Sex & the Single Girl (12 page)

No.

She'd been so damn sure they shouldn't be together again, but after sharing her past with Aidan she felt just a little vulnerable. Emotions she'd tamped down for too long churned at the surface, leaving her confused, restless. She wanted Aidan—needed him—to relieve that edginess. If she were completely honest with herself, she had to admit, she also needed to borrow his strength, indulge in his warmth on a night of confessions that had left her defenseless.

She ran an idle fingertip over the ridge of woven rattan that formed her makeshift table. Had she really thought that being strong had to do with knowing when to erect barriers?

Maybe sometimes being a strong woman meant knowing when to tear them down.

“I think we passed the complicated stage in this relationship ten years ago. And just in case you're at all concerned about what I want right now, I don't care about how fast you contact the police or how soon we learn where my psycho ex is hanging out.” She took
a deep breath and shoved aside the basket closest to her. “Between visiting my mother, hearing from Mel and then sharing my darkest secret with you, I'm feeling a little unsteady. And I just keep thinking maybe I'd be able to settle down and pull it together if only I could indulge the one thing I've been thinking about since we walked in this room.”

Aidan probably never suspected. Freud had searched half his life for the answer to what women want. How could she expect a bachelor FBI agent with a dating track record as spotty as Melvin Baxter's income tax returns would ever be able to answer that?

He quirked a lazy brow in her direction. “Which is?”

“I think we ought to christen the Pasharina's Palace with sweaty, no-holds-barred sex.”

 

S
HE'D BEEN THINKING
that?

Hell and damn.

Fascinated, Aidan watched in a state of frozen lust as Brianne gave the baskets separating them a final nudge with her knee. She rose up on all fours to close the distance between them.

Strictly speaking, he supposed she was crawling her way across the carpet. But “crawling” hardly did her slow prowl justice. She covered the terrain on all fours with enough steamy attitude to fog his contact lenses.

He needed to check out her stalker. Protect her, not sleep with her. Damn it, he'd been prepared to be noble and do the upstanding thing.

But then again, it wouldn't be noble to duck out on a woman who'd just admitted to feeling vulnerable.
His need to protect her slowly shifted into the dawning realization that maybe if he claimed her tonight he'd be able to look out for her all the more. Possibly that thought sprang to mind because she hovered mere inches away, her unconventional position giving him an incredible view down her blouse.

“I'm driving you home later.” If he had to cave tonight, he would at least make that clear up front. “No changing your mind just because you decide to give me the boot in the middle of the night.”

She ducked her head to brush her lips along his neck, under his jaw. “Maybe if you please me, I won't be inclined to boot you out.”

“I hope you aren't going to suggest for a moment that I didn't please you last time.” The silk of her tank top slid over his dress shirt, her breasts a soft weight beneath the fabric. “But if that's a challenge, lady, you can bet your gadget collection I'm taking you up on it.” Only Brianne would issue sexual challenges while experiencing vulnerability.

Then again, maybe her sudden sexy attitude was simply a cover for deeper insecurities. Hurts.

Ah damn, he didn't want to think that.

Couldn't stand the idea of someone hurting her below the surface where he hadn't been able to see it right away.

She licked a path down his throat to the V of his shirt but Aidan gently gripped her upper arms and righted her so she faced him on her knees.

“Are you sure about this, Bri?” He'd probably overstepped his bounds a bit with the strip search. He sure as hell wasn't going to play games with her while
she still reeled from all the baggage—the fear—someone else had dumped on her.

Her green eyes shifted from dull jade to bright emerald. “I don't want to be alone tonight.” She blinked quickly. Maintained his gaze. “I know I'm engaging in emotional decision-making here, but I want to feel good again. Sexy. Whole.”

Her simple request slid under his radar, past his libido and wound around him with gentle insistence. He didn't know that he was equal to the task. “Sexy” he could handle backward and forward. “Whole” was another matter entirely. But if she entrusted him with herself tonight—and he knew with certainty she was only talking about tonight—he would make damn sure to give it his best shot.

And no way in hell would he screw up that small display of her trust by ducking out to call the South Beach PD. Somehow, that faith meant far more to him than he'd ever suspected it could.

The hunger he'd been fighting today ever since he'd found her clutching burgundy velvet between her fingers and gazing at pictures of erotic statuary now came roaring back to life. He drew her down to him and pressed his mouth to hers. He kissed her too hard, held her too tightly.

Still, her lips softened beneath his. He groaned helplessly as need swept over him, hot and fierce. This wasn't supposed to happen tonight. After she'd written off their last time together as a minor setback, he'd been determined to maintain professional boundaries with Brianne.

But all bets were off. She'd come to him, had confided in him. Wanted him.

Her body molded to his. The ramrod-straight spine that normally marked her movements now arched above him. She'd dissolved against him where he still sprawled on the floor, one thigh brushing his.

She
wanted
him.

Did it make him ten times an idiot to be so floored about that when she'd fully admitted her decision-making process might be flawed because of runaway emotions?

His fingers smoothed over the small of her back, the sweet slope of her bottom through silky pants. “I want you.” He mouthed the words against her lips, unwilling to lose the taste of her for even a second.

Her hand skimmed the taut muscle of his abs to graze the hard, aching length of him through his fly. Her lips were swollen against his, but she paused enough to whisper back, “I know.”

Those fingers flexed around him. Sent him scavenging for breath and stole the last reserves of his restraint.

He flipped their positions, never breaking their kiss. She met the thrust of his tongue, sighed with pleasure. His hands slipped and slid all over the silky material of her blouse and pants. Impatient to touch skin, he reached for the waistband of her slacks and withdrew the hem of her shirt. Tunneling beneath the fabric, he splayed his palm over her belly, smoothed his hand up to the insubstantial lace cups of her bra. He peeled down the straps and exposed her breasts.

“I want to taste you.” He shoved up her blouse, tugged it off her shoulders. “Need to taste you.”

Nudging aside the remnants of her black lace bra, he lowered his head to her breast and drew her into his mouth. Deeply.

She let out a soft cry as he drew on her, her fingers tangling in his hair, her body arched and willing beneath him. Some last gasp of his conscience told him that she wanted to feel sexy when all he could think about was complete, immediate possession. Claiming her totally for himself so no man could ever threaten her again.

Yet she writhed and wriggled below him, her skin as fiery with the heat of pure need as his.

He unhooked the front clasp of her bra and let the lace fabric fall away from her. Kissing a trail between her breasts, his mouth found her other peaked nipple and suckled her. Savored her.

Never had he wanted a woman this much. Ever. The scent of her filled his nostrils and made him edgy for more.

And he planned to take much more.

He only had one thing to clarify first.

Staring down at Brianne he found a woman in the throes of passion. Head tipped back, hair tangled and tousled, body flushed with desire. In that provocative condition she probably hadn't given much thought to their security in this room with a video camera rolling.

“Are you sure no one else has access to your office or your videotapes, Brianne?” He watched her passion-clouded eyes blink through confusion, but damn it, this was important. “If you think there's any chance someone else might see us, I'll find a way to disarm the camera. Because I can guarantee you someone's going to get an eye full in about ten more seconds.”

T
HE VIDEO CAMERA
.

Brianne's eyes went to the device in the corner of the room. How could she have forgotten that her every greedy response to Aidan's kisses was being recorded?

“You can't disarm it. Just throw a shirt over it or something.” The damn thing had already seen too much. The slim black electronic gadget had been privy to Brianne's weakest moments, her request that Aidan stay with her.

But more than that, the camera would have caught the expression on her face when he touched her, the passionate rapture she'd experienced at his kiss. She had the feeling she'd be haunted for a long time by the footage that had already been taped.

Her eyes followed Aidan across the room, his tall, muscular body a very pleasing sight as he scooped up his jacket and tossed it over the lens. Her mouth watered as he stretched up to make sure the jacket would stay in position. Between the squared, broad shoulders, the tapered back leading to narrow hips and the butt of taut muscle that led a woman to think about the power—no, endurance—he could put behind his sexual maneuvers… Brianne wondered how she'd kept her hands off him all day.

And that was just the rear view.

She considered tackling him in the middle of the floor when he turned around and she snagged a glimpse at the front of him.

So fine.

And all mine.

As soon as the words formed in her brain she wondered where they had come from. Surely she'd only meant “all mine” in a physical, temporary sense. Didn't she?

But then he was over her, scooping her up in his arms like her five-foot-eleven body weighed no more than a sack of potatoes. Allowing her eyes to fall shut, she clung to his neck and held on tight until he edged her through the silky purple bed hangings and lowered her in the middle of the white satin bed.

He wasted no time easing down the zipper of her slacks or peeling them away from her skin. When she lay there in front of him, naked but for her black lace panties, he slipped one hand beneath the low-cut waistband and gathered the fabric in a knot in his hand.

She shivered in anticipation as he held that scrap of material, knowing exactly what he had in mind. She'd probably fantasized about it aloud one of the many times she'd tried to seduce him as a teenage hellion. Now with one yank the scrap of lace tore free, leaving her totally exposed.

Her hair fanned out on the spread, the cool fabric tickling her bare, hot shoulders. And at that moment, she realized Aidan had already succeeded in making her feel sexy tonight. She reached for him to tell him as much, but her fingers found only empty air. Prying
her eyes open, she spied him just outside the sheer curtains surrounding the bed, removing his clothes.

Mmm.

The only thing she enjoyed more than the front and rear view of Aidan Maddock was catching sight of the front and rear view while gorgeously, deliciously naked.

Rolling on her side, she stretched to touch his bare thigh through the sheer silk as he ditched the last of his garments. The heat of that hard muscle jumped across the fabric to singe her hand while the light hair on his leg bristled through to rasp against her palm.

The guttural growl he made encouraged her. Called her curious hand to touch that jutting male arousal with her silk-covered fingers. If his thigh had been hot, his erection was molten. And swollen. And incredibly thick.

Closing her fingers around him, she stroked the length of him, up and down. Watched in rapt fascination as he hissed a long breath between his teeth.

She wanted him. Wanted
this
with an intensity that frightened her.

Aidan locked her wrist in his grip, restrained her from touching him any more. She didn't need to ask why. The fierce look in his eyes, the determined set of his jaw told her he was a man on a mission of conquest and that her body would be the next terrain on his list.

By the time he wrenched the curtains apart and climbed over her on the bed, her thighs were already parting. Ready.

In her mind, she whispered thanks to him for rolling on a condom at that moment. She couldn't be entirely
certain that those words ever made it to her lips. And then she had no hope of talking as he dipped a finger inside her, tested the slick heat of her.

That intimate touch provided welcome sensual relief from the hunger that filled her, even as it made her crave all the more. Her hips arched toward him as her body convulsed around him with a little spasm, a luscious precursor of the sweet release that awaited her.

Skimming her hands up his strong arms, she absorbed the caged tension of restless muscles and hot skin. She glanced at his face and found his steely gray gaze directed on her. He hadn't missed a moment of her lush, heady response to him. And something about the intense nature of his eyes communicated he understood exactly where she wanted to go tonight—sensually speaking—and that he knew just how to get her there.

She arched up to kiss him, to taste him, but he was already leaning down to her.

He nudged aside her hair with his hand, whispered in her ear. “Is tonight a really bad night for sexual adventure?”

The question hovered there, hot and suggestive and full of possibilities.

“Is it ever a bad night for sexual adventure?” she whispered back, lifting her hips to graze his body with her own.

“I'm serious, Bri.” His voice rasped against her ear, an edgy growl that meant business. “I think all the harem stuff is starting to go to my head.”

She lowered her hand to touch him, ran two teasing
fingers up the hard length of his cock. “You want me to belly dance for you?”

So maybe she knew she was pushing her luck with a man on the edge. Maybe she wanted to push her luck.

Aidan didn't disappoint.

By some feat of male strength, he had her flipped facedown on the mattress inside of two seconds. And in spite of the he-man tactics of tossing her around, he'd been kind enough to jab a pillow underneath her.

Leaving him hard, hot and obviously horny as hell behind her.

Mmm.

His mouth waited inches from her ear, his body sprawled out on top of her while his arms sustained most of his weight. “No belly dancing required. I'm only asking that you indulge the onslaught of male domination fantasies the harem tent is inspiring.”

Desire scorched through her even as Aidan's arms banded around her. He lifted her hips, positioned himself between her thighs and then eased inside her, inch by glorious inch.

Brianne anchored herself on the bed with extended arms, arching back to meet him as he took her from behind in the most dominant male position. He held her to him, guided her body down to meet his with every slow thrust.

His other hand took more liberties. First tweaking her hard, aching nipples, then moving lower to touch between her legs. To rub slow, sweet circles with his finger while his thrusts gained speed.

Her climax hit her like a lightning bolt, a fierce, almost frightening shock of spasms that rocked her to
her core. She cried out his name, almost wept with the joy of that sharp pleasure.

But he wasn't finished.

No, the male domination fantasy had apparently been more for her benefit than his. And when she was ever able to breathe or speak again she would let him know how much her body had appreciated it.

Right now, she was being gently turned around as Aidan rolled underneath her. Putting them face to face again.

And this time, she was on top and in charge.

Still limp from the orgasm that had spun her world on its ear, Brianne didn't have a clue what she'd do with her newfound position of power, but she knew one thing.

Aidan wouldn't be sorry he'd given her control.

 

T
RADITIONALLY
, A
IDAN HAD NEVER
been the kind of guy to take the mattress. He asserted himself in every arena of his life and the bedroom was no different.

But between the strip search in her office the other night and the wild interlude they'd just shared on the bed, Aidan knew he needed to let Brianne run the show. Exercise a little sensual power of her own.

He just hoped he'd last long enough to let her. He'd been hanging by a thread ever since her body had tensed with the first tremors of her release and if she moved so much as an eyelash right now—or in the next ten seconds—he'd be toast.

Luckily, she remained sprawled across his chest, her breath still hitching on the occasional shudder.

Damn, but that pleased him.

When she levered herself up on outstretched arms to face him, her swollen lips, her long tousled hair, her flushed skin gave her the look of a wanton angel. The upside to taking the mattress position for a guy had to be the view. Brianne looked so good it hurt.

Fighting the urge to flip her on her back and lick every square inch of that gorgeous body of hers, Aidan watched as she lifted herself off him just enough to tease him. Then her eyes fluttered closed as she eased back down the hard length of him so slowly he thought he'd explode from anticipation.

He let her set the pace even though it was killing him, giving himself over to her more subtle approach. She bent to kiss his chest, her tongue flicking out along his shoulder and down to his pecs while she rode him with slow, painstaking thoroughness.

Blood pounded through his ears at ten times the speed of Brianne's seductive movements. She licked and nipped him, and once when he made the mistake of gripping her hips to urge her onward, she gave his shoulder a playful warning bite.

But she needed this, damn it. This night, this control. And Aidan wanted to be the only man to give it to her.

When he felt himself losing grip on his restraint, he reached between them to touch her, to propel her once again toward her own provocative pinnacle. But she pinned him to the bed with her delicate hands, using her will and not her strength to communicate her wants.

And she had every intention of driving him over the edge on his own while she stared down at him with fascinated green eyes.

Definitely not a he-man way to go down for the count. But with each roll of her hips he had less and less choice until he lost his mind, his control, and a little slice out of his heart to a woman who didn't need his brand of trouble in her life right now.

 

H
OURS LATER
,
HE WATCHED
Brianne twist a stray piece of white veil around her finger. Actually, she'd told him at one point the fabric belonged to a dancing costume that would be available along with the harem room. Right before she'd donned the veil and demonstrated a few moves for him.

Their night had been amazing to the point of being downright scary. They shouldn't have a damn thing in common, yet they'd found things to talk and laugh about when they weren't actively setting the sheets on fire.

Sooner or later, he'd have to arrest her former stepfather and no matter what she said to the contrary, Aidan had the feeling she would be affected by that more than even she realized. That would be a blow to any relationship they might have been able to work out.

Add to that the fact that Aidan needed to check in with his informant at the club, the too-eager cigarette girl, Daisy. He had the feeling he didn't stand a snow-ball's chance in hell of avoiding Brianne's all-seeing security camera for that meeting and he'd have to contend with the fallout from that. His ex-wife had never understood the need to talk to people, spend so much time on the street and on the job for his investigations either. But he couldn't have changed his commitment
to his work if he tried. The need to bring justice had been implanted in him way back in the days of watching superheroes on Saturday morning cartoons.

Of course, if his meeting with Daisy didn't push Brianne away from him for good, then there was the fact that he planned to involve himself knee-deep in the matter of this stalker ex-boyfriend of hers. No doubt that was going to ruffle a few of her feathers too.

But even as he saw the inevitable crash and burn of their relationship, Aidan couldn't resist pulling her closer now. Her body felt so right, fit so perfectly beside his. Her hair set fire to everything it came in contact with, the red strands like bright flames licking over his arm, his chest, the bed.

Brianne came to him, settling her head on his chest as she continued to wrap and unwrap the sheer white veil from around her hand. “You don't think Mel is still in Florida and delivered those flowers himself, do you? When we went to set up the legal terms of Club Paradise and dissolved the former ownership, the lawyers agreed Melvin and his Rat Pack crew were all out of the country by now.”

“If they had any sense they'd be out of the country. But I'm banking on Mel's greed being as strong as ever. I think he'll return soon if he's not in town already. He's going to want the money in your mother's account.”

“I could put in a few phone calls to flower shops in the morning and see if they have any record of the orchids being ordered.”

“You'd be willing to do that to help me out?” Ai
dan shifted on to his side so that he could look her in the eye. “I had you pegged for the kind of woman who would never voluntarily walk within spitting range of the FBI.” Like his ex-wife.

She paused in her fabric twisting, green eyes meeting his in the light cast by the flickering candelabra. Now that the sun had long set, the room took on an even more sensual quality. The gossamer curtains around the bed had a subtle sheen that couldn't be appreciated until the room was illuminated by candlelight.

“I have a lot at stake in this case, too. And I don't mind investigating something as long as it's from the safe haven of my office behind the anonymity of a telephone receiver or an Internet connection.” She rolled to her back, pulling away from him in more ways than one. “I only protest the danger of catching criminals. Not the task itself.”

In other words, she still found plenty of reasons to object to his job. “Actually, I'm going to put some support staff on the job of tracking down the florist avenue. But thank you.”