AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When he found out the truth, she wouldneverget rid of him.
When everything and anything with a likeness of Jeanie had been stashed in the closet, she surveyed the room. It looked somewhat odd, with picture-less nails protruding from walls and random empty spaces on shelves, but hopefully he wouldn't notice. She returned to the door, and undoing the latch, finally opened it. And unwittingly…
Her world halted.
Leaning against the doorframe, the tall and handsome Aidan Bancroft was larger than life and sexier than the last actor to win the best actor nod. He wore a dark button-down shirt and a rugged pair of blue jeans, stretched tight over well-defined muscles. The sleeves were pulled up, revealing powerful arms and corded biceps. His chest was solid and expansive, his stance strong and determined. He towered tall, with a body that was just… perfect.
His eyes, mysterious like the deep blue midnight sea, darkened as he stared at her. A slight noise from Jeanie’s room broke the spell, and Laura shook her head. “Come in.”
Aidan, however, didn’t move. “It’s strange, isn’t it?” he said quietly.
Laura gulped from a mouth suddenly like sandpaper, resisted the urge to squirm under his perusal. “What is?”
“This thing between us.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking ab–”
“Don’t bother denying it, not to yourself and certainly not to me. I can tell by the way you look at me you feel the same thing.”
She swallowed. “So we’re attracted to each other. It’s lust. Happens every day between millions of men and women. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“If it doesn’t mean anything, do you mind if I try something?” He didn’t wait for an answer. He didn’t explain.
He kissed her.
A tender caress, a gentle demand for surrender, the kiss was a sweet delicacy, a treat to savor. Laura melted into the man before her, losing herself as the emotions of the last few days assaulted her in blinding succession. The kiss was the language she used in a catharsis of emotion, an unspoken connection that transcended earthly bonds. A rock solid expanse of muscles pressed against her, his hardness an electrifying foil to her softness. Inch for inch, breath for breath, their skin touched, intimate pressure in intimate places. Then…
Reality hit.
It took all her willpower, but Laura pulled away from the kiss. Her cheeks flamed with heat, her skin the same, as they locked eyes with a million unsaid words. “That was a really bad idea.” Her voice wavered with emotion she couldn’t hide. “There's too much between us.”
His eyes narrowed, his control regained, his expression unreadable. “What things?”
“No things… I mean nothing.” Andno onehe could know of, at least not yet. “I meant there can’t be anything between us.”
Challenging eyes belied every word. He may have rights to his daughter, yet he had none to her. Only his power blazed, staking a claim. “There’s some reason behind your confusing behavior, some logic that will make everything clear. I can’t see it yet.” He lowered his voice. “But I will.”
He just might. She fought not to retreat as he stepped toward her, his gaze sharpening as he glanced behind her into the home. “What are you hiding?”
“I'm not hiding anything.” Now she stepped back and gestured him forward, into the small apartment that had been his daughter’s home her entire life. Precisely three seconds later (a.k.a. three seconds too late), she remembered the morning’s mess. “Wait!” But it was too late. Aidan blinked at the disaster of a kitchen, pausing on the egg-covered wallpaper and ceiling, the flour coated furnishings and the still damp floor.
He opened his mouth. Nothing came out. She opened her mouth. Nothing also came out. She had to come up with some explanation. “Have you heard of the bogeyman?”
Yeah, she actually said that.
“I’m sorry, did you just say–”
“I did not.”
“But I heard you–”
“Exactly.”
So, now he thought she believed in the bogeyman and liked to paint the ceiling with pancake batter. In other words,unhinged. As a distraction, it wasn’t half bad.
Rustling suddenly sounded from Jeanie’s bedroom. Aidan pivoted, his mirth vanished in an instant, his posture traded for a warrior’s stance. She’d read on the Internet he'd gotten his black belt in three forms of martial arts. “Is someone else here?” He scanned the surroundings, his gaze catching on the scarred, pictureless walls. "Didn't you say your daughter was at a sports game?"
Laura’s heart stopped. Momentarily. “Yes, I did, and, yes, she is, but I didn't hear anything.”
