Twenty-Two
The sound of the doorbell startled Thea enough that she jumped and smacked her head on the underside of the kitchen cabinet where she was organizing her serving bowls.
“This better not be another surprise Peter visit,” she grumbled to Blue as she headed to the hobbit door, rubbing the tender spot at her hairline.
The sight that greeted her was far nicer than her stepdad: Aiden, one shoulder propped against the doorframe and an unfairly gorgeous smile on his face.
“Hi, killer.”
Her arm fell to her side as Blue rushed up to dance around his feet with happy barks. “H-hi.” How silly to lose her breath at the sight of him. She’d kissed every angle of his face, had run her tongue along the edge of that jaw. But seeing him rumpled and tired on her doorstep made her lungs tighten and her heart squeeze.
His brow creased when he noticed her forehead. “What happened?”
He stepped inside and nudged the door shut behind him, wrapping one hand around her neck and smoothing the other over the emerging bump.
“Oh, um, kitchen accident. It’s nothing.” He needed to stop touching her. She couldn’t think when he was touching her.
“It’s not nothing.” He steered her toward the kitchen, Blue’s little paws padding across the newly finished floors in their wake.
“Yeah, sure, come on in.” She didn’t care that she sounded peevish. He’d disappeared this week and treated her like a virtual stranger when she’d talked to him at his office, and now here he was dropping ice cubes into a towel.Herice cubes andhertowel. She snatched the bundle from him, eyes narrowed the whole time. “Why are you here?”
Her testiness earned her a small smile. “I missed you.”
If anything, the words rankled her even more. “It’s not like you didn’t know where to find me.” She dropped the ice towel on the counter and resumed her cabinet-organization project, turning her back to her visitor.
“I know. It was hard to stay away.”
That quiet confession held no hint of his previous teasing vibe, and she spun to face him. “Then why—”
“Because I wanted to be here so badly, and I didn’t know how to deal with that.” His voice was raw as he paced across the kitchen to stand in front of her. “Thank God, Trip talked some sense into me.”
He kept moving closer until their bodies brushed, and when he gripped the counter on either side of her hips, she was caged by his arms. She should shove him away, should kick him right the hell of out her house. Instead, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from his mouth.
“Okay. So you’re here now.” Her voice was thready and low, in stark contrast to the frantic beating of her heart.
“Yep.”
And then he kissed her. No warning, no finesse. Just the press of his lips and the slide of his tongue and his hands gripping her waist to lift her onto the countertop.
Immediate. Arousal. All it took was hearing one word and being bodily placed onto a hard surface, and her irritation fled. In its place was a wet heat blooming between her thighs and a tightening of her nipples against her shirt.
Her legs fell open, and Aiden slid his hands down to her hips, tightening his fingers to pull her forward until she was grinding against him.
His big hand moved to the nape of her neck, and he held her in place as he spoke. “I don’t want just one weekend.” He breathed the words into her ear as his lips worked their way from her jaw to her throat.
“But”—she gasped when his thumbs found the tips of her breasts and rubbed across her aching nipples—“that’s not in the agreement.”
“Fuck the agreement.” He growled and lifted her from the countertop, and she obediently wrapped her legs around his waist. “That okay?”
“Sookay.” And she kissed him and kissed him as he navigated through her house and tumbled them both onto one of the loungers in the sunroom, now washed blue in the twilight.
“I just want to kiss you like this for hours.”
He cupped her cheeks and tried to pull her face down to his, but she resisted, instead sliding down his body until she was positioned between his legs.
“Are you sure that’s what you want?” Her finger traced up and down the zipper of his jeans, and she was gratified to feel his cock jump underneath her light touch.
“I want whatever you want.” His voice was pure gravel. “But I oweyouthe apology.”
