36

AIDEN

 

The smell of food wakes me up. Voices. I sit up. She’s not here.  I roll my shoulders and arch my back. Yep. That bar across my back was not fun.

I lean over and pull on my boxer briefs and then my pants, then I sit and pull my socks on and head to the bathroom.

When I come back out, she’s here, at the bottom of the stairs, two mugs in her hands and she’s smiling at me. She’s freshly showered with wet hair, wearing a knee-length white housecoat.

Fuck. If we’d been anywhere but here I could’ve been in that shower with her.

“Good morning,” she says nervously. Her cheeks are pink. She’s shy this morning.  It’s cute.

I make my way to her, take the mugs from her and put them down on a table by the couch, taking her jaw into my hands.

“Mornin’, peaches.” I kiss her. She tastes like mint, smells like lavender.

She loops her arms around my waist and gets on her tiptoes and goes for the gusto, nibbling on my bottom lip playfully before sliding that little tongue into my mouth.

I really fuckin’ like when she does that.

My hands slide under the back of the robe and I’ve got her bare ass in my hands.  And I decide that this is a really fucking great way to wake up.

She smiles huge at me. She then stares at my naked chest and runs her hands down my biceps, back up, across my shoulders, down to my pecks, and then she’s tracing my abs.

“Havin’ fun there?” I inquire.

Her mouth quirks. “I could spend all day playing with your upper body. Your back? It’s a work of art.” She moves behind me and has her lips between my shoulder blades. I close my eyes and absorb how nice it feels. And then she trails her tongue down my spine and says, “And these hip bones… my God.” She traces my hips with her fingertips and I spin around.

“Better quit before you’re past the point of no return, Miss Adler. I’m guessin’ you don’t want me bending you over that sofa bed and fucking you while your Mom is up there flippin’ pancakes.”

She chews her lips thoughtfully. Little minx. Fuck, she’s cute.

“Besides, I think I’d be okay with you spendin’ a little time on my upper body, but if you’re gonna play with me all day, I hope my lower body will get at least some of your attention.”

She giggles. And I walk her backwards a few paces until she falls onto the bed. I open her robe and admire the beauty of her naked body.

Her cheeks are pink, but her eyes are definitely a shade of come hither.”

“To be continued…” I say, kissing her navel and then closing the robe.

“Aiden Carmichael, I never had you pegged for a tease.” She pouts.

“Oh, you wait, peaches. You get home to San Diego, I might have a whole evening planned where I tease you and keep you on edge until you think you’re gonna die if you don’t get to come.”

A swallow moves down her throat.

Oh yeah. This is gonna be fun.

“Maybe I’ll do it to you instead,” she tries.

My smile widens. “Oh, now it’s sealed then. Naughty little teases get teased. Hard. And spanked.”

She licks her lips seductively. “And very hot VPs of marketing get licked and sucked if they play their cards right.”

And now I’m kicking my ass because I’m gonna have to work twice as hard to tame the beast in my pants.

She sees that she’s scored a point and winks.  Fuck, yeah. I like Playful Carly.

“C’mon. Let’s go have pancakes. It’s close to ten o’clock. Mom and I have to leave in half an hour to go get Dad from the hospital. They’re letting him come home at eleven.”

“Great news, baby.” I reach for my shirt and shrug it on. I grab a mug, she grabs the other, and then we head upstairs and she’s holding my free hand, leading me.

I stare at her perfect ass ahead of me as I follow.

 

***

 

Her mother is dressed in slacks and a blouse, looking ready to go.  She’s made enough breakfast food to feed an army platoon. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, fried potatoes, fried tomatoes, a half a loaf of bread toasted, even though there’s just us three.

She catches Carly and I holding hands and just fucking beams.

“Mornin’ Mrs. Adler.”

“Aiden! How did you sleep? Was the pull-out okay?”

“The…?” I frown. Pull-out? What the---?

“The sofa bed?”

Carly’s face goes red and her eyes go big at the potential pun and my reaction to it.

“Oh, I had an excellent sleep. No problems.”

She smiles.

That bar in my back really did fuckin’ suck, but I had Carly sleeping on me and for that, I’d consider sleeping on cement.  She’s a cuddler. I like it.

I eat breakfast while she runs and gets dressed in yesterday’s clothes. She offers me a new toothbrush and the shower. I accept the toothbrush but tell her I’ll get a shower when I get back.

They tell me they have to go, but will see me soon as they have to go get her dad. And I’m a little uncertain about being here when the man gets home. If it were me, I certainly wouldn’t want some dude in my house meeting me at less than my best.

I call Joshua, figuring he can meet me somewhere else, maybe a coffee shop I’ll go find on foot or something, and he answers and tells me he’s less than ten minutes out, that he left earlier and missed traffic.

I call her. She’s only left five minutes ago, hurrying out awkwardly without kissing me because her mother was right there.

“Hello?”

“Peaches, hey. I’ll be gone when you get back. Joshua’s almost here.”

“Oh. Okay. If you just twist the lock on the doorknob for the kitchen door, then, that’ll lock it.”

“No problem.”

“I… thank you for getting me here.”

“You said that already, Carly. You’re welcome.”

“Oh. Okay.” She’s holding the phone.

“Didn’t get to kiss you,” I mutter.

“Oh. Yeah.”

“Wanted to sneak you outside when you got back so I could make out with you against the side of your house. Make the neighbors jealous.”

She laughs. “They would’ve been so jealous.”

“So, I’ve asked Alice to take care of your flight back to San Diego for some time tomorrow. Text her when you get back, she’ll likely have it sorted by then. I’ll leave your bags in the kitchen here.”

“Thanks, Aiden.”

“Tomorrow night, back at the condo then…”

“Yeah.”

“Or, let me know what time your flight comes in. I’ll pick you up.”

“Oh?”

“Maybe we’ll grab dinner. Or take out.”

“Take out would be good.”

She wants that, she’s got it. That means we’re at the apartment that much sooner. “See you tomorrow, peaches. Hope your father’s good. Your sister, too.”

“Thanks, Hot Sauce.”

“Call me tonight if you want. I’ll be at the condo in New York after work. Be nice to hear your voice before I go to bed.”

“Okay,” she whispers, and I think she likes that I want that.

“Later.” I end the call.

 

***

On the way back, I get a text from Jude to call him, so I do.

“Hey, man,” he says. “You ever leave your phone in that apartment any time last week?”

I think back. “Yeah. Ran to the gym once or twice, usually leave it upstairs. Forgot it one day, the day I went to work in the company cab. Came home at lunchtime to grab it.”

“Got footage of Bella Wilson in your lobby talking up Seth Hughes Tuesday.”

“Fuck. I think that was the day.”

“Okay, then. I’ll let you chew on that. Followed Bella and she met with your mother again today. Your mother handed her an envelope of cash.”

I roll my eyes.

“I may have found the thing, Aiden.”

“Yeah?”

“Your mother could be having a fling with Roger Greer. She’s been at their house regularly the past three weeks. I figured she was visiting the wife, but she met the husband at a hotel yesterday afternoon, borrowed her maid’s car, tryin’ to go unnoticed. I put a colleague on the task since she knows she’s been watched likely by me. She might figure since you’re in New York, you’re not keepin’ tabs. Either way, she broke pattern and revealed a fair bit.”

I blink. Sienna’s father and my dad have played golf a least twice a month since I was in puberty. He’s probably Dad’s best friend.

“They’ve been playin’ it cool if this has been goin’ on any length of time. Then again, Roger Greer was working in Paris the last several months, until three weeks ago. Your mother has gone there twice, but I haven’t followed, as you know.”

“Shit.”

“My employee got pictures of them yesterday in a clinch through the hotel window. Oh shit…call you later? Something’s up here, staking out for another client.”

“Yeah, Jude. Thanks, man.”

I let all this roll around in my brain for a bit.

And I decide that tomorrow when I’m back in San Diego, I’m paying my mother a visit.

I get to the New York office late afternoon, work until nine, and then head back to my condo.

My condo feels empty. Weird how having a roommate for a week now has me feeling the emptiness when I’m gonna be alone overnight, something I used to prefer.

Then again, Carly Adler is no ordinary roommate. Certainly not after last night.

I microwave and then eat one of two containers of chicken teriyaki stir fry. Jada made enough for two meals. I’d requested it before we ran to Buffalo, thinking it’d be funny to feed that to Carly after what’d happened back in San Diego. I remember that whole scene fondly as I eat.

I’m having a glass of bourbon, looking out my window when the phone rings. It’s the front desk.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Carmichael, Miss Sienna Greer is here to see you. Can I send her up?”

Fuck. Fuck me.