Time After Time (Sweetbriar Cove #14) - Melody Grace Page 0,44

breathy moan in answer, reaching to unfasten the top button of his shirt. And the next. She spanned her hands against his bare chest, his skin warm against her. Spellbinding. It was—

Her cellphone rang loudly.

Stella groaned in protest. Not again!

She looked around, still breathing fast. “It might be Matty,” she said apologetically.

“Of course.” Aidan immediately set her on her feet, and she went to retrieve her cellphone from where she’d left it in her purse. But the number on screen wasn’t Matty’s, and she didn’t recognize it.

“False alarm,” she announced happily, tossing it aside.

“Good,” he said. “Come back here.”

He beckoned, and damn if her stomach didn’t flip right over, seeing him there, sprawled on the couch with his shirt half-open and his hair in disarray.

She’d done that.

And she was only just getting started.

“I have a better idea,” she said, sending him a sultry smile. “How about you come with me?”

Aidan’s eyes darkened as he got up and followed her to the stairs. But they hadn’t even made it up to the landing before he caught her to him, finding her mouth in a blazing kiss.

This time, they weren’t slow, or playful. This time, Stella arched against him hungrily, stumbling back until they hit the wall as Aidan’s hands slid over her body, like he was claiming every inch. She moaned against him, loving the hot, solid weight of his body as he pinned her in place, kissing a breathless trail down her neck and molding her closer against his hardness—

Another cellphone rang, breaking through the haze of desire.

“I think that’s yours,” she said breathlessly.

“Ignore it.” Aidan kept up his sensual exploration, kissing his way across the swell of her chest. But the phone kept ringing. Stella regretfully pulled away.

“It might be important,” she sighed, hating herself for stopping.

Finally, Aidan tore himself from her arms and crossed the room to where he’d left his wallet and phone. He snatched it up, and answered. “Yes?” he barked, still breathing raggedly. “Listen, this is kind of a bad time—” Aidan stopped, and listened for a moment before giving a sigh. He held out the phone. “It’s for you.”

“Me?” Stella crossed over to him to take the handset, confused. “Hello?”

It was Earl, sounding apologetic. “We’ve had a bit of a leak. I tried your number, but you weren’t picking up, and we thought we might reach you…”

“Of course.” Stella exhaled, coming back down to earth with a bump. She was still humming from Aidan’s kisses, but duty was well and truly calling. “I’ll be right there.”

She hung up, and gave Aidan a regretful smile. “Plumbing emergency,” she explained. “I have to go.”

Aidan took a deep breath, turned around, and slowly banged his head against the wall.

Stella laughed at his frustration, because she felt it too. Her body was charged, a live wire crackling with anticipation, desperate for his touch. “It probably won’t take me long,” she said hopefully, “An hour, tops.”

“I’ll drive,” he offered, but she shook her head.

“All my tools are in the truck.”

Aidan nodded, following her to the door. “All I can say is, there better be a river raging by the time we get there.” He pulled her in for one last kiss. “A damn ocean to justify that call.”

It wasn’t exactly an ocean, but when they arrived at Earl’s place, Stella found a torrent of water gushing down the stairs.

“We tried!” Luke said, emerging with a mop and handful of sopping wet rags. Jackson and Natalie were close behind him, looking just as damp. “I managed to patch it up with duct tape for a while, but it didn’t hold. It might have made it worse.”

“I said not to call. I didn’t want to interrupt your date.” Natalie added, with an apologetic smile.

Stella gulped. Did everyone know what she and Aidan had almost been doing?

Luckily, there were more important things to do than gossip. “Show me where the main water shut-off is,” she said, hitching up her toolbox. “And you’re going to need to mop harder, unless you want damp in the floors.”

“I’ll do it.” Aidan took the bucket from his brother and rolled up his sleeves. “Where’s grandpa?”

“Right here,” Earl waved from his safe, dry perch on the living room couch. “I thought I’d be more helpful staying out of the way.”

Aidan shook his head, smiling. “I’ll tell you one thing, grandpa, you sure know how to pick your moment.”

Stella grabbed her toolbox and got to work upstairs. It was just a simple leak, but between the flooding and