He saw Cara jump and he automatically reached for her. She flinched as he gripped her shoulders and tried to pull away but Aidan eased her up. Then he did something he hadn’t even realised he’d intended and sat down and pulled her into his lap.
‘Shh, Cara. It’s okay. You don’t have to be scared.’ He stroked his hand over her back. ‘I’m not going to hurt you. Just relax.’
Gradually he felt the stiffness ease out of her and as her sobs subsided she curled more tightly in his arms.
Then she eased back and looked at him.
‘You’re right,’ she said, sniffing and swiping at her eyes.
Aidan reached for the box of tissues on the low table beside them. He held one to her nose. ‘Blow.’ She took it and tried to tend to the damage on her face. Her eyes already slightly red and puffy. Clearly the woman was not a good crier. And why did that thought make her even more appealing?
‘I’m not sure I want to hear what I’m right about,’ he said gruffly.
‘I—I did gaze at you outside. I did want to—want to kiss you.’
Oh, hell. Did she have to go and remind him of that while she was so warm and pliant in his arms? While her bottom was nestled so sweetly against his groin?
Arousal followed swiftly on the heels of that awareness and she must have felt his body harden because she went still. Then those green doe eyes dropped to his mouth.
Aidan swore silently and tried to still the blood pounding through his veins.
He had not brought her up here for sex. He hadn’t … ‘Cara, you’re … you’re …’ Now he was going to start stuttering.
‘I’m … I’m what?’
Oh, to hell with it, he thought. To hell with the whole damned night. He wanted her. Why keep denying it? Especially when she looked at him as she did now. As if she wanted him, too … His hand came up to cradle her head and his mouth lowered to hers at the same time. Longing and a desperate urgency rushed through him as his lips met hers and his hand tightened in her silky hair. The driving need to take her shocked him with its urgency and it took every ounce of willpower he had to keep from forcing his way into her mouth to take the sweetness he’d tasted earlier.
Somehow he waited. Nibbling and sipping at her lips until he felt them soften. Until he felt them give beneath his own and then he couldn’t wait any longer. ‘Open your mouth, Cara,’ he urged. ‘Let me in.’ She made a small whimper as she obeyed and Aidan felt like he was experiencing his first ever kiss as he slipped his tongue into her warm, wet mouth.
He groaned and banded his free hand around her waist, pulling her torso flush against his own. She tasted of coffee and dark chocolate and sweetly of herself. Her hands found his shoulders and she clung to him, her body arching into his in a way that was sheer bliss.
The need to touch more of her raced through his blood and he bent her back over his arm and cupped a firm breast in his hand. She moaned his name, her hands clutching his shoulders, her body arching into his as he kissed and licked his way down her smooth neck.
She writhed in his arms and gripped his head as his mouth moved lower. He slid his other hand down over her shoulder and dragged the top of her dress with it.
She was wearing a lacy peach-coloured bra and the tips of her breasts were already distended and tight with anticipation. Cupping them both he plumped them up and dragged his thumbs across both nipples. She gasped and then cried out when he replaced his thumbs with his mouth, greedily lathing first one tip and then the other through the soft lace until she was frantic and twisting in his arms.
The taste of her blew his mind and he completely lost his head as he shifted her bra aside and sucked one stiff peak deep into his mouth, working her aroused flesh with his teeth and his tongue. She pushed hard against him and he guided her up on his lap until she was nearly straddling him.
Just when he was about to shove her fitted skirt to her waist so he could place her legs either side of his thighs, Ellery’s voice sounded inside his head again. ‘Way to go, boy. You got further than I did.’
Aidan briefly closed his eyes and pushed his head back against the sofa. Cara’s body followed and he placed his hands at her waist to hold her back.
‘Stop.’ He shook his head to try and clear it. ‘Cara, stop.’
‘What?’ She gazed at him, her lips bruised and swollen, her eyes unfocused.
Aidan swore and lifted her off him as he pushed to his feet. He left her perched on the edge of the sofa and stalked towards the wet bar.
A crystal decanter sat on a silver tray with six matching tumblers—he didn’t care if it was full of motor oil. He needed something to dull his senses and bring his mind back online so he yanked the lid off and poured a healthy measure.