Beast Brothers 2

“That would be great, but can I meet you at your house instead?”

“Sure. I’ll text you when I’m on my way home.”

We leave the café and cross campus together, walking side-by-side, our bodies sometimes brushing together. Before we get very far, a girl is suddenly in front of us, a blonde I remember from the day we walked to Aidan’s house.

Acting as if she can’t even see me, she stands directly in front of Aidan, her hand on her jutting hip, her expression one of teasing frustration. “Hey stranger, how are you?”

“Hi,” Aidan says, his tone neutral.

“Great show, Saturday,” the blonde says. “I love your new song!”

“Yeah? That’s great.” As Aidan answers her, he casually drapes his arm around my shoulders, earning me a death stare from his fan.

Her brows lift, then her eyes narrow, and I can read her “Who the fuck are you?” expression loud and clear. I stare back at her, not speaking, but letting my eyes answer hers.

“Okay, see you,” she says, as she abruptly walks away.

We start to walk again, and Aidan takes his arm off my shoulder but laces his fingers together with mine. It feels so casual and comfortable and it lights me up inside.

As we approach the edge of campus, he squeezes my hand and says, “I’d like you to come home with me, but I have to study for finals, and I know that won’t happen if I’m with you.”

“That’s okay. I have class in a little while.”

“I’ll see you Wednesday evening?”

“Yeah.”

We stop at the corner, and Aidan takes my cheek in his hand and leans in to softly brush his lips against mine. The scent of him and the taste of him have me wanting to melt into him, to wrap myself around him and never let go. When he parts my lips with his and gently brushes my tongue to mine, I put my arms around him and kiss him back, letting him know how much I’ve missed him.

By the time we finish our goodbye, I can feel his stiffness pressing into my thigh. “I wish we were alone right now,” I say.

“Yeah?” Aidan says, sounding on the verge of being out of breath.

“Yeah. I owe you some … attention.” I twist my hips slightly to push against his erection.

Aidan groans, the sound coming from deep down inside him. He rests his forehead against mine and says, “You don’t owe me anything, but I’ll look forward to that happening sometime.”

He seems to grow harder still pressing against me. “Did I just make it worse?” I ask.

He gives me a rueful grin followed by one more quick kiss. “I’ll live.” Aidan holds his bag in front of him, throws a sexy smile my way, and heads off toward his house.

Chapter 26

Amber

I take two tests over the next two days and they go well. Between them, I continue to review my chemistry notes. I know I’ve improved, but I’m not completely confident that it will be enough.

My mood alternates sharply between nervousness over my chem final and pure, high-flying happiness. Over and over, I replay Aidan’s “I can’t stay away from you,” and feel like I could float away on a cloud. But then I bring myself back down to earth, and continue to run reviews of formulas, symbols and molecules. Would it be weird to confess that chemistry is starting to seem just a little bit sexy, since I’ve got it all tangled up with Aidan in my mind?

Shortly after five on Wednesday, I hear from Aidan as promised. I’ll be home in a few minutes. Are you ready to study?

Be there soon, I reply.

When I get to his house, Aidan’s dad is already home and greets me warmly. As Aidan and I get settled in the dining room, Mr. Holt doesn’t even bother poking around the kitchen. “We were about to order Chinese, Amber. What would you like?”

“I was kind of hoping you’d let me cook again,” I say. I do truly love cooking, and it would provide a nice change of pace from studying and taking tests, but the real joy of it comes from Mr. Holt’s response. He breaks into a broad grin and doesn’t even bother protesting.

“I was kind of hoping you’d offer,” he says, laughing as he mirrors my words.

I take over the kitchen again, finding fresh ground meat in the refrigerator and an open pack of hamburger buns on the counter. I recalled seeing pasta and canned tomatoes in the pantry last time, and when I find those, I decide to make spaghetti. I make a meat sauce for the pasta and toast the buns with butter and garlic powder.

It is possibly an even more simple meal than the omelets, but again both men act like I’ve served them a Sunday dinner that I slaved over for hours. “This is delicious, Amber,” Aidan’s dad tells me. “Superlative, in fact.” Their response makes me want to cook something for them that’s actually impressive.

There’s something sexy about watching Aidan enjoy food I’ve prepared for him, too. Of course, everything Aidan does is sexy, so … yeah.

After we eat, Mr. Holt says he’ll clean up so that we can get started on studying, and Aidan leads me down the hall to his bedroom. Once we’re inside his small room, he closes the door behind him, and I draw in a breath.

I want to look all around his space, to see what he has on his walls and desk, to find more clues about what’s important to him. I notice a Black Keys poster, a bookshelf, and a soccer ball in the corner, but as soon as the door closes and we’re alone, I can’t look away from him.

He seems bigger in this enclosed space. With his dark head framed against the white background of his door, he stares back at me. He raises an eyebrow and turns his mouth up into that wicked grin. “What?” he says, sounding on the verge of laughter.

I know I’m looking at him with wide eyes, and I can’t help it. “Nothing,” I say, smiling back at him.

“You look pretty excited to get started studying,” he says.

“Oh, I am,” I say. My eyes drop to his lips, then to his chest, broad in a baby blue t-shirt. My gaze drops lower to his lean hips, snug in dark jeans. I can’t believe I’m thinking the thoughts I am, with Aidan’s dad right in the other room, but I can’t help it. I want to touch him.

Aidan clears his throat and I pull my eyes back up to his. “Ms. Paulson. I take my tutoring responsibilities very seriously, and I think you need to get your mind back onto chemistry.”

I give him a playful pout, and Aidan quickly closes the space between us. He kisses me softly and then pulls back. “The test is important. Let’s make sure you’re ready.” His voice is soft and deep, and does things to my body that make it very hard for me to think about school at all.

“Okay, you’re right.” I pull out my notes and my tablet and we settle onto Aidan’s bed to study. On his bed. It takes several long minutes before I manage to forget my surro

undings and focus on the lessons.

He takes the lead, quizzing me on all the things I need to have memorized, and I answer all of his questions correctly. Then we work on equations, and find a few weak spots. Aidan gives me more tips, we practice some more, and then review everything all over again.

Eventually the formulas start to blur, and Aidan, next to me on the bed, comes into sharper focus.

“How do you calculate molar mass?” he asks.

All I can think about is his leg pressed against mine. “I want to calculate your mass,” I whisper, putting my hand on his thigh.

His eyes darken and his face grows more serious. He gets up and silently twists the lock on his door, then he lies on the bed on his back, pulling me down with him. I nestle in beside him as we kiss, and though we’ve kissed many times now, being horizontal, on his bed, all alone, takes it to a whole new level. I’m instantly breathless with longing, hyper aware of the length of his body pressed against the entire length of mine.

I wrap my arm around his chest, and as we kiss, I slowly move my hand lower, skimming across his flat stomach before I fumble around in search of the snap on his jeans. Aidan groans quietly as my fingers touch the bare skin at his waist, then I feel his hand come down to help me.

I lay my head on his chest and watch as he unzips and frees himself. His room is brightly lit, and I’m glad he can’t see my face because I’m sure my eyes go wide at the sight of him. I’ve seen cocks before, of course, but Aidan’s just looks so big.

He pushes his jeans and underwear down on his hips, and wraps his hand around his cock, aiming it toward the ceiling. He runs his palm down the length of it, and I watch it grow at his touch. It’s long and thick, and beautiful.

I wrap my hand around it, just below Aidan’s, and he puts his hand over mine. Squeezing my hand gently, he guides me in a slow stroke of his cock.

“Hang on a minute,” he whispers. He stretches his other arm out to his nightstand drawer and pulls out a small bottle of lubricant. My heart beats even faster at the sight of it, and my mind floods with questions about what kind of experience he’s had, and how he’s used the lube.