Shiver(64)

This was the man she’d loved. The man who’d haunted her all these years. The man she’d lied to.

They lay like that for a long time. The only sounds that of their breathing. She waited for his to become rhythmic, hoping he’d fall asleep, but then he probably shouldn’t sleep since he’d taken a good hit to the head. Should she talk to him, keep him awake? What did she say?

How about what she’d rushed over here to say? But then she didn’t want to bring up Fox right now with Aidan hurting. It would only add more hurt. Except she needed to get him to agree not to reveal the truth to Fox. Not yet. She didn’t want her child hating her for her lies too.

There were other things she could bring up. Like that hard bulge pressing into her hip. No, she definitely needed to keep that quiet. Right. Like Aidan wasn’t aware of his—

Okay, really not going to go there. She took a deeper breath, hoping to settle her nerves. At least she hoped it was nerves tightening her belly. She had a sneaky suspicion it was something all together different.

Making love with Aidan had never made her nervous. Not even that first time. It had been a rush of hormones, colliding together in a frenzy of lust. The second time they’d slowed, savored, explored.

She swallowed, gulping back a batch of tears. How she’d missed that euphoric summer when everything had seemed bright and promising. Anything had been possible. Dreams had been reachable. Love had been simple. Then death had darkened everything.

Love was anything but simple now. Case in point, the evidence of Aidan’s desire growing thicker and harder causing her inner muscles to clench, to weep. To want.

She turned her face up to tell him to move back and found him watching her, his eyes full of hurt and shaded with need. Her heart ached. How did she tell him to back off when her arms wanted to pull him closer, cradle his head against her breast? They’d been destined for each other. Soul mates. He was her sun, she his raven.

He must have read the conflict in her eyes, for his lips tightened, and a hard glint entered his. One that had real nerves fluttering frantically in her belly. Suddenly he flipped her onto her back and pressed her into the mattress with the weight of his hard, muscled body.

His mouth smothered her gasp.





CHAPTER FIFTEEN

No way in hell was she rejecting him again.

Aidan swept his tongue into Raven’s mouth while his hands held her down. He was angry, wanted to hurt, demand she give herself to him. She fucking owed him. Years of not knowing he was a father. Years of not being a part of his son’s life. Not being a part of hers.

He’d seen the want, the desire she’d tried to hide, and the denial she’d been ready to utter. He’d just have to keep that mouth of hers busy. It was time for her body to speak. Maybe that way he’d finally get the truth out of her.

He forced a knee between her legs, claiming room for his hips as he pressed and ground against her. Hard couldn’t begin to describe his condition. Hard, hurting, and unable to stop himself from thrusting against her soft warmth. She moaned, her arms wrapping around his back, pulling him closer.

Why wasn’t she fighting him? He was in the mood to fight, to force, to take. Hurt her like he hurt.

He tore her shirt up and over her head, recaptured her mouth to silence any objections, and stripped off her bra. His need drove him to feast like an animal. He bit, sucked, nipped, taking her breasts into his hands, roughly squeezing, grazing the nipples until they hardened like rocks. Capturing them one at a time in his hot mouth, he sucked hard, flattening the nipple to the roof of his mouth, nipping the end until she squirmed and gasped in his hold. Reaching behind him, he grabbed a handful of his shirt and snatched it off, feeding off the pain pounding in his head. He needed to feel her breasts tight against his chest, his flesh pounding into hers, as her heat warmed him to the core.

He’d been cold for so very long.

“Wait,” she gulped as his hands wrenched off her jeans, yanked at her underwear until the silk tore free from her body. “Aidan, wait.”

There would be no more waiting.

He recaptured her mouth, speared her with his tongue as he spread her legs wider. Twelve years of lies and betrayal had been long enough. He kicked off his shorts, positioned himself at her opening, grasped her hips in his hands, and drove into her heat with a hard, unforgiving thrust, taking him in to the hilt.

She cried out, her body arching in his embrace.

The sound snapped his mind out of the storm he seemed lost in. Each ragged breath he dragged into his lungs was swift and sharp.

“Raven,” he gasped. What the hell had he done? Oh, God, he’d let the beast rage. “Raven? Oh God, Raven, I’m sorry.”