“I saw the elevator stop at six and was coming down to check no one was here,” he snapped at me. “I got told you left.”
What the hell was this? “Good evening to you too,” I snarked back at him.
“Seriously, Jemma, why are you here?”
“Excuse me?” Yes, I’m giving you complete attitude. “I work here.”
Aiden groaned loudly. “No, you idiot woman, why are you here? Now?” He took off his hard hat and rubbed his forehead. “Do you read anything Ben sends you?”
“What?” Now I was confused.
“I’m shutting the power off on certain floors as we do electrical upgrades, and this floor is one of them.” Aiden put his hard hat back on. “Just leave, okay?”
I had wanted to talk to him. I needed to talk to him but not like this. Picking up my bags, I glared at him. “Fine, I’m going.” I headed to the elevator and pushed the button. Had he gone? I looked over my shoulder, and he was staring at me. I hastily turned back to face the elevator doors.
“Jem…”
No. I don’t want to hear it. “Night, Aiden.”
“Jemma, wait.”
Thankfully, the doors opened, and I hastily stepped inside, completely ignoring the fact the elevator wasn’t level with the floor, and I fell down onto the elevator floor. I screeched as I fell, and my bags went flying. My ankle twisted, and I cried out again. I heard Aiden curse, and then he was in the elevator with me.
“Fuck, baby, are you okay?” Aiden crouched beside me, rubbing my back.
“Don’t call me baby,” I protested as I struggled to my knees. “What the hell happened?” I looked at the foot gap between the elevator and the floor.
“I told you, we’re shutting the electrics off.” Aiden looked at the misaligned elevator. “I thought we may mess with the elevator electrics but wasn’t sure.” He grinned at me. “Now we know. Come on, let me help you.”
I stood and then yelped when my ankle protested. Aiden’s strong arms came around me, and he helped steady me. I shook him off as I limped towards the office floor. “I can manage.”
My shriek was ear-piercing to even me as the elevator suddenly dropped and I landed flat on my ass.
“Shit.”
I looked up at Aiden, who was looking at the blockwork wall as the elevator doors were still open. “What the hell?” I gasped.
Then the lights went out, and we were in darkness. “Aiden!”
“The emergency light will be on in a moment,” he assured me. Sure enough, the dim green light came on.
“What in God’s name is happening?” I hissed at him.
“Electrics were due off at seven. What time is it?”
“Five after seven.”
Aiden was checking his pockets. “Left the fucking phone upstairs. You got yours?”
I checked my purse, and then I realised I had left it on my desk when I locked my pedestal. Seeing Aiden had made me want to flee. “No, it’s on my desk.”
“What good is it on your desk?”
“Where’s your phone, Einstein?” I growled.
“You’re so fucking frustrating.”
“Are you for real? I’m frustrating?” I exclaimed.
“Don’t screech at me like a harpy!”
“Harpy? Harpy!” Okay, now I may be screeching. Aiden’s look as if to say “case closed” made me shut up. I took a deep breath. “Now what?” I looked at him expectantly.
“We wait.”
“For?”
“Someone to notice I’m gone,” he deadpanned.
“Oh my God, I’m gonna die in the elevator.” My tone was more mocking than scathing.
“Funny girl.” Aiden sat down. His jeans were ripped at the knee—more pronounced when he drew his legs up in front of him. His white T-shirt stretched across his shoulders, and I watched with more interest than I should have as he took off his high vis vest.
“And that’s coming off because?” I asked.
“I’m hot.”
“Can you be serious?” I rolled my eyes. God, he was pigheaded.
Aiden looked at me in exasperation. “I’m hot Jem, as in physically hot. I get claustrophobic. My temperature is going to rise as I get more panicked, so I’m taking the vest off because it’s like wearing a blanket when your body is hot.” His hands fisted on the material. “Hopefully, it won’t take too long before he notices I am missing.”
“Who notices?”
“Danny.”
“Was it just you and Danny?”
“Yes.”
I’m going to die in the elevator. With Aiden. How is this how I die?
Aiden looked at me and snorted. “He went out for some food. He won’t be long.”
“Okay.” I leaned against the wall, trying to keep the weight off my ankle. Aiden was right, it would get hot. I took off my jacket, my scarf and my hat. I dropped them on one of my bags, miraculously neither of which had opened or spilled. I opened the collar of my shirt as I thought about Aiden telling me it would get hot.
“Jem, sit.”
“I can stand.”
“Babe, you really can’t. Sit.” Aiden leaned his head back against the wall, and I tried to slide down the wall. A whimper escaped me, and suddenly he was there guiding me down. “I need to take your boot off to look at your ankle.”
“I’m okay,” I answered as I gave him a forced smile.
“Humour me.” I watched as he shifted down the floor to my legs.
His hands were on me, caressing my knee and dipping under my skirt. My breath hitched. Aiden looked up at me quickly, his gaze catching and holding mine as he drew down the zipper of my knee-high boot. Good lord above, how can he make taking a boot off sexy?
“Won’t your wife notice you’re missing?” I blurted.
Aiden snorted out a laugh as he broke eye contact with me. “My wife?” He shook his head in amusement. “My wife wouldn’t notice if I was a passenger on a missing airplane and my face was plastered all over the news.”
Oh.
“I’m sorry.” Why are you sorry?
“Don’t be, I knew what I was getting involved in when I said ‘I do.’”
“Why did you then?” I asked, and he looked up at me again. “Say ‘I do’?”
“It’s a long story, one you don’t need to hear tonight.” Aiden drew my boot off slowly, and I hissed in pain.
“What if I want to hear it?”
“You don’t.” Aiden started to knead my ankle, and I cried out. Pulling my leg out straight, he sat in the middle of the floor and started to massage my ankle. I whimpered. Aiden ignored me and continued his slow gentle massage. “And I don’t want to tell it.”
Okay then. “If I sat in the corner, you could lean against the wall,” I offered after a few minutes of silence. He nodded, and we moved into the new position.
“You need to take these tights off,” Aiden told me. “Or just one leg so I can get proper purchase on your ankle.”
“Um,” I fidgeted, unsure.
“Don’t get shy on me now.” Aiden’s sly look made my tummy somersault.
“Shut up,” I muttered as I looked away.
He yanked me suddenly, and I cried out as I was half dragged across the floor. I was flat on my back on the elevator floor. My mind instantly shied away from questioning when the floor had last been cleaned. As I struggled to sit, I froze when I felt his hands slide up my legs, under my skirt and over my thighs.
“Aiden…”
“I’m just taking your tights off, Jem.” His voice was low and husky. “Done it before, remember? The first day we met.”
My heart was racing as my gaze caught his, and he kept his eyes locked on me as he leaned over me, his hands trailing slowly…God, so slowly…up my thighs. His finger brushed over the apex of my thighs, and I moaned softly as his smile turned wicked. His fingers hooked into the waistband of my tights and pulled. He caught the elastic of my panties and tugged them too. My hands flew to his over the barrier of my skirt in an
attempt to stop him.
“That’s.” My throat was so dry. “Aiden, that’s my panties.”
“I know.”
Oh my God, this man. His fingers continued to tug. “Ass up, babe,” he instructed me. Mindlessly, I lifted my butt off the floor. “Good girl.”
The cool air on my legs was welcome. I was overheating, I knew I was. When his finger trailed slowly over the front of me, I arched. His finger slipped between my legs, and I gasped as he stroked me. “Aiden, no.”
“No? You don’t seem sure.” His finger dipped inside me, and my ass lifted off the floor again of its own volition.
“Aiden!”
His soft chuckle made me open my eyes. “Sorry.” He wasn’t sorry. Bastard. My tights were pulled off my injured leg and left dangling unceremoniously off my other leg. Aiden’s hands started rubbing my ankle again. I hissed in pain.
“Open your legs more.” His quiet instruction made my insides clench.
I was flat on my back, tights-less, panty-less, and with my foot being rubbed by a hot—no, the hottest—man on the planet. I was putty in his hands. I needed control. “No.”
Aiden laughed softly, and reaching up my leg, his right hand stroked up my inner leg, and his hand cupped me. My gasp was sharp, my moan low when he slid two fingers inside me as his thumb circled my nub. He’s married, my inner voice yelled, making me jump. Jesus, what was I doing? I rolled over and scrambled to the opposite side of the elevator.
“You can’t.” I tried to work my dry mouth. “You can’t touch me like that.”
“The accountant?” Aiden snarled at me.
Who? Calvin! Focus, Jemma! “No!” I protested. “Your wife.”
“How many fucking times do I have to tell you she means nothing?”
“She meant something when you married her!” I bit back.
“Trust me, she meant nothing.”
“Then why the hell did you marry her?” I snapped. I closed my eyes in disgust at my outburst. Drawing my legs up, I groaned at the discomfort in my ankle and stretched my leg out again as I dropped my head on my knee. Aiden didn’t answer, and I kept my head down.
I wasn’t sure how long I sat like that, but I steadily became aware of the changes in Aiden’s breathing. I lifted my head and looked at him in the dim light. “Aiden?” He didn’t respond, and I realised he was panicking. I made to move over to him and stepped on my tights. Grumbling, I unzipped my other boot and tugged my tights off completely. I made my way slowly over to him. “Aiden?”
Nothing. I tried to move down the wall beside him, but my stupid ankle made me clumsy. Strong arms caught me, and Aiden lowered me onto his lap, my legs sat on either side of him, as my skirt rode up my thighs. His arms wrapped around my waist, and his face burrowed into my neck as I straddled him.
“You’re okay,” I told him as I patted his shoulder awkwardly. I felt him laugh under me at my awkwardness, and the soft vibrations made my legs clench. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “It’s okay,” I whispered again as I rocked him.
A few moments later, Aiden moaned into my neck. His teeth nipped at my throat. I was aware he was rock hard under me. With nothing but madness on my mind, I hesitantly rocked over him, pressing down as I did so. Aiden hissed in appreciation as his lips kissed up my neck. I rocked again.
“Fuck, baby, do it again,” Aiden whispered as he kissed my jaw. I did, and then his hands were on my hips, moving me. The friction of his jeans was insane as he rubbed me over him. “I need inside you.” His voice was husky, and I tilted my head back as he moved me over him.
“No,” I whispered, trying to cling onto…something.
“Fuck, yes.” Aiden moved with the speed of a panther. I was moved off him as he quickly unzipped his jeans and, lifting his ass, tugged them down. He pulled out a packet from his wallet. He looked at me hungrily as he hurriedly put on the condom. “Get on.” I hesitated. Get on? Was he serious? Aiden was done waiting, and I was pulled back over to straddle him again. “I need to fuck you so badly.” His hands pushed my skirt up, and his fingers were inside me again. My hesitation was gone as he stroked inside me. “God, you’re so fucking wet,” he groaned.
I was. It was embarrassing. I could hear how wet I was as his fingers worked their magic. “Your wife…” I tried for the last time. I could feel my orgasm approaching.
“I’ve never fucked her, never even touched her,” Aiden said hurriedly as he moved me over him. “We don’t live together.”
I pushed away from him. “Promise?” I sucked in a breath as his fingers went deeper. “Promise me I’m not taking something that isn’t yours to give. Promise me.”
“She’s nothing, I swear.”
He pulled me down, and I sank down slowly onto his length. Jesus, he wasn’t this big on New Year’s, was he? “Oh Jesus,” I gasped when he was fully inside me, stretching me.
“Fuck, Jem, you’re so fucking…right.” Aiden’s voice was husky as he started to move me up and down. His lips captured mine, and my tongue danced with his as he moved us both. I worked up and down his length as we kissed. His hand fisted my ponytail, and I whimpered when he tugged my head back.
“Ride me, babe.” His teeth were nipping my collarbone. When did I lose my shirt? I wondered fleetingly as he tossed my bra aside. His tongue on my nipple had me clenching, and Aiden groaned. “Do it again,” he ordered. I did, and Aiden lost control. Somehow I was on my back on the elevator floor, my legs wrapped around Aiden as he pounded into me.
“Oh God, Aiden…” I gasped.
“Come for me, Jem, I need you to come.” His words sounded strained, and as his thumb rubbed me quickly, it was all I needed. My scream echoed in the elevator as my legs tensed around him and my back arched off the floor. “Fuck me,” Aiden cursed as he slammed into me once, twice, three times before he quickly withdrew, pulling the condom off before he spilled on my leg. “Jesus fuck, I needed that,” he said with a soft chuckle.
He needed that? Jemma, what have you done? My eyes closed in despair as I felt him move off me.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” I tried to tug my skirt down.
“Jem.” His hand reached out, stopping me. “Fuck, I better clean you up.” I heard him moving around. “Tissues?”
“In my purse.” A few minutes later, I felt him wipe my skin, and then I lowered my skirt, covering myself.
“Why won’t you look at me?”
I looked around for my bra and shirt. I hastily dressed as I heard Aiden stand and pull his jeans back up.
“Jemma!” Aiden’s voice was sharp.
“What?”
“Look at me,” Aiden ordered, and I met his furious glare as my eyes filled with tears. “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Aiden swore. The elevator suddenly lurched, and we were moving again as the lights came on. I looked at him in alarm. “Get dressed quickly,” Aiden barked at me. “Before the whole crew knows I just fucked you in here.”
I turned away from him and his harsh words as I hastily tucked my shirt into my skirt. The doors pinged open, and I was scared to turn around as I scrambled to shove my tights and my panties in my purse.
“Jemma’s hurt her ankle, someone help her.”
When I turned around, I saw Danny and one other guy I didn’t know looking at me. Aiden was gone.
When I got home that night, I scrubbed myself clean in the shower and let a few tears spill free as I washed Aiden’s touch and his scent off my skin. I had sex with him again, and it was as amazing as the first time until afterwards when I just felt used again. I hung my head in the shower, letting the water cascade over me as I thought about the evening.
He said he doesn’t live with his wife. He said they didn’t have a relationship. He said he’d never touched her. He said… Could I believe him? I turned the shower off and wrapped myself in a towel. What was I doing? I had never in my life acted this recklessly. First in an office on a desk where anyone could walk in, then in the ladies restroom in a restaurant, and tonight
in a broken-down elevator. Thank God there were no cameras. Dread washed over me as my hairbrush was immobilised halfway through my wet hair. I looked in the bathroom mirror at myself in horror. Did the elevator at work have a camera? I couldn’t remember. Oh Jesus, I couldn’t remember. I dropped the hairbrush and hobbled out of the bathroom to get my phone. My ankle was merely sprained, and I had refused help. After I had collected my phone from my desk, I had gotten back in the elevator warily, and on reaching the ground floor, I grabbed a taxi and headed home.
My fingers hesitated over Aiden’s name. Biting my lip, I typed.
Me: Is there a camera in the elevator?
I waited. Nothing. Asshole, why aren’t you answering me? He was probably working, and he didn’t seem the type of guy who walked around with his phone stuck to his hand. Who else can I ask?
I snorted out a laugh. “And what are you going to say, Jemma? Hey, I’m wondering if the work elevators have cameras for research purposes?” I headed to the fridge. I needed food and wine. Maybe just wine? No, I had to eat. I could call the guys on security at the foyer and ask for them to get Aiden…I paused. Aiden…what? Oh my lord, what was his last name? I had sex with this guy twice now, and I didn’t know his last name?
I sank into the kitchen chair as I realised how far down the rabbit hole I had fallen with Aiden. When I was near him, I lost my judgement and all my sense. Even before New Year’s, I was captivated with him. His confidence, his arrogance, drew me in and kept me there. It was more than just the fact he was gorgeous—which he was—it should be illegal to let him walk around looking like that. Aiden was so put together it would be impossible not to be drawn to him.
“This is your defence? He’s confident, arrogant and sexy?” I poured my wine as I shook my head in disgust. “You sound like a lovesick teenager.” I took a hearty drink. “Only you’re not a teenager, you’re a grown woman. Almost thirty, Jemma! You need to act your age.”
Despite the rather harsh pep talk to myself, when my phone beeped, I hobbled hurriedly across the kitchen to grab it.
Her Greatest Mistake Page 11