Stars, Love And Pirouettes (Dance 'n' Luv Series) (8 page)

The door opened only a crack, Aiden’s striking green eyes peeking through it. “Jenna?”

“Am I interrupting your work?” she asked.

“Uh, no.”

“Mind if I come in for a minute?”

“Not at all.”

He stepped back, opening the door, and Jenna saw he was shirtless. His torso was lean and beautifully ripped. He turned and quickly plucked a tee shirt off the bed. Watching him put it on gave her goosebumps.

Jenna strolled into the sitting area of the room, babbling about Rachel and their visit to the E.R. “No breaks, just nasty bruises.” Of course Aiden had left the gas station without a scratch. “My brother picked us up. Parker is friends with the head of our police department as well as some influential people in the township government, so I asked him to help us keep the story out of the local news.”

“I appreciate that.” The warm and inviting attention he usually offered her was missing. Today he got a D- on eye contact.

She handed him the small gift bag with the card and perched on the loveseat.

“What’s this?” Aiden sat next to her, but not too close.

“I wanted to thank you for what you did last night.”

“You don’t owe me any—”

“Just shut up and open it.”

At least that got the hint of a smile from him.

He slid the card from its envelope. Jenna studied his classic profile while he read it. He had one of those faces that could look harsh if you took in the sharp angles. But put together with his full lips and amazing eyes she could barely take her gaze off him.

“You make me sound like some kind of hero.”

“To Rachel, Danielle and me you are.”

He said nothing, but two spots of red formed on his cheekbones.

“You were also right about dancers falling into a weird, abnormal state if they don’t move. I took a ballet class today after a month-long break, and I can see now that I’ll have to keep that part of myself alive no matter what profession I end up in.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve now got something else in mind besides dancing or acting?”

Jenna fidgeted. “I’m not sure. For all I know I could end up working in Chloe’s boutique. My big bro is always telling me I don’t know who I am yet, and I guess he’s right. But every time you and I talk you say something that gets me closer to figuring it out.” She pointed to the gift bag. “Go on.”

He looked down at the package and began opening it. Jenna noticed his hair had a slight case of bed-head. One glance at the four-poster and the rumpled covers confirmed he’d been lying down, maybe even sleeping when she knocked at the door. She tried not to picture him naked in the bed but was having a difficult time of it. Especially since he smelled of fresh soap, like maybe he’d showered not long ago.

Aiden pulled out the box and lifted the lid. The grin that crossed his face when he saw the miniature brass telescope sent a tingling glow through her.

“Like it, Aiden?”

Still grinning, he set the paperweight on the coffee table, dipped his head and gave her a peck on the forehead.

Jenna’s arms seemed to act on their own, reaching around his neck, pulling him down to her until their lips met. Aiden’s lips were warm and intimate at first. But as he kissed his way down her throat to the skin above the low cut collar of her jersey, a heat flared inside her, erupting into a full-blown desire more intense than she’d ever experienced.

She slid her hands under his tee, loving the feel of his taut muscles. Unable to resist, she yanked the shirt over his head, treating herself to the vision she’d been holding in her mind since she walked in. Her tongue laved over his chest. Aiden moaned and grabbed the knot of hair at the nape of her neck, tilting her head back, his mouth devouring hers.

He pulled off her jersey. Jenna had always been self-conscious about her small breasts, but when Aiden whispered, “You are so beautiful,” over and over, as he removed her bra, she felt like the most glorious woman in the world.

His hand stroked her breasts, and Jenna trembled. She loved his hands. They were long and graceful, yet so strong. His other arm slipped around her narrow waist, and he pulled her onto his lap. She bent to kiss him, threading her fingers through his hair. It felt so good to be in his arms. But she wanted more of him, all of him.

 “Aiden, I want you. Please,” she heard herself say in a breathless voice.

Tightening his grip, Aiden stood. Her legs wrapped around him as he carried her to the bed.

He unzipped her jeans, tugged them off, and smiled. “I like your kitty cat panties.”

She giggled, unfastened the belt on his jeans and shoved them to the floor. “You’re wearing your baby blue briefs. I knew you’d look great in them.” And he did. His long, muscular torso tapered down to narrow hips and solid runner’s legs. “Don’t you have a pair of pastel green briefs, too? 

He grinned. “How do you know what underwear I own?”

“I saw your open suitcase when I changed your bedding last week and couldn’t help but peek.” She opened her arms and he fell into them, his hard body pressing against her own.

They explored each other with the same wonder and magic she’d felt looking at the stars. She’d never known anyone quite like Aiden. So attentive, so sensitive. At one point his emerald eyes looked so adoringly at her she thought she might cry. He kissed her, then turned to the night table. Jenna hated the loss of his body next to hers for even a few seconds.

Aiden took a condom from his wallet, and when he returned he settled between her thighs, easing himself into her gently at first. But soon his heat and passion filled her to bursting, urging her on to new heights.

As he moved inside her, their rhythmic dance exploded into a mounting frenzy that sent all thoughts from her brain except the wonderful sensation of Aiden’s body moving with hers until they both cried out in an ecstatic release.

He rolled to the side but pulled Jenna into his arms. She rested her head on his chest, entwining her legs with his, their torsos pressed together, slick with sweat.

Jenna was not a tremendously experienced lover, but she’d had enough affairs to know how unusual it was to have the strong emotions that assailed her while making love with Aiden.

Was it him? Was it the incredible depth of his mind and heart?

Or was it because she’d ventured into new territory with her own life? Except it had never happened with anyone else. She wasn’t even sure she could describe what the “it” was, much less name it. All Jenna knew was that when Aiden began kissing her again, she was once again seized by a burning need for him the likes of which she’d never known before.

Chapter Eleven

Aiden turned the telescope to the south. “Venus. Ancient Sumerians called her the Queen Of The Heavens. One of the brightest objects in the sky next to the Sun and the Moon. She’s sixty-eight million miles from where we stand.”

“Oooh. Did you see that?”

“Sure did.”

“A shooting star.”

His fingers brushed her cheek. “Make a wish.”

Jenna shut her eyes. “Done.” Sitting on his lap, her arm around his shoulders, she bent and gave him a quick kiss. “And don’t you dare ask me what I wished for.”

“What did you wish for?”

She swatted his arm and pointed at the sky. “What’s that star over there?”

“Got me.”

“You’re supposed to be an expert.”

“I am?” Aiden looked up into her wide-eyed beautiful face, still stunned by the evening they’d spent together in his bed. Merely touching Jenna was sheer bliss, much less being inside her, having her soft lips on his, inhaling the sweet scent of her coconut shampoo when he buried his face in her long tresses. How lucky could a guy get? “Are you cold?”

“Nope.”

They had both dressed and were talking about going out to eat when Jenna’s mother had called up the stairs for her. Forty minutes later she returned with a few slices of her mother’s cold meatloaf for Aiden and a tahini butter sandwich for herself.

“Let’s go west.” He turned the telescope to the left and arched it upward. “Aha. Here’s a nice bunch of little twinklies.”

She laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“Little twinklies. Seems strange hearing words like that from you, Mr. Macho.”

Was that how she saw him? “Oh. That fight. I don’t usually get into that stuff. Not in a long time, anyway.”

“I was thinking about that other thing. You know.”

“What other thing?”

She made a tsk sound. “I promised never to bring it up, remember? Your secret profession?”

“Oh that.”

“So you get my point?”

He shrugged. “Not really. I never saw machismo as being a requirement for my profession.”

“So humble. Sign of a true hero. Meanwhile, each day you go around putting your life on the line for your country.”

His brows knit. “I do?”

“I’m sure it’s not always the way it looks in the movies. Gun fights with semi-automatics blaring, car chases.”

“You’ve totally lost me now. What are you talking about?”

She leaned in close and whispered. “About you being a secret agent.”

He belly laughed. “Jenna, I love your offbeat sense of humor.”

“Don’t play me, Aiden.”

He paused and stared at her, reading the seriousness in her face. “You’re not kidding, are you?”

“Okay. I get the message. I promised never to bring it up and I broke my word. Let’s just pretend I never said anything.”

Aiden studied her, dumbfounded. “You honestly
do
believe me to be some kind of government operative?” A deep chuckle rumbled through him.

Jenna slid off his lap and went to the porch railing. “You can stop the games. It’s humiliating and unkind at this point. Sorry I brought it up. From now on consider I have amnesia.”

“I am not toying with you. I’m not a secret agent. Where did you ever come up with such a wild idea?”

At first her chin went up in an indignant pose. Then she frowned and tilted her head, looking confused. And embarrassed. “Well, I… it was an accident. I was changing your bedding one day, and I bumped your laptop and saw this document about Briggs, a photint and some other obviously clandestine bits of intel.”

“Briggs? Oh my God. Do you think if I were an operative I’d be that sloppy? To leave that kind of information lying around on my laptop?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “What about the phone call?”

“Phone call?”

“Don’t take me for a snooper—”

“Which of course you are.”

“I just happened to be opening my window when you were out on the deck talking on your mobile. You said something about an agent who died named Jim.”

“Jim Golan was a literary agent. Died of a heart attack. I am not a secret agent, Jenna.”

She looked crushed, and Aiden felt it like a blow to the gut. What a fool he was to think she might actually want him. Just him for his plain old self.

His voice went flat. “Now I see what’s going on here. Sorry to disappoint you, my dear excitement addict. But I’m just a boring schoolteacher who likes to write. If you’re looking for 007, try Daniel Craig. No, wait. You’ve already got Sean Risk. I do believe he’s going to be playing agent Monte Blessing in
Aftermath
, that frikken spy movie everybody’s talking about. So you’re all set.”

“How dare you judge me this way. Just because I had the wrong idea. Give me a break. Every time I asked you what you did you evaded the question.”

No way would he tell her that he’d written
Aftermath
. Not now. “Maybe I don’t feel like talking about what I do.”

“Then don’t get angry if people jump to conclusions. Or get crazy ideas. Or go off on some fantasy. What if I do have a weakness for exciting men? Handsome alphas who know how to please a woman in bed. As if men don’t encourage it and make their own ridiculous demands? Those gaudy lions flaunting their fancy cars, fat wallets and guido pectorals. Ordinary women need not apply. Only girls with movie star looks will be considered. We all survive in our own way.”

He snorted. “It’s a jungle, all right. And we wouldn’t want a top-of-the-food-chain ballerina-actress like you turning into a bottom feeder, wasting her time with someone like me. You better go back to your lions.”

“Is that what you want?”

He’d expected her to take a stand. To either tell him she intended to do just that. Or to say what his heart hoped for: that he was what she wanted. Throwing it back in his court only frustrated and confused him. “I don’t know.”

Her nostrils flared. “Tell you what. Why don’t I give you plenty of time to think about it.”

Jenna turned and marched across the porch, made an effortless jump over the fence to the other side, and disappeared into her room.

Aiden sank back down to the bench, the starlit night suddenly cold and dark.

Chapter Twelve

Jenna barely slept, not that she wasn’t already a chronic insomniac. But even if she had the fiercest panic attack in the world no way would she go out on the porch tonight.

Because Aiden was out there.

He stayed there all night. She kept her room dark so he couldn’t see her watching him through her back window. The light from his room cast a glow over his shadowy form, making him appear like some gothic romance hero. One minute he stared up at the stars, then peered into his telescope, the next he paced the deck, rubbing his neck in a way that, frankly, aroused her.

At one point he looked so sad she was tempted to march outside and put her arms around him. But he was the one who told her to go away. And when she’d asked him if that was what he wanted, giving him a chance to take it back, all he could say was he didn’t know?

Jenna murmured a couple foul phrases at him and went back to her bed, curling into a ball and crying. When she asked herself why in heck she would be crying over a guy she hardly knew, she couldn’t answer. But that seemed to be the general theme of her life these days. Questions she couldn’t answer.

Her alarm clock beeped at five a.m. She had an early call on the set of
Sunrise Lane
today. The first episode of the new season would be airing in two days and the show’s director Tony Pacca wanted to get a few extra close-up shots and re-record some fuzzy dialogue. When Jenna reached the mansion in Southampton where they shot most everything, she threw herself into her work.