Chapter 17 - Eredine
EREDINE
Rather than go on a run with Arran, all I really wanted to do was run away from Arran.
He’d left in the early hours, and I could not sleep for a while after his departure.
Images of him, of what I’d just experienced with him, played over and over in my mind, and I couldn’t believe it, but I felt insatiable.
He’d satisfied me so well that I needed more.
Arran Adair was the best, most giving lover I’d ever had, and like a greedy, starving woman, that one bite had made me hunger for it all.
It had been a little more than a bite. Our night together had been an unrelenting display of passion.
Once I’d said good night to him and locked up, I’d returned to my bedroom only to find it was heavy with the scent of sex.
I’d cracked open a window, but that didn’t help with my bedding. Arran’s cologne was all over it.
I’d finally drifted to sleep with the smell of him in my head.
That I woke up exhausted, restless, and needy made me panic. One night with Arran was supposed to scratch the itch. It wasn’t supposed to make the itch spread.
Okay, bad analogy.
The point was, I couldn’t get him out of my head. As I showered that morning, my body felt overly sensitive, and I longed for him to be here with me, his soapy hands gliding over my slender curves.
Damn it.
This was not good.
I’d messed up.
I’d underestimated Arran and myself.
The desire to run away from this reality was great, but I would not do that to my friend.
We had a deal, and it was contingent on our night together not messing up our friendship.
Sure, it would be weird at first the morning after we’d learned every inch of each other’s bodies, but time would take care of the weirdness.
I’d fallen asleep without taking care of my hair, so it was a wild mess. Wrangling my curls into two buns at the base of my neck using a ton of pins, I then dressed in workout gear. I was just slipping into my sneakers when my phone buzzed on the vanity.
Arran’s name was on the text notification. My pulse raced, a small smile prodding my lips, and I tapped on it.
Ery, I can’t make our run this morning. I have to be at the Gloaming first thing to accept a delivery. Talk soon.
My stomach roiled as I tapped out a simple “OK” and sent it. Was Arran blowing me off?
Anger and hurt churned inside me as I grabbed my keys, opting to run, anyway. My first class at the estate wasn’t until eleven, so I had plenty of time. During the drive to the beach, I clenched the steering wheel so hard, it was a wonder it didn’t crack in my hands.
Was he truly blowing me off?
I’d trusted Arran, and now he was making it weird between us.
Of course, there might actually be a delivery at the Gloaming, but the timing was suspect.
Asshole.
Ugh, why did men always inevitably have to be such men?
My classes went fine. Contrary to what Michelle and Natalia said about the other guests being wary of me since Iris Benning’s expulsion, I’d had no comments or strangeness from club members.
I did have one actor who’d recently started taking my Pilates classes who had taken Pilates in LA for years and kept trying to take over the instruction.
I’d learned to be patient with know-it-alls like him and just smile and continue talking to everyone else.
It was irritating but nothing I couldn’t handle, and according to Michelle, his visit would be brief, as he rarely stayed at the estate.
Which was true for quite a few members. They were too busy to visit, but they wanted the prestige of being able to tell people they were Ardnoch members.
Still, despite the ease of my workday, by the time I drove up to Thane and Regan’s at six thirty, I was exhausted from last night’s lack of sleep.
Just as Regan had promised, Arran’s vehicle wasn’t there.
He was mysteriously busy. And that was why I’d offered to watch Eilidh and Lewis on a Friday night while Thane and Regan attended parents’ evening, followed by a late dinner.
I knew the kids would have already eaten, so I could only hope there were leftovers since I’d come straight from work and was starving.
I’d changed into loose sweatpants and a T-shirt after showering at my studio, but I hadn’t had time to grab dinner.
Hurrying up the front steps, I let myself in because Regan had admonished me too many times for knocking. She said I was family, and their home was my home.
It was sweet, but I still felt strange just walking in. “Hey, it’s me!” I called as I stepped inside.
“In here!” Regan called back.
I followed her voice into the main kitchen/dining/living space and found her standing at the counter while Thane stood at her back, clasping a necklace around his fiancée’s throat.
“Ery!” Eilidh yelled, and I turned just in time for her to dive at me. She was getting too tall to haul into my arms now, so I cuddled her as she wrapped her small arms tightly around my waist.
“Hey, cutie pie.”
She grinned up at me. “Mum and Dad are going to talk to my teacher about how awesome I am.”
Her parents chuckled, as did I. “I’m sure they are.” I looked to where Lewis sat on the couch watching TV and waved. “Hey, buddy. You doing okay?”
“We had pizza,” he informed me. “We left you some.”
“Thanks. I’m starving.”
“We’re watching a film about a giant snowman. I can’t pronounce the title, which is stupid because it’s a kids’ film and we should be able to pronounce it,” Eilidh said with a curl to her upper lip.
I struggled not to laugh again. “That’s very true.”
“Thank you again for doing this. We’d have asked Lachlan and Robyn, but they’ve gone to Glasgow for the weekend, and Arran is busy at the Gloaming.” Regan wore an apologetic look.
“It’s fine. You know I love watching the kids.”
“I know, but …” Regan shared a glance with Thane. “We feel like we’re leaning on you too much.”
“Don’t be silly. If I didn’t want to do it, I wouldn’t,” I promised. I owed them this.
Thane gave me a gruff nod. “Thank you, Eredine. We really do appreciate it.”
“Of course.” I was uncomfortable with their thanks, considering I’d allowed the kids to be traumatized when Regan’s stalker knocked me unconscious.
It had taken a lot to get me to look after them again, but once I did, determination replaced my fear.
I’d never let that happen to them now. If I was the one babysitting, then I had some control over the situation.
I could protect them next time.
Not that I wanted there to be a next time.
“Shouldn’t you get going?”
Regan and Thane left a few minutes later. I grabbed a couple slices of cold pizza and a bottle of water and returned to join the kids on the massive sectional. I sat next to Eilidh, who snuggled into my side. “What are we watching?”
“The snowman thing.”
I’d just finished my last slice and was actually enjoying the beautiful animation set in China when I was startled by the sound of the exterior laundry door opening.
“It’s me!” Arran called.
Suddenly, the pizza felt like a lump in my gut. My stare was trained on the doorway into the laundry room, and I swear the breath stuck in my throat as Arran stepped through it.
He’d taken off his boots and jacket and strode in wearing jeans and a long-sleeved Henley that did wonderful things for his arms.
Images of last night flashed across my mind, and my cheeks burned.
“Uncle Arran, we’re watching a movie,” Eilidh announced from her place by my side.
“I can see that.” He smiled indulgently at her as he moved toward us, and then his gaze met mine.
Knowing sparked between us, and I honestly didn’t think I could speak.
“Ery.” He nodded.
Forcing out a hey, I turned back to the screen since it was apparently impossible to talk to him if I was looking at him. “I thought you were working.”
“I got home earlier than expected. Anything to eat?”
Regan and Thane had ordered more food than any one family needed. “There’s cold pizza on the counter.” I still didn’t look at him, my eyes glued to the TV screen.
“That’ll do.”
A few minutes later, Arran joined us on the sectional.
On my other side.
So close, his arm brushed mine every time he lifted a slice to his mouth. The scent of his cologne was a trigger, and I felt that low, deep, swooping want.
Oh, Lord. This was ridiculous.
I tried to shimmy a little away from him without being too obvious, turning in toward Eilidh, but all that did was turn my ass in Arran’s direction, and I swear I felt his burning gaze on it.
That only reminded me of him crawling down my body as I laid flat on my stomach last night, feeling his sexy kisses map my curves. When he’d kissed my ass cheeks and then gently bit one, I’d been surprised by how erotic it was.
Now my breathing seemed too shallow, too loud, as my skin tingled. Every inch of my body felt too sensitive, and all Arran had done was sit next to me.
This was insane!
“Excuse me, cutie,” I murmured to Eilidh. “I need to use the restroom.”
“Okay.” She slid away and I shot up off the couch, hurrying toward the front to the downstairs bathroom.
Once inside, I turned on the cold tap and held my wrists under it. Granny taught me that trick. It was a way to cool or calm down, depending on the situation, without ruining your makeup by splashing your face.
I jumped in surprise as the door opened and Arran walked in, closing it behind him.
Whirling around from the sink, I glowered. “What are you doing? You can’t follow me in here while the kids are right outside.”
He scowled as he bridged the distance between us, forcing me to lean into the sink as he pressed the entire length of his body against mine.
“Arran,” I whispered.
“I didn’t blow you off this morning, by the way,” he surprised me by saying as he searched my face.
“What?”
His frown deepened. “I deduced from your very terse and uncharacteristic ‘OK’ that you thought I was blowing you off. I wasn’t.
My contractor called at five in the morning to tell me the windows we’ve been waiting on were being delivered at six a.m. I had to get out there to accept the delivery. I wasn’t blowing you off.”
Oh.
Okay.
“I believe you.”
The crease between his brows disappeared, and he smirked. “Good.” Then, before I could even compute what was happening, his mouth was on mine, his arms around me, and I was plastered to his body as he devoured me.
Need bloomed between my thighs as I matched his voracious kiss. I wanted to unzip his jeans and yank down my sweatpants and feel him thick and deep inside me more than I’d ever wanted anything.
As he groaned into my mouth, I almost lost all reason.
Until the faint sound of music from the television infiltrated my senses.
I yanked my mouth from Arran’s and gaped at him. “What was that?” I pushed against his chest now, and he reluctantly released me.
Skirting around him, toward the door, I stared warily at him. Mostly because I’d met no one who had the power to fry my brain with lust like he did.
“I want you again, Ery,” Arran said gruffly, his eyes hot with desire.
I wanted him too.
There was no denying that.
I’d barely thought of anything else but him all day.
The need to talk to someone about it was surprising, too, but I couldn’t confess this to the people I trusted because the people I trusted were Arran’s family.
It was too convoluted. And it had to remain a secret.
The more times we gave into our attraction, the harder it would be to keep it a secret.
“We can’t.” I reached for the door handle. “It’ll just complicate things.”
“Ery—”
“No. I’m going back out to the kids, and when you appear, you’re going to tell them you have things to do and you’ll leave.”
His eyes flashed with anger. “So I can’t even spend time with you now? That wasn’t the deal.”
Remorse flooded me. “I don’t mean it like that.
I just mean … maybe we need a little time to readjust to friendship only.
Tonight isn’t that night, Arran, clearly.
So please, just let me look after the kids alone.
We’ll go for our run tomorrow. It should feel normal between us in that setting. Familiar. Routine.”
Arran’s expression darkened, and the fun-loving guy I knew so well disappeared as he sneered and said, “If that’s what you choose to believe. Fine.”
“Arran—”
“No, no. We’ll go for a run tomorrow, and we’ll miraculously forget that last night we had mind-blowing sex that makes me hard every time I think about it.”
My body responded instantly to his words, tight nipples, dampness between my legs. His nostrils flared as if he sensed my physical reaction. He probably did.
“It’s too complicated,” I repeated weakly and then fled the bathroom.
A few minutes later, Arran appeared in the living room to tell the kids he had work to do. They complained, and he winced with guilt, which made me, in turn, feel remorseful. He didn’t look at me again before he left the house.
And I worried about that all night.
Maybe he wouldn’t bother showing up tomorrow.