by Kaylee, Katy
I couldn’t think of anything else to say after that and we jogged the rest of the way back to the house in a deep, tense silence. My thoughts caught on Matteo’s words over and over again but it seemed so farfetched. Aiden didn’t love me. It had only been two months since I had crashed back into his life and upended his well-ordered world.
Finally, we reached the back door that lead to the house and I waved at Matteo.
“I’m going to go wash up.”
“Okay,” Matteo said, then paused, “Think about what I said, Beth. Alright?”
I just nodded. How could I not?
I waited for Matteo to head down the hallway before turning to walk towards the bedroom. A hot shower would do the trick to clear my head. It had to. Nothing else seemed to help and now with Matteo’s words floating around in there my thoughts were even more fractured.
I was so caught up in my own thoughts when I pushed open the door to the bedroom that it took me a realized to notice the man sitting on the edge of the bed. I stumbled to a halt, my brows furrowing in concern as I looked him up and down. He looked terrible.
“Aiden?”
Chapter 32
Beth
He looked up at me at the sound of his name and he just gazed at me, his eyes drinking in the sight of me. Aiden rose slowly, as if he was an old man unsure of his own body and it took a long time for him to make his way the few steps to get to me.
He got up and came to me, not saying a single word as he wrapped me up in his arms and held me so tight against him that it was hard for either of us to breathe. But I didn’t care, and neither did he. He needed to hold me more, and I threw my arms around his waist, giving him exactly what he needed, even if I didn’t know why.
We stood like that for a long time, just wrapped up in each other, until I finally felt him start to relax. Little by little the tightness of his muscles eased and his embraced lessened enough that I could lean back enough to look up into his face.
I didn’t need to see anything else to know instantly that something was wrong, but the expression that drew his handsome features into tight lines of worry confirmed it for me.
“What is it, Aiden? What happened?” I asked softly, staring up into his heartbroken gaze. He just shook his head, opening and closing his mouth as if he couldn’t find the words to speak, or that he was struggling with something so terrible that he couldn’t even put it in to words at all.
Aiden gave up, shaking his head once more. He obviously didn’t want to tell me, but it was too important. I couldn’t take no for an answer
“Tell me,” I pleaded, growing more insistent when he shook his head for the third time, “Tell me Aiden. Tell me right now what happened, or I am calling your uncle.”
He flinched at my words, wiping his hands across his eyes, blocking them from my sight for a moment before blinking them open once more and I could see that he was still trying to fight from telling me.
“I don’t know how, tesoro. I don’t know how I can tell you. I don’t want…I want to protect you from this, Beth. I promised to protect you.” He trailed off, his voice sounding strained and broken and I reached up, running my hand along the sharp line of his jaw.
“You can’t protect me from life Aiden. But you can tell me the truth.” I looked up at him. “I deserve the truth.”
Aiden drew in a deep, slow breath as if he was counting the seconds as they passed, and then released it just as slowly. “You do. I know you do. It’s just. Damn, Beth, I…” he trailed off, pacing the bedroom and I sat on the edge of the bed that he had just gotten up from. I would sit there and wait until he was ready to talk, ready to tell me what had put that haunted look in his eyes.
I watched in silence as Aiden walked to the edge of the room, and then back. He paced, a nervous habit of his that I had noticed over the past weeks. Whenever he was thinking through a problem or a particularly difficult situation, he would pace back and forth until he had worked it out for himself.
All I could do was sit there and wait for him to work it out but instead of continuing his path, wearing down the tread of the carpet, Aiden moved to the other side of the room and stopped. His gaze peered out of the narrow window that overlooked the back yard of his property and I walked over to where he was standing, halting when I had reached his side.
I put my arms around him from behind, leaning until I could gaze out of the window as well and saw that it overlooked a small but sprawling garden.
“I never noticed that garden before,” I said softly, squinting so that I could make it out in the dim light.
“You spend most of your time in the pool. Besides, it’s walled off. The only way through it is from the gate that leads from the kitchen straight back.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“How can you tell? It’s completely overrun with weeds. Nobody has taken care of it in a long time.”
“No, it’s not. I can see it. It’s beautiful.” And I could, even through the weeds. I had spent years in school, in classes, teaching myself to see the possibilities. Not what was there, not the reality, but what could be there. What might exist, if given the right circumstances. And underneath the creeping vine and grass like weeds, I could see the possibilities of that garden. And it truly was beautiful.
We both fell silent again, and I waited. Calling on all of the patience that I possessed while I waited for him to stop fighting with what had happened, to stop fighting with himself. Finally, I heard him let out a long, low sigh.
“There was a murder last night,” Aiden finally said, and the words were torn from his throat. They sounded like rough gravel and they hit me square in my chest, “It was Redman.”
My head grew suddenly light and I would have swayed on my feet it my arms hadn’t been locked around Aiden’s solid form.
I had to swallow several times past the sudden dryness of my throat to force out the words, “Are you sure?”
“I’m pretty sure.”
“How sure, Aiden?”
He grew silent for another moment, then shrugged.
“Ninety percent. Ninety five. There was a knife, just like Redman used to use but this time…”
Aiden trailed off again, his voice growing distant as if we suddenly somewhere else. I waited for him to go on, but he didn’t. He didn’t tell me what was different this time, but I knew that I needed to know.
“Tell me Aiden. I can take it.”
“I know you can.” He turned to me with haunted eyes, “but I don’t think I can. I don’t think I’m strong enough Beth. If I lose you…”
He turned in my arms, pulling me back against his body until we were chest to chest, hips to hips. He just stood there, holding me tight in his arms, as I held on to him just as tightly, both of us too afraid to let go even the smallest little bit.
“You’re not going to lose me, Aiden.”
“I know I’m not. Not because of Ian fucking Redman.” He sweeped my hair back, gazing down at me and I couldn’t read his expression. There were too many complex emotions lurking there for me to even begin to decipher.
“I lo– I want you to be happy, tesoro. I just want you to be safe and happy.” He whispered the words against my forehead and I could feel the hot breath tease along my skin.
My heart skipped a beat, sure that he had been about to say something else, but all I could do was nod while Matteo’s words played in the back of my head.
“I am happy, Aiden. I’m happy with you.” I leaned up on the tips of my toes, “And there is no place I feel safer than in your arms. For once, let me take care of you, Aiden.”
* * *
Aiden
I pulled her close, more than happy just to hold her. Content to stand in the circle of her arms. Because he needed it. I needed her touch, her smile, her kiss, her grey eyes drinking me in. I was a hell of a lot more shaken up than I cared to admit, because of the woman who had been murdered. A blonde woman that had looked far too much like Beth for my peace of mind.
&n
bsp; Ian Redman. The man had threatened everything I’d ever loved, and had threatened to take away my life. I looked down at Beth. She was my life, now. Somehow, someway, she’d wormed her way back into my heart, under my skin.
Or maybe she’d never left in the first place. Maybe she had always been there, waiting, dormant, until fate brought us back together again.
I knew that Beth didn’t believe in fate or destiny, but after the past two months, I was more convinced than ever. Fate had given me another chance with her, another chance to be happy. And I wasn’t going to let anyone mess it up this time. Not me. And sure as hell not Ian Redman. He’d already taken too much from me, had ruined too much of my life.
I cupped Beth’s cheeks with both hands, feeling the softness of her skin beneath my fingertips, marveling at the light gleaming from her eyes. I had never had anyone look at me like that. Like I mattered to them. Like I was their whole world. She was so willing to give when everyone else in my life just wanted to take.
I was always the one to take care of others. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had offered to take care of me, or had even asked me if I needed to be taken care of. I wasn’t just a Diorno. I was the head of the Diorno family. The leader. The top dog. I was the one people came to with their problems and they always expected me to find the answer. And I always did.
But Beth’s simple offer was enough to bring me to my knees. Just a few words strung together was enough to have me shaking and desperate for her.
“You do take care of me, bella. You give me more than you could ever imagine.” I whispered the words low and rough against her ear, feeling her shiver as my breath teased against the sensitive curve of her cheek.
With a deep inhale, I drew her scent into my lungs, holding her there, breathing her in until she was a part of me. Even more than she already was. As essential to me as oxygen itself.
I drew my lips across her jaw, the apples of her cheek, not stopping until I reached the paradise of her lips.
We kissed, our bodies moving instinctively closer together in an age old rhythm as old as the moon and the tides. One would move and the other would react, drawn inexorably closer and closer until the only thing between us were a few thin layers of clothing. But even that was too much.
I could taste the fear on her tongue, or maybe that was just mine. We were both on edge, scared, and we did the only thing that we could. We turned to each other.
It was a slow, languorous striptease as I lifted her shirt and then she drew mine over my head. Clothing for clothing we slowly lost the layers that were separating us until it was finally nothing but hot skin against hot skin.
The kiss grew deeper, harder, more insistent and my cock throbbed for her. I wanted to throw her on the bed and sink deep inside her body but I didn’t want to break the sweet spell that had been woven around us.
So I forced myself to go slow, every touch, every kiss so tender and full of all the thing I couldn’t put in to words.
“Beth, I…” I paused, biting my tongue as I looked down at her flushed face and heavy lidded eyes. I swept a stray lock of hair behind one ear, but I still couldn’t’ say the words out loud. I was still too afraid that she would get spooked and run. And I wouldn’t be able to survive it if I lost her.
“What is it, Aiden?” She asked, all innocent temptress, naïve and wise, strong and so god damned fragile it terrified me. She was all of those contradictions and more and I loved every single one of them.
“I want you.” I said, words that I meant but not the words that were echoing in my soul.
“Well, why don’t you come over here and take me then.” She teased with a sinful smile, drawing me with her towards the bed and I followed her breathlessly. I would have followed her anywhere, to the moon and back.
Beth lay back on the bed, drawing me over her body like water and I bathed in her. Her kiss brought me to life like nothing ever had. Her touch sparked thoughts inside me, needs, that I never even imagined existed before her.
I settled between the sweet vee of her thighs and sank slowly all the way home. Her whole body clenched around me, holding me close and I threw my head back, crying out her name as pleasure and emotion swamped me.
I tried to keep up the slow, gentle motion but soon it was too much for me, for Beth, for either of us.
Her hands clawed at my back, scratching across my shoulders as she spurred me on faster and harder and soon we were both panting and moaning in ecstasy.
I didn’t want it to end but there was nothing to hold back the orgasm as it tore through my body. From the tips of my toes it raced all the way up my spine until every single atom inside me was spinning and dizzy from the pleasure of her.
I held on as the wave crashed over me, staring down at Beth in awe as she clenched and spasmed underneath me with her own climax and she was the most beautiful god damned thing I had ever seen in my entire life.
I was finally right where I belonged. I was finally home.
Chapter 33
Aiden
I blinked my eyes open slowly. The late morning sunlight was streaming in through window and had been teasing my eyelids for the past hour but I had been diligently ignoring it. I didn’t want to wake up yet, I didn’t want to have to get up and start the day’s work.
I just wanted to lay there in bed, with Beth curled lovingly around me, one of her arms sprawled across my chest and one leg thrown over my thigh as if she could keep me locked under the blankets with her just by that touch alone. It had worked so far.
I shifted in the bed. It was growing later in the day and I knew I should get up. I knew that there was a shit ton of work to see to, especially after last night. I would have to come up with some good lies to tell detective Barlow to make sure that he stayed on my side, and more importantly, that he looked the other way when it came to Redman.
As far as I knew, Ian Redman had been uncannily lucky at staying off the city’s police force radar ten years ago, and even before that when he worked as the mafia’s hit man. He never left a trace of himself, never left a clue that a crime had even been committed until the massacre that had stolen my father, along with almost a dozen others that night.
His M.O. had always been to make the killings look like an accident. A drug that acted like a heart attack. Faulty brakes and a car accident. But more than the killer’s methods had changed that night ten years before.
I knew I should get up, but damn it, it just felt so much nicer there in bed with Beth than the prospect of getting up and facing the gruesome details of the murder. I would have to do it eventually, but I could wait another few minutes, another hour. What did it matter anyway? As long as Beth was asleep next to me, I knew she was safe, and that was what truly mattered. That was the only thing that was important.
I stared down at Beth, watching her sleep, marveling at her beauty and just how much light and life she had brought in to my life in such a short amount of time.
I send a silent thank you up to fate, and tagged on a prayer to keep her safe. I was terrified for her, even more so after what had happened last night.
Redman could have been close enough to grab her last night in the bar and I was not about to let that happen. Not to her. Not now. I couldn’t lose her. I couldn’t stand to see her hurt.
Because I was in love with her. I had realized it over the past few weeks but now it hit me with a bit of a shock. I was in love with her. My heart belonged to her now. And I wanted a life with her. I just didn’t know how we were going to make it work with Ian Redman on the loose.
Beth shifted at my side, scattering the painful thoughts. Slowly, she blinked her eyes open and smiled up at me, still flushed from sleep. Her smile was like sunshine on a warm spring morning and I swore I could see pure heaven in her dove gray eyes.
I kissed her, just the softest meeting of lips against lips as she drew in her first waking breath of the day.
We lay there like that, twined together as we chatted in bed, talking about
nothing, about inconsequential things. There was no mention of murderers or killings or guns. It all felt so normal that it nearly broke my heart.
This is what I wanted every single day for the rest of my life. To wake up next to Beth just like this. Always like this.
After last night, I knew I had to tell her that I loved her, I had to tell her how I truly felt about her. I couldn’t spend another moment away from her without her knowing it just scared me, remembering how timid she’d once been about discussing her own emotions. How easy it would be to scare her away before they even really had a chance to figure things out together.
I told myself that I had to be brave, that I had to trust in my instincts.
“Beth, I want to talk to you.” I started hesitantly and she gave me a sideways glance.
“There was something I wanted to tell you too.”
“You go first.”
“Okay,” She said, biting her lower lip in that way she had of doing that drove me wild and distracted me for a long moment before I could drag my attention back to our conversation. “I know you’re not going to like it, but I need to work in the lab for the next couple of days. Maybe a week. Will discovered this incredible…what? What is it? Why are you staring at me like that?”
I shook my head, trying to calm my suddenly racing heartbeat.
“Beth, I’m sorry bella, you can’t.”
Her brows furrowed at my words and I knew I should have said it a different way. Telling Beth not to do something was the perfect way to get her to do it but I was too shaken by her words to think straight.
“What do you mean, I can’t? We’ve been through this so many times already, Aiden. I am my own person. An adult. I make my own decisions.”
“I know you do, Beth, but…” I rubbed my hand along the back of neck as I sat up in the bed and she shifted beside me, leaning up on her elbow so that she could still see my face. Her scrutiny didn’t help clear my thoughts either.