Her Canadian Dream [Her Canadian Dream] (Siren Publishing Classic) (7 page)

Her face reddened even more. “Oh, my God. I’m sorry.” She buried her face in his chest in horror.

Aiden chuckled and tightened his arm around her. “Hey. Look at me,” he ordered. She stayed hidden.

“Aly. Look. At. Me.”

Again his tone brooked no argument and she lifted her head to look at him.

His next words made her blanch.

“Stand up.” Despite her nerves she stood. “Strip.”

“What?” She couldn’t keep the shock out of her voice.

He waved his hand at her. “You heard. Strip. Everything off.”

Her thoughts threatened her composure and her hands shook.

Oh Lord. A real Dom. Can I do this? What if he takes one look at me and hates what he sees?

“Wait,” he barked out the word as she stood, indecision written all over her.

She gave him a quizzical look as she battled with her natural shyness and tried to decide whether to obey him.

He continued, “What was that negative thought that just went through your head?”

Again her thoughts jumped in.

How did he know?
Were Doms psychic, too? Could she admit her fears to him? He was such a good-looking man she couldn’t see that he would be interested in her.

“I’m waiting, Aly.”

She decided to confess her fears. “I was just thinking that you might be put off by my body once I got undressed. I’m not a skinny little model type like that Lindsay woman. I’m not sexy like her.”

Before she knew what was happening, he had grabbed her arm and swung her round, swatting her ass as he moved.

“Ouch.”

“Don’t ever put yourself down like that again. You are a hundred times more sexy than that bit of trash. If I ever hear you doing that again I will give you five more of the same.”

He pulled her round to face him again, pulling her forward so that she stood between his open legs.

“Now, I want you to strip. And I don’t want to hear any more of your self-deprecations.”

Slowly, she stepped back. In her head the battle was still raging as to whether she could do this.

Aiden sat patiently, seemingly impassive as he watched the myriad of emotions flitting across her face.

He smiled at her, deep brown eyes watching and waiting. The fact that he seemed not to judge her helped to make her decision and she started to pull her sweater over her head.

She dropped it onto the floor next to her and reached behind to unclasp her bra. As she let that fall on top of her sweater her nipples peaked at the sudden change in temperature. Resisting the urge to cover herself, she sneaked a peek at Aiden. Her eyes homed in on his crotch and there was no doubt that this was affecting him as much as her.

This knowledge gave her the courage to proceed. She quickly slid down the zip on her skirt and let it fall. Stepping out of it, she kicked it to one side. A frisson of nerves almost made her baulk at the final hurdle but she banished all negative thoughts from her mind as she pushed down the sides of her now-soaked panties.

The scent of her arousal filled the room and made her cheeks flare with embarrassment.

Aiden reached out his hand and a growl rumbled through him as she stepped back to avoid his touch.

“Be still.”

His eyes raked down her body, taking in her full breasts, slightly rounded tummy and the dark curls covering her mound. Just below, at the juncture of her thighs he could see the proof of her arousal glistening as juices leaked from her moist pussy.

“Now, my sweet little English rose. I want you to go upstairs to my room and sit on the bed. I’ll give you five minutes. There are some rules though and I expect you to follow them.

“In the bedroom, my word is law and I say what happens and when. This does not mean that I won’t consider your every need. If you think things are going too fast for you, then I want you to say yellow. Then we’ll talk about what’s worrying you and try to sort it out. If you want things to stop for good you must say red. Everything then comes to a halt. You won’t need to explain anything or apologise. You can go back to your own room then and we’ll forget this ever happened. No hard feelings and we go on with our normal arrangement until you leave. Do you understand?”

He offered up a silent prayer.

Please say yes! I don’t think I could bear it if you said no!

She nodded.

With relief in his voice he insisted, “Words please, Aly. I need to hear you say it.”

“Yes, Aiden…um, Sir.” Her shy use of
Sir
made him smile, more pleased than he would ever let on. “Five minutes,” he reiterated softly.

Aly quickly picked up her clothes and headed for the stairs but her thoughts wouldn’t let up.

What am I doing? I can’t do this. I don’t know this man. How can I do this with someone I don’t know?

But if I don’t go in and wait he’s going to be angry. Oh what have I done?

As she went into her own room and sat on the bed, doubts came flooding in. Aiden was everything she wanted in a man but this was all too new and too soon after Sean.

Dropping her head in her hands, she choked back the tears as she tried to stop herself shaking.

What happened downstairs was a mistake. She couldn’t be what Aiden wanted her to be. So much had changed in her life within the past twenty-four hours, her head was in a whirl. As much as her heart was telling her to go ahead and explore her newfound sexuality, her head was pulling her back.

Aiden was the man of her dreams but she had to do what she thought was right for her at the moment.

Aiden banked the fire, switched off the lights, and locked up the house. He slowly mounted the stairs, thinking to give Aly time to get ready without rushing her. As he went about the small chores, he was thinking himself the luckiest man alive. Jobs done, he made his way upstairs.

As he reached the top, Aiden suddenly stopped.

What was that?

To the left, coming from Aly’s bedroom, he could hear a snuffling noise. Softly making his way along the hall, he stood outside the door and stopped dead. Shame filled him.

She’s crying. Oh fuck. I made her cry.

“Aly?” He tapped on the half-open door and pushed into the room.

She was sitting on the edge of the bed, still naked, with her head in her hands. Sobs racked her body and he couldn’t help thinking how beautiful she looked, even in her misery.

“Sweetheart? What’s the matter?” He dropped to his knees in front of her and took her small cold hands into his large warm ones.

She looked up at him, tears spilling down the sides of her face.

Misery poured from her very soul as she confessed, “I’m sorry. I can’t…I just can’t. I don’t know you. I don’t even know me at the moment.” Her tears increased as she hiccupped. “I really thought I could do it but I can’t. And now you’ll hate me and…”

He pressed a finger to her lips as he interrupted her. “Shhhh, honey. I don’t hate you.” Aiden rose and sat beside her, pulling her in to his side in a strong hug.

He castigated himself in his thoughts.

What a shit you are, Aiden Price. You should have known she wouldn’t be ready. Now you’ve probably scared her off for good. She’s going to run a mile from you now.

He tried to soothe her.

“This is my fault, baby. I’m sorry. I’ve rushed you. I just couldn’t resist kissing you when you woke up but I should have left it at that for now. You’re still hurting from the dick…sorry but he is…who just left you.

“Aly, I really like you and I think we could be good together but you need time and I didn’t give it to you. Some Dom, huh? Supposed to be able to read a sub but seems I was dyslexic with you.”

She gave him a watery smile as his weak attempt at humour.

“That’s better. Now dry those pretty eyes.” She pulled a tissue from the pack on the nightstand and did as she was told. He stood and plucked her robe from the end of the bed. “Here, put this on and we’ll talk.”

As she tied the robe’s belt, he led her across the room to the armchair and then tugged her down onto his lap. Tightening his arms around her, he ran his callused hand up and down her arm, soothing, but at the same time, causing a tingle to run through her.

He started to talk in a soft, gentle tone.

“You’re right, Aly. We don’t know anything about each other. So let me start.”

She lifted her eyes and gave him a quizzical look as he continued.

“Hello there, little lady. My name is Aiden Price. I was born and raised here in Huntsville. I part own a construction company with my best friend, Brett. I inherited this wonderful house from my grandparents and it’s taken me a few years to renovate and update but I love it and love living by the lake. I’m stubborn and bullheaded sometimes but I look after my own. My parents live down in Minden, as does my brother, Joe, who just happens to be gay. If that’s a problem, then we need to stop now and rethink because I don’t do discrimination of any sort. I visit my family every Sunday because if I didn’t my mother would raise hell.” He chuckled. “And she’s a force to be reckoned with, even at my age, which incidentally is twenty-nine.”

He squeezed her arm. “Now you.”

She took a deep breath, relieved that he wasn’t angry with her. He actually seemed to understand her adverse reactions of earlier.

Her voice was shy as she told him, “Hello. My name is Alyssa Crane.” He stopped her and looked surprised.

“Alyssa? I thought that Aly was short for Alison. Alyssa. That’s beautiful. I love it. In fact that’s what I shall call you from now on.”

Aly blushed but continued.

“I’m twenty-six years old. I’m an only child, from Hampshire, England. My parents died in a car accident when I was twelve and I was in foster care from then until I was sixteen. I was lucky enough to have had a small amount of money left me by my parents that helped me to find an apartment, and paid for my night school courses in order for me to qualify as a teacher in arts and crafts. Whilst I was studying I worked days in an office, where I met Sean about two years ago. We got on well and started to date then he had the idea of coming over here. I had nothing there to keep me, so decided that I might have a better chance of doing my real job here and being with Sean was security, too. Little did I know.”

She gave a sad smile and swallowed hard.

“You know the rest. I’ve got four months left on my work visa and then I’ll have to go back and try to start over.”

Aiden’s thought shocked him to the core.

Over my dead body.

Where the hell did that thought come from? He’d only just met the girl and already he knew that he didn’t want her to go back to the UK.

He shook his head slightly as he smiled and spoke gently. “Well, Alyssa, it’s lovely to meet you. And now, I think it’s time for us to go to bed…to sleep.” He grinned.

“You’ve had a pig of a day and you have a lot on your mind. We’ll revisit our earlier plans another time, when you’re feeling less threatened and more yourself. I’m going to admit, though, that I am extremely attracted to you and I would love for us to explore your submissive feelings a little more sometime soon. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow evening but I want you to know that nothing is going to happen on that score until you are ready.”

Aly stifled a yawn, causing her face to redden again as she apologised. “Oh I’m sorry. That’s so rude of me. And I feel awful. I know you…um…you…were needing…er…”

Her inference was plain but he quickly put her mind at rest.

“Don’t you worry yourself about that, sweet Alyssa. It’s not the first time I’ve had to curb my libido and I doubt it will be the last.”

He stood, lifting her as he rose, and strode over to the bed. Standing her down next to the nightstand, he pulled back the covers and indicated that she get in.

Aly was obviously too tired to argue and slid between the cool sheets. She snuggled under as he tugged up the quilt and covered her with it. Giving her a chaste kiss on her cheek, he switched off the lamp and softly left the room. Even before he was out in the hallway he could hear her even breathing which told him she was already asleep.

He walked along the hallway until he reached his own room. He couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been earlier. Any Dom worth his salt would have realised that Alyssa wasn’t ready for him yet.

Alyssa. A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.

One of the first things he was going to have to do was work on her self-esteem. The dickhead who had brought her here had had no idea of the treasure he held. But on the other hand, if he hadn’t brought her with him, Aiden would never have met her.

“Everything for a reason.”
He could hear his grandmother’s voice in his head.

He went through his bedroom to the en suite bathroom at the far side and after his ablutions headed toward his own bed and climbed in. Lying on his back with his arms behind his head, he couldn’t get the memory of Alyssa stripping off her clothes for him out of his mind. Her obvious discomfort had only added to the feeling of control which had flooded into him as she had stood, shy and embarrassed, in front of him. The thought that drifted back to him, that she was willing to try to please him, had his cock jerking awake again. He had to push down the urge to go back in her room and wake her to finish what they had started.