The Awakening Aidan - By Abby Niles Page 0,43

squeezed. This was the first time he’d really kissed her since they’d arrived. The other two encounters didn’t count. They weren’t from Aidan—her Aidan. This one was, and it stole her breath away—and a little piece of her heart.

At the thought, she tensed, and Aidan made a noise of protest. The fact that it was him protesting and not his beast made her relax as his tongue swiped across the seam of her lips. She opened to him and he took his time exploring her mouth, thoroughly. Her nipples pebbled. Nothing was aggressive about his kiss, no demand or enticement for more, just a kiss a man gives a woman he cherishes.

His gentle touch caused her emotions to surge forward and topple the protective fortress she’d erected around them. Warm, gooey feelings flooded her body, leaving her defenseless.

She could love him, possibly already did. She could spend the rest of her life with this man.

Her physical life.

Never eternity—what he wanted, but she was incapable of giving.

Goaded by her waning resistance, she pushed her tongue past his and into his mouth as she slid one leg over his pelvis and straddled him. Sex, it had to be about sex, nothing more and sure as hell not about simply wanting to sit and kiss him like this for hours. Cuddle. Snuggle. Like a couple.

She fumbled with the first button of his shirt and popped it open, desperate to push him over the edge, to make him stop making her heart feel things she couldn’t allow. At this moment, she only wanted to feel his touch, his mouth…his cock.

Ripping her mouth from his, she kissed the exposed skin between the folds of his shirt. A growl vibrated from his chest, a feral mating growl. In a flash, Aidan had her pinned beneath him, his eyes glowing iridescent as he stared down at her.

The beast was back.

…

Aidan struggled to shove the instinct aside as he looked down at Jaylin, her hair spread out on the cushion, her brown eyes wide.

“Ai—”

“Don’t speak,” he forced through clenched teeth. Another bolt of instinct, hot and potent, ripped through him, his beast clawed forward, and Aidan squeezed his eyes closed, his body rigid, straining against the need to bury his head between her legs and take the bond she refused to give him.

His canines tingled. Itched. His muscles twitched. Shook.

He breathed. In. Out. In. Out.

The sensation passed, much to his snarling beast’s chagrin.

He’d been fine. Just enjoying having her in his arms, holding her, kissing her. No sign of the beast.

Until she’d jumped him.

Then all hell had broken loose.

He pulled away and sat up, bringing Jaylin with him. She blinked. “Are you okay?”

“Shh. I’m fine. Now.”

He kissed her lightly, tentatively, waiting to be consumed again.

No spike.

He increased the intensity of the kiss. Nothing. He cupped one breast, kneading the hard nipple. Still nothing. Even when Jaylin moaned into his mouth, he felt normal, in control. Why now and not a moment ago? What had caused the change?

He tugged the tube top of her sundress down, freeing her breasts, then ran the back of his knuckles over one nipple, loving the way she shivered in response. So he did it again.

She whimpered and arched toward him. He knew what she wanted, his mouth on her, but he wouldn’t give in—yet.

Feathering his fingers over the curvature of one breast, he leaned forward and heard the catching in her breath, felt the tensing of her body and smiled. He lightly blew.

Jaylin groaned. “Aidan.”

Tormenting her was a massive turn-on. He flicked his tongue out, wetting the tip, then blew again.

He slid his hand down her belly to cup between her legs. The heat from her center warmed his palm through her panties as he rubbed against her. Jaylin widened her legs, the hem of her skirt pooling at her waist as he increased the pressure of his hand.

Now this felt good. No fight. Just him, Jaylin, and all the touching he wanted.

Jaylin moaned, her head moving back and forth. Frustration boiled off her. She moved her hips against his hand. “Stop…teasing me. Please. Touch me. Really touch me.”

Aidan hooked his fingers in her panties and tugged them down her legs, where Jaylin shimmied out one foot and sent the underwear flying across the deck with a flick of her other leg.

He again cupped her, not giving her everything she wanted. Just the pressure. Her small hands clenched and she shot up. “I can’t take it,” she said, and shoved him back. He