody nodded their heads in agreement. The women immediately began walking toward a beautiful row of trees they’d seen when they’d pulled into the gravel lot of the winery. Summer caught Aiden’s eye, and instead of looking upset at how she’d unfairly yelled at him, he gave her a sincere smile. She wouldn’t blame him if he stayed mad at her, but she was glad that he didn’t seem to want to fight any more than she did. Summer mouthed that she was sorry and in return, he mouthed that he was, too.
When they’d been walking for twenty minutes, Summer felt an overwhelming urge to talk to her sisters. She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to talk to them now, but for whatever reason, putting on a facade and pretending that nothing was wrong wasn’t something she wanted to do today. They’d both asked her if she was okay earlier.
Summer pulled Danni to the side. “Can I ask you a favor?”
“Sure! What do you need?”
“I have to talk to Winter and Autumn about something important. Can you continue walking with Lex and Mya while I pull them aside for twenty minutes?”
“Of course I can.” Danni gave her a quick hug. Danni hadn’t asked what was wrong, but Summer assumed that she must’ve heard a little of the argument between her and Aiden that morning in their cabin. “We’ll keep walking for about ten or fifteen minutes. Then we’ll circle back.”
“Sounds good.” Summer led Winter and Autumn to a wooden bench a couple of feet away.
“What’s wrong?” Winter asked. “The look on your face is worrying me.”
Summer took a deep breath. “I need to tell you both something very important. It’s about a situation that happened to me in college.”
“What happened?” Autumn asked.
Now that it was time for her to be honest with them, she was nervous. She’d kept the secret from them for so long. Just tell them what happened. Just come out and say it.
“While I was away at college, I was slipped a date rape drug while I was at a party and sexually assaulted later that night.”
Autumn’s hand flew to her mouth and Winter’s eyes immediately watered. Summer took another deep breath and continued. “The only reason I know I was sexually assaulted is because I woke up the next morning with my panties torn and I was extremely sore in my vaginal area. I immediately realized that I knew where I was. I knew the apartment and the room, and couldn’t believe that not only was I assaulted, but it was by someone I knew and trusted at school.”
Autumn covered her eyes with her hands and Summer assumed it was to stop herself from crying and to regain composure.
“Why didn’t you tell us when it happened?” Winter asked, not masking her tears.
“You both were upset that Dad was moving to France, and even though we were all eventually happy for him, I didn’t want to stress you both out any more. I also didn’t know how to deal with what had happened.�
��
“When did it happen?” Autumn asked.
“Eight years ago...during my senior year.”
Winter scrunched her forehead in thought. “Around the same time you and Aiden stopped being friends?”
Instead of answering, she nodded her head. Autumn placed her hand on Summer’s arm.
“Sis, Winter and I always said we wouldn’t ask you why your friendship ended with Aiden after the first time when you were so upset we asked. But I’m asking now. What happened?”
Summer sighed as she looked up into the colorful trees. “Aiden wasn’t there for me when everything happened. It was right around the time he was starting his career and had gotten the internship at Palmer Lane. He was in a taxi heading to the London airport. I’d called numerous times and I’d even driven up to his university. I didn’t find out where he was or why he hadn’t returned my calls until more than a week later, and by that time, I’d felt like I’d been to hell and back.”
There was so much more to the story and how it had all unfolded that night, but Summer didn’t want her sisters to be too overwhelmed.
“Almost two weeks after it happened, Aiden drove to my campus apartment while I was in class. My roommate let him in and although my roommate didn’t know the entire story, she was so angry about what she did know that she told Aiden a few things. When I got home, he was furious.”
“Knowing how protective he is of you, I can imagine how upset he was,” Winter said.
“Upset is an understatement,” Summer said, as she stopped looking at the trees and turned to look back at her sisters.
Autumn looked at her with concern. “There’s more to the story, isn’t there, Summer?”
Summer fidgeted with her coat. “Yes.”
“Do you want to tell us the rest?” Winter asked.
Summer thought about the details she’d left out. With the exception of the physiatrist that Aiden had begged her to see, she hadn’t talked to anyone about all the particulars.
Waiting for Summer Page 12
