Love notes (8 page)

Therefore, when he reappeared
twenty minutes later Erika very deliberately adopted enough of her
stage persona to give her the confidence to carry out her plan,
without going as far as becoming the overtly sexual, and instantly
recognisable, Erika Fenn.

Imagining she were playing to a
camera, she swam to the steps and climbed out, crossing the tiles
toward Aiden, her hips swaying and her body held taut to accentuate
its elegant lines. She raised her arms to undo the band holding her
hair, pushing her generous breasts forward and drawing attention to
the heavy fall of damp, brunette curls.

Aiden had always adored Erika’s
long, dark hair. He’d tangled his fingers and buried his face in it
during lovemaking; had gasped his pleasure as she’d trailed it
across his skin and had been turned on beyond reason by the sight
of it splayed out across his lap as she’d licked and sucked him to
hardness. She now shook her hair loose and let it fall across her
naked shoulders, the end of one long curl falling forward and
disappearing invitingly into her deep cleavage.

Aiden never took his eyes off
her, knowing the entire performance had been for his benefit, and
enjoying every close-up detail of the body that had once driven him
crazy. He picked up Erika’s robe from the lounger and held it out
for her, lifting her hair free as she pulled it up over her
shoulders, unable to resist wrapping it around his fingers for a
moment and tugging her head back slightly as if to kiss the tender
underside of her throat. She yielded, leaning back against him for
a second or two before pulling away.

“We should go.” She faced him,
but stood deliberately too close. “Marty will be up and shouting
for me in an hour. Take me back to your suite and show me the
papers.”

Once there, Erika stripped off
her swimsuit and roughly blow dried her hair in Aiden’s bathroom,
letting the heavy curls fall down her back in glossy waves. The
previous morning, she’d scraped back her hair into a rough knot,
careless over her appearance and never dreaming she’d meet Aiden.
Now she used it as a weapon of seduction.

When she emerged she found he’d
ordered coffee, fruit and toast, and her stomach rumbled. “I’m
ravenous,” she said, picking up a dark red strawberry and popping
it into her mouth. She offered a second to Aiden who ate it out of
her fingers and laughed.

“Since I met you again, all
you’ve done is eat. Marty must have been starving you to
death.”

“Spending every waking minute
with Marty means I go short of a lot of things.” She counted them
off on her fingers, “Intelligent conversation, laughter,
relaxation, male company. Food’s the least of my problems.”

“Well hopefully, we can fix
that.”

Aiden sat down on the sofa,
opened his laptop on the low coffee table and pulled up the first
of the documents. Erika settled herself beside him and leaned in
toward the screen, glad of the excuse to sit so close. When she
crossed her legs, her bare toes brushed the back of his calf and
her robe fell open to reveal one knee and a tantalising glimpse of
thigh.

She intended Aiden to notice and
he didn’t disappoint, even though his glances were quick and
furtive. He was interested – seriously interested – and she guessed
he wouldn’t have needed much encouragement to run his hand up her
leg and inside her robe. The realisation sent shockwaves of
anticipation into every nerve ending and Erika drew in breath
sharply.

Maybe I’m missing a trick, she
told herself.

Leaving aside the fact that
Aiden’s a serial womaniser, he has the sexiest body I’ve ever seen
– one that’s designed to spend every waking minute naked.

Not forgetting that he’s also
spectacularly creative in bed and once knew a hundred different
ways to make me come.

Rather than hold out the promise
of sex, she decided it could be a great deal more satisfying to see
whether they could take that score up to a hundred and one.

“Do you understand this?” Aiden
asked, breaking into her fantasies. “Can you see how Marty’s
diverting money through fake companies and into his own
accounts?”

“Of course.” Erika found it
almost impossible to concentrate with her mind blurred by impure
thoughts but everything Aiden had told her became perfectly clear
the second time around. “Marty’s swindling me out of every
available dollar and if it goes on much longer, there’ll be nothing
left.”

“That about sums it up.” Again
the glance sideways at her bare leg. “We need to stop him before he
bankrupts you.”

“Is it that bad?”

Aiden hesitated for the first
time. “I can’t say for sure.”

“Come on. I’d rather know.” The
sense of panic Erika had felt in the pub returned, forcing her to
focus.

“Honestly, I can’t say.”

“Why not? I thought your people
had found out everything.”

Aiden took a deep breath and
thought hard before speaking. “Even with the vast sums of money
we’ve already found, the greatest asset by far is your music. The
copyright on your back catalogue is worth millions of dollars every
year.”

“I know. Marty employs someone
whose sole job is to track down unpaid royalties.”

“So it’s essential we find out
who owns the copyright to your songs,” Aiden explained, “but it’s
the one thing we’ve been unable to establish.”

“Well, I own it.” Erika knew
this beyond doubt. “I wrote them so they’re mine. That’s how
copyright law works.”

“Not necessarily.” Aiden spoke
gently, preparing her for the worst. “Your contract could have
signed the rights over to someone else.”

“Never. It’d be like selling my
soul.”

Aiden grimaced. “If Marty’s
devious enough to swindle you out of forty million dollars,
acquiring the copyright to your music would be relatively
easy.”

All thoughts of seducing Aiden
flew out of Erika’s head as the pit of her stomach froze. Compared
with losing her music – into which she’d poured her broken heart
and soul – forty million dollars was nothing.

“What can we do?” she asked.

“We need to see your contract –
the one piece of paperwork I can’t get hold of. Where’s your
copy?”

“I don’t have one.” She felt
pathetic admitting it. “The lawyers dealt with everything.”

“Which firm?”

“I can’t even remember that.
Some people Marty knew in New York.”

“You didn’t take independent
advice?” He looked appalled. “You have no idea what you
signed?”

“I was twenty-three years old
and being offered a fantasy life. I didn’t stop to think.” Erika
grew angry – as much with herself as with Aiden – but then felt
guilty when he was doing so much to help her. “I’m sorry. This is
all such a shock.”

“Don’t worry. But weren’t you
suspicious before now?”

“Not really.” Erika thought
hard. “Although it might explain why Marty never lets me near any
paperwork. He pretends he doesn’t want it to get in the way of the
creative side of making music. I suppose I was stupid to trust
him.”

“It’s not your fault. You always
think the best and people are quick to abuse that.” Realising what
he’d said, Aiden looked away awkwardly and began making notes
before Erika could comment on his own spectacular breach of trust.
“We need to run through a few dates and details to see if we can
pick up anything helpful. The more we know, the better our chances
of fighting him.”

Erika answered his questions as
best she could, wondering whether she’d be foolish to trust Aiden
for the second time. For all she knew, he could have his own
reasons for separating her from Marty and she could wind up in an
even worse situation.

Although it was difficult to
picture any other deal that would leave her so physically exhausted
and so financially ruined.

“How do my chances stand?” she
asked. “And if Marty has taken my copyright, can I get it
back?”

“I won’t know until we take
advice. We need to get you to London. I’ve already sounded out a
top entertainment lawyer, and her partner’s an expert on fraud. If
you agree, we could slip away tonight when Marty goes to bed.”

It felt too soon – too reckless
– and Erika still needed time to think.

“No.” She left no room for
negotiation. “If Marty suspects anything, he’ll start moving money
around and we’ll never trace it. I can’t just disappear.”

Aiden agreed this made sense and
cursed himself for not having thought of it. “So what do you
suggest?”

Erika took a deep breath and
closed her eyes as the beginnings of a plan began to emerge. “Marty
hates it here and will jump at any excuse to leave for London, but
he’ll be suspicious if I suddenly want to go too. It’s taken me two
years to drag him to Yorkshire. If I turn round a day later and ask
to leave, he’ll know something’s wrong, particularly if he thinks
you’re involved.”

“You have an appointment with a
throat specialist,” Aiden reminded her. “Bring it forward.”

It could provide the perfect
solution but Erika still hesitated. “Once I’m in London I’ll be a
virtual prisoner. Paparazzi haunt the big hotels and there’s no way
I could visit lawyers without being seen. Marty won’t leave me
alone for a minute.”

“Don’t you have friends you can
stay with?”

Erika laughed cynically. “This
is why Ben Ridley and I get on so well. You have absolutely no idea
what it’s like to be watched every single moment. Wherever I go,
there’ll be a pack of photographers on the doorstep.”

“You could stay with me. The
security in my building is watertight.”

“Thanks, but can you honestly
see Marty agreeing to his prize asset moving in with the man who’d
slammed him up against a car?” She waited for Aiden to concede she
had a point.

He leaned forward, elbows on his
knees and scrambled to come up with a solution. His robe gaped
slightly, revealing a provocative glimpse of his pecs and Erika’s
breath quickened. A sudden desire to trace the outline of his chest
with one long fingernail ambushed her, quickly followed by the
urgent need to trail her tongue along the edge of every sculpted
muscle, from the nape of his neck, down the ridges of his spine and
around his taut bum.

Stop it, a voice inside her head
screamed, cutting through the erotic images. This is moving too
fast. Let Aiden overwhelm you and he’ll take control.

Urgently needing to distance
herself, Erika went over to the table by the window, pretending to
help herself to more coffee, but her hand shook so much she could
hardly pour. Aiden followed her and rested his hand on her back,
rubbing up and down her spine, thinking to reassure her, but his
touch confused her even more.

“Don’t worry. We’ll sort this
out,” he promised, misinterpreting her hesitation. “We’ll find a
way to get your money back.”

“I know.”

Erika smiled weakly, thinking
that chasing up forty million dollars was the least of her problems
at that moment. Far more pressing was the urgent need to tear off
Aiden’s robe and play out a dozen indecent fantasies across his
body.

Five years without a man in her
bed had been far too long for a woman as sensual as Erika and
standing within touching distance of someone as sexy Aiden left her
ready to explode with unsatisfied desires.

Without giving herself time to
hesitate, she slid her hand around the back of Aiden’s neck and
pulled his mouth down onto hers. Startled, he jumped.

Her lips barely brushed his –
all the while teasing, inviting, tempting him to return her kiss –
but he pulled back, frowning in indecision as he tried to work out
how far she intended to go.

To answer his silent question,
Erika took his head between her hands and ran the tip of her tongue
across his lips. She tasted coffee and fresh strawberries when his
unshaven mouth parted, allowing her tongue to penetrate its sweet
depths.

“We can’t,” he breathed,
although his body was screaming the opposite. “There’s too much at
stake. It’s too complicated.”

Erika simplified it for him and
undid his robe. She eased it aside and slid her hands across his
chest, finally able to satisfy her fingertips that had longed to
explore its moulded crests and indentations since she’d watched him
at the pool. They thrilled at the roughness of his chest hair and
tingled as they caressed the smooth skin down his sides, following
the taut lines of his body all the way down to his hips.

“Don’t. Please.”

Ignoring him, Erika’s greedy
mouth left his and bit along the side of his neck and shoulders.
His skin tasted of swimming pools and the long remembered,
masculine tang of his powerful body. Unable to help himself, Aiden
moaned and buried his face in her hair, fighting to retain control
as a shudder of desire ran through him. But Erika pushed him away
roughly.

“Let me look at you,” she
demanded, stripping off his robe and throwing it aside, hungry for
him and wanting every inch of him all at once.

Every muscle in Aiden’s body
tensed as Erika’s fingernail scraped from the hollow in his throat,
across his heaving chest and down to his navel. His skin twitched
beneath the raw, red line left behind and Erika’s fascinated eyes
followed her hand down to the mat of dark hair below his tan
line.

Aiden caught her wrist. “No.
This is wrong. Stop before you do something you’ll regret.”

But what was there to regret
about that beautiful cock of his, jutting thick and strong, and oh
so temptingly beneath her hand? She licked her lips unconsciously
and imagined the pleasures yet to come.

“I want you, Aiden,” she
whispered, pressing herself closer until she felt his body heat
through her robe. “Remember how good we were together? Let me make
you feel that way again.”

Without giving him chance to
resist, Erika freed herself and wrapped her fingers around Aiden’s
hot, hard cock. His mouth might be saying no but this part of his
body spoke a very different language and swelled against her
palm.