Page 50 of A Sweet Mess

Now would be the time to make a pithy remark and trot away. But all her anger and bravado had seeped out of her, and she stood trembling. In fear or desire, she couldn’t say.

“Run, Aubrey,” Landon warned quietly. “If you’re still there when I get out of here, I guarantee you won’t be going to bed alone tonight.”

She knew she should do as he’d said, but her legs refused to take her back to safety.Just take one step. The next ones will be easier.Even when Landon pushed himself out of the pool, his wet clothes clinging to his hard body, all Aubrey could manage was a wide-eyed gasp.

He stalked toward her with measured steps—his large bodytaut with control and dangerously graceful. His face was a mask of lean hunger, and shewanted.She wanted him with a fierce desperation that stole her breath.

She’d shared one night with him, and the memories were seared into her mind. But it was nothing—nothing—compared to the carnal fever that seized her now.

He stopped mere inches from her, and his heat engulfed her. “Look at me.”

Helpless against his command, she stared into his eyes. It was going to end in heartbreak, but she had no choice. Fighting what raged between them was a slow death. When Landon lowered his head, she tilted her face and parted her lips to receive his touch fully. It was surrender. It was freedom.

She pushed her body against his and fisted her hands into his hair. Answering her unspoken demand, he deepened the kiss with a shuddering groan. Hunger eclipsed sanity, and she plunged her tongue into his mouth and tugged his head down, struggling to get closer to him.

Aubrey writhed against him and bit his bottom lip hard. With a low growl, he wrenched the towel from her body and pressed her against him. His hands were rough and hot on her bare skin, and a muffled moan escaped her.

Still not close enough.

Frustrated with the barrier between them, Aubrey tugged at his damp shirt with fumbling hands. She whimpered in protest when his lips left hers for the second it took to pull his shirt over his head.

He’s so beautiful.

Spreading her fingers wide on his chest, Aubrey buried her lips in the hollow of his throat and traced open-mouthed kisses along his jaw to capture his lips again. Their touch held no gentleness—only rough urgency. Landon drew his hands upthe side of her body and cupped her breasts. When he grazed his thumbs over their hard peaks, Aubrey whimpered and rocked her hips against him. He released her mouth to taste her neck, sucking and nibbling on the sensitive skin.

“God, I need you.” His voice was a husky plea. “All of you.”

Landon’s words pierced through the fog of passion and buried themselves in Aubrey’s mind. She jolted awake from her dream. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t risk her livelihood. Her future.

But it was more than that. She was falling for him.

Her parents’ wreck of a marriage had convinced her love and forever weren’t for her.If he grows tired of me, I’ll become invisible even when I’m by his side. I’ll disappear like Mom.She couldn’t risk becoming a ghost, floating through life, unseen and unheard.

He was consumed by fire. He had no consciousness other than need and desire. Their hot breath mingled as one, and he couldn’t get close enough to her. At first, he didn’t notice at all. Then through the haze, Landon realized Aubrey was pushing against his chest. Bewildered, he lifted his head just enough to focus his eyes on hers.

“I can’t.” Her voice broke on the second word.

“Why?” He held her gently by the shoulders. “Don’t pretend you don’t feel this. We can’t fight it. I’m sick of fighting it.”

“Nothing has changed. If anyone finds out we’ve slept together, all the time and money I invested to expand Comfort Zone could be lost. Even my appearance on Aria’s show could backfire on us.” Her voice was thin and hesitant. “I won’t be that person who’d do anything to get ahead, and you can’t be the man who could be bought.”

But she was wrong. Everything had changed.

Aubrey hurried inside the house, buried under the white towel, and he watched her disappear up the stairs. Landon didn’t know how long he stood at the foot of the staircase. He forced his steps to lead him to his room, and then he changed into his running clothes.

Landon sprinted on the dirt trails circling the property until he tasted blood in his throat. Then he ran some more. His lungs burned, and his muscles screamed, but he couldn’t erase the memory of Aubrey in the pool, wet and naked. She took his breath away. He ached for her. But the fear and vulnerability in her eyes haunted his mind even after his body cooled.

When she’d sneaked away from his hotel without a word it had stung his pride. He’d laughed at himself for feeling used and discarded. It had hardly been his first one-night stand. Still, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. Wanting her.

He had to face the fact that making love to Aubrey had marked his soul. Burying himself deep inside her had satisfied a hunger he hadn’t known was there, but it made him starved for more. He’d been a coward to leave Weldon without finding her. He’d denied the unsettling emotions she’d awakened in him because it was easier that way.

Well,easiercould go to hell. He no longer cared that a relationship with Aubrey would complicate his life. The wild need inside him demanded to be fulfilled. If he didn’t heed the deafening call to make love to her, he would burn to cinders.

Landon had to discover the source of her fear and assuage it with everything in him. Aubrey was a warm, sensual woman, so full of life. A woman like her shouldn’t be locked behind a defensive wall.

But until she was ready, he had to respect her wishes and give her the space she asked for.

15

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