The Proposal (The Proposition #2)(54)



Beau whined and nudged her belly. “We’re home now. You don’t have to worry anymore.” She reached over to scratch his ears. “Where’s Daddy, boy?”

He yipped and then started for the stairs. With the way they had left things, she wasn’t too surprised that he wanted to be apart from her so he hadn’t slept in his bedroom. Taking the stairs one at a time, she then crept down the hall to the guest room. Beau’s claws clacked behind her. When she reached the door, she turned back to him. “Stay boy.”

He reluctantly slid down on his paws to lie outside the bedroom. She smiled at him. “Good Beau.”

Her shaky hand worked hard to turn the doorknob. Aidan’s soft snores met her as she stepped inside the darkened bedroom. Since he hated sleeping in the dark, the nightlight next to the bed lit her way across the floor. She eased down on the bed beside him. Lying on his back, the sheet was bunched around his waist while one arm was thrown lazily over his head.

As she gazed down at him, she wondered how she had ever thought she could want anyone else. Mortification caused her to shudder when she thought of how she had kissed Pesh when all along she had only wanted it to be Aidan’s lips and Aidan’s hands on her. Just like Aidan had fought his feelings for her by taking home a stranger, she had tried to do the same thing with Pesh. And like him, nothing she could have ever done with Pesh would have driven away her true feelings for Aidan.

In the end, there would only be two loves in her life—Travis and Aidan. She rubbed the back of her hand along his cheek. It brought a smile to her lips because she realized how he was keeping a close shave because he knew she liked it.

When he didn’t wake at her touch, she leaned over and kissed his lips. She pulled away and stared into his sleeping face. “I love you, Aidan Fitzgerald. I always have, and I always will. I’m sorry for hurting you,” she whispered.

He grimaced in his sleep, his hands fisting the sheet. “Em…Em please…I…I love you.”

Emma’s heart jolted and then restarted. Her hand flew to her chest and rubbed where the slow, aching burn filled her. He was calling out to her. Somehow, somewhere in his subconscious he really did want her, and he had said the words she had longed to hear. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to make love to him and truly cement their feelings for each other.

With another kiss, Aidan still slept soundly. Biting her lip, Emma knew the one way she was going to have to wake him up to ensure he would be ready and willing. Leaning over she began kissing a moist trail down his bare chest. When she reached the waistband of his underwear, he still hadn’t stirred. Easing it down, she took his c**k in her hand. Working her fingers over him, his length began to swell. Aidan shifted in the bed, but his breathing didn’t change.

When she slid him into her mouth, his h*ps bucked. Then a low groan rumbled through his chest. “Emma,” he murmured, and she paused. Her heart stilled when she realized he was still asleep and calling out for her.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Aidan tried shaking himself out of his dream. Once again, his nights were filled with Emma. His days were consumed by the growing ache of his feelings and now he was even tormented in his dreams. Tonight was physically painful as he could actually feel her lips on him, moving him in and out of her warm mouth.

He groaned. “Emma,” he murmured. God, he wanted her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and bury himself deep inside. He wanted to hear her cry out his name again like she had before. “Emma, I need you.”

“I’m here, baby, and I want nothing more than to make love to you.”

His eyes flew open. He realized he wasn’t alone in the bed. This was no dream Emma. She was real and was straddling him while she worked her lips and tongue over his erection. “No, wait,” he croaked. When she licked and then sucked one of his balls into her mouth, he threw his head back against the pillow. Fuck, it had been so long. His h*ps moved involuntarily, bucking his length farther into her mouth.

No, no, no. He couldn’t do this. Their relationship started on sex, and he wasn’t about to let it restart that way. It was about love this time—pure and beautiful love. He pushed himself into a sitting position. “No, Emma, don’t,” he said.

Her eyes glanced from his c**k up to his eyes in surprise. He shook his head. “I don’t want you to do this.”

She pulled away so violently he winced as her teeth scraped along his length. He tried to grab her shoulders, but she stumbled off him so fast that he couldn’t. She ran into the bathroom and slammed the door.

He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. Why did he seem to have a gift for completely and totally f**king things up every single time he was around her? He threw back the sheet and hurried over to the bathroom. He could hear her crying. When he reached for the doorknob, he found it locked. “Em, I’m sorry. You misunderstood me, I swear.”

At his words, she cried harder. Aidan banged his fist so hard into the wood his hand screamed in agony. “Dammit, Emma, would you please open the door and let me explain?”

“How could I possibly misunderstand you? You said you didn’t want to sleep with me!” she screeched in between the sobs that drove spikes into Aidan’s heart.

Growling with frustration, Aidan kicked the door. “Em, has there ever been a time in our relationship when I didn’t want you? You’ve always kept me at half-mast just being in the same room.”

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