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The shock on Aaron’s face warms to a roguish smile just before he yanks me to his chest. “You’re all wet, Sadie Kate. And I do want you. More than my next breath.”
He pivots on the wet ground, swinging my legs up into his arms and stalks toward the tiny cabin. Despite the continued assault of the icy rain on my skin, heat from Aaron’s solid chest threatens to burn me up inside.
Under the cover of the porch roof, Aaron sets me on my feet and lifts away the damp hair plastered to my forehead. His smoldering eyes hold me captive as that same hand trails down my arm to take my hand. “Your skin is like ice.”
“I don’t feel it,” I whisper.
“Let’s get you out of those wet clothes.”
I suck in a sharp breath as Aaron reaches for my waist. Grabbing the hem of my shirt, he peels the fabric upward, forcing my arms with it. Aaron tosses the drenched shirt over the railing, where it lands with a wet smack. He then walks around to my back, slowly unhooking my bra and sliding the straps down my arms. The cups hadn’t yet soaked through, and the sudden exposure to the cold has my nipples pebbling instantly.
My sweats cling to my legs, but that doesn’t stop Aaron from shoving them down my hips. Behind me, he stoops and lifts one of my feet, sliding the cold pants the rest of the way off before repeating the act on the other side.
Left in only my blue cotton panties, I shiver when Aaron walks back around to face me again. His green eyes lock onto mine, not once straying to my nakedness. I’m not shy. Aaron’s already seen everything in that god-awful shack in the Philippines.
His hands reach for my waist again. This time, gliding downward until sinking beneath the blue cotton. The instant those fingers brush over the fresh scar, the place where part of Maxen’s blade remains, I scrunch my eyes closed and flinch away.
Aaron’s hands freeze, and soft, warm lips touch mine for two heartbeats. “What we have is more powerful than anything that asshole planted in your mind.”
My eyes remain closed, and the sound of boots clunking to the deck precedes the rustle of fabric. Seconds later, a warm chest meets mine. “Open your eyes, Sadie.”
Green eyes burn hot, merely an inch from my face. Aaron steps back, takes my hand, and leads me inside the cabin, grabbing a towel from the shelf on the way to the stove. He wraps the warm cotton around my shoulders, and I avert my gaze while he grabs another, winding it around his waist.
I pull the tie from my hair and use the towel to squeeze out some of the water while Aaron builds the fire in the stove back up. He finishes, and I can only stand there, holding the towel partially in front of me. For the first time since Aaron and I became friends, I don’t know how to act.
Aaron stands up from the fire workings, water dripping from his wet hair. An intensity rolls off him in waves as he faces off with me, standing with his feet braced apart. He pulls his towel from his waist, running the soft cotton over his chest and arms.
I’m spellbound, seeing Aaron through the eyes that first laid on him so many years ago. Time, it seems, has been his friend, sharpening and refining his body to near perfection. His brown hair could do with a cut, but the waves look soft. I once wondered what it would feel like to run my fingers through it.
Muscles ripple and flex as he lifts the towel to his head. I try not to look below his waist, but I fail. No part of Aaron is small or weak. Feeling my cheeks flush, I lift my eyes again to see that he’s finished and is now staring at me. There it is. The face that first caught my attention. The one that no other could replace.
Moss-green eyes set over a square jaw that’s currently clamped shut in restraint. I want that restraint gone. I want Aaron as I’ve always known him, but now, I want more.
I keep my eyes up and step closer to the stove, though the shudder racing over my body has nothing to do with the chill in the air. Aaron tosses his towel away, dropping his eyes to the hands fisting mine.
My skin warms under his watch, and Aaron reaches for the towel I’m still holding to my breast and pulls it from my fingers. Only when the last bit of fabric slips free does his gaze roam from my face, heating me from head to toe.
An ache begins to build and overwhelm me until I’m fighting against squeezing my thighs together. Aaron turns away to discard my towel with his, but the brief reprieve from his ravenous eyes does nothing to lessen the electric shocks zinging across my skin.
Striking green eyes find mine again, and I take a step back at the hunger rolling off him. Aaron advances a step, and I retreat farther. I’m not afraid of him. I’m a little afraid of what I feel inside, the depth of which is so much bigger than anything I’ve ever experienced.
The backs of my legs reach the full-size bed as Aaron draws near and grasps my chin. “If we do this, it’s with the understanding that there is no before. Only after. No regrets. No guilt. Only us. Can you promise me that, Fate?”
His eyes plead with me to take this chance. “Only us,” I whisper.
Aaron lifts me in his powerful arms, gently depositing me on the old quilt. Rounding the bed, he plants one knee on the mattress and crawls up to my hips. There, he stops, resting on his haunches.
His erection juts high and thick, pulsing with the racing beat of his heart. I swallow hard, wholly unprepared for the powerful stab of desire at seeing all of him. I lie still, paralyzed, as Aaron lifts a shaking hand, hovering his fingertips just over the base of my neck. “For years, I’ve fought the urge to touch you, to tell you how beautiful I think you are.”
My voice is hoarse and breathy. “I thought we weren’t looking back.”
He shakes his head. “You’re right. I’m done.”
Aaron finally lowers his fingertips to my skin, reverently trailing over my collar and between my breasts. My chest begins to rise and fall more rapidly at his touch, and I fight to remain still, sensing Aaron needs this moment.
The way he skims his hand over my stomach and the tops of my thighs seems almost like an act of worship. Aaron leans forward, drawing his hand back up to rest on one of my breasts and touching his lips to mine.
My back arches, pressing harder into his hand as I part my lips in invitation. “Sadie,” he breathes against my mouth before diving in.