by Exley Avis
Erika wasn’t the only one with a body made for sin and Aiden’s remembered wickedness had inspired every raunchy lyric she’d ever written, including a few too x-rated to record. Not to mention the delicious dreams that visited her most nights as she drifted off to sleep.
“I can see you’re thinking about it,” Aiden said after Erika’s silence had gone on too long. “We could have a lot of fun before you head up to London.”
Erika tilted her head and pretended Aiden had nothing of interest to offer her. “You forget, I’ve already sampled the merchandise,” she reminded him, playing along. “Maybe that option won’t appeal to me either.”
“And perhaps you just need a little more convincing.” His eyes widened suggestively. “The other morning, you took what you wanted and left. I wasn’t allowed to join in.”
“Would it have made any difference?”
In reply, Aiden reached up and placed his fingertips on the side of her neck, just below her ear, allowing them to flutter against her skin like butterflies’ wings. “If I kissed you here right now I’d give you goosebumps along your arms.”
Erika half closed her eyes as a thrill of arousal trickled through her skin, just as Aiden had predicted.
His fingers then moved around under her hair and circled each one of her neck bones before caressing the sensitive nape. ”When I gave you a massage, I started here and, by the time I was half way down your spine, you’d be begging me to make love to you.”
He whispered the last, leaning so close his cheek brushed hers and the powerful, masculine scent of him engulfed her, goading her into touching him. Without warning, he dropped his hand and pinched the tender skin on the back of her knee, making Erika gasp. “After we’d showered, I’d dry you off and kiss you from ankle to thigh before letting my tongue…”
“Okay. Okay. You’ve made your point.” Erika jumped in before he could go any further, her skin temperature having leapt by ten degrees. “Leave something for the imagination.”
“Are you sure you don’t need reminding how I could make you come simply by touching your nipples? Or how I’d start at your navel and…”
“Enough!” Erika glared at him but found it impossible to cancel the image of his tongue travelling down across her belly, and her cheeks flushed. “People are staring.”
Aiden laughed at her embarrassment, the deep, rich sound setting off sensual vibrations in Erika’s bones. “So why don’t we escape to your room?”
“No! I mean, we can’t.” Erika felt control shifting dangerously in Aiden’s favour and reacted quickly. Sex equalled power – in Aiden Thirstan’s book, at least – and while she dictated the pace, she had some chance of making him do what she wanted. She leaned back and moved her leg, breaking the physical connection and slowing the tempo.
“You used to be more subtle than this.”
“You’re the one who doesn’t have time to waste,” he reminded her.
“That doesn’t mean I want to leap into bed with you right now.”
“Doesn’t it?” He shot her the same warning glance – the one telling her not to lie to herself. “Because I can’t think of anything else. I want you more than I have ever wanted any woman and, right now, all I can think about is taking you upstairs and unzipping that very beautiful dress.”
“Whatever happened to foreplay?”
Realising the game was finally on, Aiden relaxed and let his eyes run over Erika’s body from cleavage to ankle, their amber tones spelling out lust and longing.
“It starts the minute I close the door to your suite,” he promised, “when I’ll…”
“Oh, no.” Erika shook her head, laughing, and rested her hand on Aiden’s chest to keep him at bay. “You’ll need to do better than that. I’ve spent a long time getting dressed tonight and you have to make it worth my while.”
“What do you suggest?”
“That we have dinner and see what happens.” Erika feigned nonchalance but suspected her expression gave away more than it concealed about the arousal building within her. “I’ll give you exactly two hours to talk me out of this dress – although I suspect you could shorten the time frame if you tried hard enough.”
“I might have to play dirty.”
“Is that a threat or a promise?”
“More of an absolute guarantee, really.”
“Oh, good.” Her breath caught in her throat. “Dirty’s my favourite kind of game.”
Aiden’s mouth curved into the sexiest of smiles that conveyed anticipation, desire and impatience in equal measure, and his lips parted, ready to kiss her. He raised his chin, beckoning her closer but Erika wasn’t prepared to give in quite so easily. Instead, she dropped her hand from his chest and onto his leg, very deliberately spreading her fingers across his thigh. From there, it travelled up over his hips and inside his jacket where she let it rest against his abdomen, feeling the muscles clench beneath her fingers.
“Stop. You’re driving me crazy,” he breathed, working his fingers under the hem of her dress and sliding his hand up toward her stocking top. “Please let’s forget dinner and get out of here now.”
“No way!”
Laughing, Erika grabbed his wrist and put distance between them on the sofa. The idea that Aiden’s rising desire made him hers to command excited her and she was determined to play the advantage, writing her own rules as she went along. Acting on this, she slipped one finger into the gap between his shirt buttons and drew a circle on his skin, letting her nail catch in the hairs.
“Go and find us a table,” she ordered, “while I decide what I want for dessert.”
“I know what I’d like to see on the menu.”
Erika knew Aiden’s after-dinner tastes only too well and her nipples budded at the memory of him licking ice cream and chocolate from her breasts. “Well I’m in the mood for something new, so you might need to be creative.”
“That’s a challenge, if ever I heard one.”
Aiden’s expression guaranteed that, given the chance, he’d be as spectacularly inventive as he’d always been. The promise sent desire shooting through Erika, who could now barely control her own reactions, let alone his.
Never letting her eyes drop from his face, she gently placed her hand in his lap and felt a very gratifying hardness beneath her fingers. Her pussy flooded and tightened in anticipation of the hundred ways he’d bring her pleasure later.
“What the hell are you doing?” Aiden demanded, his features registering erotically-charged surprise followed by a warning that she was in very real danger of being carried bodily back to her suite. “Do you know how much I want to fuck you right now?”
“Oh, yes.” Erika pressed her hand against his groin, feeling it swell so tantalisingly into her palm that she couldn’t hold back a sigh of arousal. “I know because I want you twice as much and I’m already thinking up a dozen new ways to please you.” She paused for a second to allow the idea to penetrate and saw Aiden’s eyes darken with lust. “Maybe two hours is too long to wait,” she added. “Let’s see how quickly we can get through dinner.”
Erika stood up quickly before sexual hunger overpowered her and she pounced on him. She needed a moment to bring her desire down to the right side of indecent and excused herself to freshen her lipstick. “I’ll see you outside in a couple of minutes.”
“Take your time,” Aiden said with a rueful smile. “If I stood up right now it’d be pretty obvious to everyone in the bar how horny you’ve made me. I’ll finish my champagne and let things…settle down.”
“Just as long as you can revive them later.” Flicking up her eyebrows suggestively, Erika leaned back in for a kiss that barely touched Aiden’s lips but which had him desperate for more. “I have plans for you later that don’t include a lot of lying still.”
Chapter Six
After blowing Aiden a very cheeky kiss, Erika headed out into the corridor where she heard the excited chatter of a wedding party coming from the hotel’s large ballroom. In the
loo, she checked her make-up, topped up her lipstick and brushed on a second coat of mascara, wasting time to give Aiden chance to recover.
When she couldn’t wait any longer, she opened the door, only to be knocked backwards by a young woman in a wedding dress barging her way in. She flung herself down onto a chair and hid her face in her hands, before breaking down into noisy sobs.
“Whatever’s the matter?” an astonished Erika asked, dropping to her knees beside the girl and putting her arms around her. “Surely nothing could be so terrible on your wedding day.”
The bride couldn’t control herself enough to reply but the door opened again and Erika looked up hopefully at another girl, obviously a bridesmaid.
“They can’t track anyone else down,” the bridesmaid said, “but they’ve managed to find a mobile disco that can be here in an hour.”
This news sent the bride into more sobs and Erika asked what had happened.
“We hired a band but the lead singer’s crashed her car on the way here and she’s been taken to hospital,” the bridesmaid explained, so busy trying to stop her sister crying that she hardly looked at Erika.
“Is there anything I can do?” Erika offered.
“Not unless you can sing,” the bride blubbed.
Having spent five years hiding, this dismissal took Erika aback for a moment and she laughed out loud. She passed the bride a tissue, at the same time catching the bridesmaid’s eye and finally seeing recognition clang into place.
“Oh my God, Georgia,” the bridesmaid said, clutching the bride’s arm and staring open mouthed. “She’s Erika Fenn.”
Georgia focussed through a blur of tears and did a double take before all the colour drained from her face. “Tell me I’m dreaming.”
“You’re not.” Erika rarely had chance to meet her fans up close and the laughter came bubbling out at both girls’ astonishment. “And seriously, I’d like to help out. I worked my way through uni as a wedding singer. If you want me to fill in…”
Georgia threw her arms around Erika before she could finish the sentence.
“Fill in! As if you’d be second best,” she screamed in delight. “We’re having Perfect Together as our first dance anyway.” Georgia jumped up and down on the spot. “Phil won’t believe this. I think he loves you more than he loves me.”
The excited bridesmaid ran off in search of the groom and the band while Erika helped Georgia repair her make-up. Within minutes, Erika established she already knew most of the planned songs and could sight-read the music where she didn’t.
“If you want me to sing my own songs, I have all the backing tracks on my iPod upstairs and can plug it into the sound system,” she offered.
“I feel embarrassed asking you to sing Robbie and Kylie cover versions.” The groom recovered his voice at last and was laughing with excitement.
“Well don’t. Only yesterday I was telling my friend how much I miss singing in small venues. If the band will lend me a guitar I’ll have the time of my life.”
Aiden chose this moment to emerge from the bar, only to find Erika being hugged by a newly-married couple and surrounded by musicians stunned by the prospect of playing in Erika Fenn’s backing group.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, pushing his way to the centre of the group and positioning himself protectively beside Erika.
“Fine.” Her eyes were alight with excitement. “Georgia and Phil’s wedding singer can’t make it so I’ve offered to fill in.”
“Are you sure?” Aiden looked dubious and moved her away. “Shouldn’t you be resting your voice?”
“This is a wedding party, not Madison Square Gardens,” she reminded him, laughing. “It’s everything I’ve been missing for the last five years – proper music to a small crowd and the chance to play real instruments.” She glanced back at Georgia and Phil who were watching them, holding their breath. “I can’t let them down.”
It was impossible for Aiden to resist the huge smile on her face but he couldn’t help reminding her that they’d originally had other plans.
“I’ll expect you to make it up to me later,” he warned.
“Don’t worry. I will. Big time. Remember, we always had the best sex after a great gig.”
Leaving Aiden with that very dangerous thought, Erika sent him to retrieve her iPod. By the time he returned, she was in the ballroom with the band, running through the music with all the professionalism she’d show at a major stadium concert. Picking up a guitar, she strummed a few chords of a Stevie Wonder song to check she could still play it and then switched effortlessly to a Bee Gees ballad, crooning softly under her breath. She suggested changes to the set in order to play old favourites that she knew would have the guests up and dancing, and the band insisted she included more of her own music
Eventually, Erika climbed the steps at the side of the stage, sat down at the piano and looked over at Aiden who’d taken a seat at the bar. He smiled encouragingly and raised his glass, although the standing ovation was all the reassurance Erika needed to banish her nerves.
Her fingers picked out the first few notes of Perfect Together, one of her earliest hits and a haunting ballad that had become a favourite with lovers the world over. Georgia and Phil took to the floor, looking so perfectly happy tears rose to Erika’s eyes, lending an emotion to her voice she rarely tapped into in a major venue.
Even though the song had been written for Aiden, it spoke to any lover’s heart, and the couple danced closer while the words floated around them.
Perfect for each other
Two halves of one whole
There’ll never be another
Two hearts, one soul
If I’m correct
The question’s not whether
Each of us is perfect.
But are we perfect together?
Erika sang huskily into the microphone, living every phrase. She couldn’t help but sing directly to Aiden, asking herself whether the two of them would still be perfect together.
Or had too much happened to break the unique connection they’d shared before love and life had torn them apart?
The song ended in a storm of applause, jolting Erika back to reality. Without missing a beat, she launched into a rocking, Motown classic that had every guest storming the dance-floor. Vocally, Erika had always been a chameleon and her romantic, mellow tone became that of a soul diva; raunchy, throaty and making everyone’s feet itch to dance.
The band followed with a medley from Saturday Night Fever, Robbie Williams’s greatest hits and a selection from Kylie and Shakira, all of which Erika delivered with gusto before leading a conga line through the reception area to the O’Jays Love Train. She grabbed Aiden on the way past the bar.
“I’d forgotten how much fun this is,” she called to him over her shoulder.
“And I’d forgotten what a fantastic entertainer you are. This crowd love you.”
After steering the breathless guests back into the ballroom, Erika ran up onto stage for three of her own dance tunes that had been massive worldwide hits. Seeing that two of the younger bridesmaids knew the dance routines step for step she called them up beside her, creating an impromptu backing group. In a stadium or massive indoor arena, Erika had been separated from her audience by barriers and a legion of security men, and it had therefore been impossible to create a level of intimacy. However, in a small hotel in Yorkshire, Erika suddenly recaptured everything she loved about music and danced as if her feet were on fire, grinning so much she could barely sing.
After a couple of hours her voice desperately needed a break so she left the band to perform a Beatles medley while she joined Aiden at the bar.
“I’m having the time of my life,” she said, hugging him so hard she almost knocked him off his stool. “I can’t believe how much fun this is.”
“This is just like the old days. You look so sexy up there, I can’t wait to get you alone.”
Aiden handed her a glass of iced water and she gulped it do
wn before slipped her arms around his neck and kissing him.
“Your lips are freezing,” he laughed, holding her closer for another kiss.
“Play your cards right and I’ll let you warm them up later.”
The idea appealed and Aiden slid his hands down over her backside, pulling her hips sharply to him. “After seeing you up there tonight, there’s no way I can let you go back to Marty. I want you with me.”
Erika smiled tenderly at him feeling more hopeful than she had in years. And more secure. Someone was finally on her side and waiting to catch her if she fell.
“I’ll hold you to that promise,” she said, stroking his cheek. “A week ago, I wouldn’t have believed any of this but you’ve literally changed my life overnight. There’s no way I can go back to America now.”
The band played the opening notes of The Beatles’ Something, slowing down the mood, and Aiden took Erika’s hand.
“Dance with me,” he said, making it sound more like an command than a request.
“Dance?” She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slow danced with anyone.
“You remember – that thing we used to do standing up.”
“As opposed to that thing we did lying down.”
Aiden grinned wickedly. “We often did that standing up too.”
He pulled Erika into his arms, her body moulding to his as she laid her cheek against his chest. He’d been dancing with one of the bridesmaids and his skin still felt seductively hot through his shirt. When he rested his chin on the top of Erika’s head, he let one hand stroke the length of her naked arm before dropping kisses down onto her shoulder. His breath scorched her skin and raised goosebumps down her spine.
Longing overwhelmed her and she looked up at him, reading an identical need in his face. Forgetting the crowd around them, Erika pulled Aiden’s lips down to hers and kissed him deeply, feeling his arms tighten around her as he held her like he never wanted to let her go.