Her Greatest Mistake

by Eve L Mitchell

  His laugh was low and throaty, and my body betrayed me as I reacted to him. “You were the last person I fucked. I fucked you in your bed, and then I fucked you again today.” Aiden stood and crossed the floor to where I sat. He leaned over me as I pressed myself into the cushion to keep the distance from him. His hand reached past me as he supported his weight on it. “And when we’re finished talking, I’m taking you to bed, and I’m going to fuck you again.” He leaned in and kissed me softly. His lips were warm, and I surrendered to his gentle kiss. “I haven’t looked at anyone else since I met you.” He kissed me again. “You consume me. You’re all I fucking think about.” He nipped my bottom lip as he leaned back to look into my eyes. “I can’t tell you what I was doing, Jemma, but I can tell you it was for us.”

  “Us?” A surge of hope swelled within me.

  “Yes, us.” Aiden straightened and pulled me up with him. “You think I tell people you’re mine for fun?”

  I looked at him shrewdly. “Yes. I really do. I think you enjoy the shock factor.”

  Aiden laughed loudly as he drew me into his arms. “You’re adorable.”

  “I have three more questions,” I said quietly into his chest.

  He stood back and smiled at me as he kissed my nose. “Hit me.”

  I smacked him, and his eyes narrowed as he looked at me. “You’ll pay for that.”

  “Promise?” Oh my God, I was as bad as he was!

  “You have a limited time in which to ask your questions.” Aiden’s hands slipped under my robe.

  “No.” I danced out of his hold. “Not until you answer.”

  “You’re using sex as a reward?” Aiden speculated.

  “No! Maybe…” Did it count if it was my reward?

  “Ask quickly.” Aiden’s look was heated, and his attention was drifting.

  “How did Kat know what you had on the day before, and what did she mean when she asked if you were coming home?” Aiden lost his untroubled look. “And that’s only one question,” I added hastily. You had to be specific with him, he was a slippery one.

  “I live in a high-rise. The top floor has two penthouses. One is mine, the other is Kat’s.” He ran his hand over his hair. “We share an elevator. Sometimes we see each other in the elevator.” Aiden flexed his neck. “I don’t live with her, but technically, I live on the same floor as her. We’re the only two who can access the elevator—well, and Kat’s bodyguards—and because we’re the only two, she can check with the control room when I was last in it.”

  “She can keep tabs on you?” I asked somewhat horrified.

  “Well, she tries.” Aiden smiled slyly at me.

  “You need to move.”

  Aiden laughed again. “I designed and built that building. If anyone is leaving it…it’s her, not me.”

  “You own it?” I asked in confusion.

  “Damn right, I own it.” Aiden looked at me cockily.

  He owned a high-rise building. “You own a building?”

  “I do.” His eyes twinkled with laughter. “I make my own money, Jem, I told you that.”

  I nodded as I considered it. Could he buy her out? “How many apartments?”

  “Ten.” He smiled with a faraway look in his eyes. “It’s spectacular, and yes, I am arrogant enough to say it. Every apartment has two floors and is state of the art. The lines and light in that building…” He smiled at me, and I could see the pride in his work shining through. “It could well be my masterpiece.”

  “I’ve never seen you like this,” I told him softly.

  “Like what?”

  “Proud of your work.” My hand trailed his jaw. “I have two more questions.”

  Aiden nodded even as he opened my robe completely, and his lips kissed my neck and along my shoulder. “I’m ready.”

  “Levi hates me.” I felt Aiden stiffen, and his lips paused for a moment before they resumed. “Why?”

  “You don’t need to worry about him,” Aiden said as he nibbled on my neck.

  “Is he your friend?” I gasped when Aiden’s tongue licked that sweet spot on my neck just below my ear.

  “Yes,” he hesitated. “But he’s also associated with Kat’s family, he was trying to keep you away from them.”

  “Oh.” I drew away from him slightly. “Everything about you and Kat seems more involved the more I find out.”

  “I know.” His hands slipped over my shoulders, and the robe pooled at my feet. “I do like you naked in front of me.” Aiden turned me and sat on my seat as he tugged me towards him, and his mouth captured my breast. “This is perfect,” he mumbled as his tongue stroked over my nipple.

  “You said he’s a friend of her family.” My head was swimming, and I was barely holding on. “Not her?”

  “Hates her almost as much as I do.” Aiden switched breasts. “Are we almost done? I want my reward.”

  His head moved lower, and I almost stopped myself from asking the most important question, but I was done being confused and feeling helpless. “Can we ever be together?”

  Aiden’s mouth stopped moving over my skin, and I tensed as I waited. His fingers parted me, and I clenched as he slipped his fingers inside me, and I held onto his shoulders for support when he hooked them inside me and started to move them. “We’re together now,” he whispered huskily as he resumed his exploration of my skin with his lips.

  “You know what I mean, Aiden.” My head rolled back as he moved onto his knees, and his tongue spread me. “You’re trying to distract me.” It’s working too, my inner voice bitched at me.

  “I’m not, you said you would reward me.” A long slow leisurely lick made my knees weaken.

  “We need—” My head spun as he did it again. “We need to focus.” My grip on his shoulders tightened as I tried to push away from him, but his hold was stronger.

  “You’re mine, Jemma, only mine.” His mouth hovered at my core as he looked up at me. “I won’t lose you. I won’t give you up.” His tongue flicked out, and I cried out. “Trust me.” He held my stare as he tasted me again, and I was incapable of forming words at his heated look or the intensity of his words, and the moment threatened to overwhelm me. “Can you trust me, Jemma?” Aiden asked as he got to his feet.

  “Yes.”

  “Can I trust you?”

  “What?” I was confused and more than a little needy at the fact that he had withdrawn his touch from my body.

  “Can I trust you not to go to people’s workplaces demanding answers, bringing attention to yourself?” His stare was hard. “Can I trust you not to have random men sleep in your apartment?”

  “Well, that’s kinda out of context—”

  “Answer the questions,” Aiden said curtly.

  “Yes.” I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry.

  His hand clasped the back of my neck as he lowered his lips to mine. “Tonight, you give me everything,” he said against my mouth.

  “You’ve already taken it all,” I whispered back as I stretched up to meet his kiss.

  “I want everything,” he said as he held his lips back from mine.

  I looked at him, and he held my gaze. I nodded once, and he groaned into my mouth as his kiss consumed me. “Tell me we’re done talking?” Aiden lifted me into his arms as he headed to the bedroom, and I rubbed against him. “I can’t fucking think right now, so if there’s anything else…”

  “I’m done,” I answered breathlessly as his hands and lips touched me everywhere. “We can talk more later.”

  “Later sounds good,” Aiden told me as he dropped me on my bed and followed me down. “Much, much later.”

  My hands fisted the sheets as Aiden explored my body, and I realised completely that it was useless to resist him. I was absolutely his, and now…we both knew it.

  I woke to voices in my apartment. That wasn’t right. I slowly opened my eyes as I listened. Was it the TV? I rolled over, my hand reaching out automatically seeking Aiden. His side of the bed was empty. Empty, but still warm. I
heard the soft murmuring again, and curious, I sat up. I stifled a groan—my body ached. Every single part of my body ached. He had ruined me. He had taken all I had to give, and then when he was finished and I was a weak, shattered lump underneath him, he had started over and taken it all again.

  Stiffly, I got to my feet and looked for my robe. It was in the living room where he had discarded it earlier. Searching my closet quietly, I pulled on leggings and an old T-shirt. I quickly gathered my hair on top of my head and secured it with a hair tie. I walked along my hallway and hesitated as I neared the living room.

  “I already told you, I don’t understand why you are here?”

  A woman? There was a woman in my apartment. Realisation bristled over me, and I didn’t know whether to move forward or run back to my bed where I had been happily ignorant not even five minutes ago.

  “I think it’s pretty obvious why I’m here.” Aiden’s voice was cold. Hard.

  “You’re here for sex?” Kat snorted in disgust. “She must have a magical pussy to keep you interested for this long.” Bitch!

  “Watch your fucking mouth,” Aiden growled.

  “Or what?” I heard the challenge in Kat’s voice, and I tensed. “I’ve seen the little whore, she isn’t even pretty,” Kat said waspishly. Double bitch!

  “What do you want?” Aiden sounded bored. “You want to know how many times I fucked her when I’ve never fucked you? You want details of how she feels when I’m fucking her…or do you actually want something?”

  “I hate you.” I could hear the hurt in her voice, and if she hadn’t been so horrible about me, I may have felt sorry for her.

  “No, you don’t, and that’s the problem, isn’t it, Kat?” How could he sound so cold? “You don’t hate me, and it must kill you to know that I really do despise you.”

  I heard her choked sob, and I bit my lip to stop myself from letting them know I was here. “I never did anything to you, Aiden; I wanted us to work!” I heard her sniff. “I wanted this marriage to work.”

  “There is no marriage. This was a business deal,” Aiden said harshly.

  “You knew what I expected when you said your vows.” Kat’s anger was surfacing.

  “Vows?” Aiden laughed contemptuously. “I never made any fucking vow to you.”

  “You said I do!” Kat’s voice was rising.

  “I said yes.” I could hear the snarl in his voice. “I said yes in the church because I said yes to a bank transfer; you were just the bargaining clause.” I heard him move. “You want to cry about being whored out for a deal, cry to someone who fucking cares.”

  “You hate me because I said yes to the deal?” Kat asked him quietly.

  “I hate you because you’re a worthless human being that deserves to rot in hell.” The venom in his voice was deadly. My hand covered my mouth to stop the gasp at his words. I didn’t know Aiden could have such hatred in him. “Get the fuck out of her apartment before she wakes.”

  “You care for her so much you can’t even say her name,” Kat spat at him.

  “I don’t want to dirty her name by saying it in front of you.”

  There was a moment of silence. “I will never give you what you want. I will never divorce you,” Kat’s venomous whisper made me shudder.

  “You will.” Aiden sounded so confident. Hearing them together, hearing their level of hate, I wasn’t so sure.

  “And what makes you so confident?” I heard the cockiness in Kat’s voice, and I had to give it to her because she had every right to be cocky. At the moment, she held all the cards.

  “Because you want something from me, and it isn’t a marriage.”

  “What would you give me?” I heard the coyness in her voice, and I marvelled at how she went from hateful to…flirting? She better not be flirting with him. She had to be delusional—hadn’t she heard how much he hated her?

  “What do you want?” Aiden suddenly sounded tired.

  “You.”

  “Fuck off, Kat.”

  “I want you. In my bed, for one night.”

  No she freaking didn’t! My anger boiled within me.

  “You want me to fuck you, Kat?”

  I strained to hear him. Why was his voice low? Had he moved closer to her? I was going to murder him. I needed to see. I took a light step forward and finally saw them. Aiden had his back to me and was in his boxers, nothing else. What the hell was wrong with him? He had far too much confidence. Kat stood in front of him with her head tilted up looking at him. Her red hair was loose around her shoulders in soft effortless curls, her clothes designer, her face flawless. She was truly beautiful. She wet her lips, and I rolled my eyes at her blatant attempt to entice him. Aiden wasn’t touching her, but he stood so close—too close—to her.

  “Yes,” her voice cracked as she nodded at him as her desire shone clearly on her face.

  His head dipped, and I held my breath anxiously. “I wouldn’t fuck you if your father paid me twenty million. Now, get the fuck out and don’t come back here. She doesn’t need to be anywhere near you.”

  Kat’s head snapped back, and her eyes narrowed into slits. “I will make you pay for this.”

  “I’ve been paying for four years,” Aiden replied curtly. “Go.”

  She turned and stormed out of the living room, and I flinched a moment later as she slammed my door so hard the walls shook.

  “You can come out now, Jem,” Aiden said softly.

  Guiltily, I took a step forward. “I’m sorry.”

  His back was still to me, but I saw his shoulders slump as he huffed out a laugh. “Why the hell would you be sorry?”

  “Because you were right.” I walked up to him, and my arms slipped around him as I pressed my cheek against his back. “She’s beautiful, but she’s nothing but poison and hate. Aiden, I’m so sorry.”

  His hands covered mine as we stood in silence for a moment. “She shouldn’t have come here,” he murmured. “Not to you.”

  “I don’t like who you are when you speak to her,” I whispered.

  “I don’t like myself much either. At any time,” he added on quietly. I stood back from him, and Aiden turned to face me. “I’m sorry.”

  Reaching up, I cupped his face, and standing on tiptoes, I kissed him lightly. “I love you.”

  Aiden’s head jerked back, and he looked at me in astonishment. “Jemma, no. You can’t.”

  “I love you,” I repeated. “You tell me I’m yours, well, Aiden Ashford, I’m telling you now that you’re mine. Psycho drug dealing wives aside.” I kissed him again. “I love you, and we’ll figure this out.” Abruptly, he was crushing me. I couldn’t breathe, but I held on tightly as Aiden wrapped me in his arms and buried his head in my neck. We stayed like that for a long time until I realised I was struggling. Okay, breathing wasn’t really supposed to be optional. “Aiden? Babe?” I wheezed.

  “You called me babe.” He chuckled into my neck.

  “Can’t breathe.”

  Aiden let me go as he looked at me and then gave a slight shake of his head. “I don’t deserve that.”

  “What?” I took a breath as I filled my lungs with oxygen.

  “I don’t deserve someone as pure as you…to tell me they love me.”

  “Pure?” I shot him an incredulous look. “Were you in the bedroom earlier? That was some serious sex. Did that seem like I was pure?”

  Aiden started laughing, and my effort to erase his tension was rewarded as he smiled at me. “You’re as pure as the driven snow, Jem,” he teased me.

  “Huh, ass.” I giggled. “I’m hungry. I want food.”

  “I could eat.”

  “How can you make that sound dirty?” I shoved his chest in exasperation. “Go find clothes while I get the menus. I can’t eat with you like that.”

  He pulled me into him, and I wilted against him as he wrapped his arms around me gently. “I want what I ate that night I was drunk.”

  “Thai food it is.” I smiled as he let me go. I watche
d him walk down the hall to the bedroom for his clothes, and I closed my eyes briefly. Kat was going to be a problem. I mean, she was already a problem, and now I feared she was going to be worse. This was not going to be easy. I could do this. If it meant I got to keep him, I could do this.

  “Jem?”

  I looked up and saw Aiden had stopped in the hall and was looking at me. “Yeah?”

  “Love you back.” He winked and went into the bedroom.

  The butterflies exploded in my tummy as my heart flipped over. Damn man. Now I had to fight for him. I was still smiling like a fool as I ordered us dinner.

  Aiden dropped me off at work in the morning, and as I walked into the building, I realised that I didn’t have any idea what he had said to Richard the day before. Since I met Aiden, this was the second time that I had left work early with little explanation. I hesitated as my phone beeped.

  Aiden: I told him you had an upset stomach

  He was a mind reader now?

  Aiden: He didn’t believe me

  Of course he wouldn’t believe you—he was not a fan. At all.

  Aiden: I’ll be in the building later. My father is coming to review progress, stay away from him. I don’t care who comes for you. If it isn’t me. Do. Not. Move.

  I was in the elevator when I got that message and alarm ran through me.

  Me: Why are you only telling me this now?

  Aiden: Because I only found out now. I mean it Jem, do not go anywhere unless I’m with you

  I got out on my floor and crossed to my desk. My phone beeped again.

  Aiden: Jemma!

  Me: Sorry, I was walking to my desk. I won’t

  Aiden: Good

  So he was back to being all Mr Impatient and Bossy. I rolled my eyes. As I got my stuff out and my desk set up, I saw Richard come out of his office. He was always in before me, and had I not known his wife and his children, I would have thought he slept here.

  “Jemma, can I talk to you privately?” Richard asked me quietly.

  “Of course.” I got up and followed him to his office.

  “Take a seat,” Richard said to me as he closed the office door.