I left Aiden to pay and strolled to the shoe store a few doors down. The last thing I needed was another pair of shoes, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t look.

Aiden joined me at the window, carrying the pink and black bags from Agent Provocateur, and said, “Do you want to go in?”

“No,” I said. “I’m over my budget on shoes for the month as it is.” He started to speak and I held up my hand. “Don’t even think about it. All of that is one thing,” I said, waving my hand at the bags he held. “Shoes are different.”

“How are shoes different?” he asked, taking my hand as we strolled back toward where we left the SUV and driver.

“If you have to ask, I don’t think I can explain it,” I said. I wasn’t sure I understood myself. I could argue that the lingerie was for him. I’m pretty sure that was a lie, but it sounded like the truth. Still, he’d get something out of the lingerie.

Shoes, though…shoes would be for me. They were my special indulgence, my favorite splurge. Every pair in that shop window had been so far beyond my normal budget I never would have bought any of them on my own.

If Aiden got them for me… It just felt too intimate. A man might buy lingerie for a fling, but he bought shoes for a girlfriend. I didn’t need to get confused about Aiden. I knew where we stood.

He let it go, and as we made our way back to the Delecta we kept the conversation light, talking about the details of the project he and Jacob would build with Dylan.

I barely remember dinner.

Dylan’s wife Leigha was nice, and not at all what I’d expected. I’d been looking for a tall blonde showgirl and instead got a very curvy, very sweet brunette. They were no longer newlyweds, but Dylan couldn’t keep his eyes, or his hands, off his wife.

One of the Sinclairs, Axel, lived in Vegas, and he brought his wife Emma, a redhead with a bombshell body who was just as nice as Leigha. The food was amazing, the company fun, and I was too distracted to enjoy any of it.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen after dinner. About the big, wide bed in the hotel suite. About all the things I wanted to do in that bed.

And I did want it. I would never have gotten on that plane with Aiden if I hadn’t wanted to go to bed with him, hadn’t been absolutely sure about it.

I was still absolutely sure I wanted to have sex with Aiden Winters.

I did.

I really, really did.

And I was a total mess over it. My skin was too tight, every nerve in my body on edge. If one more emotion decided to swirl inside me, I’d split open. My body wanted him.

My nipples had been hard, my breasts swollen, ever since I pulled on the sheer lace bra Aiden had purchased. Beneath the matching thong, I was damp. Needy. His hands, his mouth, hadn’t been enough. I wanted all of him.

My body was not confused.

My brain was all over the place.

I was not going to know what I was doing. I had no game, no tricks, and I’d never in my life attempted to seduce a man. I’d had two long-term boyfriends and we’d had plenty of sex, but it was ordinary.

Turn off the TV, turn off the light, roll towards each other under the covers, insert tab A into slot B, and repeat. That was pretty much it. It hadn’t been bad, it was just…ordinary.

Aiden was anything but ordinary.

The ice queen got me through almost every situation in life that scared me. When I got nervous, I got frosty, and everyone backed off. Once people knew they couldn’t get to you, they stopped trying. But the ice queen act couldn’t help me here.

I didn’t want to freeze Aiden out. I wanted to give him everything I had—all my passion, all my need. I wasn’t sure I knew how, or if it would be enough. The thought of disappointing him had me half sick with dread. The thought of trying not to left me dizzy with anticipation.

At one point during dinner, Aiden moved my wine glass out of reach, but I don’t remember drinking too much. I didn’t get drunk, or even tipsy. He slid his hand over my knee as I was geeking out with Leigha over accounting, and I completely lost my train of thought, my cheeks burning red when Leigha said, “Violet? Are you okay?”

Aiden’s fingers squeezed. I cleared my throat. “I’m good. Just,—” I resisted the urge to look at Aiden and took a sip of water. “Tell me more about your master’s program.”

Leigha was an accountant. I’d completed the first year of a master’s degree in accountancy and had been meaning to go back and finish it. I told myself I was still trying to save up the money. I’d started through an employer sponsored program and when I’d lost that job the tuition money had dried up.

I liked bookkeeping and I was good at it, but my long-term plan had been to finish my master’s and look for more complex work in the accounting field than I was qualified for as a bookkeeper. It didn’t occur to me until we were halfway through the conversation that as far as Aiden knew, I was a project manager.

Then again, if Sinclair Security was as good as their reputation, Aiden already knew I wasn’t a project manager. He probably knew how many credits I’d had toward my master’s degree when I dropped out.

It was one more reminder that I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be with Aiden. When I got home, I was going to quit, drop this ridiculous quest to get Chase’s company back, and figure out what to do with the rest of my life.

After I got through tonight.

I barely spoke on the elevator ride back to our suite. My throat was tight, my heart thudding under my ribs. Aiden stood a foot away, not touching me, his eyes on my face.

“You didn’t eat much dinner,” he commented, carefully.

Lifting my chin, I met the reflection of his eyes in the polished doors of the elevator. “It was delicious, but I wasn’t that hungry.”

Aiden answered with a considering, “Mmmm.”

I was wound too tight to ask what that meant. We walked into the hotel suite to see an iced bottle of champagne and two glasses sitting on the dining room table. The suite was enormous. Sitting room, dining room, wet bar, and two bedrooms, everything the height of luxury.

I was pretty sure Dylan could have just put us in a room with a bed for all the use we were going to get out of the rest of it.

I was here to have sex with Aiden. Now that we were here, I just wanted to get it over with before I lost my nerve completely.

I looked from the champagne to Aiden, expecting him to open the bottle and pour me a glass. Instead, he took out his phone and tapped the screen. A minute later I heard a bloop from the small black speaker in the wet bar and the familiar tones of an old Harry Connick, Jr. song filled the room.

Aiden turned and reached for my hand. Then he did the last thing I expected. He danced with me. He didn’t kiss me, or reach for my zipper, or lead me into the bedroom.

He held me close, and we danced.

In heels, I was exactly the right height to dance with Aiden, the top of my head just even with his cheekbone. His lips were at my temple, one arm around my back, the other holding my hand.

One song flowed into the next and gradually, inch by inch, my tension eased away. I could have danced with Aiden all night. His breath against my skin, his fingers warm through the thin silk of my dress.

He still wore his suit coat, and the fabric was too thick. An itch started under my skin. I wanted him closer. Wanted to get rid of everything between us and feel him. My hands were moving before I’d thought it through, sliding up over his shoulders, beneath his jacket, pushing it down his arms.

Aiden caught it before it fell to the floor, tossing it over a chair and pulling me back into the dance, closer this time, feathering his lips across my hair. He lifted his hand from my back and stroked it over the long blonde waves I’d freed from their daytime bun.

“I’ve never seen your hair like this,” he said. “I like it.”

I couldn’t seem to get a word out. I pressed my forehead into his neck. He smelled so good, woodsy and male. I wanted to taste that scent, to taste his skin. My head was spinning, and my steps faltered.

Aiden stopped and lifted his palms to my face, cupping my chin, raising my lips to his. He nipped at my lower lip and sucked it, tracing his tongue over it before pressing his mouth to mine, urging me to open to him.

His tongue brushed mine, and all I knew was want. His kiss was hot and wet, slow and deep. He threaded his fingers into the hair at the nape of my neck, holding me in place as he kissed me until I was dizzy with it.

My hands raced over him, tugging at his tie, pulling at the buttons of his shirt. I didn’t care about finesse or seduction. I just wanted to touch him. I had to touch him. His shirt caught on his hands and I yanked in frustration.

Aiden broke the kiss just long enough to remove his cufflinks and toss the shirt to the floor. My hands were on his belt, and then he was kissing me again, his mouth skimming over my jaw, landing on my neck just below my ear. He sucked hard on the tender skin and a violent shudder wracked my body.

Heat pooled between my legs. The soft lace of my bra scratched my nipples. I wanted it all off. Hooking my thumbs in Aiden’s pants, I shoved them down, taking his underwear along with them. He stepped back just enough to kick off his clothes and my eyes went wide.

He should have looked ridiculous standing there in only a pair of dress socks. My mouth went dry. Ridiculous was the last thing I would call Aiden Winters. I’d never seen him naked, not even close, and my imagination hadn’t done him justice.

Golden skin stretched over broad shoulders and tight muscles. Powerful thighs, taut abs delineated by ridged muscle, and between his legs—my eyes settled on his cock and I couldn’t pull them away.

I thought I’d gauged his size through his suit pants. I’d been wrong. He was hard and thick. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get my fingers around that cock, much less fit it inside me. I wanted to try. I reached out a hand, almost touching when Aiden’s fingers caught mine and pulled them away.

“Not yet,” he said. “The look on your face is the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen, and if you touch me right now I’m going to disappoint us both.”

I dragged my eyes from his erection, too aroused, too enraptured by the sight of his naked body to be embarrassed. Sparks of gold flashed in the brown of his eyes, and they burned. He reached behind me and tugged down the zipper of my dress. With a dip of my shoulder, I let it fall.

Aiden stared, absorbing me in my sheer pink demi-cup bra, panties that hid nothing, and tall, spiked black heels. I lifted a foot to step out of my shoes. Aiden scooped me into his arms, growling, “Leave them on,” as he strode to his room, stopping only to kick open the door.

He set me on the bed, gently, leaning down to pull off his socks and grab something from the bedside table.

“Take off your bra,” he ordered.

It didn’t occur to me to do anything else. I reached behind me and unfastened it, letting one strap, then the other, fall down my arms. The delicate lace slid down with every breath, moving in tiny degrees until it caught on my hard nipples and hung.

Aiden’s jaw was tight, flags of red on his cheekbones, but he didn’t move. He just watched as I shifted the tiniest bit and the bra fell away. I tugged it from my arms and tossed it over the side of the bed, laying back to brace myself on my elbows, my back arched, breasts high on my chest.

Aiden leaned down and tugged my panties over my hips, taking care not to tear them. I bit my lower lip to hold in a laugh. Seeing it, Aiden said in a murmur, “I’m framing these.”

I reached for his arm. He held back just long enough to roll on a condom before he covered me with his body, settling in between my thighs and taking my mouth with his.

Long, slow, drugging kisses. He wrapped one arm around my back, pressing my breasts into his chest as his mouth moved over mine, drifted down to nip and suck at that so sensitive patch of skin below my ear.

He pressed his hard cock between my legs, sliding it against my pussy, spreading my slick heat until we were both wet with my need for him, grinding together, the fat head of his cock rubbing over my clit, back and forth. I wrapped my legs around his hips, holding him tight, sliding closer and closer to the edge, and he wasn’t even inside me.

The first orgasm hit me in a fast, hard wave that left me gasping as he ground his cock into my clit and let my pussy pulse against him. I was so caught up in the pleasure, drowning in it, that I didn’t tense as he pushed the head of his cock inside me.

All I could do was fight for breath and roll my head back into the bed. If I hadn’t just come, it might have hurt. It had been a long time, and I’d never seen a cock like Aiden’s, much less had one inside me.

My body pulsing with pleasure, languid with orgasm, I spread my legs further and rocked up into him, taking more, the painful stretch of it sharpening the last waves of my climax.

He pushed, and I rocked until he’d fit every inch of that glorious cock inside me.

Aiden pressed his forehead to mine, his breath coming in harsh pants. I clamped my knees to his sides, tilting my hips so the base of his cock ground into my clit. Aiden groaned.

“Vi, baby, I wanted to make this good for you, but I can’t—fuck, Vi.”

He was shaking from the sheer effort of holding back, and I was done with it. Sinking my fingers into his hair, I drew his head down and bit into his earlobe for just a second before I whispered, “Fuck me, Aiden. Hard.”

Something inside him snapped. He pulled his hips back and slammed them into me, the thick base of his cock grinding into my clit, sending shards of bliss through every inch of my body.

I held on, my mouth against his neck, my legs around his waist, as he fucked me in fast, brutal strokes, just the way I’d asked him to.

I couldn’t get my breath before I came again, shivering, gasping, my pussy clenching on his cock as my body refused to let him go. I clawed at his shoulders, shaking from the force of it.

He said my name. Just Violet as he went stiff and shuddered against me.

Aiden rolled to his back, taking me with him. I melted on top of him, every bone in my body limp and satisfied. My head rested on his shoulder and I nudged it closer, reaching my tongue to taste the hollow of his collarbone. Salty and Aiden, he tasted as good as I thought he would.

Our hearts pounded against one another as we lay there, his fingers stroking up and down my spine in a long, slow caress. I was half-asleep when he eased me to the side and got up. I thought about moving, heard water run, then shut off. He came back and lifted me, tossing back the covers, easing us both beneath.

I never thought about it, just rolled into him, sliding my leg over his hip until it tangled with his, throwing my arm over his chest, and resting my head on his shoulder. We drifted like that. I think I slept a little. When I opened my eyes again, his fingers were moving absently in tiny circles on my arm.

My hand drifted down his side, over his hip, between his legs, to find him half hard. His skin was like velvet where it covered his full sack, and silky smooth where it stretched over his rapidly hardening cock. I played my hand over his length, squeezing and stroking, enjoying the weight of him, the feel of him, soft and smooth, steely and hot.

My thumb rubbed a bead of pre-come down over that tender spot on the underside of the head and he shivered.

I pulled myself from beneath his arm and slid down the bed. He said, “Violet,” but I ignored him.

I wanted this, and he was going to give it to me.

Resting my cheek between his hips, I opened my mouth and licked at the next bead of pre-come that rose. Aiden shivered again, and his hand closed over my shoulder. Not pulling me back, just holding on.

He was too big for me to take all of him, but I used my mouth and my tongue, licking and sucking, tasting every inch of that beautiful cock until his hands hooked under my arms and he dragged me up his body.

His kiss was ragged. Desperate. Uncontrolled. He pulled me up the bed, up and over his body until I was straddling him before he filled his hands with my hips and brought me to his mouth.

I’d barely braced my hands on the headboard before my eyes rolled up from the sensation of his lips sucking on my clit, tugging and pulling, devouring me, fucking his tongue inside me, taking me with a reckless hunger that had me shaking in orgasm twice before he flipped me to my back, rolled on a condom, and drove himself inside me.

He pulled my hands over my head and held them there, burying himself deep between my legs over and over, his mouth on my neck, teeth grazing my skin, biting and sucking, claiming me with his body as he pushed me to another peak, spilling himself into the condom as the pulse of my body pulled him over the edge.

This time I was out before he left the bed, my body limp, eyes drifting shut. I woke in the night curled into him, my leg over his, his arm tight around my shoulders. I wiggled closer to his heat, moaning a little with the pure pleasure of being so close to Aiden. He pulled the blanket up higher and brushed his lips across the crown of my head.

I heard him say “Sleep, Vi,” before I drifted off again.