The Perfect Temptation (53 page)

warm silk at Aiden' s nape, acutely aware of
the pulsing beat

of their hearts, the feel of her breasts
brushing against his

chest as they breathed, the little spirals of
enchantment cascading

down from her shoulders and into the
thrumming

heat and potent promise of their union.

"Your move, darling," he whispered,
working his way up

to her earlobe. "Whenever you're ready
for more."

She tilted her head back to look up at him
and bathe in

the wonder of his gently patient, reassuring
smile. Was there

a more magnificent man on earth? How could
she not love

him with all her heart? Her move? Dh, yes, to
accommodate

his hopes and expectations. And more. To
thrill his senses

and take his breath away. To hear him gasp in
sweet surprise,

moan from the depths of bliss. It would be
her extreme pleasure

to move.

She smiled and the light in his eyes
darkened, deepened,

and she heard the catch in his breathing,
felt the jolt in his

heartbeat. With deliberate purpose, she
pulled her fingers

through his hair one last time and then moved
her hands to

his shoulders to firmly, gently push him back
and down, her

hips still and holding him fast within her,
her hands gliding

over his chest as his shoulders slipped beyond
her reach to

settle into the satin sheets.

His heart was hammering. She could see it
pulsing frantically

along the length of his well-muscled neck,
feel it

thrumming against the palms of her hands and
hard and hot

deep inside her. Slowly, ever so intentionally,
she shifted her

hips, moving them in a languid figure eight.
He sucked a

hard breath and his eyes darkened another
degree as the corners

of his mouth drifted upward.

The friction was deliciously provocative and
Alex moved

again, reveling in the heady delight of it
and in the hunger that

came into Aiden's eyes. Emboldened,
pleasured, she smiled at

him and drew the figure again, this time as
she lifted herself

slowly upward.

"God, Alex," he groaned, his hands
gripping her hips, his

breathing ragged, his smile stunned and
wondrous. "Where

did you learn ... ?"

And then down, caressing the length of him in
unhurried

devotion.

"Ah, darling, yes," he gasped,
arching up to meet her.

She did it again, slower on her upward
stroke, faster at the

downward and ever so much harder, more
deliberate at the

end. And he met her, arching up and drawing
back, matching

her tempo, sending searing currents of pure
pleasure rippling

deep into her womb and igniting the hungry
fires of

need and want. As before, conscious thought
drifted away on

a wave of decadent enchantment, and with a
smile of sweet

anticipation, she closed her eyes and
surrendered all of herself

to the swiftly gathering, spiraling storm.

He was close, so close to the edge; the
rhythm was perfection,

the friction savagely exquisite and
compelling.

Aiden growled, desperate to hold back, to
keep himself from

tumbling over before she did. But, Jesus, she
was good. So

goddamn good. If he had to endure even one
more luscious

stroke ...

The intoxicating ripple of her low moan shot
through

him, heralding their imminent deliverance.
She faltered as

her muscles fluttered around him and she
gasped for
air.

Aiden arched up and drew her down hard
against him and

then rolled her onto her back. Kissing her
fiercely, he renewed

the motion of their exotic dance. And moaned
in unholy

gratitude when she picked it up and moved
with him,

stopped breathing when she arched up against
him and

quickened the tempo.

Craving her, desperately hungry, mindlessly
consumed

by the extraordinary intensity of !he
pleasure, he filled her

harder, faster, deeper and completely. The
quivering in her

thighs deepened to sweetly violent quakes
that held him

hard and fast deep within her. Her cry was
part gasp, part

moan, and wholly unbridled in its measure as
the waves

pounded through the whole of her body, as she
reached her

culmination and pulled him unrelentingly,
gaspingly beyond

control and into his own.

Alex blissfully floated in a sated sea, aware
but not caring

that her heart was racing and that she was
barely breathing.

Sweet shadows of pleasure rippled through
her, their procession

random and slowing, easing her drift down
from the

dazzling, wonderfully shattering heights. Oh,
to have the

strength left to return there, to surrender
to the thrill of another

ride to the glittering stars. Perhaps later,
if she asked

nicely, Aiden would oblige her ever so
selfish desire.

Aiden heaved a sigh as his senses settled
back to earth.

Easing onto his back, he drew Alex with him,
holding her

tight in his arms. Her breathing still as
ragged as his own,

her heart still racing in cadence with his,
she came along

willingly, fitting the pillow of her abdomen
against his hip,

draping her arm and leg over him and nestling
her head into

the curve of his shoulder. Aiden smiled up at
the ceiling, his

mind staggering with the sheer magnificence
of it all.

"As soon as I get my wits back," he
said when he could finally

breathe and make his tongue work at the same
time,

"we're going to do that again."

She chuckled quietly and pressed a kiss to
his skin. "Hopefully

mine are with yours and they'll
turn
up at the same

time."

Hers were scattered, too? Good. Knowing that
deepened

his own sense of fulfillment. Which he would
have said was

utterly impossible. "Alex?"

She snuggled closer to his side, nuzzled her
cheek into

his shoulder, and made a delightful little
purring sound. If he

had the strength, he'd roll her onto her back
and start allover

again that moment.

"Honest to God. darling," he
confessed, summoning all

that he had left to
turn
his head and press a kiss into her
hair.

"I can't remember ever in my life being
this incredibly satisfied."

"Good," she offered on
a
sigh that was pure contentment.

"I wouldn't want to be the only
one."

Oh, he could get used to this. So easily. The
next few

weeks or so were fairly well a certainty. He
didn't plan to do

anything that would drive her from his arms.
And after Lal's

replacement arrived and he wasn't needed to
guard anyone

... Haven House wasn't that far away. And
there was a

great deal to be said for the privacy to be
had there. If he

could keep Alex blissfully smiling like she
was right now,

she'd be willing to visit. Every day would be
nice. Very nice.

Twice a day would be even better.

The longer term was the problem. How to keep
her here

when Mohan and Preeya went back to India? He
was going

to have to give that some thought. Tomorrow.
Right now, he

was just too
damn
sated to plot and plan.

He gathered Alex closer in his arms and
pressed another

kiss to the top of her head. His name slipped
past her lips on

a dreamy sigh and he smiled as his eyelids
drifted closed.

Life wasn't just good; it was perfect.

Alex awoke with a start, her heart racing,
Aiden's arms tight

around her, and the peacocks screaming murder
into the night.

She'd barely wrapped her awareness around all
of it

when Aiden growled, "Jesus, I
forgot," kissed her quickly

and hard, then practically dropped her into
the bedding as he

rolled off the side of the pallet and onto
his feet. "Barrett's

here," he added, grabbing his trousers
and yanking them on.

"I have to go."

"Go where?" she asked, groggily
watching him pull on

his boots. "It's the middle of the
night."

"Don't worry," he answered, his
words slightly muffled

as he roughly tugged a thick black sweater
over his head. His

head popped through the top opening in the
same instant that

his hands emerged from the sleeves. In the
next, he snatched

his gun off the nightstand. "I won't be
gone all that long and

I won't be all that far away," he
assured her, tucking the

weapon into his waistband at the small of his
back.

He snatched up a short black coat and was at
the door before

he paused. "Wait for me, Alex. Right
there. Just like

that. Please."

Clearly, there was no stopping him.
"If
you'll promise to

be careful."

"Promise." He was in the hall and
drawing the door

closed when he poked his head around the
edge, grinned and

added, "Sleep while you can,
darling."

Alone, she listened to the peacocks and
sighed.
If
it

weren't for them, Aiden would have slept
through whatever

appointment he had. Barrett would have
arrived and at some

point departed and she'd still
be
sleeping in Aiden's arms,

wrapped in the warmth of his body and his
tender care.

Aiden was right; the peacocks had to go. And definitely
before

tomorrow night. Alex slipped over to lie in
the depression

he'd filled only moments ago. Burying her
face in his pillow,

she wrapped her arms around it and held it
tight, breathing

deep the heated, lingering scent of
him.
Missing him, she

wished him safe and back at her side.