His Desire (2 page)

Aaron parked the Rover in front and got out. There was no sign of Mariah’s BMW. Not that Kylie was expecting there to be. She waited next to him while he unlocked the door. When they stepped inside she felt something that she’d never felt before in Aaron’s presence. A certain uneasiness slithered down her spine. Almost as if she were being warned that this evening was not going to be a pleasant one.

Kylie tried to dismiss those feelings as Aaron disappeared, presumably to check messages. She walked out onto the deck into the perfect June night.

The city’s skyline, as always, struck her as home, even though technically she’d only lived in Austin for three years.

Still, this was one of her favorite times in the city. It was warm enough to be outdoors but not too hot, like the hundred degree scorchers Austin was famous for during the summer months. Not even the night brought any relief from that much humidity and heat.

“That’s odd. She hasn’t tried to call back. She knew I needed to talk to her tonight. It’s unlike her to cancel on such short notice.”

Aaron came to stand beside Kylie on the deck. He was starting to figure it out. She didn’t want to be around when the truth finally registered.

“Well, why don’t we go check out some of those clubs,” Kylie said, anxious to get him away from this intimate setting where it was just the two of them together. Alone. And she was too aware of all the little things that Mariah had told her about Aaron as a lover.

Kylie needed to find a distraction for them both and soon. If not, then not only would he figure everything out about Mariah but he’d guess that Kylie was involved in her crimes as well.

“Just a second.” He reached for her hand. “Maybe we should stay here for a little while longer. Just in case she comes back?” He waited for her reaction.

“But you said yourself…” In the light of the expression in Aaron’s eyes, Kylie didn’t finish. Instead, she turned back to the view below and tried to focus.

“What are you hiding, Kylie?” He turned her to face him. Kylie almost didn’t recognize Aaron’s voice. It sounded so distant. So controlled.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she told him lamely.

“Yes you do.” His answer came out so softly that Kylie almost didn’t catch the words. “I can tell when you’re lying. You want to know how?” She didn’t.

She did. He tugged her closer. She could feel the warmth of his fingers through the gauzy material of her shirt. “You’re eyes turn dark—almost the color of night. That’s how I know a lot of things about you. Things you’d prefer that I didn’t,” he added with another slow, sexy smile. “And that’s how I know you’re lying to me now.” The smile disappeared. “You do know where she is, don’t?”

* * * *

For almost a year now, since he’d picked out her little business from a phonebook at random, those eyes had fascinated him. They were the color of nutmeg. Only a few shades darker than the soft curls that caressed the nape of her neck. Light brown eyes that changed with her emotions. They were dark now. She was ready to tell him another lie. How many times had he wondered what those eyes would look like when he kissed her? Touched her. Made love to her as he’d been dreaming about doing since she’d walked into his office and he’d all but handed the contract for his company’s Christmas party over to her without ever hearing a single word of her pitch.

Not just once. Because making love once would never be enough for Aaron.

He’d wanted her far too much for once.

Since meeting her, she’d been nothing but a series of contradictions. And he still didn’t understand what made her tick, but he wanted to. That was, if she would ever give him the chance. So far, he hadn’t gotten past the buddy stage with her. He was just someone to hang out with, talk football with and occasionally go out for a drink with when no one else was available. Always casual, some place that could never be construed as anything close to a date.

His fingers stroked the soft material that covered her upper arms. That shirt was a prime example of the unpredictable woman she was. The shirt represented what he liked to believe was the real Kylie beyond all that sometimes tomboy personality she used with him. Soft, frilly material that consisted of several shades of pink blended together. The top was tantalizingly see-through. He could just make out the curve of her hips where the hem of her top met faded, low-cut jeans above her flat stomach where he knew from past glimpses of heaven that she had a tiny tattoo of an angel dancing with a devil—proof that she might be both those women rolled into one. He’d met the angel. He wanted to meet the devil.

The top was low cut, also unusual by Kylie Monroe standards, as was that powder pink nail polish he’d noticed peeking out beneath thinly strapped sandals. A quick glance at her fingers didn’t disappoint. Of course, she never wore nail polish on her fingers. She said it interfered with her professional image, whatever that meant.

At five-foot-two, the three-inch sandals weren’t a surprise. Kylie liked to level the playing field in her favor.

She took a deep, somewhat labored breath, causing the material to cling to the swell of her breasts. She strained in his grasp and he made out the color of her lacy bra. Pink. No, pale pink—the very same color as her toes.

Kylie said something to him that he didn’t catch, although to his credit, her voice sounded uncharacteristically un-Kylieish. It was almost a strangled whisper. He realized that his full attention had been focused on her, more importantly on her body, that he had no idea what she’d been saying. He did a quick mental shake, reminded himself that he was for all practical purposes supposed to be worried about Mariah, although to be honest, he could care less about Mariah at the moment. He’d been trying to get her alone to tell her he couldn’t keep up the pretense of being with her any longer. His heart, as well as his body, wasn’t in it any more. And for just as long, Mariah had been avoiding him. The move to Oklahoma City had come at just the right time. It allowed him the perfect opportunity to get out of the relationship, and start planning on how to meet that little devil. He knew it existed. He’d seen tiny, exciting glimpses of it whenever Kylie let her guard down with him.

Aaron became aware of her saying something else. He forced his eyes to hers, saw them darken again. There were more than just untruths there now. There was something else that he’d only caught peeps of in the past; something that made him wonder. Before he could figure it out in the past, she’d hidden it away from him. Just like tonight. But it was enough to momentarily knock the breath out of him.

“What?” Aaron asked absently, his focus going from those dark sultry eyes to her pink full lips. The woman knew how to do pink justice.

Another shift brought her closer. “I said, no, I’m not lying to you, Aaron. I don’t know anything about where Mariah might be.” But she was starting to question what was wrong with him. Kylie’s eyes narrowed once they met his.

“I don’t believe you.” Aaron shook his head. That was at least true. He knew she wasn’t telling him everything. Mariah was famous for telling everyone she knew everything about her life. Mariah was her own favorite subject.

And he’d suspected for a long time now that she’d told Kylie more than the actual truth about their relationship and where it might be headed.

“Mariah tells you everything. She’d tell you where she was going.” He brought her closer. Their bodies were actually touching now. Her reaction was instant. Kylie was nervous. Aaron decided that was a good thing. “So, let’s try this again. Where is she?”

Aaron watched her eyes darken more as she struggled to come up with a lie.

Not that it mattered. He could care less at this moment where Mariah was or what she was up to. She was only postponing the inevitable and made his regret at going out with the woman that much greater. He’d had it up to his ears with models by the time he’d met Mariah.

The very fact that Kylie had all but pushed them together had stung. He’d gone out with Mariah for all the wrong reasons. Even though he’d never slept with Mariah, he was certain Mariah’s version of the story to Kylie would be entirely different. He’d been searching for a reaction, anything from the woman he’d fantasized about. There were moments when he’d wondered if she really didn’t have a clue how he felt about her or if she was simply acting. Now, he wasn’t so sure. Her eyes didn’t look like the eyes of a woman unaware of the man who held her.

He could smell her perfume. It drove him mad. It wasn’t the usually fruity or floral fragrances that most women wore. It was as distinct and as indefinable as the woman who wore it.

“So what’s it gonna be? Are you going to tell me the truth the easy way, or are you going to make it more challenging?”

It was the hardest thing in the world for Kylie to do—to look into Aaron’s blue eyes and try to defend Mariah. Especially when Aaron was looking at her the way he was right now. In a way that made her want to forget all about Mariah and her lies.

It was impossible to lie to Aaron under the best of circumstances let alone when he was standing close enough to touch. She could feel his heartbeat against her. She knew that he was reading all of her emotions. Aaron was used to women falling all over him. He’d know how much she wanted to touch him, to feel his skin beneath her fingers. Aaron was a temptation that no friendship could withstand. She took a deep breath, smelled the warm masculine scent of him, and pushed his hands away, turning back to the city lights below.

“I don’t know where she is. I don’t know anything.” Of course, Kylie didn’t need to look at him to know that he didn’t believe her.

Aaron started to say something else when the phone interrupted him. When he’d left to answer it, Kylie let go of the breath she was holding.

She listened to the one-sided conversation enough to know that he was talking to Mariah.

“Where exactly are you?” There was no mistaking the annoyance in Aaron’s tone when Kylie stepped back inside the house and walked over to where he stood. He didn’t even look her way.

The conversation lasted ness than a minute but it seemed like forever. Kylie prayed that Mariah wouldn’t tell him the truth tonight. Not when she was standing so close to him. Not when she didn’t want to see Aaron’s reaction to losing her.

He clicked the phone off and turned to her. The tension between them became unbearable.

Aaron stood watching her expression seeing more than she wanted him to see before dialing the phone. Kylie knew without even considering it that he had just *69’d the number.

Even from where she stood, a few feet from Aaron, she could hear the decisively male, accented voice answer the phone right before Aaron clicked end and dropped the phone noisily against the wood floor.

“How long?” he said softly into the growing tension.

Kylie stepped back from the anger in his eyes shaking her head. She couldn’t seem to get the words out over the cold fear forming in her throat.

Aaron started toward her. Kylie backed away from what she saw in those eyes. Her back hit the glass door leading out to the deck. Before she could fumble with the knob to open it Aaron reached for her. He pulled her hard against his body. Kylie felt her resolve begin to crack.

“How long, Kylie. Tell me how long she’s been seeing him?” Kylie didn’t answer. He pulled her closer. Aaron felt every bit as good as Mariah had said.

“Dammit, answer me! How long has Mariah been cheating on me?”

“No!” Kylie told him and tried to push him away. Aaron didn’t budge. When she looked into his eyes and saw what he intended to do, she became frantic. She had to get away. Not from Aaron, but from herself. Before she revealed too much about her feelings.

“No, Aaron.” Her words died into a whimper the second his lips touched hers for the first time. In the past, Kylie had only imagined the way they would feel against hers. Now, she had living proof that Aaron was a dream come true.

His lips moved against hers, creating a delicious friction. Kylie stopped resisting. His hold loosened at her surrender. Aaron’s hands slipped over her body slowly, touching her, reaching past the walls she’d resurrected to protect her heart against him. Now, she could only shudder in response.

She heard him laugh. It was as seductive as it was satisfied.

“Aaron…” Kylie tried to think beyond this moment. Beyond the fact that this was the man of her dreams kissing her, the way that she’d only dreamed of being kissed.

“Shh,” he whispered against her lips. His hands followed the curves of her body, sliding across the edges of her breasts down to the curve of her hips to cup her bottom, bringing her closer to his full erection. Aaron wanted her.

Her, not Mariah. That thought alone had the power to shatter all her resistance.

“Aaron.” Kylie said his name again but this time she wasn’t asking him to stop. She brought her hands up slowly between them. The barrier between them only added to her frustration. Kylie flattened her hands against his chest and let them move slowly upwards. She heard him groan, watched him close his eyes for a moment. The look in Aaron’s eyes was stark desire.

He wanted her. Only her.

Aaron lifted her up against his body. Her legs circled his waist slowly, against her better judgment.

He was taking her somewhere. Vaguely she realized it was his bedroom.

Aaron lowered her back against the bed, their bodies still joined, her legs still wrapped around his body, never breaking the kiss.

You’ll be sorry. Kylie’s conscious came back to life, the second she felt her shirt being lifted above her head. The cool air brushed across her heated skin before Aaron pulled away.

“God, you’re so beautiful,” he whispered, looking down at her, his eyes sliding over her half-naked body. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this.”

His words both thrilled and repulsed her all at the same time. She didn’t want to be just one of the many who had passed through this room only to be forgotten when the next one came along. She was Aaron’s friend, correction buddy. That made her different, didn’t it?