“Yes! Yes!” I cried.
He slid his hand from my face down to my breast, brushing lightly over my nipples before reaching down, past my stomach. He used his fingers against me, rotating in time with his brief, shallow thrusts.
There was no holding back.
“Ahhh!” My body tensed, shook, and powerful waves cascaded over my skin, focused, and released.
“Oh, yeah,” Aiden moaned. “That’s it, baby.”
He increased his tempo, returning to that relentless pace he’d used before. I wrapped my arms and legs around him and held on as he grunted, thrust again, and cried out.
“Fuck…yes…Oh, Chloe! So fucking good…”
I felt him fill me again just before he dropped his head to my shoulder, panting.
Emotions I wasn’t able to name crushed me. My body shuddered, and I felt as if I had been turned inside out. I held him tighter as my heart continued to pound. It was too much. It was all too much.
Oh, God, what am I doing? What had I done? What is this feeling inside of me?
Tears filled my eyes, and I couldn’t help the sob that escaped my lips. Aiden quickly raised his head and looked down at me, his eyes filled with concern as he brought his hand to my cheek, pushing tears away.
“Shh, shh, shh,” Aiden cooed. He cupped my face with his hand and began to kiss me, over and over again like he was slowly and gently devouring me. “Don’t cry. Fuck, don’t cry.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. I tightened my grip on the back of his head and kissed him harder.
He went with it for a moment and then pulled back.
“I didn’t…I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No.” I shook my head.
“What is it then, Chloe? What’s wrong?”
“I’m just…I’m scared!”
“Scared of what?”
Everything I had been thinking and feeling consumed me, overwhelmed my mind and my senses. My vision blurred with an abrupt onset of tears.
“I’m scared of you!”
And with that, I began to sob.
ELEVEN
Aiden rolled to his side and held me against his chest while I cried. I didn’t understand what was going on inside of me; I just knew I was overwhelmed, exhausted, and my emotions were completely out of control.
I’d loved every second of what he had done to me.
That was what scared me.
Deep inside of me, the alarms were still going off. I felt as if I was still falling from the plane before the parachute opened, when everything was still uncertain. I could practically see the ground getting closer and closer as I fell, and this time there wasn’t a parachute.
I’d let him come in me.
Twice.
Unprotected sex.
My mother had given me various versions of “the talk” during my childhood and teenaged years. She covered the basics, warned me off of sex altogether until I was older, and then ultimately counseled me on becoming sexually active. There were plenty of rules about making sure it was with the right person, the right situation, and not allowing someone to take advantage of me. Above all others, there was one major rule—use birth control.
I’d failed on multiple counts.
As my sobs dwindled, Aiden kissed the top of my head, hugged me close, and then placed his finger on my chin to lift my face to him.
“You're scared of me?”
“Yes.” I sniffled.
“Why?” His voice was a whisper, his expression pained.
“I hardly know anything about you.”
“I hardly know anything about you, either,” he replied. “What are you scared of?”
How could I even put it into words? It wasn’t just that he could have gotten me pregnant, which was enough by itself, but something far greater. It was everything he had made me feel, everything he made me want.
I’m only going to be here for three more days.
“Chloe, what do you think I’d do?” Aiden asked when I hadn’t answered him.
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
“Do you think I’d hurt you? I wouldn’t. I swear. I’d never do something like that.”
“No.” I shook my head, trying to make sense of the thoughts in my mind. “At least, not exactly.”
“What is it, then?” he prodded.
“I…I don’t know.” I took a deep breath. “All of this scares me to death.”
“All of what?” His arms tensed, and I could hear the frustration in his voice.
“Being here,” I said. “Everything about this week, it’s just been…well, it’s been…”
I trailed off, trying to find the right words.
“It’s been wonderful,” I finally said, and then I started crying again.
He cradled my head in his hands, staring at me intently.
“And that scares you?”
“Yes.” I sniffed and wiped my eyes.
“I don’t understand,” Aiden admitted. “I mean, if you’re having a good time, well…what’s the problem?”
Another tear slipped down my cheek, and he wiped it away with his thumb. He stared into my eyes looking as confused as I felt.
“Tell me,” he pleaded.
“I don’t know what happens now,” I said. “Where do we go from here?”
Aiden narrowed his eyes, obviously still unsure what I meant.
“I’m not a one-night-stand kind of guy,” Aiden said. “I’ve got my hand and plenty of porn when it comes down to that. I’m not going to toss you out in the rain now that we’ve had sex.”
“Well, that’s good to know.” My words were biting, though I didn’t really mean them to sound like that. I just couldn’t find the right words.
“Chloe,” Aiden started and then paused to take a deep breath. “When we first met, you were hesitant about everything. You didn’t want me to help you when you were too trashed to drive. You freaked out about waking up with me, and you wouldn’t even consider altering your normal schedule. I’m surprised you decided to come down with me at all. Even after we got to Miami, you were more scared than excited. I saw you looking at the cabs at the airport—you didn’t even want to ride on the back of my bike. Since coming down here with me, you’ve really opened yourself up to try shit you haven’t done before. You even went skydiving, for fuck’s sake, and I had been pretty sure you weren’t going to agree to it at all. It was a stretch on my part to even suggest it.”
He paused, his looked softened, and he smiled.
“When I looked into your eyes after we were back on the ground, do you know how you looked?”
I shook my head.
“Alive,” he said. “Really, truly alive. Your eyes were bright and without fear. You looked like you could conquer the world right then.”
He ran his thumb over my cheekbone.
“I watched you change. I watched you turn into a completely new and better person right then. It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my life.”
I looked away, trying to process what he had said. Changing into another person was a bit of a stretch, but I had felt different after my feet touched the ground. I felt stronger, more powerful. It had been beyond just the thrill of falling through space and surviving. It was like something inside of me, long dormant, had opened up and demanded to be satiated.
I didn’t want to lose that feeling.
“What about when this week is over?” I asked. “When I go back home, what happens?”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” Aiden admitted. “I hope we still want to see each other. I’m up your way often enough, and I’d bring you down here again whenever you wanted.”
“What if it doesn’t work?” I asked.
“Maybe it won’t,” Aiden said. “That's just life, babe.”
I got bolder.
“You're hiding something,” I said.
“Yeah,” Aiden replied, “I am.”
I stiffened at his bluntness.
“Well
, that scares me.”
“I've got my share of secrets, Chloe.” He sat up a little and propped himself up on his elbow. “Everyone does. Someday I might share some of them with you. You've got yours as well, and I hope someday you'll trust me enough to tell me what they are. In the meantime, we learn.”
“Learn what?”
“About each other. About what we like and don’t like.”
“What if we don’t like each other?” I asked. “What if I can’t handle your secrets? What then?”
“I suppose then we’d go our separate ways,” he said. “That’s possible with any relationship—you have to know that.”
I did, of course. I nodded as I traced the edge of his bicep with my fingertip.
“I don’t want that to happen,” I said quietly.
“I don’t either,” he agreed. “I really like you, and I hope you feel at least some of that for me.”
“I do,” I whispered quietly without meeting his eyes. I focused on the words scrawled across his clavicle and up around his shoulder: “Blood. Sweat. Tears.”
“I don’t like this shit,” Aiden said as he brushed more tears off my cheeks. “I don’t like you being so upset, especially not after what I consider to be some of the best sex of my life.”
“It was?” I looked up at him.
“For me it was,” he said. “You don’t agree?”
“It was for me, too,” I said. “It’s never…well, never been like that.”
“How so?” His grin was back, and it made me smile, too.
“Um…fast…a little rough…all that dirty talk.” I blushed.
He laughed.
“I can’t help myself,” he said. “I especially can’t help myself with a girl who’s so fucking hot, all flushed and breathing heavy before we even got started. I’m surprised I didn’t come on the third stroke.”
Giggles erupted from my throat.
“I wasn’t sure you were ever going to stop!”
He rested his hand on my waist, ran it down to my thigh, and then back again.
“Was it too much?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“Definitely not.”
“Good,” he replied, “because now that I’ve had a taste of you, I’m going to want a lot more. I need you to tell me what you like and what you don’t like.”
“I think I’m good with that,” I said with a smile.
He kissed me slowly. I ran my hand up his arm and gripped the back of his neck as he wound his fingers through my hair. He leaned over me, pushing the back of my head to the pillow and kissing me again. When he stopped, he just looked down at me and smiled.
I blinked sleepily as I looked back at him.
“Tired?” Aiden asked quietly.
“Exhausted,” I said with a nod. “You wore me out.”
“I like wearing you out,” he said. “I’m probably going to want to wear you out first thing in the morning, too.”
I stared into his eyes as he brushed the hair from my forehead. I remembered the feeling of him pressed against me when he was still asleep and thought about what it would be like to wake up to him sliding into me.
“I think I’d like that,” I said.
“Duly noted,” Aiden replied. He cupped my face with his hand and kissed me softly. “Get some sleep. You just might need it.”
He wrapped me in his arms, and I rested my head on his chest. I was reminded of the first time I woke up like this, hungover and disoriented, and thought about everything that had happened since that Saturday morning, less than one week ago.
I wondered what Wonder Woman, Leia, and Buffy would think now.
The sun was shining through the window when I opened my eyes, and Aiden was curled up against me, breathing steadily. I watched his face for a minute, thinking about how peaceful he looked until my bladder demanded attention.
Disentangling myself from his arms, I crawled out of bed.
Good lord, I was sore. I stumbled a little, barely able to walk down the hall to the bathroom. I could still feel every inch of him inside of me—both in my body and in my head. I felt less emotional than the night before, but I couldn’t seem to stop the feeling of dread inside of me as I thought about what we had done.
What if I’m pregnant?
My cycle timing really wasn’t right, but I wasn’t dumb enough to think that it wasn’t possible. That was why you were supposed to always use protection in the first place. I didn’t even want to consider the other reasons to incorporate the use of a condom and wondered how I could possibly broach the subject. How do you come out and ask the guy you already slept with if he is clean or not?
That definitely belonged in the “way too late” category.
I plopped down on the toilet, surprised to find my legs were also sore. I guess I had been using them quite a bit during our nighttime undertakings. My back ached, too. Every time I moved, some other part of me protested the vigorous activity that was sex with Aiden Hunter.
I washed my hands and face, trying not to look at myself too much in the mirror. My curly hair was all over the place, and my mascara was smudged. Besides, every time I did look in the mirror, I came up with a bunch of wild notions about what I was doing. Yes, I had been spontaneous in deciding to come here. Yes, I’d taken some risks, and that was all very out of character for me, but I wasn’t sorry.
I wasn’t sorry at all.
However, I was still feeling a little guilty. I had spent so much time thinking of reasons not to trust Aiden that I hadn’t opened my eyes to really see him. I’d been searching for evidence to support my idea that he was a bad person in order to justify my fears. I had judged him based on how he looked and not how he behaved. As it turned out, there wasn’t anything about Aiden to fear at all.
I thought about how he had held me and let me cry. I remembered all his sweet words to me and how he admitted that he was afraid, too. This was how it was when you started a relationship with someone. There weren’t any guarantees, but that didn’t mean you didn’t take a chance.
“Like jumping out of a plane,” I whispered to myself. “In the end, you are a better person, and it’s all worth it.”
I smiled as I walked back to the bedroom and climbed back into bed. Aiden’s eyes fluttered open, and he reached out to pull me against his chest.
“I dreamed you left,” he muttered. He held me tighter.
“Just went to the bathroom,” I said softly. “Go back to sleep.”
“Hmm…” He tucked his head against my neck. “Don’t leave again.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Promise?” he muttered.
“I promise.”
“Okay.” His breathing slowed as he drifted off.
Wrapped in his arms, I fell back asleep.
Though we woke up late in the morning, neither of us was interested in getting out of bed. Aiden made a quick trip to the kitchen for croissants, which we ate sitting up against the pillows. As tired as I was, I had to drag myself to the bathroom to shower. I was sticky everywhere.
Aiden followed.
With the warm water pouring over my skin, Aiden filled his hands with soap and ran them up and down my sides.
He rinsed his hands, then turned and grabbed my backside. He lifted me up and pressed my body against the tiles as he slowly sank into me. I tensed and wrapped my arms and legs around him, afraid we were going to slip and fall, but Aiden’s strength didn’t let us down.
“Do you want it slow?” Aiden mumbled against my neck as he pulled back and filled me again. “Or do you like getting fucked fast and hard?”
I groaned as he continued the unhurried pace, gently gripping my ass as he pulled me in to meet his strokes.
“That’s not an answer,” he chided. “You have to tell me what you want.”
I bit my lip and tightened my hold on him, not truly sure what I wanted. The feeling of him inside me was overwhelming and wonderful. I just wanted more of it.
“Faster
,” I finally said. “Hard and fast.”
“Like this?” He picked up the pace as he slid his hands up a little to protect my back from the tiles.
“More,” I whispered. I pushed my hips forward and tightened my thighs around his waist. “Harder.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Aiden tightened his grip and hoisted me up a little higher. “You better hold on.”
I tightened my grip as his thrusts deepened. Our tongues met as we kissed, and water poured over our bodies. My heart beat in time to the sound of wet skin on skin as my legs shook, and pleasure swept over my body. My muscles tightened around Aiden’s cock rhythmically, and I dug my heels into his backside.
“Oh, you love that, don’t you? I can feel how much you love coming all over my cock.”
“Yes!” I screamed as another wave quickly followed the first.
Aiden leaned back, holding me around my ass with one arm. He took his free hand and ran it over my stomach and breasts as he dropped his eyes down to where we were connected. He slowed down, pulling almost all the way out as he watched.
“There’s nothing better than watching my dick slide in and out of you. Going slow like this…making sure you feel every fucking inch of me. I know how much you crave my cock. You want it in there almost as much as I do.”
“God, Aiden…”
“I like the sound of that,” he said as his eyes twinkled at me. “Hang on, baby.”
I did my best to comply as he picked up the pace, bracing himself against the tiles with his free hand. He grunted with every stroke, and I could feel his fingers tightening on my backside as he pulled me against him each time.
“Fuck, yeah,” he groaned as his cock twitched, and he filled me. He leaned forward again, crushing me against the tiles as he breathed heavily. “Damn, that felt good.”
He lowered me slowly to my feet and made sure I had my balance before he let go. He kissed me softly and then stepped out of the shower while I rinsed myself off again. My legs were wobbly, and I wondered if Aiden’s stamina had some sort of endpoint. He seemed to be ready to go at any given moment, and we’d only just started. My experiences had always tended toward the mundane—missionary position in a bed, one round, and then either head home or go to sleep.