Chapter Three
Charlie should have known how things were going to go after she met Aiden’s sister on the stairs.
She might have taken a page from Keira’s book and fled, if Liam hadn’t been a wall at her back.
His silence and strength were strangely comforting.
He, at least, knew this thing for a fraud, and he was playing along. She’d do the same.
“Third door on the right.”
She followed his low instructions, her heels clicking on the tiled floor as she walked down the hall to the room he’d indicated. A fortifying breath did nothing to fortify her, so she walked through the door before she could talk herself out of it.
Aiden leaned on the edge of a giant desk that was almost perfectly clean.
She’d have thought the lack of clutter meant he didn’t do work there, but Charlie suspected it was because Aiden was a control freak of epic proportions.
She’d seen his type around the poker table—the man who uses masks to manipulate the people around him.
He was the best buddy, the overwhelmed newbie, the blustering fool, all depending on what would serve him best.
But the pros she knew looked like children playing pretend compared to Aiden O’Malley. The main skill Charlie had developed after she’d been so horrifyingly wrong about her brothers in blue was people-reading…and she couldn’t begin to guess what the real Aiden was like.
At the moment, he looked slightly rumpled, a few buttons of his shirt undone, his hair not quite perfect, as if he’d been running his hands through it. He went still as she walked toward him. “Charlie.” She heard the door shut behind her, but she had eyes only for him.
Pretend. It’s just pretend.
It didn’t feel very fake when he held a hand out to her and she crossed the room to take it. She had a vague impression of strong colors on the wall and sturdy furniture, but she couldn’t take her gaze from him.
He took in her dress with a quick look, the heat in his green eyes banking just as quickly as it had last night. “I like it.”
“Thanks.” This felt too weird, especially considering why she was really here. Charlie looked around. “I met your sister when I walked through the door.”
“Keira.” He said her name on a sigh, the very picture of the beleaguered brother.
Real or pretend?
“She’s pissed at me right now, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.” Aiden motioned her closer and took her hand again, running his thumb over her knuckles as he examined the manicure she’d gotten today.
She didn’t ask what he’d done to make his sister angry. It was none of her business. She wasn’t here to get to know him—something she desperately needed to remember. “What’s the plan?”
“Dinner.” He saw her confusion and explained. “Before we can convince our enemies that we’re madly in love, we need to convince my family. Their belief will lend the whole thing credence. Some of them are terrible liars.”
She doubted that very much. Charlie looked down at their joined hands, the contact so innocent and yet branding her all the same. “Well, then let’s make it convincing. This holding hands makes me feel like I’m back in seventh grade and awkward as hell.”
“What are you proposing?” His tone gave nothing away, not anticipation, not condemnation.
“The only way they’ll believe you proposed marriage so fast is if the sex was off the charts.” Fool, fool, fool. She was on dangerous ground, and she knew it, but she wasn’t going to risk what little she had left to lose on a plan destined to fail because they half-assed it.
Charlie took a deep breath and stepped into him.
He felt good, all long lines and hidden strength, but she was about to jump out of her skin just being this close.
Seductress she was not. “We have to be all over each other, have to constantly look like we’re about to fuck or have just fucked—or a combination of both. ”
His hands came to rest on her hips, not pulling her closer or pushing her away, just touching her. “It would make the charade more convincing. I can’t argue that.”’
“Then let’s…” She ran her hands up his chest and looped them around his neck.
The move pressed her breasts more firmly against him, and his fingers flexed on her hips.
It was a slight movement, but it was the first physical indication he’d given since that moment in the car that he wanted her.
We’re both the problem here. Too cold. Too contained. “Let’s mix things up a bit.”
“You’re playing with fire, Charlie.” The words came out in a rumble. “I promised I wouldn’t touch you unless you asked me to, but make no mistake, if you want to play this close to the line, then we’ll be crossing that line. Repeatedly.”
“I know.” Her body tingled, but she couldn’t be sure if it was in fear or anticipation.
“Be sure.”
He was giving her an out, which was kind of sweet, but she was right and she knew it.
They had to cross this line, and cross it before they encountered any more of his family.
The reasoning felt flimsy, but she pushed away her doubt.
She was an adult, and she was well aware of the risks that came with taking things to this level. “I’m sure.”
He didn’t ask again. Aiden let go of her hip with one hand, and slid it up her side to bracket her throat. There was no pressure, no pain, just a startling possessive gesture that seared her to the core. “Take off your panties. Now.”
She swallowed hard, the move dragging his calluses against her sensitive skin. “I’m not wearing any.”
The look he sent her nearly had her on her knees, her legs shaking, her breath already coming in short gasps. “Good girl.”
* * *
Aiden knew he should put the brakes on this insanity. It was a bad idea, a distraction neither of them could afford. He stared at Charlie’s fuck-me-red lips telling him she wasn’t wearing any panties and reacted. “I’m not fucking you. Not today, not like this.”
Was there disappointment in those blue eyes of hers?
He thought so. Aiden tightened his grip on her throat, just a little, claiming her even though he had no right to.
“Make no mistake—I am going to fuck you, Charlie. I will spread your thighs, rip off your panties, and drive into you until your eyes roll back in your head and you see the face of God. But I will do it when I’m damn well ready.
” He dipped his hand beneath the hem of her dress, slowly skating up the outside of her leg to her hip, taking the fabric with him until she was partially bared.
She shivered a little. “I don’t know that I put sex on the table.”
“It’s not on the table.” He turned, putting himself between her and the door, and backed her up against the desk. “Not today.” It was a mistake, but he couldn’t stop as he lifted her onto the desk.
You knew this was going to happen. Fuck, you even planned on it.
Not like this. He’d fully intended on seducing Charlie, but on his own terms. Control was vital for every aspect of his plan, including taking her to bed.
He fought against the need to spread her legs and do exactly as he’d promised, right then and there.
Not the time. You need her panting for it so she doesn’t start thinking too hard about why you picked her.
She braced her hands behind her, looking a little nervous.
The fact that this woman had almost pulled a gun on him during their first encounter and was looking nervous now made him feel…
He wasn’t sure how to put it into words.
He wanted to reassure her, to pull them back onto safe ground.
It was too damn bad there was no such thing as safe ground.
And it was all his doing.
“I’m going to touch you now.” Just touch. Not fuck. He needed the reminder as much as she did.
He leaned back and looked down her body. Her thighs were lean and muscled, showcasing God alone knew how many hours of hard work. And her pussy…His mouth watered at the sight. He tore his gaze away to look her in the face. “Unless you changed your mind.”
Charlie licked her lips, and he nearly groaned. “The argument still stands. Trial by fire and all that.”
He smiled a little at the comparison. “This will feel better than walking through fire.” He stroked her, gauging her reaction.
He was already hard, but at her tiny little whimper, he damn near split his pants.
“Tell me how you like it.” He paused, fighting for distance.
Doing his best not to be swept away by the fact that she looked vulnerable for the first time since he’d met her. “Show me.”
“Right now?”
“Is there a better time?” He took her hand and pressed it against her lower abdomen. “Show me how to drive you wild.”
She touched herself, hesitantly at first, but when he stroked her thighs, her eyes slitted and her movements smoothed out. Aiden waited until he knew what she wanted, and then he took over. He rubbed her clit with the same little movements she’d done, watching her face. “Like that.”
“Yes.” Charlie nodded, letting her head fall back and her eyes slide shut.
He wanted to demand that she open her eyes and look at him, to acknowledge that she was teetering on the edge because of what he was doing to her, but there was no room for being possessive. It wouldn’t do either of them any favors.
He kept control through sheer force of will, but Aiden cursed aloud when he pushed a finger into her and she clamped down around him.
“Fuck. You’ve been neglecting yourself, haven’t you?
” He stroked her, keeping up the motion against her clit as he explored her from the inside.
“You don’t have to answer that. I can tell.
You wouldn’t be so tightly strung if you were fucking someone regularly. ”
“Guess what?” She lifted her head and pinned him with a look. “The only thing I need from you is to make me come so we can get past this ridiculous roadblock. If I want to be psychoanalyzed, I’ll hire a shrink.”
There you are.
She’d been almost hesitant since she got into the car with him.
He’d started to wonder if she couldn’t hold her own, if this was a mistake.
“Then come, Charlie.” He pushed a second finger into her, feeling around until he found her sensitive spot.
He crooked his finger against it, sheer satisfaction rolling through him at her gasp. “Let go.”
Her back bowed, and her lips opened in a cry that he wanted to eat. Aiden heard the office door open, but he didn’t stop, finishing her off and cursing himself for having a goddamn plan that didn’t involve sinking into her. Not yet.
A throat cleared behind them, and he shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over her lap before turning to find Liam standing there. “Yes?”
“Teague and Callista are in the dining room with Moira.” He hesitated. “There was no mistaking the sounds coming out of this office as they walked past.”
That was the goal, but Aiden still glanced at Charlie to see if it bothered her.
In the fifteen seconds it had taken Liam to deliver his report, she’d managed to fix her dress and stand.
The only indication of what they’d just been doing was a flush to her cheeks and chest that hadn’t been there before, and her nipples pressing against her dress.
And his rock-hard cockstand.
“Good.” She passed back his jacket and adjusted her hair. “Then I suppose it’s time for me to meet the family.”
Liam’s gaze jumped between them, but he just nodded. Aiden would hear what he thought of this mess later, he had no doubt—but his man wouldn’t question him while they had an audience. “I’ll let them know you’re on the way.”
“Do that.” Aiden waited for the door to shut to turn and face Charlie. “Most of my siblings won’t believe us.”
She arched her eyebrows. He kind of hated that she’d put herself together so quickly, even if that was a valuable skill to have. “That’s to be expected, I’d think.”
“Yeah, well, my sister Carrigan is the sole exception.” He’d gone back and forth about inviting Carrigan to this dinner.
Her husband, James Halloran, was still more enemy than ally, and she never went to any of these types of things without him.
His presence could very well agitate the issue, and that wasn’t even taking into account that Carrigan could go for Charlie’s throat.
He ran a hand over his mouth. “She’s overprotective, even if we rarely see eye to eye these days.”
“She’s going to label me a gold digger and a whore, then.”
“My sister doesn’t slut-shame.” He didn’t know why he was defending her. If Carrigan had married Dmitri Romanov like their father had arranged in the first place, he’d be their ally instead of their enemy…
Aiden shuddered a little at the thought of Carrigan at Dmitri’s side. The wild and fiery part of her that came to life in James’s presence would have died as a result of that marriage.
But he doubted his sister’s vengeance for being forced in that relationship would have spared her own family. She would’ve helped Romanov take over the entire eastern seaboard inside of five years—Boston included.
“Bully for her.” Charlie gave a mirthless smile, drawing him back to the present. “I can handle it.”
“I know.” It was why he’d recruited Charlie in the first place.
That, and because of her father.
The same FBI agent his brother Teague had been supplying with information for years.
Aiden smothered his rage. Both at his brother and John Finch.
Keep it locked down.
He offered Charlie his arm. “Shall we?”
She nodded, no evidence of anything but calm confidence on her face. She would have made one hell of an undercover cop. She smiled. “Let’s do this.”