Aiden begins telling Flynn about some awful hangovers he has suffered in the past and how he and his brother used to handle each other when they got too bad. I hear about Aiden having his eyebrows waxed, penises drawn over his face, and an orange spray tan that was applied on only half of his body, which he says he couldn’t get off for two weeks.
Flynn laughs at it all and then laughs harder when Aiden tells him all the awful things he put Max through. Left outside their house naked, dying his hair bright pink—which he said included all of the hair Max had on his body—and a tattoo Aiden talked him into getting on his left butt cheek which says Mom.
I laugh with them and am relieved when Flynn looks lighter after they finish cleaning the car.
“Listen, I need to go into work for a bit—run down some more leads—but tonight, I’m having dinner with my brother, and you’re welcome to join us. I would love to see the look on his face when you ask him if he has any tattoos.”
Flynn laughs at that then tells him he will call him later if he is awake enough and if Gemma went home with the boys.
When we drop Flynn off at his house, he finds his keys under the mat with a note from them all, Gemma included, saying goodbye.
It’s obvious he is sad they have left already, but he tells Aiden he will meet him and Max later for dinner.
I hope he does.
When we leave, Aiden takes us into his station to finish the list of names he made, and he’s able to cross a few more off who are now deceased.
“What about that lady from yesterday? Can we see if we can find out what happened to her?” I ask him, aware that he grabbed her file before he left to take Flynn home.
“Sure.” He sounds hesitant. I know it’s because he’s worried her story won’t end happily. I have hope, though, that she was eventually strong enough to get away from that man.
However, when Aiden looks her up, we find that, soon after Dad took her case, Lara Stafford dropped off the face of the earth. No tax files have been made under her name, no action on her credit cards, and no sign of her anywhere. The man who was her fiancé, Gerald Rumple, appears to have never married, and he died two years ago. As a result, it is impossible to find any leads for Lara’s whereabouts with him now, and I’m almost positive there is never going to be a lead to my murder from this case.
We do find in Dad’s file the woman’s address. After Aiden tracks down a landline number attached to the house, we give it a call, knowing it is a long shot.
Aiden leaves the call on speaker while I hold my breath, hoping for a happy ending.
“Hello?” a male voice answers, sounding annoyed.
“Hi, my name is Detective Mercer. I’m looking for a Lara Stafford to ask her a couple of questions, and this is the last known address we have for her.”
“Questions about what?” The man’s voice still sounds annoyed, perhaps even distracted.
“It’s in regards to a murder investigation I’m working on. Do you know where Ms. Stafford is?”
There is a slight pause on the other end, and then the man takes a deep breath, maybe trying to calm himself down from whatever mood he was already in when he picked up the call.
“No, sorry. I just moved in here a couple weeks ago. The place is old, and I’m in the beginning process of renovating it. I don’t know anything about the previous owner. As far as I’m aware, it’s been abandoned for years.”
Disappointment settles inside me knowing we aren’t going to be able to get an answer to what happened to Lara.
“Okay, can I just have your name to put in my notes, please?” Aiden grabs a pen, ready to write down the young sounding man’s name.
“Look, I don’t know anything. I just moved in here. I don’t see why you need my name.”
“I can come to your house to ask you in person if that will help?” Aiden calmly responds, not letting the man’s anger get to him.
There is another pointed pause before he finally sighs heavily over the phone. “Fine, whatever, but my name better not appear in any newspapers or on any websites. I don’t know anything about whatever case you’re working on. My name is Cole Jameson.”
“Thank you for your time, Mr. Jameson.”
After he hangs up, he types Cole’s name into the system.
“He was a little weird, right?” I ask Aiden, watching as he finds no record that matches a Cole Jameson.
“Could just be a little shifty around cops. In that neighborhood of Inglewood, he probably has cannabis growing somewhere and doesn’t want a cop sniffing around. I’ll send a uniform around there tomorrow to take a look.”
I nod, leaning back on the edge of Aiden’s desk. “What does this mean for Lara?”
“I don’t know.” Aiden shrugs, but when he sees my sad expression, he quickly continues. “Maybe she did get away. Maybe she disappeared and lived happily ever after.”
“I’d have appreciated you saying that if you sounded at all like that could have been a possibility.” I roll my eyes at him, yet I like the fact that he didn’t want to see me sad.
“It is one. It just doesn’t sound like one the woman on that tape would have taken.”
“She might surprise us. Maybe there are more promising recordings on the tape, more to give us hope.”
“Maybe. We can keep playing it on our stakeout tonight.”
I groan. “You know that sounds more exciting than it actually is. How long are you going to keep going back there? Even if there is something shady going on, it might not have had anything to do with Anna Jarvis and her death.”
“We didn’t stay last night, and it hasn’t even been a week. If nothing comes of it after Monday, then we can cool it with the stakeouts.”
“But what about Anna Jarvis? Will you just rule the case as accidental?”
“I would put money that more happened than what that store owner is saying, but unless he decides to admit to it or someone else comes forward, there isn’t much I can do.”
I feel unsatisfied with that. Police shows on TV make it appear like a much quicker and fulfilling experience. If they leave a case unfinished, it is because they plan on bringing the bad guy back later in the season. This just sucks because it is real life, and a bad person who is still out in the world free is not a feeling I like knowing.
Aiden stays at it all afternoon, going over the uncrossed names on his list, making infinite phone calls. The people on the other end are often unhelpful, rude, or completely incomprehensible. Even I have a headache by the end of the day, and Aiden groans when I remind him of the time.
“I really can’t be bothered going out for dinner.”
“You can’t bail on Max, not after everything you’ve gone through to get to this moment. And Flynn…”
“I just meant that maybe we can do dinner at my place.”
My mind immediately speeds ahead. “That is a great idea. If you can drop into a grocery store on the way home, I can pick up something to cook.”
“No way. I don’t need to try to explain to Max where I got some amazing cooking skills, and the last thing I need is for him to bring you up in front of Flynn.”
He shakes his head, grabbing his cell phone then sending both Flynn and Max a text message.
“What are you going to have, then?”
“We’ll order pizza or something.”
“You had pizza the other night with Flynn,” I remind him.
“Yeah, and it was a hit. People can have pizza twice in one week.”
“Are you sure that is going to be filling enough? You didn’t eat any lunch today—”
“What I ate for breakfast was enough for three meals, easy, so you can’t harass me about missing one meal,” Aiden whines, placing his phone in his back pocket as he stands, turning his desk light off.
“I don’t harass you for missing a meal. I simply point out that it is healthy to maintain a proper diet. A great way to do that is to not skip meals.”
“I think overeating is also contradictive
to a healthy diet.”
I roll my eyes, deciding no one is going to win this.
I bite my tongue when Aiden buys two six packs of beers on our way home yet insist he needs more food in his fridge since I used up most of what he had this morning.
“I’ve never had to spend so much money on food in my life,” he complains as we walk through the aisles with him grabbing everything I point out and placing it in a cart. The store is mostly empty, and since there appears to only be one cashier at the front, Aiden obviously doesn’t mind being seen talking to himself. Although, sometimes I think he forgets.
“You’ve also probably never eaten so well, so shut it,” I tease, poking my tongue out at him for good measure.
“You mean this gut that I’m getting that I never had before?” He pats his stomach. “I’m pretty sure I look pregnant if you stare at me from the side.”
I laugh, seeing no such gut. He might not have a six-pack of muscles, but he is lean and fit.
“Well, I happen to find your stomach sexy just the way it is now,” I blurt out, not realizing what I said or how flirtatious it is.
“You think my stomach is sexy?” His eyebrow raises, and he has a ridiculously adorable expression right now, which is not helping me censor my idiocy.
“It certainly doesn’t contain a baby like you fear.”
“What else do you find sexy, Thea?” he pushes, his smile turning almost predatory.
“Aiden…”
“You started us down this road. Are you saying that is all you find sexy about me, my bloated belly?” He pats his stomach again, breathing out to make it look unnaturally large.
“It is not bloated!” I snap, narrowing my eyes as I see him laughing.
He’s playing with me and thinks he can win this. He thinks he can make me uncomfortable and get me to back off. Well, game on.
“I can’t actually decide what I find more sexy—your strong arms, which held me tight last night; your lips, which when they touched me, sent a jolt straight through me and made me wet; your hard cock that was tortuously grinding against me yesterday, making me hotter than ever; or your ass in those pants you wore this morning when you were bent over cleaning your car.”
Aiden stops moving and stares at me like a fish out of water. I have completely shocked him, and I have shocked myself, too. I have never said anything so outrageous and straightforward to someone before. It feels both invigorating and terrifying.
What have I started?
“I can’t … You just … Thea…” My name is a growl on his lips. He immediately steps into me, pushing me backwards until my back is against the cold freezer door. “You said this couldn’t happen, so you can’t tease me like that.” He pushes his hips into me, and I feel his hardness rub against my stomach. Without him holding me up, we are nowhere near the right angle to get this right.
“I know this shouldn’t happen, but maybe…” I trail off, my eyes running over his broad shoulders that fill out his shirt nicely. I can’t resist touching him, running my hands over his shoulders and down his chest, rubbing against his hard nipples and down over his even harder body. How can he think there is any fat on him? He’s all strength and solid. And how can I be so hot when I’m leaning against a freezer door?
As soon as that thought makes sense to me, I recall that we are not somewhere private yet somewhere public, again.
“Aiden, we should—”
“You can’t start something and then back out of it. Finish your sentence. You said this shouldn’t happen, but maybe what, Thea?”
“Maybe we should finish this conversation when we’re at home and not in a supermarket!” I push him away, noticing a cart coming around the corner of the aisle. After a few more seconds, the person pushing it will be in view of Aiden.
He takes a step back, appearing more normal in his stance, although his gaze is glued to me, his eyes not releasing me when I stare into them.
“Keep going, Thea. You have the security that I won’t take you here, but it doesn’t mean I can’t listen to you.”
My mouth dries as nerves settle in. Is this the right decision? If I start something with Aiden, there is no going back.
The promise in his eyes, the heat radiating off him, and how completely turned on I am by him helps me make a rash decision, one I hope I won’t regret.
“Maybe we can have some fun while I’m here. You’re a good man, and I like you, a lot. If you’re interested and I am, then why resist it? I want you.” I shrug while trying to act like saying that to a man isn’t a big deal. Seeing as I can add how many people I have propositioned on one finger, it sort of is a huge deal for me, though.
He sighs heavily, and I fear rejection is about to happen. I’m too late. I left this too long, and he’s not interested anymore. He realized he made a mistake yesterday, and now I have gone and made things even more awkward between us!
My body shakes, and it is on the tip of my tongue to take it all back, tell him I was just kidding, and then quickly change the subject. I could remind him we are running late, and Max and Flynn are going to beat us home.
Except, before I can open my mouth to say the words, Aiden finally speaks. I hold my breath, fearful my heart is already Aiden’s, and this rejection is going to hurt me more than I could ever predict.
“I can’t believe you waited until we’re in public to tell me this and when there is no chance I can act on it for the next few hours because Max and your brother are going to be crashing at my place for far too long. You are going to drive me insane.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Other than while I was cleaning up vomit, I’ve had this going since yesterday.” He stops speaking to grab my hand, moving it against his pants and over his erection. I can’t help the immediate reaction to move along it, adding pressure as his hand drops away from mine and he quietly groans. “You are giving me the worse kind of blue balls I’ve ever had in my life.”
I smirk at hearing him say that, not feeling sorry about it at all.
“Maybe, if you’re a good boy on the drive home, I can alleviate your … problem.” I try to sound seductive. While I don’t think I sound all that sexy, the quick intake of breath from Aiden and the fact that his entire body tenses makes me think it worked for him.
“Like I said, you’re going to drive me insane,” he mutters, grabbing the cart which is only half full of the items I needed him to buy before he rushes over to the cashier at the front.
Unfortunately, the cashier isn’t in the same rush we are, and by the time Aiden gets to the car, we have to race back to his house.
The entire way, Aiden curses under his breath, and I fail to hold in my laugh when I hear the word “blue balls” again under his breath. In fact, after watching him move awkwardly through the house, dumping the food haphazardly on the kitchen counter before racing upstairs, I begin to feel a little bad for him.
When I hear the shower running, an idea begins to form.
I strip off my clothes outside his open bathroom door, and after a taking a deep, calming breath, I step in to see a very naked backside of Aiden.
If I thought he had a great ass when it was covered in clothing, then I didn’t fully consider his naked ass. It will absolutely star in every one of my fantasies from now on.
I am lost for a moment, watching the water cascading over his back and ass, down his muscled legs, and I am jealous of the intimate touch the water is allowed to have over him. I consider stepping forward, but fear begins to settle in, and I almost chicken out. Then, before I can take either a step towards him or away, Aiden turns his head and sees me. His appraisal of my body and obvious approval gives me strength, gives me confidence.
“What are you—?”
“No time to talk; we just have enough time for one thing.” I sound breathless, my voice shaking a little. I have never been so bold before, so daring, and it is making my heart want to jump out of my chest from fear and excitement.
“What do you mean
one thing?” Aiden’s voice hitches as his gaze again leaves my face, traveling down my body. He’s staring, and I don’t think he even notices when his hand moves to grip ahold of his shaft, pumping himself in front of me.
I nearly faint. I can’t believe how turned on the act makes me.
I step forward then, feeling drawn to his body. He reaches out to grab me, but before his hands make contact, I shift downwards, getting onto my knees. Right as he breathes my name, I grab ahold of his cock and lick the head, finding his taste is the perfect mixture of typical man aroma while also Aiden. It’s woodsy and earthy, but there isn’t enough. I want more.
I run my hand along his impressive length, the water making my hand glide effortlessly. I trace the vein I feel and follow with my mouth. My other hand reaches out, massaging his balls, which are most definitely not blue and feel hot in my hand.
I enjoy the groans and gasps coming from Aiden. Feeling empowered by them, I increase my speed as I feel his arousal building up, his seed so close to spilling. I lick, suck, and enjoy every moment of it. Never before has someone else’s pleasure caused me to feel so much desire. I am wet for him, cursing the fact that we don’t have time for more.
I’m suddenly pulled away from him, my balance knocked sideways. I don’t fall over, though. Aiden’s arms are around me as he lifts me up, leaning me against the shower wall. Before I can utter one word, his finger breaches my pussy, his thumb rubbing small circles around my clit, and he thrusts another finger in almost immediately.
“You’re so wet for me, baby,” he hisses in my ear. Then his mouth leans down, and he nips at my breast, making my nipple even harder than before. The sting travels straight down to my pussy, my inner walls clenching over his fingers as he licks over the bite.
“I don’t have time to draw this out, but when I do, we won’t be leaving my bed until I know every inch of your body intimately.”
My body feels electrified by his words. They turn me on just as much as what his thumb and fingers are doing to me.
When he shifts me, his fingers leave me feeling hollow before his shaft replaces them at my entrance. He pushes in slowly, allowing me to adjust until he is fully inside me.
Haunted Love Page 23