I barely waiteduntil we were behind closed doors to kiss Aiden again, need and desperation pushing me to bite at his lip, shove my hands under his coat to hold him close, want and arousal filling the space under my ribcage, making my lungs tight.
This was all new, and it was terrifying, but it felt sogood.
“Tell me to stop,” I murmured between kisses, half hoping he would, half hoping hewouldn’t.
“Don’t,” Aiden said, thumb brushing the shell of my ear as he pushed his fingers into my hair. “Not if you don’t want to.”
I didn’t want to. I wanted Aiden, who was kind and warm and sweet and protective, who treated me like something with value, something worth taking care of, who’d fallen off a ladder and let my mother tear into him instead of me because he was a good man.
There was no onemore appropriate. For the first time in my life, I was kissing someone because I really,reallywanted to, and not just because they’d started it.
“I want you,” I said, nerves making my stomach clench as I said it, fear of rejection slithering down my spine. What if he didn’t wantme, after all the screwing around?
“Weird coincidence,” he said, pulling back to look me in the eyes. “I want you, too.”
Joy like I’d never felt before filled my lungs, replacing all the air with happiness so big it hurt, too big for me to contain.
Aiden wanted me. Could I get any luckier than that?
Apparently, that was all the permission he needed to take charge, pushing me up against the wall and knocking the breath out of me, leaving me panting for air as he licked his way into my mouth.
“Thought I had to ask for tongue,” I laughed between kisses, heat building in the pit of my stomach.
“I’m being nice,” Aiden said. “But youcanalways ask.”
I opened my mouth to do exactly that, but gasped instead as he hitched my sweater up and toyed with the button of my fly, fingertips only separated from bare skin by my tucked-in thermals.
“I, umm. Want tongue?” I tried, too focused on Aiden’s fingers for full sentences or entirely coherent thoughts.
“Do you?” Aiden asked, eyes glittering with promise, pretty pink tongue darting out to wet his lips.
I nodded. Yeah. I wanted this, all of it, and I was tired of being afraid of wanting it, of burying it so deep I hadn’t let myself think about it in years, of blushing when an attractive man smiled at me but notsayinganything, not smiling back, never even considering that I might beallowedto take a chance.
Aiden was different. I could have him, and I could trust him.
He kissed me again, deep and demanding, tongue thrusting into my mouth as he worked my pants open, a whimper escaping me at the first touch of his fingers against sensitive skin.
“I want you,” Aiden panted between kisses, hands shoved into the back of my pants, squeezing my ass, and a little tremor of nerves shivered through me.
Did he want…?
“Shh,” Aiden soothed, as if he’d read my mind. “Don’t freak out. No butt stuff for your first time.”
I laughed, a wave of relief washing over me. Okay. Okay,this, I could handle.
I pulled him in for another kiss, nerves ebbing away, replaced by hot need as he toyed with my waistband, nipping at my lip.
Aiden’s hands were all over me, leaving trails of tingling pleasure wherever they went, up and down my spine, sweeping around my hip, skimming up my belly.
Should I have been undressing him? Was I allowed to touch, too?
With a surge of confidence, I moved the hand on Aiden’s shoulder down his chest, hitching up the edge of his sweater and thermals to run the tips of my fingers over smooth skin.
Aiden laughed into my mouth, pressing closer, the heat of his hard cock brushing against me, obvious even through his jeans.
My breath caught as Aiden shoved my underwear down, and then dropped to his knees.
Those pretty, deep green eyes looked up at me, sparkling in the dancing light of the low-burning fire behind us, and for a spilt second I would have given him anything he asked for just to get him to look at me like that again.
