Chapter 17 #2
He continues, deviously slow for several minutes, driving me completely insane before he turns me onto my side.
Lying behind me, he hooks my leg, pulls it up, and plunges back inside me.
I cry out, squeezing the blanket as he thrusts harder.
His hand slides down, finding my swollen clit to stroke it.
That glorious tightening in my stomach and between my legs is building rapidly, and all I want is to chase it.
“Harder,” I moan, and Aaden complies.
His fingers move in a fast, circular motion, and within seconds, I hit the peak of euphoria and topple over the edge. My head slams back against his shoulder as I scream, and my body shakes with an intense orgasm. His other hand slides up and grips my throat, holding my head against him.
“That’s my girl,” Aaden pants against my ear as I tremble in his arms, wave after wave of pleasure surging through me.
He moves his hand from between my legs and grips my waist, thrusting hard.
“Fuck Leah,” he rasps against my ear. His breath catches as he reaches his own climax.
With a few more groans, he pushes deeper, and I feel him pulse inside of me.
Burying his face in my neck, he stills, panting hard.
He wraps his arms around me and kisses my shoulder as he pulls me tighter against his chest.
“Can I keep you forever?” he whispers.
I squeeze his arms in front of me and smile as my heart does a backflip. “Forever’s a long time.”
***
I wake up to a gray, cloudy Sunday morning and an empty bed.
After finding my discarded nightgown on the floor, I pull it on and twist my hair up into a messy bun.
I follow my nose to the smell of coffee, and as I’m walking down the stairs, I see Aaden standing in the living room, his phone pressed to his ear.
He turns to look at me and flashes me his blinding smile as I walk toward him, one eyebrow arched in question.
“Can’t wait to see you, too,” he says. “Love you, too, sis.” He hangs up, wraps a hand around my waist, and pulls me in for a sweet kiss. “Good morning, beautiful.”
“Good morning.” I smile. “That was your sister?”
“Yup,” he says with that crinkly-eyed grin. “They’re coming for Christmas, too.”
I give him a genuine smile. I know he’s excited to introduce me to his family. I can’t help but feel nervous, though. This is a big step, one I’ve never had to take. All of this is new to me. “I can’t wait to meet her.”
He kisses the tip of my nose. “I’ve already told her everything about you.” He smiles a devilish smile.
“Oh god. What did you tell her?”
“That you seduce me every night and won’t let me get any sleep.”
My mouth drops open in horror, and my eyes widen. I can hear him saying something like that. “You didn’t?” I ask, a little panicked. Shit, I want to make a good first impression. He laughs and pulls me into a hug.
“I’m kidding,” he chuckles. “I told her how great you are and how happy you make me and that I wanted the two of you to be the best of friends.”
Relief floods through me. I smile as I snuggle into his warm chest. He reaches down and slaps my ass. “Come on, I made cinnamon buns.”
After breakfast and a shower, I throw on a white sweater, a pair of skinny jeans, and my brown knee-high boots before heading back downstairs to find Aaden.
He’s standing at the sink in a pair of jeans and a tight-fitting blue shirt.
Everything is probably tight on him with all those muscles, I think as I sit at the counter watching him.
He turns around and smiles. “You look hot,” he says with a sexy grin as he walks over to me.
I put my hand on his chest as he leans in to kiss me.
“Don’t start.” I grin. “We need to go shopping now that your family will be here for Christmas.”
He leans against the counter with a wicked grin. “Start what?” he asks.
I roll my eyes but can’t hide my smirk. “You know if you kiss me like that, we’ll never leave the house.”
He leans closer, his mouth lightly brushing mine. “Do I have that much power over you?” he asks in a whisper.
My heart starts to pound. Damn it, he does have that much power over me, and he knows it.
I feel that aching desire between my legs again, and I inwardly groan.
Shit, we aren’t going anywhere. “You know you do,” I whisper back.
His eyes roam my face for a brief moment before his mouth crashes against mine.
His hands shoot to my hair and grip it tightly.
God, I can’t get enough of this man. He pulls himself away and lets out a quick deep breath.
“You’re right. We better go,” he growls.
***
The mall is packed with only twelve days left until Christmas.
Crowds of people rush from store to store, carrying huge bags and trying to wrangle in their overly excited kids.
Every store window is festively proclaiming ‘Huge Sales’ to draw in more people.
I normally don’t wait this long to do my Christmas shopping, but Aaden has been keeping me occupied every spare minute.
Not that I’m complaining. “I need help picking something out for your family,” I tell him as we hold hands walking from store to store. Another novelty for me.
“Let’s just do it as a couple. We can pick something from both of us.”
A couple. I smile happily to myself, letting that settle over me. Aaden and I are a couple. “That sounds perfect. What do we get?”
No sooner do those words leave my mouth than he pulls me to an electronics store. “My sister is a writer. She always needs to write things down as they pop into her head. Sometimes, she jumps into a whole chapter at any given moment.”
“Okay…” He drags me into the store and marches directly up to an interesting little device. “What is it?” I ask, clueless.
“It’s a virtual keyboard. You link it to your phone or iPad, and it projects a laser keypad onto any flat surface.
Like this.” He flips a switch on the side of the device, and sure enough, a bright green laser keyboard appears on the table.
He starts typing over the image, and I watch in awe as his words appear on the display screen in front of him. Technology has come a long way.
“Wow, that’s really cool.” I grin. “And Leah Ward loves Aaden Stone, too.” I wink, kissing him on the cheek.
“It’s perfect for a writer,” he says, sounding enthusiastic. “And her husband is a journalist, so we can get him one, too.” He’s pretty good at this, I think with a smile.
After paying for their gifts, we head back out into the mall. “Alright, what about your parents?” His face scrunches as if he’s deep in thought.
“They’re always difficult to buy presents for,” he says, sounding defeated.
A thought crosses my mind as we pass a studio. “When was the last time you all had a family portrait done?”
Aden shrugs. “I don’t know. Not since I was a teenager, probably.”
A smile spreads across my face. “I know a great photographer; I can ask him to come to your house the day after Christmas, if he’s available, and take a family photo. I think your parents would like that more than anything else.”
He stops and turns to me, a smile stretching across his face. “You’re brilliant, you know that?” He leans over and plants a big smacking kiss on my lips.
“I’m with you, aren’t I?” I whisper.
“That makes me the lucky one.” He winks.
With a grin, I start walking again. “So, your family’s taken care of, now I just need to think about what to get my mom.
” I frown as I think about this being her last Christmas.
I’ve been trying hard not to think about it because it only makes me sad, and I really want this Christmas to be special and full of happy memories.
Aaden kisses the back of my hand, silently comforting me.
He always knows how to make me feel better.
I sigh, then stop dead in my tracks as I think of the studio again.
“What?” he asks, looking down at me.
“A photo blanket,” I say with tears in my eyes.
Aaden studies my face. “I don’t follow.”
I wipe a tear from my cheek. “I saw a movie where a mother who was dying gave her daughter a photo blanket. It had different pictures of them together on the blanket; it’s like a…a memory blanket.”
He smiles as he brushes another tear from my cheek. “I told you, brilliant.”