by Kaylee, Katy
“I’m not asking you to resist anything,” I said, shooting him a sinful grin. He growled at me again as he stepped in behind me, making the already small shower seem even smaller with his large body taking up more space. I didn’t care.
He ran his hands up my sides, but instead of turning me towards him, he moved so that he was standing at my back and I was under the spray of water. I stood there in surprise as he washed my hair, gently running his fingers through the too long white blond locks. It was so sweet and relaxing that it nearly had me falling asleep if not for the insistent erection I could feel at my back.
He continued on his gentle ministrations, taking care of me as he soaped up my skin, our bodies sliding together in a way that had heaviness and desire pooling low and liquid between my thighs once more.
I didn’t want to wait anymore.
I turned in his arms, dropping to my knees in front of him as I took him in my hands first, and then in my mouth. I wanted to finish what I had started earlier.
“Dio, Elizabeth.”
I nipped him gently, rolling my eyes up to meet his, “I told you. It’s just Beth. No one calls me Elizabeth anymore.”
She was still staring up at him, so she saw the way his eyes darkened and his body responded to the challenge in her own gaze.
Suddenly, he lifted me up and threw me over his shoulder as he stepped out of the shower. He gave another growl, something I was really going to have to talk to him about, and a smack to my ass that surprised a bubble of laughter out of me.
I was dripping everywhere as he carried me back to the bed, but one thing was certain, I wasn’t cold anymore. With Aiden there, I wasn’t cold at all.
Chapter 6
Aiden
I watched Elizabeth while she slept. Beth, I remind myself and then grin, swift and sharp. She would always be Elizabeth to me. My Elizabeth.
I sat on the window sill that overlooked the motel’s run down parking lot outside. It was nearing dawn but the sky was just beginning to lighten, the dark black velvet of the night giving way to a deep charcoal gray that reminded me all too much of Elizabeth’s fathomless gaze.
Her eyes meeting mine were always a sucker punch straight to my solar plexus. It had been that way since the very first time I had ever seen her, and it hadn’t changed one bit. Time hadn’t lessened the impact, either. If anything, it was stronger now than it had ever been.
In the dark, early morning light, I watched over her sleeping form. Her chest moved slow and rhythmic as she slumbered, and the sight mesmerized me. Hell, if I was being honest with myself, everything about her mesmerized me. She drew me in, and I was more than content to lose myself in her.
Her expression was relaxed in sleep, making her look so young and so god damned alone that it hurt. Her hair, so pale of a blond that it was nearly white, was strewn across the pillow like silk.
Her features were all achingly familiar. The curve of her cheek, the way her nose turned up just a little at the end. My gaze skimmed down her body, partially covered by the white sheets on the bed, and I had to bite back a curse as my own body responded, already tightening with need again.
Elizabeth moved in her sleep, turning slightly as if searching for my body curled against hers as I had been just an hour before. She was still passed out, completely exhausted. I couldn’t help the surge of male satisfaction that filled me, of possession.
She was curvier than I remembered, her breasts fuller and just begging to be cupped by my hands. Her hips were lush and rounded and I knew that between her thighs lay pure heaven.
I drew in a deep, sharp breath, forcing myself to look away as desire shook me. But as always, I was drawn back to her.
Her lids were closed in sleep but I had no problem conjuring her eyes, in turns flashing between dark charcoal and warm dove gray. Eyes that had always challenged me. The only one to ever dare. They hadn’t changed at all over the last ten years.
But I knew that so much else had. I had, that was for sure.
It seemed almost surreal to see her again. To hold her again. It threw me into a state of turmoil that I wasn’t used to and had concern drawing down my brows into a fierce frown.
I remembered the first time we had met, the memory sharp and clear in my mind. I’d brought it out and looked at it enough times, it was practically engraved there.
I had been nineteen. So god damned young. And the life I’d been raised to lead had chafed. I had convinced my father to give me a year off, to try out a ‘normal’ life. Something that I’d never had, raised in the family, groomed from birth to take over as its leader.
My father had protested at first, saying it wouldn’t lead to anything but conflict and confusion, but he’d still let me go.
I had enrolled in a year of college in a small university town close enough to the city that my father could still have his men keep an eye on me but far enough away from any enemies or rivals that I would be safe.
That’s where I had met Elizabeth.
Looking back now, it was easy for me to see what a farce it had been. My father had paid for me to be enrolled, and he’d bought a small condo for me to stay in off campus. I hadn’t had to get a job or worry about tests or homework, because I knew I’d only be there for the year.
But at the time, I had felt reckless and jubilant, and for the first time in my nineteen years, free.
I could still remember the way I had shoved the door open and sauntered into the lecture hall, all full of confident swagger and cockiness. Now, I couldn’t even remember what the class had been.
I had walked half way up the stairs before noticing the girl in front of me, bent down to pick up the stack of books and notes that she’d dropped. I moved to walk past her and she’d muttered under her breath about chivalry and dead.
Amused, I’d glanced down at her and it was like an electric shock to my system. She’d stood up then, hands planted on her fists, those gray eyes of hers lit with challenge as she’d glared at me and told me that my behavior was beyond rude.
I shook my head at the memory. That was the first time in my entire life I could remember any one ever standing up to me. As the only son and heir to the Diorno family business, I was treated like a prince by all of my father’s men. They knew one day I would be in charge.
But not Elizabeth. She hadn’t cared what I, or anyone else, thought of her.
I bit back a wry grin. She had shaken him. From that day on, I’d pursued her, getting to know the wonderful, brainy, sarcastic person that she was. By the end of the year, I had fallen for her so hard that I’d almost given up everything. Family. Duty. Responsibility. None of it mattered. All I had wanted was her.
And then that fateful night had come. I’d had the ring in my pocket when I got the phone call. My father had been murdered. My freedom was over. My life belonged to the Diorno family from that moment on. I’d scrawled a note for Elizabeth, and I’d left.
That had been the darkest time of my life, my lowest point. Heartbroken with the loss of her, the loss of my father. If not for my uncle Phillipe, my father’s brother, I would have been completely lost.
He’d taken me under his wing, helped me get the family back under control after the massacre.
I shuddered, remembering the photographs that Elizabeth had showed me. It chilled me to the bone. If Ian Redman really was back…It was almost too much to even contemplate. That last time the man had shown his face, over twenty people had ended up dead, my father included.
As Elizabeth slept, I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the first number programmed into it. Luca answered on the second ring.
“Hey, Aiden. What’s shakin’ bacon?”
I rolled my eyes. Luca was a grown man, and my best friend, but sometimes I swore he had the vocabulary, and the attitude, of a teenaged girl.
“We’ve got problems.”
“No shit.” Luca snorted, “I was out at the bar and this gorgeous, I mean the drop dead type. So this woman came out of the back room and I
swear–.”
“As fascinating as I’m sure your exploits were,” I said, hurrying to cut him off. The man could go on for hours if left unchecked, “this isn’t about women.” My eyes landed on Elizabeth. Well, not really. I drew in a deep breath, trying to find my center again but it was a struggle as the awful words formed in my throat.
“Ian Redman is back.”
Silence rang thick and heavy from the over end of the line.
“Fuck.” Luca suddenly bit off, “What do you need?”
That was one of the reasons that I loved Luca. He was like a brother, and he could be irritating as hell sometimes, but when the shit hit the fan he didn’t barrage me with a bunch of questions. Just that simple question was the only one I needed.
“I’m not sure yet.” I hesitated for a moment, glancing at Elizabeth again. I don’t know why, but I was reticent to tell him about her. I wanted to keep her for myself and myself only. My secret. My treasure. I didn’t want to share even tiniest bit of her with anyone. I knew it was stupid and possessive, but I couldn’t do a damned thing about it.
I knew I had to help her. I owed her that. And I needed to find out what the fuck Redman was doing back in my city.
“I got some intel. Photographs of Redman with some unidentified men…and a few I recognize. I need you to look into it, Luca. You’re the best at digging up the truth and we need that now.”
“I will, Aiden.” Luca said immediately. No hesitation in his normally joking voice, “Consider it done.”
“And Luca…keep this quiet. Just between you and me. No one else finds out about this.”
There was another moment of silence before Luca burst out.
“You think someone in the family is dirty, don’t you?”
“I have my suspicions. Nothing confirmed yet, and we don’t act until it is.” I warned him. Luca was all too willing to go off half-cocked, especially when it came to a threat to the family. There was nothing the other man held closer to him.
“No one betrays family,” Luca growled, “It’s everything to us.”
I could hear the fierce anger in Luca’s voice and flinched. Luca was his best friend and his second in command. He had lost his entire family when he was just a teenager and had become something of an adopted brother afterwards. I knew he still had nightmares, though. I knew it still haunted him.
“Just keep it under wraps for now. When we find out who is behind this…”
“We’ll gut the sons of bitches.”
I didn’t answer him. He already knew what I was going to say. That he was right. I would never let anyone who was a threat to the family survive. I couldn’t. It just wasn’t in my DNA to sit back and leave those I cared about in danger.
My eyes flicked over Elizabeth in the dim morning light, that bad feeling back in my gut. It wasn’t going to be easy, not any of it. But Luca was right. Once I found out who had betrayed me, I would gut the bastard.
I just had to find a way to keep Elizabeth safe and out of Redman’s way in the meantime. No, it wasn’t going to be easy at all.
* * *
Beth
My first coherent thought was that the bed felt so much colder than I remembered it behind before. Still swaddled in sleep I tried to tug the thin blanket even closer around me, but it did nothing to banish the chill that pervaded my bones.
I twisted and turned, tangling the bedding around my limbs but nothing seemed to help. I could remember a heat at my back like a bonfire burning beside me, wrapped around me and keeping me warm. But the fire was gone now.
Wait a minute. My bed was on fire? The first bleary thoughts finally started to penetrate my sleep fuzzed brain. My closed eyes furrowed in confusion. That doesn’t make any sense.
I shook my head, hating to leave the comfort of slumber but now that my thoughts were on track, they were racing away, trying to make sense of it all.
And then I heard the voice. It was soft at first, muffled and too distant to make out any of the words. Just a low rumble coming from just outside my consciousness.
I focused on the voice, it’s sensual low gruffness, the masculinity I could hear in it. I wanted to wrap that voice around me and sink inside of it.
Then the memories hit me, one after another and I froze on the bed. I knew that voice. Holy hell, did I know that voice! Aiden!
I barely held back a gasp as I remembered the night before. Stalking down any clue I could find from Leah’s photographs and cryptic message. Being found out by Aiden, being caught by him and bringing him back to the motel I was staying at. I remembered showing him the pictures, and then…afterwards.
Holy hell! I’d slept with Aiden Diorno!
I knew I shouldn’t have had sex with him. I knew it might have been a terrible mistake. But I had been so terrified for so long, and damn it, I’d wanted him.
Logically, I could tell that objectively, my body had been on the breaking point and Aiden had offered me just exactly the type of stress release valve that I’d needed. I should count myself lucky and move on.
I ignored the little part of me that whispered I was a fool if I thought I could stay objection when it came to Aiden Diorno.
Of course I can stay objective, I told myself. I’m a scientist. That’s my job.
But even still, it wouldn’t happen again. I wouldn’t let it.
“I know you’re awake.” His voice reached me, and this time me heard the words loud and clear.
Groggily, I blinked open my eyes one at a time, adjusting to the rapidly brightening morning sunlight that was streaming in through the room’s single window.
“Who were you talking to?” I asked, my own voice still husky from sleep but as my mind cleared I could easily recall the serious tone to his words, even if I hadn’t caught them all.
He just shrugged off my question, slipping his phone into his back pocket.
“It was nothing.”
“It didn’t sound like nothing.”
“Well, it was.”
“Well,” I mimicked his irritating condescending tone, “I don’t believe you.”
Aiden snorted at me, but then his lips, lips that I had spent a lot of time exploring the night before, kicked up into an all too edible looking grin. “Are you always this combative in the morning?”
“I am when I don’t get the answers I want.” I answered, meeting his eyes stare for stare. I wasn’t about to look away. No matter how hard my heart started pounding in my chest as his own pale blue eyes went darker.
“And you always get the answers you want, is that right?”
“Yep.” I had to swallow past the sudden rush of desire that threatened to choke me as his voice dropped an octave and his eyes lit on fire.
“I might have to teach you a new lesson, Elizabeth.”
“Oh?” I asked, more breathless than I intended. “And what might that be?”
“Patience, for one thing. Caution probably wouldn’t hurt. You obviously are lacking any knack for self-preservation.”
“Excuse me!” I scoffed, my brows drawing down in a sudden scowl at his words, “I was doing just fine on my own for weeks before you found me.”
“You think so?” He asked, his voice going silky soft and razor sharp all at once as he stalked towards me. I had to fight the urge to tug the covers up to hide myself even more from his gaze. It seemed to see everything. All my fears that I tried so hard to hide. All of my emotions and insecurities, all my doubts and desperation laid bare for him to see.
“Do you know what could have happened to you if my men…if one of the others had found you? What they would have done to you? You could have been hurt, Elizabeth. You could have been killed.”
He was talking in that low, growly voice of his that did odd things to that secret space between my thighs, and all the while he stalked closer and closer until he was leaning over me. One of his knees pressed into the bed beside me and he caged me in with both arms. His eyes were pure ice.
“That doesn’t sound like you w
ere doing just fine to me.”
“Well, I was being careful.” I stuttered, and Aiden barked out a laugh, his face so close to mine it was hard to breathe.
“Tesoro, I don’t think you know how to be careful.”
“Of course I do. It’s just that, sometimes the reward outweigh the risk and it makes more sense to act accordingly.”
He stared at me for a long moment. Just stared, as if he was drinking me in.
“Jesus, you haven’t changed at all have you? Still all logic and rational.” He whispered, as if he wasn’t even talking to me, just musing out loud to myself. But he was wrong. So, so wrong.
“No, Aiden. I have changed. More than you can imagine. I’m not the naïve little eighteen year old girl you knew before.”
Our gazes clashed for what felt like an eternity but I refused to back down, I refused to look away. I would always push back against him. Better he learned that now.
“No, you aren’t.” He whispered so soft I barely caught the words, and I swore that was a flash of sadness in his pale blue eyes but then he was turning away so fast I couldn’t be sure.
“How quickly can you have your things packed?”
“Excuse me?”
“Your things? Clothes, make up, whatever you have here.” Aiden gestured to the room, somewhat more patronizing than he had to. I knew it wasn’t the Ritz or anything, but it was what I could afford on what little money I had. Grants and government funding only went so far, and most of it went to keeping the lights on at the lab and paying the rest of the staff.
“I understood your words, Aiden. I just don’t know why that would matter?”
Aiden glanced at me, one dark eyebrow cocked.
“You’re coming with me.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a statement of fact as if he’d already decided for me.
“No, I’m not. I’m not going anywhere with you.” I said as firmly as I could as I slid from the bed and pulled on a pair of tight black denim jeans and a soft white t-shirt. It was hard to be authoritative lying in bed mostly naked.