The MacTaggart Brothers Trilogy

by Anna Durand

  Misty and Mandy barreled straight toward Aidan.

  The duo leaped up onto me on their way to him. I stumbled into the wall. The puppies attacked Aidan with gleeful ardor, totally smitten with the Highlander. I couldn't blame them. He was hard to resist.

  After a moment of flinging their little bodies at him and flailing their tongues at any part of him they could reach, the puppies had expended the bulk of their energy. They settled down to lie at his feet and gaze up at him with rapt adoration.

  "I have another problem," Aidan said in a casual tone, resting one hand on the doorjamb.

  "And is this one also my fault?"

  "Not unless you sneaked into my motel last night and ruptured the pipes."

  Feigning deep thought, I tapped a finger on my chin. "No, I don't recall doing that. But I might've been sleepwalking."

  "Hmm." Aidan danced his fingertip over my lips. "Why would you want me homeless?"

  The faint pressure of his finger made me long to suck it into my mouth. "What do you mean homeless?"

  "My room was damaged by the burst pipe and there are no other rooms available."

  "There are lots of motels around here. I can get the phone book to look up —"

  "Please don't." He grunted as Misty hopped up to plant her paws on his stomach. Babbling nonsense to her, he petted her head with one hand and spoke in a hushed tone. "No other rooms available. There's some sort of festival happening and a conference at a nearby university."

  "What will you do?"

  He shrugged one shoulder. "Donnae know. May have to go back to Chicago."

  The thought of him leaving stabbed a pang through my chest. I blurted out a response without bothering to think first. "Stay with me."

  He blinked, his eyes widening. "What?"

  Now that I'd said it, I couldn't take it back. Didn't want to either, I realized with a start. "I have a spare bedroom. You, um, could stay here with me. As long as you understand this does not mean I'm going to sleep with you."

  "Not yet."

  I tried to look stern but felt certain I failed. "Not ever."

  "You want me and we both know it." He took hold of my right hand, guiding it to his groin until my palm covered his semi-erect penis with only a single layer of denim between my skin and his. "And you know how much I want you."

  More than any other woman I've known, he'd told me. The notion of any man lusting for me that much sent a lovely little shiver down my spine. The idea of Aidan lusting for me with such fervor…

  That made my sex clench.

  I pulled my hand away from his crotch. "You can stay here. But do try to behave yourself."

  Aidan grinned. "Why? You don't behave yourself with me."

  Before I could issue a smart retort, he trotted out the front door. I peeked through the curtains and watched him retrieving his bags from the rental car.

  What on earth had possessed me to invite him to stay with me? Visits from Aidan tested my willpower more than I'd expected. Sharing a house with him — a secluded house in the woods, with no neighbors — this might prove to be the most dangerous decision I'd ever made. My self-control seemed to disintegrate in his presence. With Aidan as my roommate…

  I could handle it. I could.

  Aidan sauntered back into the house carrying his things. "Where am I, then?"

  "Follow me." I led him to the far end of the hall and the open door to my bedroom. I pointed at another door, on the left, kitty-corner to my bedroom. "There's the spare room. Bed's made, and extra pillows are in the closet."

  Aidan glanced from the spare room to my bedroom, a mere arm's length away. "You want me close, don't you? Convenient for midnight cravings."

  "You are incorrigible."

  He smiled brightly. "Thank you."

  "I think you're the strangest man I've ever met."

  "You like the way I make you feel, though." Setting his bags down, he wrapped one arm around my waist. "One of these nights, maybe you'll show me how you touch yourself."

  My mouth opened but my brain couldn't cobble together a single word.

  "Think about it," he said, and then picked up his bags.

  In that moment, as he lugged his things into the spare room, I understood one fact with glittering clarity. I'd invited him to stay because I wanted him to tempt me. He was right. I liked the way he made me feel.

  Appreciated, desired, alive.

  But I would not fall for him. No way.

  Chapter Eleven

  After lunch, I lounged on the sofa waiting for Aidan to return from changing his shirt. Misty had spilled tomato sauce on him in her overly exuberant attempt to smack a doggie kiss on his mouth. Aidan had not only indulged my puppies' obsession with him, and seemed to enjoy it, but he'd also made lunch for me — spaghetti with meatballs and scrumptious blueberry muffins on the side. Then he'd cleaned up the mess he made and washed the dishes, shooing me away when I tried to help.

  He really did understand women. After all, what was sexier than a guy who cooked and cleaned? If he scrubbed toilets and vacuumed, he'd be the perfect man.

  I glanced out the windows into the backyard. Aidan's furry fans were frolicking among the trees and grass, leaping up on their hind legs to do battle with their front paws on each other's shoulders.

  Aidan emerged from the guest room wearing a fresh shirt. Short sleeve, dark blue, and emblazoned with a stylized lion logo above the words "Scotland the Brave."

  "Cool shirt," I said. "I can almost hear the bagpipes. Or is that your phone ringing?"

  "Not my phone, you cheeky lass." He veered around the sofa and plopped onto the cushion beside mine. "Catriona gave me this shirt. She says American women love this sort of thing." He plucked the shirt with his thumb and forefinger. "I think she might be pulling a Lachlan joke on me. What do you think?"

  "I wouldn't say it's on a par with 'every night is kilt night,' but she might be pulling your leg. I like it, though. You look good in blue."

  He swiveled his upper body toward me, laying his arm across the sofa behind me. "You look good in anything, but I loved the green dresses you wore at the club and the wedding."

  "Tara picked them. She insists green is my signature color, mostly because of my eyes."

  "Your beautiful, luminous, emerald eyes." He leaned in closer, gazing into my eyes from a few inches away, the scent of him rushing over me. "They are mesmerizing."

  I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. "You don't talk like any other guys I've met. They said things like 'you look fine' or maybe they'd tell me I had nice eyes. Nobody's ever called me mesmerizing before."

  "They were eejits."

  "Can't tell if I agree or not, since I have no idea what an eejit is."

  "An idiot." Aidan slanted in closer, so near me his breaths slipped between my parted lips. His mouth grazed the corner of mine as he dragged his lips across my cheek to my ear. "Any man who describes your eyes as nice is blind and stupid. You are stunning, Calli."

  "Thank y —" My words choked off when he nibbled on my earlobe, then coiled his tongue around it. "Unh."

  He shoved his hands under my butt, lifting me up and onto his lap, seating me sideways across his thighs. "I like you speechless. You make the sexiest little noises."

  I moaned as he grasped my ass in one hand. "Can't think when your mouth is — mm."

  He painted damp kisses along my jaw, down my throat. I turned my head to the side, granting him full access, and he took advantage of the opening to drag his tongue over my throat and nip at my flesh. I flattened my palms on his chest, the cotton of his shirt preventing me from experiencing the sensation of his skin on mine. When he lifted his head, leveling his smoky gaze on me, I ran my hands in circles on his chest.

  "Do you know," I said, "I've never seen you shirtless. Fantasized about it, but —"

  He picked me up and dropped me back onto the adjacent cushion, my calves draped across his lap. In one smooth motion, he whippe
d his shirt off over his head, tossing it onto the coffee table. It flumped onto a pile of travel magazines.

  Aidan spread his arms over the sofa's back, smiling with masculine satisfaction. "There. Problem solved."

  I straightened and soaked in the sight of his fantastic torso. Skin softly bronzed by sun exposure. Hard lines etched by sculpted muscles. Fine, dark hairs sprinkled over his pecs tapered into a trail that vanished beneath the waistband of his jeans. I bit my lower lip, battling against the impulse to unhook the metal button of his jeans, ease the zipper down, and discover where that hair-dusted trail led.

  My gaze dropped to the bulge of his penis.

  He swept a finger over my lips. "You're drooling."

  "Am not." I patted my lips, finding them free of drool, and gave his chest a half-hearted slap. "You're hot, but I can control my lust."

  "The way you controlled it this morning? When I had my hand inside your panties and you were screaming my name."

  I laid my hands flat on his chest, reveling in the heat of his body and the silkiness of fine hairs teasing my palms. "I didn't have sex with you. That's control."

  "But it was a sexual encounter." He settled a hand on my knee, gliding it between my thighs. I couldn't keep from parting them for him, allowing him to skate his hand up to my groin. "I made you come for me."

  "I'm aware of that."

  "Only one more little step —"

  "No stepping. Not even on my tippy toes."

  "Hmm." He slid his hand back down to my knee, studying me with a thoughtful expression. "Have you ever seen a man naked?"

  "Not in person."

  "I can remedy that."

  Aidan rose, with me in his arms, and turned around to face the sofa. Setting me on the cushions, he took two steps backward to stand just past the coffee table. While I sat frozen, my gaze glued to him, he unhooked the button of his jeans. Flashing me the kind of smug smile only he could make disarming, he pulled the zipper down, down, down, to unveil the length of his penis inch by tantalizing inch. I ran my tongue over my lips, my mouth suddenly watering. The more of his body he exposed, the more ravenous I grew at the sight of all that delicious male flesh.

  His jeans slumped to the floor. He stepped out of them, rolled his shoulders back, and gazed down at me with sultry eyes. "You're drooling again."

  "Am not." I was lusting, though, big time. No woman could remain detached when faced with the vision of nude Aidan MacTaggart mere feet away. I let my gaze roam his body, from the lines of his torso muscles — the ones that begged to be traced with a hot, wet tongue — over his narrow-yet-powerful hips and down to…

  My focus stalled at his groin. At the sleek length of his cock. The way it had begun to swell and harden. The way a rosy blush now kissed the tip, the color darkening as his erection blossomed before my eyes. I tried to tear my gaze away from it, to admire the thick muscles of his thighs, but my eyes kept snapping back to his cock. I slanted forward without meaning to, my mouth falling open, my tongue slicking my lower lip.

  I probably was drooling now. And I didn't give a damn.

  Aidan lowered his mouthwatering self onto the coffee table, facing me. His erection had grown stiff enough to bob in the air between us, and I fought the ridiculous and nearly overpowering urge to stretch out a hand, close my fingers around his smooth shaft, pump slowly until he begged me to —

  Giving myself a mental slap, I shook off the fantasy. Sort of. My body clung to the imagery, to the sensory details my mind had conjured up.

  He tipped toward me, spreading his thighs wide, his cock jutting in my direction. "One little step, that's all it takes."

  One little step? I wanted to fling my entire body at him.

  "Ah well," he said, unfurling his body, waving his erection in my face. He grabbed his jeans and yanked them on, then snagged his shirt from the table and pulled it on as well. I must've looked disappointed at the way he'd covered up, because he hooked a finger under my chin, encouraging me to gaze up at him. "Donnae worry. You'll get an extended view — one day soon, for as long as you like — when we make love."

  "You mean when we have sex."

  "No." He ducked down to press his lips to mine in a sweet kiss. "I mean when I make love to you, because we're going to fall in love. Soon."

  I marveled at how he could say such outrageously presumptuous things without sounding the least bit arrogant. He spoke with a gentle tone, his thumb rubbing over my chin, his cheeks dimpled with an adorable little smile.

  Sweet and wicked. Forward and patient. He was a contradiction, yet the disparities made sense in the context of Aidan.

  Or maybe lust had warped my mind.

  He flopped onto the sofa beside me, relaxed into the cushions, and linked his hands behind his head. "Your turn."

  "My what?"

  He propped his feet on the table, ankles crossed. "Your turn to undress."

  Speechless, my jaw agape, I managed only a croaking noise.

  "I showed you mine," he said, raking his gaze over my clothed body, "so show me yours. I can tell you want to."

  The notion of standing nude before Aidan while he devoured me with his gaze made my skin tighten and my pulse accelerate. But I couldn't. I mean, really. Strip for a man I barely knew? A thrill raced through me, awakening every hair on my body. God, but I wanted to do it.

  I pulled my knees up and gripped them. "I'm not stripping for you."

  Aidan covered one of my hands with his. "It's all right. One day you will. One day very soon. I can wait until you're ready, because once you show me everything, I'll know you're ready for the pleasure I can and will give you." He lifted his hand, brushing the backs of his fingers over my cheek. "And then I'll be inside you, stoking that fire I see burning in you right now, driving you toward an ecstasy that will leave you spent and satisfied beyond your wildest dreams."

  I bit down on my tongue to keep from licking my lips. "You're awfully certain you'll rock my world."

  "Aye," he said, his expression sober. "Because I will. Because I'll make sure of it. Nothing matters more than ensuring you feel all the pleasure you deserve."

  I couldn't look away from his earnest face. He meant it. My pleasure was his top priority. For a man to care this much about satisfying me, to be willing to wait as long as it took for me to be ready, he must feel more than raw lust. He had to… care.

  But he lived in another country. Even if he stayed for a month, eventually he'd go home, and I couldn't move to another country even if he asked me. Falling for him was out of the question.

  I considered the mound of his erection contained inside his jeans. My pulse picked up speed as I once again wondered what it might be like to lay hands on his engorged penis — or to close my lips around its girth. A blush sizzled on my cheeks.

  "You're thinking about it," he said. "About sex. With me."

  Shit. How did he know?

  "Maybe I am," I said. "Doesn't mean I'll do anything about it."

  "Take your time, I'll wait. Unless you're wanting me to go home."

  "I don't want that. Having you here is… nice."

  He kissed my temple. "Being here is nice."

  Yes, and sitting here with him was very, very nice. I shouldn't feel so relaxed and comfortable around him, but I did. He made it easy.

  I cleared my throat, straightening my legs to rest my feet on the coffee table. "Would you like to play a board game? The owners left some games behind."

  He made a pained face.

  "What?" I asked. "If you don't like board games, just say so."

  "I like them." He ran a hand over his mouth. "Erica and Lachlan played Monopoly the day after they met. I know you don't like me to repeat things they did together."

  "Right. No board games."

  Aidan glanced out the windows.

  Misty boinged up and flew past the sliding glass doors in midair. She landed and took off across the yard toward Mandy. They collided and rolled
, Misty underneath her smaller sister, both baring their teeth in mock combat.

  "Let's go outside," Aidan said. "Get fresh air and play with the puppies."

  "Sure."

  He gave me a sly look. "Maybe you'll roll around on the grass with me. We can take turns being on top."

  "Cooking for me is hot, but not quite enough to make me ruin my clothes with grass stains."

  "Donnae worry." He stood and offered me his hand, smiling. "My sister Fiona taught me the secret to removing any stain."

  I took his hand. He helped me up, then we headed for the sliding doors hand in hand. The way any normal couple might. We weren't normal. We weren't even a couple.

  But I was slipping down that slope a little further each day, the one that ended at the feet of Aidan MacTaggart.

  Chapter Twelve

  Darkness enveloped me as I lay beneath the covers, trying to sleep but too wired to get there. The puppies had stayed in the living room with Aidan, meaning I had nothing to distract me from reliving the day's events. Aidan had given me incredible pleasure. I'd invited him to stay with me. Somehow, having Aidan around made me forget about Rade and the divorce and everything else in the entire world. I had no choice but to resist my lust for Aidan.

  Resist hard. Resist like crazy.

  I wriggled under the covers, unable to get comfortable, and flopped onto my back.

  Aidan had been so sweet today, playing with the puppies, making me lunch and dinner, even washing the dishes. His kindness made me uneasy, because resisting liking him proved harder than resisting his seduction.

  Oh, but that orgasm. He'd made me want more — not simply another climax, but more of him. I couldn't stop thinking about him in the bathroom after he'd pleasured me. Unzipping his jeans. Taking his rigid, engorged cock in his hand. Stroking and stroking and stroking. Head thrown back, mouth wide, eyes closed as the ecstasy overtook him.

  Hot as that was — and God, was it hot — another fantasy kept tormenting me. Aidan had taken a shower earlier and emerged from the bathroom in jaw-dropping style. Shirtless. Wet. His hair shimmering, droplets of water dripping onto his shoulders and rolling down his sculpted chest. If I hadn't vowed never to sleep with him, I might've lapped up every bead of water and dragged my tongue up the rivulets, laving that smooth skin and tickling each tiny hair with my lips. He would've sucked in a breath, groaned, thrust his hand into my hair. I could've moved lower as I kissed my way down to his waistband, popped the button of his jeans with my teeth, took hold of the fabric and yanked it down to bare his rigid —