I draw away to tell him as much, but when I see his expression, my breath stutters. His eyes are dark and hazy, faceflushed under his beard, hair askew from my roving fingers. He looks so damn wrecked, I have to squeeze my legs together to contain the need that shudders through me.
Fuck.
He drags his thumb along my bottom lip, breathing hard. “Christ, Cupcake,” he rasps, gazing at me from under hooded lids. He looks dazed, like he’s forgotten why we’re here, in his office. Like he’s forgotten his own name.
But the ring of his desk phone is all it takes for his eyes to clear. He blinks rapidly, dropping his hand and turning away, and my heart falls as he takes the call.
“What is it?” he asks. His voice is rougher than usual, but whoever is on the other end doesn’t seem to notice. I watch his jaw clench as he listens, his fingers flexing against the desk. “Fine,” he mutters, and hangs up.
“Everything okay?” I ask, hating how shaky my voice is.
“John,” he says, with a humorless twist of his mouth. “Wants me to meet someone. Now. Some friend of his from East Hampton.” He smooths his hair, already gathering his things. “Should only take an hour or so.”
I frown at the sudden change in him, trying to keep up. How can he be sonormal, after that?
“I’ll, uh, grab my notebook,” I say, but Aidan shakes his head.
“You can sit this one out.”
Hurt darts through me. I square my shoulders, not wanting it to show on my face, but Aidan catches it anyway, softening.
“It’s… I just need a moment, okay? After…” he trails off, expelling a heavy breath as his gaze burns into mine. His words are both reassuring and disappointing. That he wants to put distance between us again.
But what did I expect?
“Okay,” I say, watching him go. The office door closes behind him with a soft click, and I exhale, trying to gather myself. I sinkinto Aidan’s desk chair, pressing my fingertips to my swollen lips.
God. Thatkiss.
The kiss at Marco’s was good, but this? This was next level. There was something fierce in there, something I hadn’t felt from him before. Like he wanted to devour me and protect me all at once.
Heat pools between my thighs as I think of his hardness pressed to my belly, the same hardness I had in my mouth only a few weeks ago. I’d give anything to do that again, to dosomuch more with him.
I glance at the door, knowing I should get back to my desk, but instead I drop my head back in Aidan’s chair, closing my eyes. If I can’t have Aidan, I need to take care of things myself. Just to take the edge off, so I don’t throw myself at him the moment he’s back from his meeting.
I shuffle his chair forward, so I’m tucked under the desk from the waist down. Aidan will be gone for the next hour. If I’m quick, it will be fine. Five minutes, tops.
Besides, after the way he looked at me like my kiss was killing him, I can’tnotdo this.
Glancing to check the door is closed, I snake my hand down my skirt, into my panties.
I’m not surprised to find I’m soaked.
17
AIDAN
Itake the stairs to the conference room in a daze, barely able to process what John says as he introduces me to Thomas Waterman. He mentions something about a project in the Hamptons, but I can’t hear him because images of his daughter flood my brain.
The press of her mouth to mine, so soft at first, then hungry, insistent, insatiable. The feel of her silky hair bunched in my fist, that whimper as I welcomed her tongue with my own. My pulse whips through me as I replay every detail, blood heating again. John says something beside me, but the words don’t register. Not when my lips still tingle from her kiss.
Not when I desperately want to do it again.
“Don’t you agree, Brooks?” John says, and I nod absently.
How can I be so thrown by akiss? She sucked my cock, for Christ’s sake. This is nothing compared to that.
And yet, it felt like everything.
