“Tell me about your day.”
She hesitated, but eventually relented. “Carrigan called me to schedule a time to get together next week, and we ended up chatting for a while about the new moves she’s making with her nonprofit.”
He was glad his oldest sister had already made overtures. “She and James have done a lot of good in the last few years.” If he’d pulled his head out of his ass and stood up to their father, she could have been doing the same things under the O’Malley name.
But that was in the past now. Carrigan was happy, which was all that really mattered.
It didn’t hurt that her relationship with James Halloran had effectively doused what was left of the brewing conflict between their families.
“Do you…”
“Do I have any charitable shell company set up to do good in the world? Not yet.” He wished that he’d taken the time to do something exactly like that so he could show Charlie that a life with him didn’t have to be one spent in the darkness. There was that element, of course. He couldn’t change that. But it wasn’tjustthat element. “I like how Carrigan’s run things over there, though.”
“Me too. It’s not like I thought at all.” She gave him a half smile. “None of this is.”
“But not all bad.”
That earned him a laugh. “No, not all bad.” She finally picked up her wineglass again and swirled the dark red liquid around. “Though I have to get out of this house. I’ll go crazy if I’m cooped up much longer. The only reason I haven’t up to this point is because you keep sexing me into submission, and it’s hard to work up the energy to bolt when I’m all blissed-out.”
He laughed, just as he suspected she had intended. “It sounds like it’s a terrible problem to have.”
“It is. Just awful. Keep it up.”
“In that case…” He took her hand, urging her up out of her seat and into his lap. “It sounds like I’ve left you wanting for too long.”
“More than twelve hours? Without a doubt.” She ran her hands down his chest. “You’d better talk me down so I don’t find a convenient window to slip through in my escape attempt.”
He liked her like this, relaxed and flirty. He suspected he was getting a glimpse of the woman she’d been before her world came crashing down around her. Aiden hooked a hand into the band of her jeans, his fingers teasing the top of her panties. “If you have that much energy, maybe I should keep you with me in my office. You’d have to wear something, naturally, because I’m not overly fond of the thought of anyone else knowing that you’re half a second from coming for me…A dress. Or a skirt.” He used his other hand to flick open the top button and pull down the zipper, allowing him to dip inside her panties. “Nothing underneath, though, unless you want to get inventive with garters and thigh-high stockings.”
“I’m not really a garter-and-thigh-high-stocking kind ofwoman.” She hissed out a breath as he created a V with his fingers and slid his hand up and down, stroking her clit between them. “But I might be willing to make an exception.”
“You could wear anything and it would do it for me. I’m not picky.”
Charlie laughed. “Not picky except when it comes to what I’m wearingundermy clothes.”
“Except for that.” He kept his pace slow and controlled, teasing her. He liked the way her lips parted and the intensity of her eyes on him as her breathing picked up. There was no danger in her forgetting who was making her feel like this. They were both here. They were both present in a way he’d never been during sex. He enjoyed the hell out of it because it was Charlie. He wanted what was inside her head as much as he wanted what was between her thighs.
She gripped his shoulders hard enough that her nails pricked him through the fabric. “Aiden.”
“Tell me what you need.” He already knew, but he wanted to hear the words from her.
She shifted, widening her legs and then whimpering when the move tightened her jeans so he couldn’t move as freely. “More. I want all of you.”
“Then take all of me.” It felt like he was offering a whole lot more than his cock, but he didn’t take the words back. Instead, he undid his slacks as she stood and shimmied out of her jeans and panties. Charlie didn’t once look behind her at the door leading to the house or seem all that concerned that there were people who could walk in on them at any time. He’d made sure theywouldn’t, but the fact that she trusted him without asking made his heart give a strange leap.
She straddled him again, but he stopped her with a handon her hip. “Condom, bright eyes.” He dug around in his jacket until he came up with the one he’d stashed there earlier.
“Carrying some around with you? You’re learning.”
“It appears I can be taught.” He guided his cock to her entrance with one hand, using the other to urge her to sink onto him. As tempting as it was to let her guide this encounter, he knew what she liked—what they both liked. “You’re not on top tonight.”
“What—oh.”
He stood and set her in the chair he’d previously occupied, while he knelt on the floor in front of her. Their height difference meant they lined up perfectly like this. He spread her legs wider and draped them over the arms of the chair. A quick adjustment had her ass at the very edge. “Take off your bra. Let me see you.” His position blocked the line of sight from the door in the minimal chance someone managed to make it past Liam to the deck, and he wanted to see her breasts bounce with every stroke as he fucked her.
“I wish I was wearing your shirt.”
The memory only made his cock harder. He thrust a little. “Later.” She slipped her bra off without taking off her shirt completely, then pulled up her tank top to reveal her breasts. The sight was even hotter than if she’d been completely naked. “Stroke your nipples. They’re feeling neglected.”
