Jessica Lemmon - Hard to Handle

Aiden’s handsome face contorted, his eyebrows pulled together, teeth bared as he tried to hold out. She couldn’t wait any longer. The friction, the smell of his sweat, seeing the pleasure she’d given him evident on his face…It was all so hot. It was too much.

He thrust again, hitting a spot deep inside her, and Sadie came undone, clasping on to Aiden with her arms and her inner muscles as she let out a sound she was pretty sure, by anyone’s standards, was a scream.

His chest hair brushed her nipples and the sensations continued to ripple through her. His breathing grew shallow, labored, as he thrust into her once more, twice more, then shouted his own completion in her ear before falling silent and sucking in one harsh breath after the other.

Aiden braced himself on one elbow to keep from crushing her and dropped his forehead onto his arm. She clasped his bicep, feeling the quake in his muscles.

I did that.

What a completely heady, amazing idea…that with only her body, she’d brought this Adonis to a shuddering halt.

Aiden laid there, head down, for a few breaths, while Sadie stroked his short hair, his shoulders, and ran her fingers over the ridge of the scar on his back.

The scar. The tangible reminder that Aiden wasn’t bulletproof. And a reminder to Sadie of just how precious he was, how very much she cared for him.

With everything I have. But she couldn’t let him become everything, she reminded herself. Everything was too much.

Aiden’s lips pursed against her shoulder and he kissed his way up to her neck, unaware of the direction of her thoughts. He pulled out of her and Sadie felt more empty than she had in her entire life. Even when his lips closed over hers. Even when his fingertips stroked her hair.

Some part of her told her she was past the point of no return.

She met his sea green eyes only to find them brimming with emotion. “I love you, Sadie.” He kissed her again, breathed her in. “I love you so much,” he whispered.

She’d heard him proclaim it once already. It meant so much more now. Now it meant everything. And that’s what scared her down to her toenails.

Everything was too much to trust to any one person.

Aiden and Sadie had sneaked back into his father’s house in the middle of the night like a couple of teenagers to sleep in Aiden’s bed.

He knew his father had picked up a Sunday shift, so after he heard his car rumble out of the garage early this morning, Aiden slid down Sadie’s body and pressed one kiss to her inner thigh, then another, before feasting on her in the morning sunlight, her shouts of ecstasy wrapping around him like a warm blanket.

He’d felt her go rigid beneath him last night when he told her he loved her. He vowed not to say it again, not to crowd her. But dammit, part of him stung that they’d experienced something so incredible and still she resisted admitting what he knew she must feel. How could she not?

He’d felt the effing earth move after he’d rocked into her one final time. She was perfect. She was all he’d ever need. But. He’d play it cool. Convince her one orgasm at a time if he had to.

A challenge he was up for.

They picked up her car at the conference center and he followed her home and into her apartment, even though she hadn’t technically invited him in.

Sadie was thumbing through her phone as she opened her door. She pulled the keys from the lock. “Crickitt texted me last night to let me know she has my purse and ask if I was okay.” She grimaced. “She said Shane has your suit coat. Guess they know.”

He shouldn’t smile. But he did.

Sadie slapped his arm lightly. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to.” She fidgeted with her key chain, studying him. “You have this, like, postcoital glow about you.”

“Me?” He snuggled her close, his hands finding her hips on their own. “You could power a sports stadium.” She shoved him but he could tell she was teasing, so he kept her close and lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her until she moaned low in her throat. “Do you want me to go home?” he asked, moving his lips to her neck.

“Um…”

He palmed her breast, his thumb unerring in its search for her nipple. He knew her body. After only one night. He knew it.

“You’re not playing fair,” she breathed, her fingers slipping into his hair. “Please grow your hair out,” she whispered before sliding her tongue into his ear.

He clasped on to her butt as he nipped her neck. “You like it long?”

A chuckle in her voice, she grasped on to him through his jeans. “And thick.”

He backed away so he could see her face. “You want some more, beautiful?” he asked, stroking her cheek. He did. God help him. Maybe he’d never get enough of Sadie. Sounded like the best life plan ever.

“If you can handle it.” She tried to smirk, but he thumbed her nipple and her lips dropped open into a pleased sigh.

Oh, he could handle it. Definitely. He kissed her hard, lifting her off her feet as he kicked her front door closed with the heel of his boot. Then he climbed the stairs for her bedroom and made it his mission to get her to scream so loudly the neighbors filed noise complaints.

*  *  *

The last two nights had been indulgent. Like an all-you-can-eat buffet, or Thanksgiving dinner.

Sadie knew she should stop, she just couldn’t convince her appetite otherwise. Same was true of the man she’d woken to sprawled across her mattress.

Every part of her was deliciously sore and humming, tingling. She was awash with sensitivities. Aiden barely touched her and she called his name. She’d be lucky if her neighbor Mrs. Norman didn’t file a noise complaint with the landlord.

The problem was, the sensitivity didn’t end at her body. Her emotions were running high, her heart weak and overflowing at the same time. Come Monday, Aiden had to work. So did Sadie, and she found herself looking forward to having her space back for a few minutes.

She couldn’t escape Aiden. He was in her bed, in her kitchen, on her sofa…and this morning he’d brought his sexy, scarred, tattooed body into the shower and turned her five-minute spritz into twenty minutes of slippery heaven.

She wasn’t complaining, but his constantly being around was making it hard for her to think a straight thought. She felt as if there was something that needed sorting. Something she couldn’t sort with him clogging the room with his infectious, dimpled smile.

He promised to return after seven and bring dinner, then kissed Sadie until she slumped against the kitchen counter. She couldn’t escape him. Which excited and terrified her at the same time. Sadie had to get her head around things, around where things were going, what this meant.

After work, she dropped her purse and keys onto the sofa and sat. She still didn’t know what she wanted more—for Aiden to come over and light her skin like a handful of sparklers, or stay away so she could wear frumpy pajamas and eat ice cream out of the container.

She was full and empty at the same time. Hot and cold.

She had to tell him how she felt.

Just as soon as she decided whether to keep him near or push him away.

*  *  *

“Take lots of pictures,” Aiden told Sonya Rollins and her husband as they left the store. They’d come in and bought matching T-shirts for their road trip to California.

Aiden glanced over at the stack of shirts and wondered if Sadie would wear a Harley shirt and ride with him across the country. She hadn’t hated riding Sheila back to pick up her car yesterday morning. She hadn’t even complained.

Much.

He chuckled as he recalled the small wrinkle in her forehead. How am I supposed to hold on to you after all that great sex? I’m going to look like a wind sock, flapping behind you on the air.

She turned him on in the weirdest ways sometimes. He shook his head to himself as Axle lumbered into the store. Aiden looked at his phone. “It’s not seven yet.”

“Go,” Axle said, gesturing to the door. “Finished early.”

Aiden didn’t have to be told twice. He pulled his keys from the drawer, his mind on Sadie.

“Why are you smiling so much?” Axle asked, eyes narrowed.

Aiden looked up at him, more than a little shocked that Axle noticed. “I, uh…I’m happy.” He gave him a slightly embarrassed smile. “I guess I haven’t been happy for a long time.”

Axle surprised him further by leaning on the counter and crossing his arms over his big chest. “Yeah. Your family got served a shit sandwich last year.” His mustache twitched and his expression turned somber. An expression on Axle was alarming. All Aiden could do was stare. “I loved your mom. She was like a sister to me. Your dad like a brother. I know he doesn’t show it, Aiden, but he grieves. Men like us just grieve different, is all.”

Aiden was struck dumb. This had to be the longest conversation he’d ever had with Axle Zoller.

“You worry about him, but you shouldn’t,” Axle continued. “He’s your dad. Let him worry about you, not the other way around.” He glared down at him. “Okay?”

Aiden nodded, speechless for a moment. “Okay,” he managed.

Axle palmed Aiden’s shoulder and gave him a brief shake. “I’m glad you’re happy. Now go.” His mustache curved into a genuinely warm smile. “Tell Sadie I said hi.”

Outside, Aiden replayed the conversation with Axle with a chuckle and a shake of his head. Maybe he had been worrying too much about everyone around him and not enough about himself. Since he’d turned his focus on buying the stores, and on Sadie, Aiden felt more whole than he ever had in his life.