His order makes my legs quake.
I glide, because I do feel like I’m floating in this moment, suspended in a place of pure elation, and join him on the bed.
Ensconced in his strong arms, he lays me beneath him. “I can still taste you on my lips. Give me more,” he speaks against my lips. Aidan’s kiss is furious, and it takes a second for me to catch up, to get on the same level. The palm of his hand skims down, grazing my breasts and waist until it lands between my legs. When his fingers meet wetness, he drops his head against my forehead and replaces his hand with his cock.
Aidan rocks into me in one solid thrust, and we both sigh in the sweet relief of connection. Me filled, him surrounded by me. I raise my hips to meet him thrust for thrust as he picks up his pace. We breathe together, his lips against the pulse at my throat. I can taste him, smell his skin, and I’m filled by him all at the same time. Aidan’s muscles are coiled tight as he thrusts. He swallows hard as the pace of his breathing quickens, the scratch of his moans is a desperate plea for more.
Wrapping my legs around his waist allows me to rub against his pelvis at the perfect angle. “This,” I say, panting, “feels so good.”
Aidan grinds into me. “Not stopping until good turns into earth-shattering,” he says, licking a line from my neck up to my earlobe.
My skin prickles at his touch, and my stomach dances. It’s not implausible I’m having sex with Aidan right now. It’s shocking how much I’m enjoying it.
He clears his throat after he lets out a huff of air. “You’re so tight. I want to come right now. Magnolia, you’re so fucking perfect.” He kisses me on the side of the head and then presses his lips against mine, in time with his thrusts. A dance.
He could have said a million different things, and he said the one that would turngoodintoearth-shattering. My legs tighten as the orgasm hits. Aidan keeps his pace and comes seconds after my sexual war cry drowns into mere panting. He tucks his face into my neck. It makes me feel a way—something I’m unable to describe. Instead of my heart slowing into a normal rhythm, it batters against my chest, against him. His cock throbs one last time, deep inside me, and a bit more of his body weight presses me into the mattress.
The cool of the air skims the places where Aidan’s skin isn’t on mine. I tilt my head to the side, searching for him. He turns, and I’m met with his steely, intense gaze. “Is this the point where I tell you that was amazing?” he asks, a smile lighting his face.
“It was amazing, wasn’t it?” I counter.
He pulls out of my body slowly. “You’re a game changer, Magnolia Sager,” Aidan declares, walking toward my bathroom, the used condom in hand. My bedside clock says I need to get the huge, naked man out of the house. STAT.
Aidan saunters back into the room, chuckling. His brown hair is tousled, and his muscles so damn perfect that the mere sight of him causes me to lose my breath and my manners. “If I’m a game changer, that makes you the game, right? Inever want to stop playing you.” That was almost an admission. Something I’m not sure I’m ready for.
He grins at me. The type of grin that would soak my panties if I were wearing them.
Sighing, I scoot off the bed. Standing in the middle of my bedroom, this man has more confidence and presence than any other man on the planet.
“We can arrange for free gameplay whenever you want,” Aidan says, then his smile slips.
Crossing to him, I lay my palms on his hard abs. “Deal. What’s the matter?” I ask. Trying to ignore the fact that Kendall’s bus will pull up any minute.
He swallows hard and looks down at me. His jaw clenches. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Taking my face in his hands, his thumb on one cheek and his pointer finger gripping the other one. His abs rise and fall quicker than before as he gazes into my eyes, leaning closer. “Still trying to figure out what to do with that,” he admits, tipping my face up to meet his lips.
I break from the kiss. “Want me to tell you what to do with it?” I ask, trying to control my pulse.
Aidan bites his lip and nods slowly, just once.
“Love me back,” I whisper.
His eyes flare wide, and I think for a second I’ve scared him—that I’ve said too much, that I’ve been too honest. After a beat or two, his shock diminishes.
He smiles, shakes his head, takes my face in his hands again, and owns me with a kiss.
Kendall is in a bouncy mood, kicking her feet back and forth as she does her homework splayed on her bed—her earbuds in, oblivious to the fact I’m watching from her doorway. There’s a shadow of guilt every second that passes that I don’t tell her about Aidan. It’s mostly because I feel like a completely different person, and I’m hiding it from the person I care about the most.
Paul left a message on my cell phone to tell me the child support check would be a week late. He knows it’s fine, he knows my finances are in line. The inheritance from my grandparents gave me enough to begin a new life and keeps us afloat in the months when sales in the antique shop are slow. I never had to touch it when I was married to Paul, and I’d like to think my grandpa would be proud to see the life I created with what he left behind.
I’m wavering between leaving her alone and peppering her with questions about her day. She seems happy. Happier than she’s been in a long time. There’s a bounce in her step. Is it possible she’s thriving off of the good energy I’m putting into the atmosphere? Maybe she knows without details I’m happier? I sit next to her on the bed and lay a hand on her calf swinging in the air.
Kendall takes the earbud out of one ear and smiles. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”
“You seem happy today,” I exclaim, letting my gaze take in her beautiful face. “Can I bring up a snack?”
“Nah, that’s okay. I grabbed an apple when I got home. Everything okay?” she asks.
God, she can tell something is different. I panic. “No. No. I’m fine, honey. I wanted to tell you hello. Craving anything for dinner?” I lead the conversation away from happiness and back to something safe—typical.
