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“You want to explore?” Aiden suggests.
I shoot him a quizzical look. “Can we?”
“If my brother paid an arm and a leg for this venue, then we’d better be able to explore it if we want. Come on.” Wrapping his arm around mine, he tugs me down the hallway.
“Interesting décor choice,” I comment, gesturing to an array of portraits on the walls. The subjects look older—from medieval times, perhaps?—with long, sad faces and eyes that follow as you walk by.
“For real,” Aiden agrees. “Whatever happened to fields of daises?”
Suddenly we pass an open doorway to our left. Aiden stops short, peering inside. He makes a soft noise of interest, taking a step in. I follow. The room appears to be a library of sorts. Bookshelves line the walls, and a warm fireplace burns in the corner, surrounded by a chaise lounge and a few chairs.
“Cute,” I comment, walking around.
Aiden walks to the nearest bookshelf, brushing his fingers along the spines.
I gravitate toward the fireplace, taking a seat on the chaise lounge and staring into the embers. “How did Asher and Olivia meet?” I ask over my shoulder.
“Olivia was his personal assistant,” Aiden responds behind me.
“Mmmm, a workplace romance.”
Aiden chuckles. “Incredibly improper coming from Asher.” I hear him come up behind me, and then he takes a seat next to me on the lounge. Our thighs barely brush, and a streak of electricity runs through me.
“Oh?” I ask.
“Yeah, among the three of us, Asher has always been the most … straightlaced, let’s say.”
I raise my eyebrows. “And you aren’t?”
Aiden levels me with a look. “Do I seem straightlaced to you?”
I laugh out loud at this. “No,” I admit. “You do not.”
I stare down at the cocktail in my hands as a silence settles around us. I’m suddenly hyper aware of how close Aiden is to me, his leg barely touching mine, the heat from his body on my skin.
“Did I tell you how beautiful you look in this?” Aiden says softly, reaching over to my knee to gently brush his fingers against the fabric of my dress.
My heart rate speeds up, my breath somehow shallow and fast. I turn my head to find him already staring at me. “I know what you’re trying to do,” I breathe.
His lip twitches upward in a smile. “Oh yeah? And what am I trying to do?”
I swallow. “Compliment me, flatter me.”
He raises an eyebrow. “And what’s so bad about that?”
He’s inching closer to me, his face barely a foot from mine.
“Because you’re the type of man used to getting whatever he wants. And you can’t have me.” I say it slowly, with a smirk of my own. But I’m afraid my tone, my body language, my eyes, are giving me away. Betraying what I really feel. You can’t have me. Little does he know he already does.
Or maybe he knows exactly what I’m trying so desperately to hide.
A spark of delight flashes across his face, and he leans in impossibly closer. “And what you do want, Lilly?” He gently reaches up to caress my cheek. My body is frozen, only aware of the place where his skin is meeting mine.
I open my mouth, but no words come out.
“I’ll tell you what I want,” he says slowly, his caress trailing gently down my neck, sending shivers across my skin. “I want to do terrible, unspeakable things to you. I want you naked underneath me while you make the most delicious noises known to man. I want you screaming my name and begging for more. But first …” He pauses. “I want to kiss you.”
The silence stretches around us, enveloping us, crushing us. My body is on fire, my face red and hot, my nerves alight with electricity. I take in a shaky breath. What are you doing, Lilly? What are you doing? I ask myself. But it’s too late. It was already too late the second I laid eyes on him. “Then do it,” I find myself answering, my voice barely audible.
