Just This Once, Contemporary Romance (Last Frontier Lodge #3) (2 page)

Aidan appeared to be waiting. She glanced sideways to find his eyes on her, inscrutable in the dim light inside the car. After another long beat, he spoke. “Becca, I’m not trying to save the day. I didn’t do anything I wouldn’t do for a stranger. I saw your car in the ditch and stopped to see if I could help.” He gestured to the window. “It’s rainy and cold out and going on midnight. I can’t in good conscience just leave you here. I have no doubt you’d take care of yourself if I hadn’t happened along. Maybe you don’t feel the same way, but I consider you a friend. I’m not leaving you alone on the highway in this weather. Your brothers would never let me hear the end of it if I did.”

She knew what he said was true. He would stop to help anyone because that’s the kind of man he was. She just hated the fact she needed help and the one man who somehow got under her skin happened to be the man to stop and help. She glanced out the window. The pace of the rain had picked up, shifting from a heavy mist to something close to pouring rain. It felt like they were in a warm, dry island inside his car. The space compressed. Awareness prickled along her skin. Aidan was no more than a foot away from her. Darting her eyes sideways, they landed on his hand resting on the steering wheel—a strong, muscled and masculine hand.

When she brought her eyes to his, they coasted over her face—assessing, measuring. She could barely breathe and somehow had to get through the next twenty minutes until George arrived.

Aidan shifted in his seat, one of his hands falling to the console between them. “Have I done something to offend you?” he asked suddenly.

She could tell by his tone that he was genuinely curious. She shook her head. Because how could she explain that the only thing he’d done was to be the one man who made her forget her promise she’d never let a man get to her again? It wouldn’t be so bad if he were some random guy she encountered once in a blue moon. No, he had to go and be one of Gage’s best friends and a friend to her entire family. She couldn’t avoid him even if she tried.

“Well, then what is it? Every time I’m around you, you seem annoyed.”

Instead of dropping the topic, he kept going. Her body was a jumble of nerves, electricity emanating from him and coiling around her, setting her nerves alight and heat notching higher and higher.

“I’m not annoyed.” Maybe she could try to opposite approach. Say the opposite of everything she felt, and the feelings would go away.

He arched a brow, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “Really?”

Annoyance arced higher. “No, I’m not! But I’m about to be.”

Aidan chuckled. Anger rose inside her, and she opened her mouth to tell him off when it occurred to her she was being ridiculous. She couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled in response. She turned to him and collided with his gaze. In a flash, the air around them hummed with heat. His smile faded. Becca could hardly breathe. She held still, her heart battering against her ribcage. Before she knew what happened, he leaned across the console, erasing the distance between them.

She opened her mouth to say something and his lips came against hers. Soft and sure at once, he fit his mouth over hers. The second his lips met hers, deep longing pulsed within. Her mind went blank and she froze, but for the life of her she couldn’t pull away. Not when her body cried out for more, craving to get as close as she could to imprint herself against his body the way his lips were now molded to hers. He angled his head, his tongue tracing her lips. Her breath broke on a low moan, and he captured it by deepening his kiss. His tongue delved inside, hers responding by tangling with his. The kiss went from a tentative exploration to explosive. Heat surged through her in waves as she nearly crawled across the console to get closer. His hand stroked up her neck, lacing into the hair at her nape. His thumb brushed across the beat of her pulse, which went wild at the feel of his calloused skin against her.

Oh. My. God. He felt so good—
so, so, sooo
good. All this time, she hadn’t allowed herself to wonder what it would feel like to kiss Aidan. Every time her body considered it, she ran away from the thought, trying to shove her body’s desire into a box where she could lock it up and pretend it didn’t exist. Now that she’d tasted him, she didn’t think she could ever forget. He kissed the way he did everything—with complete confidence. He alternated with strong, commanding strokes of his tongue and soft, devastating kisses when he pulled back incrementally.

Somehow, her hand was stroking into the curls at the base of his skull, his hair damp against her fingers. He tore his mouth away, his lips coasting down her neck, his rough stubble scraping her skin, making her arch into him. Hot, wet kisses blazed a trail along the edge of her collarbone and dipped into the vee of her blouse. Her nipples were tight, peaked in desire. She wanted to feel more, more of everything. She wanted his touch on every inch of her body.
Now.

Chapter 2

Aidan loosened his hand in Becca’s silky brown hair and dragged the back of his fingers along behind his lips. She tasted so damn good. She tried to blend in and not stand out, but she was too damn beautiful for that. Her kisses gave her away—passionate and wild. She threw herself into their kiss, her body twining against his in the cramped space of his car. He licked into the valley between her breasts. He couldn’t resist sliding his hand around to cup her breast, its weight heavy against his palm. Her nipple tightened under his touch.

Suddenly, there was a sharp knock at the window. He swore and leaned away from Becca. Her eyes slammed into his—her beautiful blue eyes. He’d stared into those eyes many times, always struggling to rein in the impulse to kiss her. Her eyes were a deep shade of blue, usually guarded with a hint of distrust, the shield she hid behind. At the moment, she looked as stunned as he felt. The shield had fallen and what he saw there slammed him in the gut. Vulnerability, confusion and desire swirled together for a split second before she shuttered them. She pulled back swiftly.

At another knock on the window, he turned and tapped the button for it to open. Conveniently, the windows had fogged between the rainy cold and the heat in the car. George’s grin met him. “Hey boss. We’re here.”

“I noticed. Give me a sec, okay?”
 

At George’s nod, he closed the window and turned back to Becca. She’d firmly planted herself as far away as she could, mashed up against the door with her arms crossed. She stared straight ahead. Her lips were plump and swollen, and her cheeks were flushed. Her pulse beat rapidly in her neck, her skin illuminated from the lights of George’s car behind them. Her pulse was the only clue that she was anywhere near as affected as he was by their kiss.

She spoke rapidly. “I don’t know how that happened, but let’s forget about it. I’m not thinking clearly and you’re not either. How about I hitch a ride back to Seattle with your guys? They won’t mind, right?”

Aidan shook his head. Maybe he hadn’t planned to kiss Becca tonight, but he’d wanted to ever since he’d first laid eyes on her almost ten years ago. Back then, she was a mere twenty-three years old and a very studious law student. He could still recall the first time he saw her. He was on a break between missions with his team. Gage had invited him and another friend, Matt, to a family barbecue. Becca had been seated at a picnic table, her glossy brown hair hiding her face as she studied a book. She was already in her second year in law school. Then, he was a young twenty-eight years old and deep in the swagger of being a Navy SEAL. He hadn’t even noticed her at first, but sat down at the table to rest his knee, which was sore from a fall. Becca had finally looked from her book and pushed her glasses up on her nose. He felt like he’d been punched. She was so damn beautiful, he’d simply stared at her.

After several long moments of silence, Becca’s mouth had curled into a smile. “You must be Aidan,” she’d said. All he’d been able to do was nod. Somehow, he’d regained the ability to speak and carried on a semi-normal conversation with her, all the while reminding himself he couldn’t try to make a play for Gage’s little sister. Not to mention, he wasn’t interested in making a play in a casual way. He’d looked at her—at the gorgeous fall of brown hair, her sharp blue eyes behind her cat-shaped glasses, and her full pink mouth—and he’d wanted to lift her in his arms and carry her away to be with him forever. But he couldn’t do that because he was home between missions. He was already scheduled to leave with his team in a few short days on another classified mission. In the intervening years, she’d gotten engaged and dumped by her fiancée. He’d learned that bitter news from Gage on the mission when their friend Matt had died.

Aidan had known for years Becca was the one and only woman for him. Yet, time and opportunity had boxed him in. Beyond the lightning bolt of attraction he felt for her, she called to him on so many levels. She was brilliant, strong and independent. She was also a protective, loving sister. Due to his friendship with Gage, Aidan was close to their whole family and watched her time and again be there for her family whenever anyone needed her. The hardest part had been watching the walls come up around her after her engagement fell apart. Before that, he’d resigned himself to the fact he’d have to let her go since she appeared to love someone else. After that, he’d yet to sort out a way to approach her. To say she was unapproachable was an understatement.

On top of everything else, there was the complicating factor that she was Gage’s sister. In the beginning, his life as a Navy SEAL kept him away so much that romance hadn’t been a priority. He’d been able to put his feelings for Becca on the back burner. He figured if he ever had a shot with her, then he’d figure out what to do about how Gage might feel about it. Gage was one of his closest friends, and while he wasn’t irrational, he was a protective older brother. Until tonight, Aidan had figured he simply might never have to worry about how to navigate the problem with Gage.

Ten long years after his heart nearly stopped when he first saw Becca, Aidan finally kissed her. Instead of it being planned and carried out meticulously, he’d impulsively kissed her in his car on the side of the road. His heart pounding, he gathered himself and looked at her.

“I won’t forget it, and neither will you. Stop pretending.” Her eyes swung to his, wide. “I didn’t plan it this way, but I’ve wanted to kiss you for too damn long, and don’t pretend you didn’t want it too. I’m going to get out and make sure those guys don’t need anything from me. Then, I’m taking you wherever you need to go. We can talk on the way. Or not. But for God’s sake, don’t act like this was nothing. Because it damn well wasn’t and you know it.”

Becca stared at him and chewed her lip. He thought his heart might pound its way out of his chest, but he forced himself to breathe. He was afraid he’d played his cards too fast, but he’d kept his feelings under wraps for so long, his restraint was weak. When she finally nodded slowly, he let his breath go.

He climbed out into the rain, which soaked him instantly. After checking in with George and Dale and confirming the towing company was on the way, he climbed back in his sedan. Becca turned to him.

“You’re soaked! I don’t imagine you have a towel in here, huh?”

“Actually, I do.” He reached into the back and curled his hand around the handle of a black case, which held first aid and other supplies. A small, highly absorbent towel was tucked in the corner. He whipped it out and dried his face and hair.

Becca started laughing. “Only you would have a case like that. Or maybe Gage,” she said as she rolled her eyes.

“Gage definitely has one. Carryover from our military days.” He tossed the towel into the back seat and eyed her. “Okay, I don’t think we ever got to the part about where you were headed.”

“You can just take me back to Seattle.” Her shoulders hunched on a sigh.

“I’ll take you wherever you need. I know you weren’t driving home at midnight.”

“I was on my way to Bellingham to see my parents. I was supposed to go last weekend, but it got too late, so I promised I’d be there this weekend. Now it’s past midnight, it’s pouring and if you take me, I don’t know how I’ll get back home.”

Aidan shrugged. “We’re headed the same place. Did you forget Ellie lives in Bellingham?” Ellie was his younger sister.

She glanced at the clock. “Okay. You sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all.” He didn’t wait for her to reconsider and put his car in gear and slowly pulled off the side of the highway.

Once they were on the way north, he glanced to the side. Becca was no longer plastered against the door. Her shoulders had relaxed, and she leaned back in the passenger seat, curling her feet up under her knees. He elected to keep conversation casual. He sensed if he referenced their kiss or anything he’d said afterwards, she might shut down. The rainy drive passed swiftly. The lights of Bellingham glimmered through the rain. Aidan had been to her parents’ home a number of times, so he made his way there on memory. When he pulled up in the circular drive, he cut his lights and climbed out quickly. Becca wore a rueful smile when he opened the passenger side door.

“You just love opening doors, don’t you?”

He shrugged. “My mother was old-fashioned. She insisted on manners.”

She nodded and climbed out, stretching as she stood. He snagged her bag from the back and walked by her side to the front door. The rain fell around them. Her eyes were tired. He sensed the only reason she wasn’t her usual prickly self with him was she was too tired for it and her defenses were down. A surge of protectiveness washed through him. He hated that ever since her asshole of a fiancée had dumped her, she’d become bitter and prickly like a cactus if anyone got too close.

She looked up at him, her lashes spiky from the rain.

“Can I stop by tomorrow?”

She nodded. He didn’t wait and dipped his head to catch her lips. He wanted more, so much more, than the quick kiss he allowed himself. Somehow, he’d managed to bumble his way through his impulsive kiss with her earlier, and he didn’t want to push too far, too fast with her. She was well-defended and with good reason. Her lips were so soft and supple, he almost lost his hold on the thin thread of control he had. He forced himself to step back. “I’ll call you.”