Page 51 of Troubles

After a light dinner on the deck of the hotel, we walk along the beach. Sand between our toes, collecting shells and smooth stones. Away from the lights of the hotel, Aidan pulls me to a stop and sits in the sand.

“Come ’ere, sit with me.” He pulls me down, nestling my ass between his thighs and wraps his arms around me. “I don’t want to leave tomorrow. I want to stay until we get the keys to our flat. I don’t want to spend another night without you in my arms.” His words are soft, just loud enough for me to hear over the sound of the waves.

I pull his hands around me, literally wrapping myself up in him. “I don’t want to go either.”

My life has changed so much over the past six months. Feeling Aidan all around me, there’s not a thing I would change. Not one thing.

I lean and twist just so my lips meet the scruff at the underside of his jaw. I breathe him in, bergamot and vetiver, spicy and rich, warmth spreading through me. “Love you more than anything.”

“Hmmm…I love you too, so much.”

The stars glitter across the sky, the constant shush of the waves and the warm body around me, lull me to the edge of sleep.

“Come on, love. Let’s get you to bed.”

The walk to the hotel, the ride to our floor, as we get ready for bed. All of it quiet and peaceful—perfectly in love, peaceful. Up to the moment that I crawl between the sheets and settle in next to Aidan. He rolls to his side, the simple kiss not quite enough. His teeth nip along my lower lip, sending electric desire through my core. And just like that, clothes are peeled away ending up in a heap on the floor.

As frantic as we are to get to each other, skin to skin, nipples brushing his chest, we go slow. So slow. An inch at a time, he enters me, infuriatingly, deliciously, slowly.

When Aidan’s hips meet my thighs, he stops, pauses. This is different, so different. Our confessions this morning impact every move, every action. Every little thing holds all the meaning we’ve not put voice to yet.

I rock my hips slowly, staring into his dark blue eyes. Seeing myself reflected there, I hope, pray, he sees himself in mine. Sees how he has invaded my soul.

He keeps his thrusts slow and deep. Every single move intentional.

I feel the build in the tightness of my muscles, in the soft grunts he makes as he exhales. The thump of his heart against the palm of my hand, like it’s beating just for me. My eyes drift closed, lost in the ecstasy of this moment.

“Lisbeth, look at me. Please, love, look in my eyes.”

I only just get them open, meeting his gaze when the slow, beautiful burn of my orgasm rolls through me. I gasp, whispering his name like a prayer. He draws it out as long as he can, jaw tense, arms bracketing me in, holding me like I’m a precious delicate thing. And when he comes, it’s with my name on his breath and my heart fully his.

Aidan

These two days, with just the two of us, have been everything I hoped they would be. I fell asleep with her tucked in at my side. Her head on my shoulder, hand pressed to my heart, legs twined together, her breath fanning across my skin.

I wake up to the featherlight designs she’s tracing on my chest and her lips pressed to my neck. It doesn’t get any fucking better than this.

“Mornin’.” I pull her tighter to me, planning to take full advantage of the time we have before we need to check out.

“Good morning. I didn’t mean to wake you. Just needed to kiss you.” Lis shifts so she’s straddling me, her lips on a slow, lazy path across my chest. Tongue darting out to circle my nipple just before she bites down. No wonder she arches her back and fucking moans when I do that to her. Christ.

What started out as a sweet wakeup becomes a feverish, frenzied need for each other. She takes complete control and uses me, riding me, making me feel like a bloody king.

She was so shy, so tentative the first time we fucked. Afraid to ask for what she wanted, to demand what she needed. My girl has come so far. Gripping my cock as she slides up and down, taking what she needs. The sight of her, the feel of her—this. It doesn’t get any better than this.

I hate packing up our things to go back to Beekman Hills and draw the trip home out as much as I can. Instead of the highway, I take the back roads, winding through every small Connecticut town I can. We stop often, acting like tourists taking in the shops, and farmer’s markets along the way. Neither one of us want to go back to the real world quite yet. I want to fast forward to waking up with Lisbeth every fucking day.

31

Aidan

Iplug the address into my phone’s GPS and yell across the bar, “I’ll be back in a couple hours, yeah?”

Finn tosses me an up-yours over his shoulder. He’s been pissy since I let him and Jimmy know that I was moving out. Not at all happy about his rent change with one less person to split the cost. I, on the other hand, couldn’t be happier. I got an email on Airbnb that my new landlord had to leave town suddenly and wanted to hand over the keys three days early.

I take the steps up to the flat two at a time and rap at the door.

“Hey, yeah, so thanks for doing this, man. Pisses me off, I had no warning that this trip got moved up and I, ya know, just wanted to make sure that everything was all taken care of and shit. Cleaning crew just left, so here’re the keys, you’ve got my email, right? Okay, and if you have any problems, um just, yeah, email me and whatever. Might be gone longer than I thought? So if you want it longer, um, just let me know, email, whatever, okay. Yeah. I gotta go, so um it’s yours.”

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