“I think I’m in love,” she told him.
“Hmm?” he asked, surprised.
“With the kitchen, sir,” she teased. “It’s to die for.”
“Oh, okay,” he laughed. “And here I thought I wasn’t the only one jumping the gun.”
“There’s no hurry,” she reminded him as she set the tray containing a carafe of ice with the remainder of the bottle and her own drink on the coffee table. She picked up her glass, and curled up with it beside him on the overstuffed, tan leather sofa.
“You don’t think so?” he asked slyly. “But those oysters seem to really be running this show.”
“I didn’t mean that,” Cat grumbled. “I meant overall.”
“I think we need a toast,” said Aiden, raising his glass to clink it with hers. “To new beginnings.”
“You mean shiny new condos?” Cat teased, taking a sip and then chuckling.
“No,” he said, looking at her meaningfully. He grabbed her drink from her hand, setting both flutes aside. Then he cupped her face between his palms, drawing her lips to his for a kiss that sizzled all down Cat’s spine. She sobbed softly in his mouth, and at that moment she knew she was done for. Her breath hitched as the kisses continued. Aiden’s hands began to explore.
Sighing softly, Cat was not about to deny herself. She moved, settling into Aiden’s lap. Her fingers ran along the unbuttoned portion of his shirt, then down, unbuttoning one more button as well. Aiden groaned, and his questing fingers discovered the hem to her top. He tugged upward.
When she realized what he was after, she pulled to top up and over her head, tossing it off to the side somewhere. She had selected a bra and panties in the color of sea foam, somehow being fairly certain when she’d put it on that this man would be seeing at least the top part of the set as she’d put it on.
“This is really cute,” he told her, tugging playfully at one of the straps. “Were you thinking about anything in particular when you picked it out?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Cat smirked. But when Aiden bent down and tugged the strap down with his teeth, the humor turned to something a bit more carnal. She gasped as he ran his tongue along the side of her neck, then down between her breasts. He tugged the other strap down, exposing her nipples.
“God, Cat, I want you!” he whispered against her breasts. “I think we should go see what they’ve done with the master bedroom.”
“Yes, please,” she agreed huskily.
Aiden sprang to his feet, carrying Cat to the other room. Her heart was pounding with excitement and desire as he laid her down with her head in the pillows and hopped on. Settling onto her so that their pelvises were together, he proceeded to make sure she knew just how much he wanted her. His cock was rock hard, and it felt like heaven as he rubbed it against her.
“Pretty as it is, this bra has got to go,” he announced as he undid it and drew it off of her arms. He grinned wickedly as he dropped it over the bedside.
“So does the shirt,” said Cat, reaching up to unbutton it with impatience bordering on assault. As each button came free between her fingers, more of his fantastic body was revealed. She’d seen him with his shirt off more than once over the last few days, but she’d only dreamed of seeing it up this close.
As Aiden tugged it off, Cat leaned up just a little, tasting his flesh with her lips and tongue. He groaned as he tossed the garment aside, then bent down, pressing her into the pillows so he could kiss her mouth. Their tongues danced briefly, but Aiden was too impatient for more. He stood up and unbuttoned his slacks, allowing the gray material to drop below his knees so he could tug the garment free.
The zipper to Cat’s skirt was to the side. She bit at her bottom lip as she worked it open, but Aiden gave her no chance to do anything more. Instead he caught hold of it by the hem and tugged, tossing it down onto the clothing pile. Since she’d already kicked off her flats while she was in the kitchen, and she hadn’t worn socks, this left Cat in nothing but panties in a lacy sea foam.
Aiden was wearing silky black briefs, and they looked hot as hell. She wanted to rip them off with her teeth. The outline of his very hard cock looked promising. He was so big that the tip was peeking out at the top, looking extremely mouthwatering. Cat decided she was going to indulge.
“Hello there, my friend,” she said, talking to his cock directly as she sat up and took it in hand with a playful grin. “You look very happy to see me. Did you want a little kiss?”
Aiden chuckled, and made his voice a higher pitch. “Yes, please.”
Cat caught him around the hips and pulled him down onto the bed, moving so that she was above him. She couldn’t hide her satisfied grin as she settled between his thighs and took him into her mouth.
“Oh, I see now,” said Aiden as she began to play with him, taking his balls into her hand as she kissed and licked. “You’re a Cheshire Cat.”
“You are so weird,” she let him know.
“I think you like it,” he grinned, then he gasped as she bent down to lick his balls. The playful mood suddenly became much more serious. Cat surged forward, getting to work. She had every intention of rocking his world.
“Cat! Cat, stop!” he finally gasped. “I’m going to come, baby!”
“That’s the whole idea,” she said, grinning around him.
Aiden pressed her into the bed, moving over top of her.
“Hey! No fair!” Cat complained, but then she didn’t have anything to complain about when his lips met hers, with his tongue soon following. Aiden positioned himself and pressed into her, making Cat groan. She threw her legs up and over his thighs, then clamped onto him with a contented sigh.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered into her hair. She smiled as they moved together, and Cat couldn’t get past how right it felt, being there. Every little move, each and every breath, it was so damned right. He pounded into her, and she gave as good as she got. And when they came, they did it together.
They clung each other afterwards, slick with sweat and desire, panting for air until they’d finally calmed back down. Aiden smiled as he threaded his fingers through her red curls, and kissed the top of her head.
“You know something, kitty-cat?” he teased. “That was the best damned sex I’ve had in my life, but it was so good I’d like to try again. In fact, I think I could go all night.”
Cat giggled as she nuzzled into the side of his neck.
“Thanks, oysters.”
TWELVE
“We don’t have any reason to go back to the resort right now,” Aiden explained to Cat the following morning. “Declan and Kellan are busy doing the final weed-out, so we’re better off to just let them get the job done. It’s the people who remain afterwards that we need to worry about. So, if you really wanted to, we could stop over at your father’s hotel and see if there’s anything of yours we might be able to rescue.”
“I doubt I’ll be able to save the clothes, but there are a few keepsakes I wouldn’t mind pulling out of there,” Cat told him. “Only by now, my dad might have already moved my things over to his girlfriend’s house.”
“That’s fine, we’ll just go down and find out,” he shrugged. “You could give him a call to figure out if stopping by the hotel is worth it, if you’d like.”
Cat smirked. “I think it would be more fun if it was a surprise.”
“There’s those claws I like,” said Aiden, drawing her close. They were standing in his kitchen but had yet to discover if there was any kind of food they could eat for breakfast.
“Meow,” she said innocently.
The trip down took a bit less than an hour, and the pair stopped off at the hotel first. Aiden looked at the missing side panels and wall, shaking his head. “This old horse is ready to be put down.”
“My dad said something about getting a loan, but I left before I found out if they’d decided to send somebody out, and he only called me one time the whole week, just to ask if I was doing all right.”
> “I see,” said Aiden grimly. “But I doubt any bank will want to touch this thing. What do you think he’d say to getting a loan from me?”
“Really?” Cat gasped. “You don’t have to do that to impress me.”
“Hey, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for impressing you, but that’s not my reason,” Aiden grumbled. “I’d just hate to see him lose his dream. I know exactly how he feels.”
Cat felt her throat begin to tighten with emotion. “To be honest, I’m not sure how he would take the offer. But if the banks haven’t been helping him, he may be desperate enough to lose some of the edge on his pride.”
Aiden chuckled. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
“Shut up,” she grumbled, bumping her elbow into his. She then spared a thought for the fact she’d just bumped elbows with a guy who had enough money to buy three of these hotels without even batting an eye, and wondered how she managed to be standing by his side. She was amazed, really, and yet ironically she felt completely comfortable.
The service access to the building could only be accessed using a key code, which Cat typed in as they approached the door. The two of them stepped inside and began to look around.
“At least the floorboards still seem solid,” said Aiden. “I don’t think we need to worry about falling through.”
“Thank goodness for small miracles,” Cat agreed, smirking because she was picking up his habit of using old adages all the time. Aiden smirked too, obviously picking up on the reason behind her amusement even though she didn’t say a word. She liked that about him. She liked it a whole lot. “Come on, my room is upstairs. I haven’t been in it since we got back, so I have no idea how it’s going to look.”
“Just walk carefully, Cat, okay?” Aiden suggested. “We don’t know if this building is unstable.”
“I’m on it,” she replied as she headed for the stairs. As they went through her bedroom door, she was pleasantly surprised. “Wow, the damage wasn’t nearly as bad up here. That’s wonderful. And it looks like all of my clothes have disappeared. My jewelry box is MIA as well. Daddy must have paid a visit in here.”
“Do you see anything that you do want?” Aiden asked her. “That’s a mighty fine picture of Legolas up there.”
Cat giggled. “A girl’s got to have a few guilty pleasures. But how much wall space is there in my employee room?”
“Enough, if that’s really where you want to hang it up for now,” he shrugged.
“Aiden, I told you, I’m not going to stay with you in your condo this soon,” Cat sighed, turning to look at him. “We really need to slow down on all of this and get to know one another first. Besides, you’re still working on that divorce.”
“I know, I know,” he grumbled. “It’s just—well, I really loved waking up next to you.”
“I loved it too,” Cat admitted, remembering just how awake the man had been. “And we can work toward that being more permanent one of these days. It’s just that right now we’ll both be going through a lot of adjusting, getting used to new roles and saying good-bye to our old ones. A person needs a bit of alone time for such things, I always find.”
“My brain knows you’re right,” he sighed. “It’s just the other brain that’s trying to complain.”
“Well, tell it to be good, or I’ll have to give it a spanking.”
“And this is supposed to incite it to behave?” Aiden scoffed, chuckling.
Cat started giggling, and she moved against him, cupping his cock as she tiptoed up to kiss him. That’s when they both heard the clearing of a throat. Cat let go so fast it made her head spin as she turned to look at her father.
“Oh, hi Daddy, I didn’t know you were here.”
“Obviously,” he said, his expression somewhere between disgusted and amused. “This must be that guy Scott you mentioned in your texts, I assume?”
Cat blushed hotly.
“You told your dad about ol’ Scotty, kitten?” Aiden teased her. Then he stepped forward and shook her father’s hand. “Hello, Mr. Addison. I’m actually Aiden. Aiden Whitney, to be more precise.”
His face fell and he gaped for a moment. “Del,” he replied as he took his hand. “But I don’t understand. What happened to Scott, baby? You made it sound like he was the real deal.”
“Dad, could you stop?” she pleaded, her face crimson now. “Aiden is Scott. He’s been doing some incognito observation thing. And you’ll be happy to know I’m now part of his administrative team.”
“Glad to hear you held out for more than laundry,” he scoffed indignantly.
“That is not what’s happening, sir,” Aiden defended her. “I can assure you that I didn’t select Cat for the job based on any performance other than those which are normally required.”
“But you’ve obviously slept with her,” he grumbled. “My daughter doesn’t go around grabbing every cock in the room. Well, not that I’m aware of anyway.”
Cat’s mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?” she gasped. “You did not just go there.”
“Well, in case you didn’t know, Cat, your new boyfriend’s been all over the tabloids this morning,” he told her. “Sounds like he’s about to go through a pretty high-profile divorce from the look of things.
“If you mean did I tell her about my divorce, yes sir, she knows,” said Aiden. “But what about the tabloids? I’ve been roughing it all week, so I’m sort of out of the loop.”
“Most of Cat’s stuff’s already been brought over to Tilly’s house,” he replied stiffly. “I’ll show it to her when the two of you stop by.”
“Sir? I want you to know that my intentions toward Cat are completely honorable,” Aiden told him then. “She tells me that you’re a dreamer, like me. Looks like this place could use a few bandages. Have you had any luck with the banks?”
“Not one penny,” he sighed.
“I’d like to help you out, if you’ll let me,” Aiden tried.
“We can discuss it while we eat,” he said decisively. “I insist that the two of you stay to dinner tonight. I’d like to find out what about you has possessed my daughter to completely lose her mind.”
“Come on, Dad, that’s pretty harsh,” Cat complained. “Aiden is good people. He’s just going through a tough time right now, all right?”
“Sure thing, I believe you,” he shrugged. “Aiden, if you’d let me load the SUV too, it would save me a trip or two. What d’you say?”
“That suits me just fine,” Aiden agreed readily. “Just show me some things you want loaded, and I’ll even help you bring them out.
Now her father smiled, clearly impressed that a man with so much wealth didn’t mind a little work as well. “Sure. All right.”
Not afraid of hard work, Cat pitched in too, and before they knew it they were headed out. The tension between the two men wasn’t completely gone, but at least they’d started to cast each other a few uncertain smiles. Hopefully, this was going to work.
THIRTEEN
When they arrived at Tilly’s house not many minutes later, Dan stepped over to Aiden as he was getting out of his car. “I believe we can take a short break, and have a glass of lemonade, before we begin to bring things in. I really think you’d like to have a look at my tabloid.”
“Yes, you’re right,” Aiden agreed. Trepidation began to assault him as the three of them headed for the door. What could possibly in the article that had the man so up in arms?
As they went, Cat caught up and latched onto his arm. Aiden smiled down at her, tugging her a bit closer so they could fit through the doorway at the same time. They were greeted by a pleasant older woman who grinning at their current proximity.
“Cat, you found a mate,” she grinned, and her Australian accent was quite easy to place.
“Yeah, I did,” said Cat proudly. “Tilly, this is Aiden Whitney.”
“You mean, as in the billionaire Aiden Whitney, walking so casually through my own front door?” she gasped. “Forgive me, sir! If I�
��d have known I was about to have such esteemed company I might have vacuumed the floor!”
Aiden chuckled. “Don’t worry about it, Tilly. We’ve brought along so many things from the hotel once they’ve all come in you won’t even be able to see it anymore.”
“If any of those things are still damp, they’d best be coming in through the back door,” she scolded Dan, even shaking a finger at him. “That last batch did not leave me in the mood for more.”
Aiden reassured her, “Nothing that went into my vehicle was wet, though I can’t vouch for Dan’s.”
“Of course none of it’s wet,” he grumbled. “What do you think I waited a whole week for?”
As he said this, Cat’s father plucked up a folded newspaper and set it into Aiden’s hands. He thumbed through and found the article in question on the third page, skimming over it briefly before he gave an indignant huff.
“Abuse and neglect?” he scoffed. “I never harmed any woman in my entire life. And if anyone has been neglected, it’s me. It’s almost four years now since she cut me off.”
“Well, that explains a few things,” said Cat with a chuckle, jabbing him playfully in his ribcage. “But Aiden, you can’t just ignore this. If she’s really accusing you of those things, you need to stand up for yourself. Prove that you didn’t do any such thing. People are going to see that story, and they’re going to assume it’s real. It could lead to them boycotting your gyms. I may not be a billionaire myself, but I know how devastating a loss like that potentially could be.”
“I’ll have my lawyer look into it immediately,” he agreed. “Love the way you think on your toes, by the way. You must have learned about more than just hospitality at that college of yours, eh?”
Cat shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Good, I can use that,” Aiden said appreciatively. “I like having savvy associates in my arsenal. I really think this is going to become something amazing.”
“Wow, Cat, he really is a keeper, isn’t he?” Tilly teased.
Daddy Plus One: A Single Dad Secret Baby Billionaire Romance Page 27