Page 30 of Settling the Score (The Karma Club #4)

She lifted a hand towards his chest and he unfolded his arms but stood perfectly, completely still.

‘You know what, Aiden?’

‘What?’ Another plea. For sanity? Salvation?

‘I don’t think you want to talk, either.’

His Adam’s apple jerked as he swallowed. She lifted a finger and pressed it to the hair-roughened flesh there, then ran her pointer finger higher, towards the curve of his lips. He closed his eyes, swaying a little.

‘You’ve been drinking,’ he said, opening his eyes and staring right into hers.

‘Mostly soda for the last few hours.’

His eyes roamed her face, as if needing to ascertain the truth of that, and her stomach went all twisty at the small but unmistakably decent hesitation he was expressing.

Of course Aiden wasn’t the kind of guy who’d take advantage of a woman who’d been slamming back alcoholic drinks.

Why would he need to, anyway? She was pretty sure women weren’t thin on the ground for him.

‘What do you want, Sienna?’

‘I think I want this,’ she said, lifting up onto the tips of her toes, pressing one palm to his chest and curving her other hand around behind his neck. He was so much taller than her, but when she stretched, she could reach. Just.

Her lips brushed his; the feeling was electric and immediate. It zapped between them, a spark, a seismic shift.

He pulled back. ‘You think you want this?’ he demanded gruffly. ‘Or you know ?’

Another excellent point.

‘I know,’ she answered, any last doubt as to what she was doing evaporating in the face of the heat that was blasting through her in response to the slightest kiss.

‘You don’t think this is unnecessarily complicated?’ But as he asked the question, he was putting both his big, burly hands on her hips, holding her close against his body, so she shivered.

‘Oh, it’s definitely that.’ He was hard. She could feel it and her body was trembling. ‘But it doesn’t need to be.’

He made a noise, deep and low. She didn’t think it was a word, but it was at least an acknowledgement of her statement.

‘After the wedding, I doubt we’ll see each other again. I mean, maybe at one of Astrid and Blake’s kids’ things or a milestone birthday or whatever, but we’re never going to spend this kind of time in the same space again, right?’

It felt good to say those words. To make it clear to him she had no issues with that, whatsoever.

She wasn’t pining over him. She’d never do that again.

‘Right.’

Still, the searing disappointment at his ready agreement caught her unawares. She hardened herself against it.

‘But we’re both here now, and clearly, there’s something between us. So? Why not do something about it?’

‘I thought you were doing something about it,’ he replied, but his fingers were stroking her sides now, sending her into something like a meltdown. ‘Ignoring me?’ he prompted.

‘Turns out, you’re hard to ignore.’

His grin made her heart go mushy. ‘I’m glad to hear it.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘I just mean you’re big, and kind of everywhere I go.’

‘Riiiight,’ he laughed, pulling her hard against him again. The air seemed to whoosh out of her lungs.

‘This is probably going to be more effective.’

‘And by this, you mean…’

‘Do you need me to spell it out?’

‘Kind of. Just to be sure there’s no misunderstanding. I mean, that could be kind of awkward.’

‘I think we’re both on the same page.’

‘Which is?’

She wrapped her arms around his waist and stared right up into his eyes. ‘Take me to bed, Aiden. And this time, not to sleep.’

He grinned, but there was something in the depths of his eyes that she didn’t immediately comprehend. A look of concern, or hesitation. But a moment later, he was scooping her up and saying, ‘I thought you’d never ask, Mastrangelo.’

Held cradled against his chest like that, she felt so petite and fragile, so protected and cossetted, that she had to immediately tamp down a sense of how much she liked feeling protected.

It reminded her of how he’d made her feel as a teenager.

Like he would always shield her, always be there to care for her, whenever she needed it.

She’d mistaken his physical strength for something else entirely.

She’d been mistaken about a heck of a lot of things back then.

She’d seen what she’d wanted to. That hadn’t been fair on either of them.

‘But this is just sex,’ she said, after a beat. ‘It doesn’t mean anything. Okay?’

His response was to kiss her. Not a brushing of lips, but a proper, heart-squeezing, stomach-looping, knee-shaking, bone-melting kiss.

The kind where his lips pushed hers apart and his tongue slid in and glided with hers, like some kind of erotic, tangly dance.

When they reached the bed, he laid her down on it in the same motion that he brought his body over hers, his weight mostly held by his elbows, but just enough on Sienna to make her body throb with a hot, desperate need.

She knew this was a form of temporary delirium.

Brought on by the heat and the beauty of the island, by the sense she’d carried for more than ten years that she and Aiden had never really had any proper closure, that somehow, what they’d been back then sort of deserved a better send off. But it was also just about desire.

She wanted him as much as she had as a teenager.

That hadn’t changed over time. She’d thought it had.

She’d thought she’d outgrown whatever feelings she’d once had for him, but she was starting to recognise the merit of a ‘chemical reaction’ argument.

Like adding heat to water and expecting it to boil, being near Aiden ‘Walk Out On You’ Carter just did something strange to her insides.

And that was okay with her, because she wasn’t going to be around him for much longer.

Surrendering herself to this was way easier – and more fun – than ignoring it.

Plans for revenge seemed so petty now. So unnecessary. He’d walked out on her, and she’d deserved better, but it was a long way in the rear-view mirror. There was no sense holding that grudge for the rest of her life.

She’d learned a lot from how he’d treated her. It had made her stronger. Harder. And it had shown her that she could cope with a hell of a lot more than she’d ever realised.

She hadn’t needed him to protect her, in the end. She’d done a pretty damned good job of that, all on her own. She’d never rely on anyone else again.

His hands caught the flimsy material of her shirt and pushed it up her body. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and the moment his palms connected with her bare breasts, his fingers tracing her nipples before squeezing them, so she convulsed. ‘Aiden,’ she groaned against his mouth.

‘Too much?’

She shook her head, lifting her feet onto the mattress and arching her back. ‘Not enough. Not nearly enough.’

She felt his smile against her mouth right before he kissed her, hard, heavy, desperate and demanding, only breaking away so he could push her shirt the rest of the way off her body, and then, so his mouth could drag over her collarbone, towards one breast, which he seemed determined to worship.

His tongue flicked her nipple, then sucked it into his mouth, the warmth of him, the touch of his fingers on her other breast, the weight of his body, the way he smelled, like the beach and summer, and soapy, too, as if he’d just showered.

She lifted her hips, so she felt his arousal through their far-too-many layers of clothing, and tilted her head back on a groan of exasperated need.

Her hands seemed to remember, belatedly, that they could explore, too, and she ran them under his shirt, over his back, feeling his smooth, warm skin, then pushing them lower, driving his fingertips into his shorts, curving over his buttocks – so hard and muscly, there was no mistaking this man’s athleticism.

‘God, Aiden, work out much?’ she asked through pants of breath, as he transferred his mouth to her other breast.

She swore then, the pleasure almost blinding in its intensity.

‘I could ask you the same thing.’

Something fluttered in her chest. Pleasure, because of his compliment. Pleasure she didn’t want to feel. At least, she didn’t want to feel it because of him. Not that kind of pleasure, anyway.

‘Less talking,’ she decided. ‘More undressing.’

His laugh was hoarse. ‘You’ve gotten bossy.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘Opinionated and assertive, and neither of those is a bad thing.’

‘Nope. Definitely not a bad thing.’ He pulled away from her then, standing at the foot of the bed, looking down at her. ‘You’re really sure about this?’

She pushed up onto her elbows, staring at him, aghast. ‘Seriously?’

He held his hands up placatingly. ‘I was just going to say, before this goes any further, I should probably go get something from my room. Unless you happen to travel with a stash of condoms?’

She felt the colour drain from her face.

A sharp blade of panic sliced her to the core.

A condom.

Of course they needed to use protection. She would never ever risk accidentally falling pregnant to anyone, let alone Aiden. Just the thought of going through all that again turned her insides to ice.

‘It’s okay,’ he said, moving towards the door.

‘I’ll be right back.’ He’d obviously misunderstood her reaction.

Or maybe he hadn’t even clocked it. Either way, she was glad.

She didn’t particularly feel like talking about the precautions she always took.

She was on the pill, and she always practised safe sex as well.

Because there was no downside to being extra, extra careful.

And a lot of downside in being careless, just once.

True to his word, he returned, so quickly she suspected he’d sprinted.

‘I think you just set a land speed record…’ she remarked, as he snibbed the lock on the door.

He shot a look at Sienna that made her blood turn to lava. ‘I aim to please.’

‘I really hope so.’

His smile was pure cocky confidence. BDE to the max.