D. Reynolds - Aden

Aden’s hand came down sharply on her ass, and she moaned.

“Say it,” he repeated.

She thought hard, then finally realized what he wanted.

“Yours,” she agreed, panting. “I’m yours.”

Aden’s roar of climax sounded like a shout of victory, his hot release filling her, setting off a final orgasm that left her overcome by too many emotions, too many feelings all crowding together, all demanding that she feel at the same time.

Aden collapsed over her sweaty back, breathing deeply as he sucked in oxygen, one arm braced to her side, the other stroking her face tenderly.

“Breathe, habibi,” he murmured, his tongue brushing her cheek, tasting her tears.

Sid nodded and tried to concentrate on just that. Breathing. Inhale, exhale. Slow and steady.

“What does that mean?” she managed to ask, then drew in another lungful of air. “That word you call me.”

“It has different meanings, but for you, it means sweetheart.”

“Habibi,” she repeated, testing the syllables.

“Hmm,” he agreed. Sliding a muscled arm around her waist, he dragged them both farther up onto the bed, settling against the pillows with her a limp weight against his side.

“I want you to stay here today,” he told her. “It’s not safe for you out there.”

“You mean because Silas sent that guy on the train, but I don’t get it,” Sid said fretfully. “What would she want with me?”

“I’ve never kept a woman around before. Maybe she thinks I like you.”

“So, I’m the only one?”

“Stop fishing, Sidonie. What do you need to know?”

Sid found enough energy to drape herself over his chest, so that their eyes were more or less even, his expression filled with a patient humor that made her want to bite something, him for starters. She blinked at the thought. She’d never been a biter before she met Aden. Come to think of it, she’d never done a lot of things before she met Aden. This bad boy fling was turning out to be a lot more than she thought. The question was, what did Aden think it was, and was Sidonie about to get her heart broken?

“Okay,” she said, hoping she looked more alert than she felt. “I like you. Probably more than I should, given your . . . dangerous profession.”

Aden laughed out loud. “Is that what we’re calling it? My dangerous profession?”

Sid slapped his chest. “Don’t make fun. What would you like me to call it?”

“I’m a vampire, Sidonie. Violence is in my nature. If that makes me dangerous—and it fucking well does—I make no apologies.”

“I don’t want an apology. I like you the way you are.”

“You like the violence. You’re as bloody-minded as I am. It’s an unexpected bonus in such a wholesome all-American girl.”

“Most people would consider it sick, not a bonus.”

“I’m not most people.”

“That’s for sure. So what is this, then? Am I the flavor of the month?”

“Oh, surely longer than that. At least six weeks.”

“Aden!” she protested. “I’m being serious here.”

“So you are.” He stroked his hand over her face, lifting the heavy weight of her sweaty hair and brushing it back over her shoulder. “I don’t think in forever terms, habibi. Forever is a very long time for a vampire. But I find myself uncommonly attached to you. And when I think about some other man so much as touching your hand, I want to rip his heart out. Will that do?”

Sid smiled happily, then stretched up to kiss his mouth. She intended it to be quick, but as always Aden had his own plans. One hand on the nape of her neck, he wrapped the other around her back and held her in place, taking the kiss deeper, his tongue twisting around hers, tasting every inch of her mouth until Sid felt an impossibly powerful desire rising once again. She moaned as Aden closed his teeth over her lower lip.

“It’s late,” he murmured. “The sun is nearly here.”

Sid voiced a wordless protest. She didn’t want to give him up to the sun or anything else.

Aden rolled her beneath him with a rumbling growl, his fingers going unerringly to her drenched pussy. Sid flexed her hips, thrusting against his hand in a silent demand, spreading her legs wider when his clever fingers dipped into her sex, his thumb circling the tight bud of her clit. She started to grab his hand, although whether it was to crush him against her vulnerable flesh or to pull him away, she couldn’t have said. It didn’t matter, because Aden bit down on her lip with a snarled warning.

Sid cried out in protest, but slid her hand along his powerful arm, stroking the smooth muscle up to this thick shoulder, before threading her fingers through his hair. Their kiss became deeper, more frantic as he continued to stroke her, as her pussy began to tighten around his fingers. Her clit was unbearably sensitive, every caress of his thumb sending a fresh jolt of pleasure, turning her nipples into hard pearls of exquisite sensation as they rubbed against the rough hair on his chest.

The orgasm rolled over her like a wave, unstoppable even if she’d tried. Aden’s fingers continued to fuck her, his thumb a constant pressure against her clit, until the wave crashed, and she screamed into his mouth, her back bowing off the bed with the force of her climax, his weight the only thing keeping her from thrashing off the bed.

Aden kissed her, swallowing her screams, and when her screams turned to tears because it was all too much—too much sensation, too much love, damn it—he swallowed her cries, too, kissing away her tears as she held on to him, not wanting to let go.

He held her as she drowsed in his arms, until in the distance, from down the long hallway, she heard the distinctive trilling of the elevator bell as the doors closed, and the car dropped to the fifth floor for the day.

Aden brushed the sweaty mess of her hair away from her face. “This room will lock soon, Sidonie.”

Her eyes struggled to open. “Will I be stuck here?” she mumbled, half asleep.

“No,” he said, laughing a little. “You can stay here as long as you want. You can shower . . .”

Her eyes flashed open to see if he was being snarky with the shower comment. He winked at her, which could have meant almost anything, but she was too tired to figure it out and way too tired to do anything about it anyway.

“Take your time,” he continued. “But once you leave my suite, you won’t be able to get back in until sunset. So be certain you have everything you need.”

“Mmkay,” she murmured, ready to go back to sleep.

“Sidonie, are you listening? Open your eyes.”

She forced her eyelids up and stared at him.

He didn’t even pretend not to laugh this time, which told her how she must look. She scowled at him, and his expression became deadly serious, but she didn’t think it had anything to do with her scowl.

“This is important,” he said, holding her chin in his fingers and forcing her to meet his eyes. “Don’t leave the office. You can use the computers, the phones, whatever you like. Hamilton and his security team will be manning the fifth floor, so you’ll be safe up here. Do you understand?”

She nodded.

“Say it.”

“I understand,” she said grumpily, jerking her chin away from his fingers. “You haven’t completely fucked my brains out, you know.”

“Not yet,” he murmured, smiling. “It’s time, habibi. Kiss me good night.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, soft and seductive, putting everything she was feeling, everything she couldn’t say out loud, into the kiss. “Good night, Aden,” she whispered, then jumped in surprise as the shields came down over the door in the next room.

She laughed nervously, feeling silly for reacting, but Aden only smiled. He pulled the covers out from underneath them, until they were both lying on the clean sheets of the bed, and then he settled back against the pillows and closed his eyes.

Between one breath and the next, she knew he was . . . gone. Not dead. Just no longer there.

Sid watched him for a long time. He was still breathing, although not as deeply, nor as often. She put her ear to his chest and heard his heart beating very slowly, but with a steady, strong rhythm.

Somewhere out there, the sun was shining, trapping their enemies in their holes. But she and Aden and the others were here. And they were safe, for one more day.

She believed that. She really did.

SID KICKED BACK on the leather couch in front of the TV, laptop in front of her, a bottle of cold water and an energy bar close at hand. One thing Aden hadn’t thought of, when telling her she should stay here for the day, was the food selection in the office. Human food, that was.

There was plenty of booze to be had. Apparently vampires drank like fish. Who knew?

There was also an entire shelf of bottled water in the big refrigerator which took up most of the floor space in the office’s tiny kitchen. The rest of the shelves were stacked with bags of blood, the kind you’d find in a blood bank. Sid wondered what their supply chain was. Dresner had told her that people volunteered at the nightclub-like blood houses, partying with vamps and letting them drink from the vein. But where’d the rest of this come from? She pictured a special room in every vampire-owned nightclub, with a staff of trained phlebotomists always ready, just waiting for donations. Cookies and orange juice available.

Sid chuckled. It was kind of funny, but also probably not far from the truth. Come to think of it, she wouldn’t have minded some of those cookies and orange juice right about now. She’d found a lone bag of stale chips that must have been left behind by someone months ago.