The Absolution of Aidan(33)

She shuts the vibrator off, tosses it to the other side of the bed, and then hikes her knees up to hide her pussy. One hand flies to cover her stomach, the other hand barely stretches across one of her tits. Motherfucker. Those nipples are pink and fresh, and hell, her flimsy white t-shirt does nothing to conceal her set of mouthwatering tits. I want my mouth covering them, my dick dripping my come over them after he’s been sliding in between them. God, she is beautiful.

“I…my god, Aidan. I should be mad as hell at you for walking in on me. Just leave, please. You’ve already ruined a perfectly good orgasm.” Her face is flushed red, her eyes are focused on her hand splayed wide across her stomach. I’m a little disappointed that she’s not yelling and screaming at me like the Deidre I know would normally do. I truly don’t think she could care less if I walked in on her mid-orgasm or not. She’s hiding her body from me. She’s doesn’t want me to see what I’ve already seen. Her t-shirt is hiked up enough for me to see it all.

“What if I told you I was doing the same thing you were doing?” I cock a brow and tilt my lips in a truthful smile, those words catching her attention.

“I just came all over my hand and stomach to visions of you, Deidre. Of you,” I emphasize. “I went to clean myself up and heard you. I won’t apologize for walking in here and taking things into my own hands. Literally, sweet-tart, let me take every inch of your body into my hands. It may have been wrong of me, but I don’t really care. What I do care about right now is the fact you’re hiding those stretch marks our baby gave you from me.” In all of my twenty-nine years I’ve never been an emotional man. I’ve never had a reason to, up until now. Up until today. This woman lying here has turned a crappy day into one I will always remember, and I’ll be damned if she’s going to be embarrassed about anything as beautiful as the marks I see on her stomach.

I do the only thing I think is right. I sit down on the edge of the bed. There are several seconds of silence between us, in the course of which I take in her body from head to toe. Then I lay my eyes upon her stunned ones.

“Do you know what I see when I look at you?” I trace a finger up her silky thigh. A smirk spreads across my face when goose bumps caress her flawless skin.

“I see a woman I want to strip naked and have my way with. I see a woman, who’s the mother of my child, a woman, who when she barged into my apartment earlier and ripped into my mother to protect me after not seeing me for a year got my dick so hard I could drill a hole through concrete with it. These,” I lift up her hand covering her stomach, the tips of my fingers tracing the lines of the marks across her soft skin. “Make you exclusively… you. A mother. Don’t hide these from me ever again. Next to you and our boy, these are the most beautiful things I have ever seen.”

I look up to her when I hear her sniffle. Pearl-shaped tears flow from her luminous eyes.

I close my eyes. Vivid memories of the last time I saw her crying flash before me, of her hanging on for dear life, of when we were both kidnapped. Her expression tonight doesn’t mirror that same one from a year ago. She’s not full of pain or sorrow, wondering if her next breath could possibly be her last. Neither is she embarrassed anymore. I’ve broken through her strong barrier this fascinating woman has shielded herself with. She screams scared, vulnerable even. And maybe a little shocked from my compassionate words.

Tonight, when we talked before we both headed to bed, we didn’t argue. We learned. I know this is a new chapter in my book of life as well as hers. I need to convince her more than I need to take my next breath right now that I want this chapter and the next and many more to be all about the three of us.

“You mean that?” Her expression is somewhat hard to read.

“When it comes to you, I mean every word I say.”

“Well, then you’re nuts, Aidan Hughes. I mean, look at you.” I glance down at my chest briefly, then back up to meet her shimmering eyes.

“You’re so well defined, tall, and the most striking head turner I have ever seen. You could be with anyone. Let me ask you a question.” She sits up, reaches for the sheet, and pulls it up over her body. My hand falls away from her soft skin.

“Ask away.” I challenge. I know a question I’m not going to like is coming. I can hear it in the tone of her voice.

“Would you want to be with me if we didn’t have Diesel?” Jesus Christ, has she lost her mind? I grip hold of her shoulders, my face within an inch of hers now, her flowery scent coating my every inhale.