Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
AVERY
Aiden made good on his promise. And though I’d been strung tight all day, I’d also had the time of my life.
While I’d explored, taking notes and brainstorming ideas to bring back to the resort, he’d stayed at the bed-and-breakfast to write again.
Except, unlike yesterday, he’d slipped away a couple times to meet up with me throughout the day, each encounter hotter than the last.
First had been midmorning in the corn maze—the appointment Addison had booked for us that she’d thought so urgent we needed to receive a wake-up call about it.
Aiden and I had slunk off into a corner, and he’d stood in front of me, blocking my body from any nosy onlookers.
And then he’d shoved his fingers into my panties and made me come, all while whispering what a good, dirty girl I was being for him and how he couldn’t wait to taste me again.
Then we’d met up for lunch, where he’d casually touched me throughout the meal, dropping lingering kisses on my lips, my jaw, my neck but never giving me what my body was hungry for.
At least until he’d asked for the bill. As we were waiting, he’d tugged me into his lap.
With the tablecloth as our only barrier, he’d touched me over my clothes until I’d come, biting back a moan.
All while I’d stared out at the oblivious patrons filling the restaurant.
And finally, he’d called me late in the afternoon, double-checking that we were still on for dinner.
When I’d asked how writing had been going, he’d read me what he’d written—a filthy exhibitionist sex scene that had my panties wet immediately.
It’d barely taken more than a brush of my fingers against my clit as I was hidden away in a single-stall bathroom before I was flying, Aiden murmuring praise on the other end.
Needless to say, he was a distraction in the best possible way. But even with those interruptions, I’d still managed to get in a full day’s worth of activities, had taken five screenfuls of notes and talked with a dozen different people by the time he met up with me in the evening.
Our plan was dinner and then…well, I wasn’t so sure. But I was interested in a whole different kind of eating followed by mind-blowing sex, preferably more than once, so the dinner plans could suck it for all I cared. I probably had a few granola bars in my bag that would tide us over.
I thought Aiden and I were on the same page. I figured he’d throw our plans—Addison’s plans, let’s be real—out the window and drag me back to our room to hand out a few more O’s.
Instead, he greeted me with a kiss and a murmured, “Hey,” then clasped my hand in his and tugged me into a crowded park.
Dozens—maybe hundreds—of blankets dotted with people were spread out as far as the eye could see, everyone setting up for the evening’s show.
It was the highlight of the entire festival—a glow-in-the-dark parade, followed by a massive fireworks showcase.
And I didn’t give one single fuck about any of it.
Addison had made sure Mark from the bed-and-breakfast had reserved our place on the lawn. Our blanket lay directly in front of a large maple tree, its leaves falling like red confetti to the ground. A picnic basket sat in the middle, along with a bottle of wine, and no.
Absolutely not.
Aiden could not be taking me here to sit at this event for hours after he’d been making me hungry and needy for him all day. After he’d made me crave his cock, desperate for that fullness only he could provide. After he’d withheld it from me last night and after we’d been cockblocked this morning…
I jerked to a stop before we’d reached the blanket, our arms outstretched between us. “You can’t be serious.”
He glanced back at me with a raised brow. “About what?”
Breathing out an incredulous laugh, I gestured to our picnic dinner and all the people surrounding us. “This,” I hissed.
He stepped into me, sliding his hand around to cup my neck, his thumb just under my chin.
With gentle pressure, he tipped my head back so he could meet my eyes.
Then he lowered his mouth to mine, pressing a soft kiss there, before trailing his lips across my cheek to my ear.
Against it, he whispered, “Let’s eat, bunny. ”
I narrowed my gaze on him as he stepped away, not quite able to figure out his end game.
But with a huff, I plopped down next to him on the blanket, accepting the glass of wine he’d poured for me.
He pulled out a charcuterie plate filled with meats and cheeses, nuts and fruit, fresh bread, locally sourced honey, and homemade jam.
A cornucopia of deliciousness that I reluctantly enjoyed as the glow-in-the-dark parade went on for what seemed like forever.
In an effort to distract myself, I leaned into his side and asked, “How’d today go? I mean, besides the fuckhot scene you already read me. You know I think that was excellent work.”
He chuckled lowly and pressed his lips against my temple in a soft kiss. “Great. Mostly.”
“Why mostly?”
He inhaled deeply before exhaling, so much angst in that single breath. “My publisher called with an opportunity. They want to send me to the Frankfurt Book Fair so I can meet with some international publishers.”
“Really?” I asked, tipping my head back to look at him. “That sounds amazing!”
“They’re really trying to sell it to me.
They think with all the buzz currently circulating about Heat and Desire that we’ll be able to sell a shit-ton of foreign rights for the trilogy.
Which would mean a shit-ton of money. Which would mean we can complete the cottage renovations Addison wants.
” He tipped his head back, eyes flicking away from mine.
“And I can renovate the lighthouse on the property and finally not have to live with my sister anymore.”
My brows lifted at that. I knew exactly the lighthouse he was talking about, though I’d never been there, and this was the first I’d ever heard it mentioned by him or anyone else.
It was on a tiny island, a few hundred yards from the resort’s shore.
Something that wasn’t too far but you’d need a boat to get to.
Which was exactly something a secretive, closed-off Aiden would love.
“That kind of seems like it would be life-changing,” I said. “But how come you sound like you don’t want to do it?”
He shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t want to—they promised any events I did wouldn’t have media coverage, so I wouldn’t have to worry about my identity getting out. But I literally can’t do it. Addison’s got my schedule blocked off the whole week they’d want me there.”
“What’s it blocked with?”
He grabbed his phone from his pocket and pulled up his calendar to a date in December. Sure enough—the entire week, all day, every day, was blocked with a note that read: Aiden required for event.
“She always does this,” he said, barely more than a grumble. “Just puts shit on my calendar without telling me what it is.”
I laughed. “That’s helpful.”
“Welcome to my life. I think she does it now specifically because she knows it pisses me off.”
“I don’t doubt it. But it really doesn’t matter what it is or that she has you booked for it. I’ll still be here in December.” I shrugged, my shoulder brushing against his chest as I did so. “I can handle whatever she’s got you doing, and you can go off and be Mr. Superstar Author.”
He was quiet for long moments until I finally tipped my head back to glance at him, only to find him already looking down at me. “You’d do that?”
“Handle the event at the resort so you can go off and make megabucks? Sure, why not?”
Trepidation was clear in his tone. “You wouldn’t be able to tell them the real reason I’m gone… I’d probably have to make up some sort of accounting conference or some other bullshit like that.”
“I know,” I said, tracing my fingers over his chest through his shirt. “And I get it now. I know why you’re keeping this secret, and I won’t tell anyone.”
At my words, Aiden’s whole body seemed to relax, a sense of relief sweeping over him as we sat, watching the rest of the way-too-long parade.
And through it all, he touched me, asking about my tattoos as he went. Brushing a thumb over the open book above my ankle, skating his fingers over the crown on my forearm, sliding his hand over the three tiny birds inked over my spine, before bringing that big palm to rest against my ass.
If it wasn’t touches like that, it was wiping a crumb from my lips or sweeping the hair away from my face or cupping the back of my neck in a gesture that felt incredibly intimate and claiming all at once.
Nothing overtly sexual, but it still made me crave him in a way that had me nearly crawling out of my skin.
When the parade had passed and the fireworks were about to begin—all of which happened with his dick nowhere near me—I’d had enough. “I thought you said you’d give me whatever I needed as long as I told you.”
He dipped his chin in a nod. “I did say that.”
“And yet here we sit, in a crowd full of people, and your dick isn’t inside me.”
His lips twitched at my blunt words, his amusement clear, which only made me scowl harder. “Don’t be mad, bunny.”
“I’m not mad,” I said sharply. “I’m turned on. Thanks to you, by the way. Your roaming hands and your sweet words and those kisses. And you said—”
“Did you do what I asked you to?”
“I— What?”
He raised a brow, then repeated calmly, “Did you do what I asked you to?”
“When you texted me to take off my panties before I met you here? Yeah. For all the good it’s done me.”
He shifted away from me so he could lean back against the tree, his legs outstretched in front of him, and patted his lap. “Then wrap that extra blanket around yourself and come over here.”
I froze for half a second before doing as he said and draping the cloth around my shoulders as I scrambled into his lap, giddy excitement bubbling up. Every single moment with Aiden felt like that, and I was a junkie addicted to my next rush.