Bottom Line: Callaghan Brothers, Book 8 (11 page)

“That’s not necessary.  We were just leaving to get a bite to eat.  Thanks anyway.”  Mary hung up the phone before the other woman could utter another word.  It took her several long moments to work up the courage to look at Aidan again.  But when she finally did, she didn’t find the disgust or regret she’d expected.  She saw only... amusement.

“Well, now I know why so few males have crossed your threshold,” he quipped with a slight curve in his lips.  “Nosy neighbors?”

Despite the situation, Mary smiled.  “Yeah, you could say that.”

“So who is this Malcolm I find myself in competition with?  Should I be worried?”

Mary rolled her eyes.  As if there was any contest!  Malcolm was the quintessential Momma’s boy.  Nearly bald, pudgy, with beady little eyes that could stare at you for hours on end.  Esther Shaughnessy had been trying to marry him off for as long as Mary had known her.  Mary looked again at Aidan, the half-naked gold and bronze god standing before her, and shook her head.

“Um, no.  You have nothing to worry about.”

Aidan grinned sexily and gave her a look that could have melted steel.  “Good.  Because I don’t share.”

Mary swallowed hard.  “Share?” she asked tremulously.  “Does that mean that this is more than a one-time thing?”

Aidan stalked across the kitchen.  Taking both of her hands in his, he lifted them over her head and pressed her up against the wall, crowding her with his body.   

“Oh, baby.  I can’t believe you just asked me that.”  He leaned down ever-so-slowly and brushed a kiss across her lips.  “As if once could ever be enough.”

She moaned and softened instantly, giving herself over to his touch.  “And for the record, I’m not sorry, Mary.”

His manhood twitched against her belly.  She was delighted to find him already hardening again, and arched into it.

“Uh-uh-uh,” he said, gently pulling back.  “I need to feed you before we go there again.  You’re going to need your strength.”

Desire flared inside her, despite the incredible, axis-tilting orgasm she’d had less than five minutes earlier.  “For what?”

Aidan grinned wickedly.  His hand caressed down her back, his fingers trailing through the ejaculate clinging there.  He swirled once, then twice, then stroked his coated finger down into the cleft of her ass, rimming her forbidden entrance with just the slightest hint of pressure, making her moan and clench at the same time.

“Does this answer your question?”

She closed her eyes, willed the ecstasy into something manageable before she dropped to her knees and took him in her mouth again.  That shouldn’t have felt as good as it did.  “Y-yes.”

“Yes?” he asked, pressing a little harder, lubricating her with his cum as she began to writhe against him.

“Yes,” she repeated, her voice stronger, more certain.

Aidan smiled.  “Stay here,” he ordered softly. 

As commands went, it was pretty tame, but there was no mistaking it for what it was.  Mary watched him as he crossed the kitchen and picked his jeans up from the floor.  He pulled them on, but left them unfastened, offering a perfect view of the sexy “V” of muscle that pointed toward the manliest parts of him.  Then he proceeded to the sink, where he grabbed a towel and wet it with warm water. 

It was so strange, so erotic, to be standing in her kitchen naked from the waist down, wet and sticky from what had to be the most insane thing she’d ever done.  She made a move to step forward, but Aidan was suddenly there.

“I said, don’t move.”  She shivered, but obeyed.  Aidan kneeled before her, then slowly began to clean her.  He started at the back of her knees and worked upward, caressing and kissing her flesh as he did until she was so weak-kneed she was forced to put her hands on his shoulders lest she fall.

“Ah, baby, you are not helping,” he breathed when he reached between her legs and found her soaked with fresh wetness.  He slipped two fingers inside of her even as he kissed her feminine folds.  “
Fuck
.  So fucking sweet.”  He glanced up at her, his eyes glowing and heavy-lidded.  “I know what I’m having for dessert.” 

Her nails curled into his skin; he moaned at the painful bite.

Aidan returned to his task, teasing her with his lips and tongue as he did.  Only when she was sufficiently clean did he allow her to put her jeans back on.

“Sit down, Mary,” he said, guiding her to a chair, “and let me feed you.”

“No,” she said, her voice stronger now that he didn’t have some part of him on or inside her.  “You sit, and I’ll feed you.”  He narrowed his eyes, and she felt a thrill of power run through her.  Defying him, she realized, gave her a natural high.  “You are a guest in my home, after all.”

His expression grew heated, passionate.  “I’ve been in more than just your home, Mary,” he reminded her with an arrogant smirk.

“So you have,” she said, lifting her chin with a glint in her eye.  “And if you want to be invited back, then I suggest a compromise.  You get the food out of the oven.  I’ll get the settings and drinks.”

His eyes widened for a moment in surprise, then he grinned.

“T
his food is amazing,” Mary said a little while later.  “Not that I’m complaining or anything, but why did you get so much?” 

There were containers of pasta, chicken, steak, seafood, and vegetables – so many, in fact, that they wouldn’t all fit on the table and had to be lined up on the counter.  It was like a dream buffet.  Unable to choose, Mary took a little bit from each, and found it all to be mouth-wateringly delicious.

“It was a test, right?” Aidan shrugged.  “Well, I don’t like to fail.  I didn’t know what you liked, so I got a little bit of everything.”

Her lips twitched.  “Do you ever fail at anything?”

“No,” he answered truthfully, without a trace of arrogance.  “And if it’s something I truly want, then I
excel
.”

The heat in his eyes had her growing wet again, so she went back to a safer topic – the food.  “So I see.  Did you get all this from the Celtic Goddess?”

“Yes,” he said, the heat morphing slightly to wariness.  “How’d you know?”

“The logo on the takeout boxes,” she said, matter-of-factly.  “Plus you wrote your number on a Goddess business card, so I figured you worked there.  You do, right?”

Aidan nodded, but did not elaborate.

“Did you make all this yourself?  Are you a chef?”

Aidan cracked a smile.  “No.  I’m afraid I’m rather useless in a kitchen.”

Mary’s eyes flashed.  “Oh, I wouldn’t say that.”

He growled in the back of his throat and pinned her with a look that brought his earlier comment about dessert to the forefront of her mind. 

“Well,” she said, squirming on her chair, “this was really wonderful, but honestly, if you had brought any one of these you would have ‘passed’ in my book.  Please don’t feel like you have to spend a lot of money to impress me, Aidan.  As wonderful as this is, it’s too much.”

Aidan opened his mouth to say something, then reached for his glass of water and took a drink instead.  “That’s okay,” he said finally.  “It didn’t cost that much.”

“Employee discount, huh?”

He smiled enigmatically in response.  “So,” he said, changing the subject before she could ask him what exactly he did for the Goddess.  “How long have you been a sub?”

“A what?”

“A sub.  A sexual submissive.  I have to say, I never would have guessed.”

“Um, I’m not a submissive.”

Aidan looked up sharply.  “You’re not?  But you were
perfect
.”

Part of her wanted to preen; another part wanted to crawl under a rock.  A submissive?  Her?  As in BSDM and Fifty Shades and all that?  Yeah, she’d secretly read plenty of erotic novels that featured that kind of stuff, maybe even fantasized late at night sometimes, but her actual sexual experience (this afternoon notwithstanding) had been about as vanilla as it got.  Did he really think she made a habit of this sort of thing? 

Then again, why
wouldn’t
he think that?  She’d literally begged him to have sex with her, without birth control or a condom, screaming for more as he used his belt like a whip on her ass.  Afterwards, she’d dropped to her knees and sucked him clean.  And if that wasn’t bad enough, she’d nearly melted in his arms when he’d been playing
back there
.

Suddenly, she didn’t feel so good.

* * *

A
idan watched the color drain from her face, saw the dawning shame in her eyes, and
knew
.  “Christ.  You never did anything like that before, did you?”

She shook her head, her eyes suspiciously moist.  “No.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck!
  How did he keep screwing this up? She had known exactly what to do, how to behave, and what to say with only the slightest direction.  What was he supposed to have thought?

Then again, if she really had never done anything like that before, had never assumed the role with anyone else, then that meant she was only like that
for him
.  Both his heart and his cock swelled at the thought.

“Did you like it?” he asked softly.

Mary sniffled; she refused to look him in the eye.

“Mary, answer me.”  It was the same command he had given before, but in a different context.  This time there would be no punishment.  “Did you like it?”  He hoped to God she said yes, but if she didn’t he would find some way to go without, because there was no way he was letting her go now.  Not after this afternoon.

“Yes,” she whispered through her tears.  “I’m so sorry.  I can’t imagine what you must think -”

He was kneeling beside her in a heartbeat, pulling her into his arms.  “I
think
,” he said softly, but firmly, “that you are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.  And that what happened between us was fierce and powerful and so beautiful that I can’t even comprehend it any other way.”

She buried her face in his neck and inhaled deeply. “Yeah?”

“Yes,” he said, stroking her hair, kissing the top of her head.  “God, yes, Mary.  But if it’s not what you want, we’ll find another way.  One you’re more comfortable with.”

* * *

W
armth flooded her at his words.  They were exactly what she needed to hear.  This afternoon had been wonderful – impulsive and wild and electric – but it was all new territory for her.  The one thing she was certain of was that she didn’t want this man to walk away and not look back because she was afraid to explore the possibilities.  His willingness to offer alternatives suggested that maybe he wasn’t keen on walking away yet, either.

Before she could respond, a knock at the back door broke into their little world.  Max went over to the door and sniffed.  His soft growls told Mary exactly who was there.

“Malcolm.” The way she spoke the name was a low rumble that sounded suspiciously like Max’s. 

“Uh-oh.  Reinforcements,” Aidan quipped.  He didn’t look any more pleased with the interruption than she did.

“Ugh!  And they wonder why I put blinds on that side of the house!” she muttered, hastily wiping at her eyes as she got up to answer the door.  Aidan stood, but made no move to leave the room. 

“Uh, hi Mary,” said a tentative male voice at the door.  “Mom wanted me to come check on you, make sure everything’s alright.”  He tried peeking around Mary, but she had only opened the door enough for him to see a small section of the kitchen.  As he wasn’t much taller than her, peering over her wasn’t an option. 

“Of course I am,” she said, making an effort not to sound as annoyed as she felt.  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Uh, well,” Malcolm licked his lips.  “Uh, Mom said you were going out, but she didn’t see you leave.”

“We decided to eat in instead.”  Aidan’s rich, deep voice came from beside Mary.

Malcolm’s head suddenly snapped upward in an attempt to look Aidan in the face.  Since Aidan was several inches taller than Malcolm it was a stretch.  His eyes widened.  Aidan smirked.  Mary sighed.

“And who are you?” Malcolm bristled in a rare show of courage.  He tried to make himself taller, but it had little effect.

Aidan’s eyes narrowed.  “I might ask the same of you.”

“Aidan, Malcolm.  Malcolm, Aidan,” Mary said quickly.  She wasn’t particularly fond of Malcolm or his ill-timed interruption, but she had no wish to see his blood on her back porch.  Given the possessive gleam in Aidan’s eye and Malcolm’s lack of common sense, that was exactly what was going to happen if she didn’t put a stop to this as soon as possible.

“Malcolm, as you can see, I’m just fine.”

“Yes, Malcolm,” Aidan said, sliding his arm around Mary’s waist in a blatant statement.  “Mary is just fine.  Go on back and tell your mother - ”

“ – that I really appreciate her concern,” Mary finished, slipping her hand behind Aidan to discreetly squeeze his ass in warning.  Unfortunately, the action only seemed to make him puff out his chest more.  “Goodnight, Malcolm.”

No sooner had Mary closed the door than Aidan had her pressed against it.  His body molded to hers, the heavy proof of his erection against her belly.  “He wants you,” he growled as his lips trailed a path from beneath her ear down along her jawline.

“Yes,” she admitted.  Aidan was like a powerful drug under normal circumstances, but when he was aggressively male like this, it was downright intoxicating.

“He can’t have you,” Aidan said, his hand palming her breasts, plumping them even as he began to suckle her through her shirt.

“No,” she agreed dreamily.

“You’re mine, Mary.  And I already told you.  I don’t share.” 

The next thing she knew, Aidan had her cradled against his chest and was carrying her with purposeful steps toward the bedroom.  He laid her down on the bed and methodically began to remove her clothes, piece by piece.  Each section of skin he bared was treated to a barrage of kisses and caresses.

* * *

T
he inner Dom rose up inside him, but he forced it back.  He’d already had his turn.  This time it would be slow and sweet.  Now that he’d found her, he was not taking any chances by scaring her away.