Pleasures of the Night(53)
“Oh shit,” she hissed, her fingers white where she gripped the knob. She stepped out into the hall to afford them some privacy. “You should have warned me it was you before I opened the door.”
“I knew it was you and it didn’t help.”
She stared up at him with liquid, seductive eyes. He didn’t have to read her thoughts to know she was thinking the same things he was—hot sex, naked sweaty bodies straining together, the fierce, aching pleasure that was almost too much to handle. It had been this way from the beginning, the depth of desire between them that wiped out every other thought but the need to be as close as possible.
Unable to stop himself, Aidan reached out and cupped her breast beneath the open flap of her lab coat, his thumb stroking across her nipple and finding it already peaked hard.
Lyssa smacked his hand away. “Stop that. I need my brain cells.”
His jaw clenched against the urges it wasn’t time to indulge in. Focus. On. The. Books. “I need to borrow your car again. Do you mind?”
“No, go ahead.” Her pause was nearly imperceptible, but he caught it. “I’ll be done in an hour, though.”
“I’ll be back long before then.” He dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers, physically crossing the distance he sensed growing between them. Two steps forward and one back. “I won’t delay our talk for even a minute.”
She sighed. “My brain is fried now.”
When she turned away from him, he reached out and pinched her ass, making her jump and glare at him. He made a kissing gesture with his lips and then went back to her office.
When Stacey had gone out with him earlier, she’d taken him to a large mall complex that housed a couple of bookstores as well as clothing and other merchants. That’s where he intended to go in search of information about Stonehenge’s relationship to astronomy. He suspected a connection between the purpose of the stone alignment and the world his people had abandoned when the Nightmares had taken over. If he eventually linked fissure creation to the ancient monument in England, he wanted to make sure he understood as much as possible.
He hoped like hell he was on the right track. A dead end could cost Lyssa her life.
Chapter 11
“So you’re keeping Chad on a leash while you figure out what’s up with your hunk delivery?”
Lyssa glared. “No, Stace. I’m not keeping Chad on a leash. We’ve just agreed to stay in touch, as friends.”
“And you still can’t remember meeting Aidan, only shagging him.” Stacey leaned back in one of the little settees that graced the waiting room and shook her head. “Maybe he slipped you a roofie or something.”
“Stacey! Christ. Look at him! He doesn’t need to drug women to get them in bed.”
Setting her forearms on her knees, Lyssa closed her eyes. “You know, I opened the door to Exam One and saw him standing there, and my toes curled? The only time my fucking toes curl is when I’m having an orgasm.”
“You had an orgasm just looking at him?”
“Damn near.” Even now, the memory of him leaning against the doorjamb in loose-legged jeans and white T-shirt made her breasts ache. Aidan Cross looked, smelled, walked, talked sex. Period.
“Wish I had a hair trigger like that.” Stacey snorted. “’Kay, here are my thoughts. Maybe this is one of those deals like when a juror marries a serial murderer after the trial. The whole dangerous-bad boy-I’m-gonna-tame-him thing.”
Lyssa stared.
“I’m just saying,” Stacey said, holding up both hands defensively.
“Aidan is not a serial murderer.”
“He might be if he’s Special Forces.”
“That would be different!”
“Yeah.” Stacey slumped back into the chair. “I guess so. Maybe you’re just crazy, or maybe he is. I hope it all works out and you’re happy, but man, I have my doubts. There’s something weird going on here.”
Lyssa sighed loudly. “I think so, too.”
“Here, take this.” Stacey dug into her purse next to her and pulled out a pen. Then she tugged off the top and revealed an atomizer top.
“What is that? Mace?”
“Pepper spray. This shit’s nasty stuff. Justin messed with a tube once and damn near killed us both. Your eyes water, your nose runs, and your skin burns like hell.”
Staring down at the innocuous-looking tube, Lyssa felt like crying. Could she be more scattered and confused? “You think I might have to use this?”
“Better safe than sorry. This guy is a stranger to you. Who knows what his deal is? No clothes, no money. It’s just bizarre. If he starts talking about religious sacrifices or says he’s an alien, you’ll be grateful for that spray.”