There was a soft moan and then, “That’s better,” Melanie said as Aidan knelt there, slowly exhaling as he slid inside her and-
“And I didn’t want to give up carbs, but I also didn’t want to lose. So, I may have umm, made a few tactical decisions that I kind of feel bad about,” she said, making him frown as he tried to figure out what she was talking about only to chuckle when she admitted, “I left baked goods, chocolate, and candy in the breakroom every day and made sure that all the healthy options quickly found their way to the dumpster out back.”
“Did you win?” Aidan asked, running his hands over her back.
“No,” came the sadly mumbled answer. “My love of carbs ruined my chances.”
“All that for nothing,” he said, chuckling only to groan when she gave her ass another pointed wiggle.
“I know,” she said with a sniffle and another wiggle that had him deciding that they could finish her five things later…much later.
Chapter 29
She was going to be sick, Melanie thought as she opened her eyes and found Aidan sitting across the room, watching her and reminding her of the morning that she wanted to forget. Swallowing hard, her grip tightened around the comforter as she laid there, waiting for him to say something that would destroy her only to feel herself relax when his lips pulled up into a devastating smile.
“Good morning,” Aidan said as he stood up and walked over so that he could lean down and make everything better with an incredibly sweet kiss.
“What time is it?” she asked as she reached up to run her fingertips along his jaw.
“A little after twelve,” he said, pressing a kiss against her chin.
“I slept late,” Melanie said with a heavy sigh even as she had to admit that she wouldn’t mind going back to sleep only to end up deciding that being awake definitely had its benefits when she felt Aidan’s hand slide beneath the covers and cup her breast.
“You had a late night,” he said, kissing a path down her neck as his hand gave her breast one last squeeze before sliding down over her belly and-
“Oh, no,” Melanie mumbled as the reminder that she’d slept in late had her struggling to sit up.
Without a word, Aidan moved so that he could brush his lips against hers one last time before he helped her sit up, handed her one of his shirts so that she could pull it on while he helped her stand up. Once she was on her feet, she mumbled a quick, “Thank you,” winced, sort of cringed, and prayed that she was able to waddle her way to the bathroom before she made this morning truly memorable.
Twenty minutes and an empty bladder later, Melanie walked back into the bedroom, freshly showered, hair combed, and teeth brushed to find Aidan lounging on the bed, reading something on his iPad. Without a word, she walked over to the bed, somehow managed to climb onto it without losing her towel and then promptly moved between his legs, laid back, closed her eyes, and felt herself relax.
God, he was comfortable, she thought as Aidan wrapped his arms around her.
“Better?” Aidan asked, placing his hands on her belly.
“Yes,” she said, sighing with relief as she laid there, more than ready to have this baby.
“Only two more weeks,” Aidan said, reading her mind.
“I feel like I’m ready to explode,” Melanie said, making him chuckle as she placed her hands over his.
“It will be over before you know it,” he told her as he pressed a kiss against the top of her head.
“Promise?” she asked because she wasn’t really sure that she was going to be able to make it another two weeks.
“Promise,” Aidan said with another kiss before they fell into a comfortable silence. For a while, they sat there as Aidan caressed her belly while she closed her eyes and simply enjoyed being in his arms until it was time to get back to reality.
“I have to go back to work,” he said, not sounding any happier than she was about it.
“I know,” Melanie said, wishing that they could spend all day like this. She’d never been big on cuddling before, but then again, that probably had something to do with the fact that no one had ever held her the way that Aidan did. He made her feel safe and cherished, something that she’d quickly become addicted to.
“I don’t want to leave you,” he admitted with another kiss, making her smile.
“But you have to go to work,” she said, biting back a disappointed sigh.
“I have to go to work,” Aidan said, sighing before adding, “and I have a double shift at the hospital that I couldn’t get out of afterwards.”
“So, I won’t see you until tomorrow morning?” she said, understanding probably better than most people would since up until seven months ago she’d been a workaholic as well.
She’d never had time to slow down, never wanted to because she’d loved what she did. It hadn’t always been that way. When she was in high school, she’d been forced to choose between taking theatre and a programming class, which really hadn’t been much of a choice given how much she hated musicals. She’d regretted her decision within the first five minutes of class. That had been followed by asking to go to the front office and finding out that there were no other options.
It had taken her twice as long and required her to stay after school for extra help, but by the end of the first semester, she’d earned her first F and an unhealthy hatred for all things computer related. That had been followed by her marching down to the front office and demanding that they let her take the class again next semester.
After a thirty-minute meeting with the school psychiatrist to make sure that she wasn’t on the verge of a mental breakdown, they’d reluctantly allowed her to take the class again with an offer of letting her take double gym classes instead if she changed her mind. With a glare that may have been a bit too much at that point, she’d headed to the library and took out every book on computers and programming that she could get her hands on and read them over Christmas break, determined to pass that damn class.
At the end of Christmas break, she’d somehow managed to hate the class even more, and by the time progress reports came out next quarter, she wanted to curl up into the fetal position and stay there all while she was tempted to give up. She still wasn’t sure how she’d managed it, but somehow, she’d made it through that class with a C- and found herself signing up for another programming class.
By the time she’d graduated high school, she’d fallen in love with programming and had been teaching herself skills that they hadn’t offered in school, which had led to designing websites, databases, apps, and a few dozen tech skills that had allowed her to support herself by the time that she was nineteen. She loved what she did and always looked for jobs that would challenge her. When she wasn’t working, she was reading, researching, and trying out new ideas.
Over the past few months, she’d been too sick to do even that. After Drew was born, she was going to have to work her ass off to catch up on everything that had changed in the past few months, which unfortunately in this field, was going to be a lot. She’d figure it out, Melanie thought as she reluctantly sat up so that Aidan could leave.
“My brother Duncan is in the living room so that he can keep an eye on you and keep you company until Arik gets off work. He’s going to crash on the couch if you’re okay with that,” he said as he climbed off the bed.
“It’s like you don’t trust me,” Melanie said with a sad shake of her head.
“Because I don’t,” Aidan said, chuckling as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers with a, “Behave.”
*-*-*-*
“Dr. Stanford to curtain one,” came the PA announcement as Aidan dropped down into an abandoned wheelchair and pulled his phone out of his pocket only to smile a few seconds later when he saw the text message Melanie sent him earlier. He started to reply only to realize just how late it was.
Shit!
He’d planned on calling her earlier but the intoxicated fourteen-year-old currently yelling, “I’m Super
man, bitches!” as security carried him back to his room and the stabbing that came in a few hours ago had kept him busy for most of the night. He’d been hoping to stop by the apartment and see Melanie before his shift at the ER started, but he’d been held over with a new patient who’d showed up in tears because she was having problems and her old doctor wasn’t listening to her.
He’d sat down with her and went through all her medications, ran tests, and was able to figure out the problem. That led her to thanking him and telling him all about her new grandbaby, which had Aidan showing her the sonogram images of Drew that he carried everywhere and telling her about his son.
Only two more weeks, he thought, unable to help but smile as he sat there, wondering if Drew was going to end up having his mother’s addiction to carbs or-
“There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” someone said as a plate covered in aluminum foil was placed on his lap.
Frowning, Aidan looked up and found himself trying to figure out who the woman smiling down at him was. When she noticed his frown, she playfully rolled her eyes and said, “It’s Caitlyn. Melanie’s sister.”
“Of course,” he murmured, biting back a sigh and forced a smile as he picked up the plate and stood up even as he couldn’t help but wonder what she was doing here.
“I heard that you were stuck working here tonight and I thought it would be a good idea to stop by and say hello and to see if you needed anything,” Caitlyn said with a sweet smile as she gestured towards the plate in his hands.
“Thank you. That’s really nice of you,” Aidan said, sliding his phone back in his pocket.
“It’s a grilled chicken salad,” she said before squishing her face up in what she probably thought was an adorable expression as she added, “I figured that you could use a break from cafeteria food.”
“I usually grab something out of the vending machine,” he said, still trying to figure out why she was really here at eleven o’clock at night.
“I figured that I should bring you something to eat since I know that Melanie would never think of doing something like this,” Caitlyn said, smiling only to pout when “Dr. Bradford to curtain six,” was announced over the PA system.
“Melanie is eight months pregnant with my son, so I’d probably spank her beautiful ass if I caught her out this late since she needs her rest. Thank you for dinner,” Aidan said, thankful for the reprieve as he placed the plate down on the nurse’s station and headed towards the back, hoping that she was gone by the time that he was done.
“What the hell happened?” Aidan asked when he walked into exam room six and saw his brother Reese lying on the stretcher with a bag of ice pressed against his shoulder.
“We told him not to do it,” Mikey, the adorable little girl that his brother adored, said with a sad shake of her head and a pitying sigh.
“We really did,” Sebastian, her partner in crime, his cousin Trevor’s son, and a boy that he’d been worried about until Mikey came into his life, said absently from where he stood on the other side of the stretcher, reading a book.
With a mock glare aimed at his stepdaughter, Reese said, “I fell out of a tree trying to rescue a kitten for the little pain in the ass.”
“That you adore,” Mikey added for him with a solemn nod, making Aidan bite back a smile as he stepped around his niece and began examining his brother.
“Looks dislocated,” Aidan said after examining Reese’s shoulder before checking to see if there was any other damage that they had to worry about.
“He tried to pop it back in,” Mikey said with a sad shake of her head, making Reese’s eyes narrow as he muttered, “Traitor.”
“That didn’t end well,” Sebastian said.
“Not at all,” Mikey added while Aidan glared down at his brother.
“Where’s Kasey?” Aidan asked, wondering why Reese’s wife wasn’t here tormenting her husband, something that she really seemed to enjoy.
“She doesn’t know that we’re here. She thinks we’re asleep in my room and that he’s working in his office,” Mikey said, sighing heavily as she climbed onto the stretcher so that she could sit next to Reese and hold his good hand.
At Aidan’s questioning look, Reese said, “I didn’t want to worry her.”
“I’m pretty sure that she was worried when she saw you fall out of that tree,” Sebastian pointed out, earning a glare.
Nodding, Mikey said, “That was concerning.”
“It really was,” Sebastian said, climbing onto the stretcher so that he could sit next to Mikey.
“I don’t think all that yelling helped either,” Mikey added, looking thoughtful.
“I thought he was going to cry,” Sebastian said, which earned a nod of agreement from his partner in crime. “Me, too.”
“You’re both evil,” Reese said, closing his eyes on a resigned sigh.
“Did you lose consciousness?” Aidan asked.
“No,” Reese said as Aidan shifted his attention to Mikey and Sebastian for confirmation.
“No, but there was a lot of swearing.”
“I learned a lot of new words tonight,” Mikey readily agreed.
Cracking one eye open so that he could glare at Mikey, Reese muttered, “Brat,” before closing his eyes again.
“I already knew that word,” Mikey said, making him chuckle as he checked Reese’s pulse to make sure that his arm was still getting good blood flow.
“It’s true. She did,” Sebastian said as Aidan stood there, unable to help but wonder what it would be like to have a little girl who loved to torment him.
Chapter 30
“Look,” Arik said with a charming smile that probably got him whatever he wanted, “Aidan will never find out. This will be just between us. What do you say?”
“Step away from the pancakes,” Melanie said, narrowing her eyes on the man that kept her company all night and had already managed to devour three batches of pancakes, an entire pan of muffins, a dozen scrambled eggs, and two pounds of bacon.
“I thought you loved me,” Arik said, pouting as he reached for the plate piled high with pancakes and-
“Get out,” Aidan said, shoving Arik out of the way seconds before she found herself pulled into his arms.
“You ungrateful bastard!” Arik said in gasped outrage as she found herself being led out of the kitchen as Aidan brushed his lips against hers with a groan.
“What are you doing up so early?” Aidan asked as he guided her into the bathroom.
“I couldn’t sleep,” Melanie said, already reaching for his tie.
“You need sleep,” he said, breaking off the kiss just long enough so that he could reach down and push her oversized flannel pajamas off as she pulled his tie free only to grab onto his shoulders so that she could step out of her pants when he bent down to help her.
“I need you,” Melanie said, reaching down to cup his face and pull him back up so that she could kiss him.
“You have me,” he promised as he tore his shirt off and tossed it aside before reaching down and pulled his belt loose while he toed off his shoes. By the time that she pushed his pants and boxers down, he had her shirt off and was pulling her inside the shower.
“I made you dinner, but the warden wouldn’t let me bring it to you,” she said as she found herself turned around and facing the wall.
“Good. I don’t want you anywhere near the hospital right now,” Aidan said as he reached past her and grabbed her favorite body wash off the shelf.
“It doesn’t matter anyway because Arik ate everything as soon as I turned my back,” Melanie said, her breath catching when she felt his hands slide down her back.
“Amateur,” Aidan said softly as he kissed her shoulder.
“I know,” she mumbled sadly because she should have expected it.
“And you made me breakfast this morning,” he said, sounding pleased as he ran his soapy hands over her back.
“Yes,” Melanie said only to gasp when his hands sl
id around and found her breasts.
“Did you miss me?” he asked, using his hold on her breasts to pull her closer so that her back was pressed against his chest and she could feel just how much he’d missed her.
“Yes.”
“What did you miss about me?” he asked in a seductive whisper as he moved his hands over her breasts, gently kneading them in his hands as he kissed the side of her neck.
“Everything,” she found herself admitting as she reached back so that she could hold onto his hips as she stood there, unable to help but moan as her head dropped back against his chest.
“Tell me five things,” Aidan said as he ran his soapy fingers over her nipples.
“No,” Melanie managed to get out on a moan as she licked her lips and said, “your turn.”
“My turn?” he asked, sounding thoughtful as he pressed another kiss against her neck.
“Yes,” she said only to sigh with relief when he ran his hands down to her belly and instantly calmed the little boy that had kept her up all night.
“I missed holding you. I missed seeing your smile. I missed feeling Drew push against my side when he wanted attention. I missed the way that you manipulate me into running out and getting you pie, but mostly, I missed the way that you moan my name when I’m inside you,” Aidan said, punctuating his words by grinding his cock against her bottom and leaving her with no other choice but to moan.
“Just like that,” he whispered approvingly as he continued to grind against her as he ran his fingertips over her skin, tracing a path over her belly and down her hips until he reached back and placed his hands over hers. With another kiss against her neck, he wrapped his hands around hers and placed them against the shower wall as hot water ran down her back.
“What did you miss about me, Melanie?” Aidan asked, releasing her hands so that he could run his hands down her back.
“This,” she said as he ran his hands down her hips before gently gripping them so that he could pull her back and-
“You missed this?” he asked as he slowly slid inside her.
Irresistible (Neighbor from Hell Book 11) Page 15