didn’t stiffen, just let him caress her, and his beast purred. He needed this. “At this point, I don’t want to take it. I want to bond to you because you want me to, not because my instinct tells me I have to.”
She pulled his hand away from her face and clutched it in her lap with both of hers. “I believe that you believe you can fight it, but your instinct isn’t going to give you that choice. I don’t want eternity. I never have. If you bond to me, I won’t return the bonding.”
“I know,” he whispered around the tightness in his throat. “You’ve never made that a secret.”
“Can’t you see how that possible outcome terrifies me for you, makes me push you away? I couldn’t live with myself if I did that to you.”
“Jaylin, you have to trust that I can take care of myself. Have some faith in the human side of me.” He gripped her hands. “I swear to you I am stronger than my instinct. Give me the chance to prove it. Give me these few days.”
She bit her lip, and he saw the residual doubt lingering on her face. The hesitation he didn’t want. “When we get home, I promise to deal with the Drall—and let you go,” he added.
He’d never told a bigger lie.
“Aidan—”
He felt the sting of rejection coming, and blurted, “I brought condoms, Jaylin.”
That snapped her mouth shut as the admission hung in the air between them, as the meaning sank in.
“You’re serious,” she whispered.
“As much as you don’t want to Dsert me, I don’t want to be Dserted, but I want you, Jaylin, I need you.”
The condom was protection from both. With one on, it was impossible to Fewse to her.
“I’m already awakened, Jaylin. I know you don’t want an eternity with me. I’m willing to ensure that it won’t happen. So what’s the worst thing that could occur? You have time in paradise with a man who wants you in every position he can imagine.”
Her lust scented the air, and she swallowed. Finally she breathed out. “I’m giving you my trust, Aidan.”
“With no hesitation?”
“No hesitation. For the time we are here, I am yours. Please don’t make me regret it.”
Air burst from his lungs. He’d done it. Jaylin was his for the next few days. He’d spend that time convincing her that she was going to be his for eternity, because he couldn’t accept the alternative: losing her forever.
Chapter Seven
Groaning, Jaylin dropped her fork on the empty plate with a clatter. “Rafael must add a secret ingredient to his food to make a person want to eat every single bite. I can’t remember the last time I had something so delicious.”
“I can think of one thing that tastes even better,” Aidan said as he stood and started clearing away the dishes.
Even though he hadn’t added any suggestive eyebrow waggling or even made eye contact with her as he spoke, she knew he meant her, and her stomach quivered. She’d expected Aidan to pounce on her the moment she’d given in to him. But he hadn’t. Instead he kissed her sweetly, promised she wouldn’t regret her decision, then returned to his chair and proceeded to spend the next hour sexually frustrating her.
Like when he’d wiped away a dollop of Alfredo sauce from the corner of her mouth with his thumb then slid it into his own, or when he’d held up a strawberry for her and she’d closed her lips over the tips of his fingers, or how afterward she’d sucked the juice from them. Yes, his eyes had dilated, but he’d continued as if sex wasn’t standing in the corner cheering them on.
She’d spent so long fighting her attraction to this man, that now she had given him the trust he craved, she was ready to touch him without fear.
And she wanted to make up for the horrible kisses from earlier, wanted his lips devouring hers the way she knew they could. Why was he now being so gentlemanly? Shouldn’t her permission to take her whenever he wanted have some sort of Neanderthal effect on him? The whole ugga-ugga sex-now thing?
It had her. She was in a perpetually aroused state, nipples erect, breasts heavy, and a constant current vibrating between her legs, making her shift in her seat more than once. All it would take was one touch in just the right place and she’d come apart instantly.
She had to reek of lust, so how was he able