Hard to Handle

Chapter 15

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.

Things were coming together. Life really did go on. And while he’d never forget his mother, he didn’t want to live in the shadow of losing her for the rest of his life, either.

Neither did Dad. He could see that now.

Aiden straddled Sheila and scrolled through his phone for the number for the Chinese place near Sadie’s house. He planned on ordering at least six different things and crawling into bed to feed her a bite of everything. Then he could stash the rest in the fridge for a midnight snack, or a three a.m. snack—whenever they woke famished from the workout he had planned tonight.

He couldn’t get enough of that woman. He loved her so much his chest ached with it. He didn’t want to get over her…and he knew after one miserable, failed attempt, he’d never be able to.

He wanted to shout with victory.

Aiden had never felt this way about anyone. Not even his ex-wife. He may not have broken any vows during their short marriage, but he hadn’t known what it meant to be married. Not really. He’d never before wanted to give absolutely everything, strip himself bare—literally and figuratively—for another person.

Sadie made him feel everything at once. Made him feel like he had all he needed, even as he gave her all he had. She also made him want to walk down the aisle sooner than later. Make this thing official so he could start the next part of his life. He didn’t care where he lived—her apartment, a new place they picked out together—as long as he was with her. Aiden didn’t want to go home anymore. To him, she was home.

He pocketed his phone and started his bike. Maybe Chinese in bed wasn’t the best idea. Maybe a better idea was a nice restaurant, candlelight, and a small velvet box.

He sped down the road, trying to remember where, exactly, he could find the closest jeweler. Saturday, Sadie had turned him down. But that was before all they’d shared. Aiden knew Sadie was right for him. Knew it deep in his bones.

He thought back to the shower this morning, where he’d washed her and stroked her and told her he loved her in every way but saying the words. She had to guess where this was going. He wasn’t in this halfway. She had to know that he wanted it all.

After giving himself so completely, there was only one gesture left to make.

He’d get a ring. And he’d ask. Again. But this time, he thought as he spotted the jewelry store, she’d say yes.

He knew it.

* * *

Sadie growled and dropped her phone. She’d gotten Aiden’s voice mail three times in a row. Her fretting had turned into frustration.

Soon he’d be in her living room, crowding her, turning her on…and she would melt into him, of course she would. How could she not? He was sexy and perfect and turned her into a wanton sex goddess.

And yet she felt utterly buried, smothered by him. It didn’t make any sense.

Maybe she just needed time. An evening, a morning to herself to process. She’d made herself a very big promise last year—to never trust Aiden again, to never show her vulnerability to him again. And boy, had she broken that vow. He’d seen her more vulnerable, more exposed—in more ways than one—than anyone ever had. And now the boundaries she used to trust in were blurred beyond recognition.

Sadie tried to heed Crickitt’s sage advice to stop holding the sins of the past against Aiden. She tried to forget the phone call last year, tried to forget how his dismissal of her had torn her heart out. She tried to forget the weeks following, the weeks when she’d ignored his calls before they’d stopped completely. She tried to ignore the terror she still felt at the idea of losing him. He wouldn’t ever cheat on her, or leave her for her sister, but he could wrap his motorcycle around another tree…or go skidding into a field with an exposed water pipe like her father had…

Her hands shook as she pulled her phone out of her purse and dialed his number again. Then she heard it: the low rumble of Aiden’s motorcycle.

And her hands shook harder.