Claimed (Passion in Paradise #4.5)

by Sarah O'Rourke

  Caro shivered at the warm promise she heard in his statement and slowly nodded. “Probably a good idea.”

  “At least until we know each other a shade better. Then, I promise, I’ll spend as much time on my knees as you’ll allow me,” he continued impishly.

  “Is that so? Maybe we will end up being friends after all,” Caro remarked with a thoughtful grin, her inner self screeching at her sudden ability to flirt like a seasoned sorority girl.

  “Oh, I think we’ll be close, personal friends very soon, Carolina. Until then, though, I propose that you and I spend some more time together so that you can more easily make that decision,” Aiden suggested. “There’s a great little bar right up the road where we could share a drink and get to know each other better.”

  Lifting one eyebrow, Carolina shook her head. “How do I know you aren’t some kind of serial killer?” she teased.

  “Oh, I come with excellent character references. In fact, the town sheriff is one of my best friends.”

  Caro’s eyes widened with surprise. “I can’t believe this,” she laughed, jamming her fingers in the back pocket of her jeans as she stood there looking at him, silently thanking God that she’d at least put a little effort into her appearance earlier that morning. While her jeans might be old and frayed, they fit like a glove, molding to her legs like a second skin, and the flowy emerald green peasant blouse complimented her complexion and showed the perfect amount of cleavage. Not too much, but not too little, either.

  “What can’t you believe, Dimples?” Aiden asked with eyes that glimmered with appreciation as they moved down her body to linger for a moment at her breasts before coming back to her face.

  “Dimples?” she echoed, canting her head to the side.

  Aiden brushed the prominent dimple in Caro’s left cheek with the back of his fingers. “It seems fitting. You’ve got the cutest pair of dimples I’ve ever seen in my life, babe,” he offered truthfully. “Now, tell me, what is it you can’t believe?”

  Deciding to ignore the warm feeling in the pit of her stomach that the new nickname had left her with, she concentrated her attention on the man angling for a date. “I can’t believe that you’re friends with the sheriff. You’re talking about Sheriff Monroe right?

  “Yeah, he’s the only sheriff Paradise has,” Aiden confirmed.

  “Yep, and he’s the same sheriff I bet I’m supposed to meet at the I Don’t Care Café & Bar in less than a half hour.”

  “Wait a sec. You’re meeting Zeke?” Aiden eyes widened as he suddenly snapped his fingers. “Carolina Mayfair! I knew that name rang a bell. You’re the new town librarian, aren’t you?”

  Caro nodded, eyes crinkling for a moment. “I am. Am I that famous?”

  “Dimples, you’re the whole reason I’m even out and about this afternoon. Otherwise, I’d be home, falling into bed after working a 24-hour shift. Being the great guy I am, however, I told our good sheriff that I’d swing by the café after work to meet you on my way home. Zeke thought you might enjoy meeting one of your neighbors so that you’d know at least one person in your neighborhood. Especially since I share the other half of the duplex you’ll be renting. I’m your new landlord.”

  “Are you serious?” Caro couldn’t believe she’d gotten so lucky. Having this hunk living right next door would definitely be no hardship. And if she got to watch him mow his lawn shirtless, she’d just consider it a rental perk.

  “As a heart attack,” Aiden verified with a grin.

  “Wow… it really is a small world, isn’t it?”

  “Sure is, and it gets smaller every day. Lucky for you, I like a nice, tight fit,” he offered with a suggestive wiggle of his dark eyebrows.

  Caro couldn’t help her involuntary laugh. Honestly, this guy was almost too much. Bold. Brash. But she liked him. She liked him a lot.

  Like a whole, whole lot.

  And it didn’t hurt that he was the very yummiest of eye candies.

  “You’re bad, Aiden,” she admonished, smacking his arm lightly.

  “I’m terrible,” he agreed. “But I promise that you’ll like my kind of bad, baby. Just give me a chance to prove it. Starting with a beer and a burger at the café. You game?”

  “You want me to join you and risk getting even more hot and bothered?” she asked, dramatically fanning herself with her hand.

  “Dimples, that would only be a problem if I wasn’t real good at quenching flames. I can promise you my record of fighting fires is impeccable.”

  She had to give it to the guy. He had to be an amazing firefighter with the way he was able to think so fast on his feet. The longer she stood here bantering with him, the more she wanted to know him. It was a risk. Sure. But she was getting to be quite the pro at taking those. “Well, how can I refuse an offer like that?”

  Chapter Two

  An hour later, Aiden James leaned against the bar with his feet crossed at the ankles and watched the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his life tilt her head back, the sound of her musical laughter drifting through the busy bar. Jesus, his girl was magnificent. He kept his eyes glued to where she sat at a table with his friend, Sheriff Zeke Monroe, and the man’s wife, Honor, as they welcomed her to Paradise.

  And yes, Carolina Mayfair was his.

  Only his.

  Always his.

  Forever his.

  He known the second he laid his eyes on that spectacular hourglass figure of hers that he wanted her. Of course he had. A man would have to be dead not to want to spend time between those gorgeous thighs, worshiping at those fantastic breasts while he fucked into what he’d bet was the tightest pussy in creation. Yes, his cock had screamed ‘MINE!’ the moment his gaze settled on her fine little body. But the second she’d turned and he’d seen her exquisite face for the first time -- yeah, he’d been done. He’d known that woman would hold him – heart, mind, body, and soul.

  There’d been no question at all.

  He was claiming sweet Carolina for his own.

  And in a few hours – or however long it took her to feel comfortable with him – he’d take her home and make her his in the most natural way there was.

  “You know, if you stare at that poor woman any harder, you’re likely to blow her up with the power of your mind. Then, you’d never get to do all those naughty things to her that we both know you’re fantasizing about,” a sweet voice chided from behind him.

  Looking over his shoulder, he grinned at Patience McKinnon Turner, one of the café’s owners and resident bartender. She was sisters with the sheriff’s wife, and he’d known both her and her husband, Abel, for years. “How do you know I don’t wanna just take her home and stare at the stars?” he asked the bright-eyed woman. With straight blonde hair that fell just past her ears, Patience looked like she’d dipped the tips of her hair in cotton candy pink tonight. It was a cute look for the woman.

  “Oh, please, Aiden! A blind woman could spot the hard-on you’ve been sportin’ since you walked in the door with our new librarian. You better treat her right, or Zeke is likely to lock you up. He’s already sworn off ever sitting on a hiring panel with Aunt Orla again. Did you know that she asked the male candidates to strip down to their skivvies? She says she wanted to make sure they were bringing the “right stuff” to her beloved town!”

  “That sounds like your aunt, babe,” Aiden pointed out with a deep chuckle. “The day she stops trying to get a free show from Paradise’s male residents is the day you’ll be planting her beneath an old oak tree.”

  “I reckon you’re right about that. Abel said we should just be damn grateful we haven’t been sued yet in a sexual harassment suit,” Patience agreed, wiping a damp rag over the scarred bar. “Can I get you anything tonight, Chief?”

  “Just the woman your sister and brother-in-law seem to be intent on monopolizing,” he grumbled, staring at where Carolina still sat at the table, smiling and chatting away.

  “Ohhh, I know that look,” Patience breathed, snapping
her fingers as she pointed at Aiden. “God knows, I’ve seen it enough times.”

  “What the hell are you talking about, Patience?” Aiden asked, barely moving as he kept his eyes on Carolina as she sipped a glass of white wine. His back tightened as he suddenly noted Slade Cansler and RJ Reardon entering the bar. Both men were friends of a sort, he supposed. Slade was a distant cousin of the sheriff’s wife, a former Navy SEAL that now owned his own construction company in town, while RJ Reardon was relatively a new implant to Paradise. RJ had recently partnered up with another man by the name of Callum Valentine and opened up a state-of-the-art gym in town. Each man was a good guy -- at least Aiden thought so on most days. But today, both guys were also single, red-blooded males on the hunt for their own mate. And it looked as if each one had caught a new scent of innocence and beauty hanging in the air.

  His Caro’s scent.

  “You! You’re about to pull that Caveman Alpha Dog nonsense, aren’t you?” Patience questioned knowingly as Aiden straightened against the bar and watched the two men begin a slow advance toward Caro’s table. “Seriously, do they pull you boys aside before graduation and instruct you to act like asshats upon feeling that special pull towards a woman?” Aiden heard her ask, but he was already on the move, stalking toward where Carolina sat.

  “If you bust up my bar, Imma bust up your face, Chief,” he heard Patience holler from her position behind the bar.

  Lifting a hand in the air to acknowledge her warning, he simply kept walking, relaxing only when he reached the table first and settled a hand on the back of Carolina’s neck. “You getting’ the lay of the land, babe?” he asked, stroking his thumb across the flesh where Caro’s pulse beat a steady rhythm against him, grinning when she blushed at his touch.

  Zeke’s eyes widened as they looked from Carolina’s flushed face to where Aiden’s hand rested heavily against the younger woman’s neck. “I see you two already know each other?” he asked as he shifted his surprised gaze to lock with Aiden’s own unblinking stare.

  “We met briefly. I had a flat tire on the way here and Mr. James was kind enough to stop and make sure I was okay. It was very neighborly of him,” Caro explained quickly, trying to slide from Aiden’s grip as unobtrusively as possible.

  Nothing doin’, Aiden thought as Slade and RJ drew nearer the table. Frowning at Caro when she shifted, he merely tightened his fingers on the back of her neck, stilling her. “Now, Dimples, don’t leave these fine people with the wrong impression. I think we both know that we’re gonna be a whole lot more than neighbors to each other, don’t we? Close personal friends, remember. That’s the goal.”

  “You’re making that sound naughtier than it was meant, Aiden,” Carolina admonished through gritted teeth as she shot Aiden a glare that would have quelled a lesser man. She then turned to offer Zeke and Honor a tight smile.

  Fortunately for Aiden, years of working under pressure had gifted him with balls of steel, and he’d learned long ago to laugh in the face of a little fear. “Darlin’, I meant it to sound exactly as it came out. You’re gonna be mine. No sense in misleadin’ anyone about that.” He watched with no small amount of satisfaction as the blush on Caro’s cheeks deepened to a cherry red and her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.

  “Well, it’s good to know you’re getting to know some people. Especially since you’ll be living right next door to Aiden,” Honor quickly interceded, her eyes narrowing as she glared at Aiden. “I invited a couple of more folks by to meet you, too, Caro. I hope that’s alright,” she said, waving half-heartedly at Slade and RJ as they reached the table.

  Keeping his eyes fixed to Caro, Aiden shook his head. “No use wastin’ these boys’ time, Miss Honor.” He then looked up and gave Slade and RJ a sweeping glance as he moved his hands to settle on Caro’s slender shoulders. “Sorry, boys. Claimed.”

  Slade’s lips twitched as he moved his eyes to Carolina’s. “Is that so?”

  “You heard me loud and clear, Slade,” Aiden said softly, his gaze unwavering as his hands gently massaged Caro’s tensing shoulders. “She’s claimed.”

  “Oh, my,” Honor breathed, her wide eyes going from a confident Aiden to a shocked Carolina. “Did you know about this, Ezekiel?” she hissed, leaning toward the sheriff and pinching his arm.

  “Nope. But I ain’t exactly surprised, Kitten,” Zeke replied, his lips twitching as he looked toward Aiden. “Men in this town tend to find something they want and keep after it until it’s theirs. I can’t fault the man,” he said, nodding toward the fire chief. “It’s what I did with you.”

  “Are you kidding?” RJ yelped. “How the hell can she already be claimed?” he asked, moving his gaze from Caro’s mortified face to the sheriff’s amused one. “She’s barely been in town for like five minutes!”

  “Oh, my God,” Caro groaned, burying her face in her hands. “I’m not claimed. I don’t even know what that means!” Lifting her head to glare at Aiden over her shoulder, she inhaled deeply. “Well, congratulations, troublemaker. I don’t think I’ve ever been so embarrassed in my life.”

  “Well, Carolina is a very pretty girl, RJ, and things do tend to happen quickly in this town,” Honor consoled, reaching out to pat RJ’s arm. “I told Zeke that she wouldn’t be single long,” she continued with a narrow look at her husband.

  “I am still single, everybody! Check my finger if you don’t believe me,” Aiden heard Caro beg as she looked around the table at the assembled faces, waving her ringless hand.

  Bending, Aiden pressed his lips to the shell of her ear, whispering, “I promise you, Dimples, you are very, very much taken. By me! Keep talkin’ about how single you are and I’ll prove it to you right here in the middle of this bar.” He smiled when she visibly shivered, glad to see that they were finally on the same page.”

  “Look, Aiden met her on the side of the road as she came into town, boys. She had a flat tire and, well, I reckon the rest is history. What can I say? In Paradise, if you snooze, you lose,” Zeke was busy declaring with a wicked grin and a wink at his concerned wife. “Provided, that is, that all Aiden’s former entanglements have been….untangled,” the sheriff continued, his eyes narrowing as they stared over Carolina’s bent head.

  Meeting the sheriff’s eyes, Aiden nodded. He knew exactly to what Zeke was referring. At 35 years old, Aiden was no chaste virgin. He’d played a lot over the years with all different kinds of women, sampling everything the feminine persuasion had to offer him. In the past few years, he’d settled down some, becoming more selective of the women he took to bed with him, but none of them had ever managed to touch his heart and they’d all – every single one of them- known he was an equal opportunity player.

  One look at Carolina, however, had changed everything.

  At least, for him.

  In the space of a single heartbeat, he’d known that both his heart and his cock would only ever belong to Carolina Mayfair from this day forward. He couldn’t explain how he knew it; in moments, however, it became just an absolute fact in his life. He just knew. It was sort of like knowing that the sun would rise in the east and set in the west or how water froze when it reached 32 degrees. It was just a fact of life.

  And nothing she said or did would change things for him.

  “My running around days are over, Sheriff. Do me a favor: consider me caught by Cupid and spread that shit wide and far for me,” Aiden added with a pointed look down at his very confused woman.

  “Hearts are breaking all over town, I’m sure,” RJ muttered sarcastically, shooting Aiden a dirty look. Smiling grimly and extending his hand, RJ waited for Aiden to grip it. “Congratulations, man,” he said.

  “I’ll be expecting an invitation to the wedding,” Slade added with a grin, reaching forward to shake hands also with Aiden.

  “Whoa!” Carolina finally exclaimed, bolting to her feet and knocking over her chair. “Invitations? Wedding?” she echoed a smidge hysterically as she took a step away from the table and he
ld out a shaking hand to ward off Aiden when he would have come closer. “I’d say you’re a bit premature with those kinds of plans, fellas. I mean, we haven’t…that is to say, I haven’t even…even…”

  “Even, what, Dimples?” Aiden questioned pleasantly.

  “The men in this town are nuts!” she proclaimed with a quick look at where RJ and Slade stood, silently grinning at the scene unfolding in front of them. “You haven’t even kissed me yet, Aiden! We might not have any chemistry at all. I hardly think anybody should book a church yet, you overly confident redneck! This isn’t the Old West. You can’t just walk up to a woman and claim her. It’s just not done,” she blustered, her bluish grey eyes darkening like storm clouds rolling in on the horizon.

  “Preach it, sister!” Patience called from behind the bar. “Tell all these swinging dicks how it is!” she encouraged, lifting a long neck bottle of beer.

  Swirling with turbulence and panic, Carolina’s gaze was more than a little desperate as she looked around the bar, searching for the closest exit. She snatched her handbag off the table, and Aiden watched her swallow hard and suck her full lower lip into her mouth, biting down on it with enough force to draw blood.

  “I need to go,” Carolina whispered frantically, her eyes finally zoning in on the exit to the bar.

  Taking another step closer, Aiden held up his hand. “Caro, baby, stop. Take a deep breath for me.” Relieved to see her freeze in place at the gentle command in his voice, Aiden hurried toward her. “You are not in any shape to drive home right now, Dimples,” he chided softly, slipping her purse strap underneath his fingers and pulling it away from her. “First, you’ve had a couple of glasses of wine and you’d be driving after dark in a strange town. Second, I don’t trust the damn donut tire on your car. If you wanna go, I’m all for it, but I’ll be the one driving you. Easy enough for me since I live right next door,” he reminded her, dangling the key to her side of the duplex in front of her nose.