“I have a condom in my suitcase,” he said.
She climbed up onto the bed and rolled to her side. “Hoping to get lucky in Miami?”
He smiled to himself and shook his head. “That wasn’t what I was thinking. I just happen to have them with me when I travel.”
“Best to be prepared.”
“Yes.” He presented her with the foil packet and cocked an eyebrow. “Care to do the honors?”
“I do.” The flirtation in her voice was enough to send him sailing past his peak, until she touched him. Then it was as if he were clutching the crumbling edge of a cliff with his fingertips.
She lay back on the bed and he followed, settling between her legs, sinking into her. He bestowed kisses on her forehead, her cheek and then her lips as they rocked together. For someone so small, Sarah had a lot of power resonating from her hips. She was already gathering around him, which made thinking too great a demand, so he didn’t bother. He brushed her hair back from her forehead, enjoyed the feeling of her heels on the backs of his thighs and her hands roving up and down the channel of his spine.
Their gazes connected in the soft moonlight filtering through the window as she reached her peak, her body tugging on him in pulses as she gasped for breath. He loved that blissful look on her face—so incomprehensibly beautiful. He gave in to the pleasure, steeped in the knowledge that he’d made her happy. He dropped to his side and she didn’t hesitate to curl right into him. They fit so wonderfully together and he couldn’t wait to have her again. He was damn lucky to be with her, even if they might never have more than one perfect night.
Twelve
Sarah wasn’t sure she’d ever been so tired. Nor had she been so blissfully happy in her own skin. There in Aiden’s bed, half-asleep in the early morning light, she replayed her favorite moments with him. The most captivating memory came when Sarah had gotten up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, only to find him wide-awake when she returned. He hadn’t let her get more than a few steps before she was in his arms, his hands roving everywhere as his mouth explored hers and he led her back into the bathroom.
The shower was magnificent—marble and glass, with enough room to play. Hot water covered them in a deluge but there were moments when she could’ve sworn the heat all came from Aiden’s hands. He spread soapy suds across her breasts, and gave her kisses that hardly let her come up for air, all as steam swirled and for the third time in twenty-four hours, it felt as if she were floating.
The man was a magician, every move born of some innate ability she didn’t understand. He was always a step ahead of her, anticipating. She never asked for a thing, but again and again he did exactly what she would’ve asked for if she’d had the guts to put it into words. He’d asked her to sit on the shower bench, then dropped to his knees before her. He hitched one of her legs over his shoulder, and brought her to heights she’d never seen. She was accustomed to being the giver, not the receiver. Sitting back and letting Aiden take control had been heavenly.
But of course she’d begged to return to the role she relished, the one in which she pleased, as it was his turn to sit on the bench and his fingers combed through her hair as she took his steely length into her mouth. Judging by the extended string of dirty talk, which ended only when his body froze and he reached his apex, she’d made him happy—very happy. That turned her on more than anything.
The mattress bounced when Aiden shifted his weight and rolled away from her. She fought disappointment that it hadn’t been his body’s inclination to seek hers while they were in bed, but perhaps that was for the best. Now that it was morning, and the high of yesterday had faded, reality was creeping back in. She was going home on Sunday. Aiden and Oliver would be starting their new lives then, too. That was as it should be, precisely what she’d come to New York for. She’d done her job; she and Aiden had had their fun. Aiden was not the settling down type. He needed his space—he’d said as much. Becoming a dad was already an awful lot of settling down for a man who needed his freedom. More than being used to those things, he needed them the way everyone else needed air and water.
She’d promised herself she wouldn’t get attached or involved. That she wouldn’t cross that line with Aiden, however badly she’d wanted him. So that was her one mistake. She’d given in to the way he drew her in. Now it was time to return to their old dynamic or tempt fate. One mistake was forgivable. Two would be idiotic.
She gently peeled back the sheet and sat up, glancing at the alarm clock. It was only a few minutes after five. Best to let Aiden sleep. She could shower and get dressed, pack her things and be ready to go whenever he was. Careful not to disturb the bed, she tiptoed to the other side to get her nightgown. But the sight of that black silk against the pristine white carpet was a snapshot from her painful past—nearly an exact replica. It sent an avalanche of hurtful memories crashing through her head—the morning after what became the final time with Jason, when she’d scrambled through the pile of clothes at the foot of the bed, desperate to find her nightgown and her dignity. That was the morning he’d scoffed at the notion that “sleeping with the nanny” meant anything. It was the morning he’d laughed when she’d said I love you.