Touched (The Untouched Trilogy #2)(39)

Hozier’s Like Real People Do was playing in the background. The lyrics took me to my Mom’s grave and then back to the person who rescued me.

He closed the door and walked out of the bathroom. A half hour or so later I stepped into the bedroom and Aiden was sitting in a chair near the terrace reviewing something in a folder that bore the Raine Industries logo. A tinge of guilt surfaced again as I thought about the sacrifices he was making for me. He looked up from the file.

“How was your bath?” he asked.

“It was nice. Thank you,” I replied, stifling a yawn.

He placed the folder on the table beside him and walked over to me. “Looks like it’s past someone’s bedtime.”

“I didn’t think I had a bedtime.”

“You do now,” he said. He grabbed my hand and walked me to the bed and tucked me in.

“I’ll let you rest,” he said. He kissed my forehead and turned to leave.

“Aiden.”

“Yes?”

“I don’t want you to go just yet. Can you hold me please?”

He didn’t reply, he simply walked back to the bed and climbed in beside me. He pulled me close and I lay my head on his contoured chest. I inhaled, taking in a concentrated dose of his unique scent. We lay in silence and my mind started to wonder. I thought about my being here and my sisters and, of course, my mom. I could feel the tears forming and I absolutely didn’t want to cry. I was so over crying. I wanted to forget the pain. I wanted to forget my tears. I touched the side of his face and gently motioned him towards me and softly kissed his lips. Our kiss quickly became one that involved quickened heartbeats and exploring hands. I reached inside his pants to stroke his manhood. I wanted him inside me. I wanted his skin on my skin. I wanted his touch to erase everything else … if only for a short while.

“Aria, are you sure about this?” he asked.

“Yes, Aiden. I need this. I need you.”

He looked at me, searching my eyes, seeing my dire need for him. He lowered his head to meet my anxious lips and kissed me deeply.

He suddenly pulled away and I reached up to pull his mouth back to mine. “Aria, no. Stop. You’re trembling. We aren’t doing this. As much as I would love to be with you like this again … not this way. I want you lucid. Tomorrow if you’re okay without the medication and you still want this … then we’ll make it happen.”

“But Aiden –”

“No buts.”

“Will you at least hold me until I fall asleep?” I asked.

“Now that, I can do.”

He pulled me toward him and I placed my head on his chest. He pulled me closer, surrounding me with the warmth and comfort that only he could provide. I took a deep breath and sighed. I closed my eyes, allowing the erogenous scent to penetrate my senses.

We were both quiet. My raging thoughts soon calmed as I listened to his heartbeat. It was a soothing repetition that carried me to the edge of unconsciousness. The last thought before I dozed off was of tomorrow; I wasn’t taking any medication … not even Tylenol.





CHAPTER TWELVE

“Good morning, sleepy head.”

“Good morning. What time is it?” I asked, as I watched him dress. What a yummy site to wake up to.

“Shortly after 11 o’clock. I saw you stirring in bed a little while ago and I wanted to be here when you awoke.”

I looked at the tray of food on the bedside table. “What’s this? It looks delicious.”

“I helped Dianna prepare something special for you.”

“Something you helped with? “I asked.

“Yes. What? Are you surprised?” he asked, walking over and kissing the top of my head.

“Everything about you surprises me.”

Why was he in a suit?

“Are you leaving?” I asked.

“I need to sign some papers and meet with some key people at RPH. I don’t want to lose momentum on your roll out of The Writer.”

“Hey. That’s my project. I don’t want you coming in putting your Aidenisms on it.”

“What the hell is that?” he asked.

“I’m sure you can figure it out.”

“These Aidenisms … when did you come up with those and how many are there?” he asked.

“They kind of just appeared I guess and there’re several,” I answered.

“Would any of them happen to have a positive connotation because your reply a few seconds ago leaned more toward the negative?”

“Of course, there’s positive, but there’re also a few that I’m not particularly fond of,” I replied.

“I don’t want to hear about those. Tell me about the others.”

“Yeah, you would want to hear any and every thing that inflates that monstrous ego.”

“Not at all. I want to make sure I understand is all,” he said.

I smiled. “Nothing to understand. An Aidenism is simply the term that I apply to your way of doing things … like you posing as Aiden Wyatt or your tendency to control everything.”

“Cute Aria … real cute,” he said.

“Don’t be that way. Those are just the bad ones. Would you like to hear a good one?”

“If you can manage to scrape one up … sure.”