I grasped her hips and pulled her down hard with each motion. She cried out loudly, her legs trembling and her toes curling as I pulled her up and down on top of me, my neck straining and my eyes clenching shut. I was so close, and I yanked her down harder and harder, lifting my hips to meet her.
I exploded in her with a roar, and she collapsed onto me, panting, kissing my chest as I shook and jolted, emptying myself into her until we were both spent and satisfied.
16
Desiree
After being so completely terrified, the last thing I expected after being hunted down was to end up in bed with Aiden. But as soon as we kissed, there was no turning back. That wasn’t just a simple, reassuring kiss. It wasn’t just one person trying to comfort another and offer some tender human contact. There was heat in the kiss from the second his lips touched mine, and the moment I tasted him, I couldn’t stop myself.
Not that I would have wanted to even if I wasn’t in such a sensitive, heightened situation. There was no denying my attraction to him, and the tension building up between us had gotten so intense it was almost as though it made the air around us thicker. I wondered if there were other people in the room with us, if they would be able to feel the difference.
All it took was that first kiss to crack the control and open up the floodgates.
But when I woke up still lying there beside him, the reality of the situation sunk in. Not only was I officially hiding out at this point, I’d managed to get myself involved with the man who rescued me. This wasn’t the time for me to be testing the relationship waters or offering my trust to someone new.
Yet, I didn’t feel worried around Aiden. His strength and protectiveness made me feel safe, and I liked that. What I didn’t necessarily like was the awkwardness that came from the logistics of this entire situation.
The truth about who my family was and what my father had been involved in never escaped me.
Clearly, my father’s rivals didn’t know that I had never had anything to do with his business. In their minds, his death ushered in the possibility of a new member at the head of the family, and the most logical choice would be me. But I never thought about that. I never let myself wonder what would happen if I got into their crosshairs and they tried to drag me into the Mob dealings.
If I had taken the time to really think it through, I thought the chances were fairly low that I would have thought to prepare for being on the run. I would have been much more likely to worry about making sure I didn’t get wiped off the face of the planet than about little life details like fresh underwear and a toothbrush.
But now, here I was, realizing just how much I needed both.
Aiden rolled over and kissed the side of my head. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself,” I said.
“Did you have a nice nap?”
“I slept better than I could have imagined I would have,” I said. “Not that I’ve been sleeping all that well any other time.”
“Considering what you’ve been going through, I can’t imagine you would be. Are you hungry? Want to get up and get something to eat?”
“Actually,” I started, and Aiden nodded.
“I know. I would rather not get up, either. But we don’t exactly have delivery up here on the mountain. Though if we did, I would be more than up for finding out just how long we could stay here in bed without someone coming after us,” he said.
I cringed when I heard the words, and as soon as Aiden saw my reaction and realized what he said, his expression dropped.
“I’m sorry, Desiree. I can’t believe I said something that stupid. That’s not what I meant,” he said.
“I know.
“I’m just enjoying being with you and wanted to…”
“I know,” I said again, wanting to end the uncomfortable train of thought. “It’s okay. This isn’t exactly a situation you’re able to prepare yourself for. It’s not like you run into something like me every day. What I was going to say is that I really need to go to my house.”
“What?” he asked. “Are you serious? You think that guy just isn’t going to come back? Like he swung by for a visit while he was passing through and since he didn’t get a chance to catch up with you, he’s just going to give up and keep going?”
He sounded something close to angry, like he thought I was just as stupid as the day I’d shown up in the blizzard.
“I need underwear,” I said flatly.
“Underwear?” The anger had disappeared under a new layer of confusion.