The Assistant (17 page)

When we finally broke apart, I was breathless
with need.  Aiden took one look at my flushed face before growling, “We find
Tracy and leave.  Now, Lina.”

I took his hand without argument as he led
me through the crowd of people celebrating.

* * *

“This isn’t my house.”  Tracy sat up in the
back seat of Aiden’s SUV and blinked blearily before yawning.

“Aiden had to make a quick stop,” I said. 
We were parked on the street in front of his building and I craned my head to
stare at Tracy.

“Don’t puke, Trace,”

“I won’t,” she said cheerily.  “I’m drunk but
I’m not that drunk.”

She yawned again.  “Did you have fun
tonight, honey?”

“Yes,” I said.  “Did you?”

She nodded.  “Yeah, Dwayne gave me his
number.  I might call him.  He seemed nice.”

“Good, I’m glad.”

“He’s one hell of a kisser, that’s for
sure.  I should have taken him home.”

I laughed.  “No you shouldn’t have.  You
need to make those types of decisions when you’re sober.”

“Party pooper,” she pouted at me.  “You’re
going to get laid tonight, I don’t see why I shouldn’t.”

Before I could reply the back door opened
and King jumped into the back seat.  Tracy shrieked in terror and cringed
against the door when King leaned forward and licked her face.

“What the fuck?  Why does he have a fucking
bear?”  She shouted.

I laughed hysterically as King dropped down
on to the seat and rested his massive head in Tracy’s lap.  “He’s not a bear.”

“Oh my God, his head weighs a ton,” Tracy
replied.  She petted the top of King’s head gingerly as Aiden climbed behind
the wheel in a blast of cold air and slammed the door shut.

“What’s your address, Tracy?”  He asked.

She recited it to him and he headed toward
her house.  He rested his hand on my thigh, his thumb caressing my nylons
lightly and just that light touch lit up my nerve endings.

“You know, Aiden,” Tracy said conversationally. 
“I can see why my girl is fucking you.  You’re damn hot.”

“Tracy!”  I glared at her as she grinned at
me.

“What?  He is.  I mean, you said he was hot
but you really don’t understand it until you see him in person.”

“You think I’m hot?”  Aiden grinned at me
and I rolled my eyes.

“You know I do.”

“Maybe, but it’s still nice to hear.”

“Oh please,” Tracy said.  “You know you’re
gorgeous.  How many women slipped their panties into your pocket tonight?”

“The only panties in my pocket tonight
belong to Lina,” Aiden said.

“Lina!  Why you dirty little tart!”  Tracy
squealed.

“He’s lying, Tracy,” I said before giving
Aiden a dirty look.  “I’m wearing my underwear.”

“Sure you are,” Tracy said.

“I am!”  I insisted.  “Tell her the truth,
Aiden.”

“She is,” Aiden said.  “But Tuesday was a
different story.”

“Aiden!” I hissed.

“Ooh, what happened on Tuesday?”

Aiden grinned at Tracy in the rear view
mirror.  “I definitely had Lina’s panties in my pocket on Tuesday.”

“You’re boinking at the office?  Lina, you
didn’t tell me you were boinking at the office,” Tracy said.  “Fuck, that’s
hot.”

“We’re not boinking at the office,” I
said.  “We didn’t actually have sex on Tuesday, we just…”

I trailed off, my cheeks flaming bright red
as Aiden laughed and Tracy squealed again.  “I want details.”

“No,” I said firmly.

“Well you’re no fun at all,” Tracy said. 
“Here I was thinking you were having sex at the office.”

“Technically we have,” Aiden said
cheerfully.

“Aiden, shut up!”  I said.

He shrugged, “What?  We have.  The night of
the Christmas party – or did you forget?”

“If she forgot that doesn’t look good for
you, my friend,” Tracy said brightly.  “You might want to work harder.”

“I didn’t forget,” I said.  “I just prefer
not to talk about my sexual activities with a group of people.

“Group of people?  Please, I’m your best
friend,” Tracy said.  “Besides, I already know most of the details.”

She reached out and patted Aiden’s
shoulder.  “Good on you, honey, for not insisting that Lina has to come from
your dick stick.  It’s so annoying when men think their penises are magic
climax inducers.”

Aiden burst out laughing and Tracy
snickered as I slapped my hand over my eyes.

“Oh my God,” I moaned.  “Pull the car over,
Aiden.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m going to kill Tracy and I
don’t want to get blood splatter on your leather seats.”

“What are you killing me for?”  Tracy said
indignantly.  “You’re the one who said Aiden was the best lover you’ve ever
had. Although,” she patted Aiden’s shoulder again, “not to rain on your parade
or anything but it probably wouldn’t have taken much to be better than that
jackass Kent.  That man couldn’t find a woman’s clit if you gave him a
flashlight and a map.”

Aiden laughed again and Tracy grinned
delightedly at him.  “I also hear that you have a magic tongue.”

“Tracy, if you don’t shut up, I really will
murder you,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Honestly, I’m enjoying hearing about how
amazing you think I am in bed,” Aiden said.

“She used a lot of very flattering
adjectives to describe your bedroom abilities,” Tracy said solemnly.

“Like what?”  Aiden asked.

“Tracy,” I warned.

“Let’s see,” Tracy said, “I believe awesome
was used, fantastic, unbelievable, incredible, oh and earth-shattering was
tossed around as well.”

“Nice,” Aiden said before squeezing my
thigh.  “I think you’re earth-shattering in bed too, Lina.”

“Thanks,” I muttered as Tracy sighed
happily.

“That’s so sweet.  I told Lina repeatedly
that she wasn’t the problem in bed, it was that butthead Kent, but she never
believed me.  I’m glad you made her realize that Kent was the issue.”

She sighed again and leaned back in the
seat before stroking King’s head lightly.  “You two are just so cute together.”

“Tracy?”  I said.

“Yeah?”

“Can you please stop talking now?”

“Sure,” she said agreeably.

Ten minutes later we were parked in front
of her apartment building and I unclicked my seatbelt.  “I’m just going to walk
her to her apartment, I’ll be right back.”

“I don’t need you to walk me to my
apartment,” Tracy said.  “I’m not that drunk.”

“Tracy, I’m not comfortable with – “

“I’ll text you as soon as I’m in the
apartment,” she said.  She unbuckled her seat belt, shoved King’s head off her
lap and leaned over the front seat to kiss me on the cheek.

“I love you, honey.”

“I love you too,” I said.

She tapped her cheek and grinned at Aiden. 
“Plant one on me, handsome.”

He pressed a polite kiss to her cheek and
she winked at him.  “Be sweet to my girl tonight, okay?”

“I will.”

She slid out of the car and I rolled my
window down.  “I’m not leaving until I get your text so make sure you text me
as soon as you’re in the apartment.”

“Will do,” she said breezily before,
weaving slightly, walking into her apartment building.

I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and
gave Aiden an embarrassed smile.  “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For giving Tracy details of, uh, what we
did in bed.  I shouldn’t have done that.”

He shrugged.  “It doesn’t bother me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” he replied.  “Do you really think I
have a magic tongue?”

I blushed and stared at my phone.  “There’s
definitely witchcraft involved.”

He laughed and squeezed my thigh again as
my cell buzzed.

“She’s in her apartment,” I said.  “We can
go.”

Leaving his hand on my thigh, he pulled
into the street as King hung his head over the seat and licked my face.  I wiped
the drool from my cheek before scratching his wide head.  “Why did you stop and
pick up King?”

“I was out for most of the day,” he said
casually.  “Figured he was tired of being alone at home.”

“Oh, right.  That makes sense,” I replied
before staring out the window.  For a moment I had thought he was planning on
staying the night with me and a weird combination of panic and happiness had
swept through me.  I didn’t have the guts to ask him to leave after sex – it
just seemed so…rude, I guess – but I was worrying for nothing anyway.  Aiden
wouldn’t want to stay any longer than he had to in my tiny house.

I actually really liked my house, but it
needed lots of repairs that were beyond my capability and my budget and if you compared
it to Aiden’s penthouse, it was definitely a bit of a dump.  I sighed again and
stared blankly out the window as Aiden drove.

* * *

“This is nice,” Aiden said.

I laughed and slipped out of my heels as he
studied my small bedroom.

“Did you know you’re missing baseboard
along that wall?”  He asked politely.

I nodded.  “Yeah, it just fell off one
day.  I tried to nail it back on, but I split the baseboard in half.  I went to
the hardware store to buy more but the house is on the older side and the
baseboards are a weird size that they don’t make anymore.  I’m going to have to
replace all of the baseboards in the room but,” I pointed to the other side of
the room where half of the baseboard was torn off, “when I started to take off
that baseboard, it ripped a hole in the drywall.”

He stared at me and I blushed before
shrugging.  “I’m not really handy like you are.  Plus, I want to paint the
bedroom anyway so I figured I’ll paint it first then when I have a little extra
money, I’ll hire someone to fix the drywall and put in the new baseboards.”

He took off his jacket and draped it over
the chair in the corner as King wandered to Rex’s bed.  I hadn’t thrown it away,
it hurt too much, and he sniffed at it gingerly before woofing softly and lying
down on it.  He rubbed his face against the fabric, his tail wagging madly, and
I swallowed down the pang of loss.  I really needed to get another dog.  It
would help with the loneliness when my month with Aiden was finished.

“Lina?”  Aiden had stripped off his shirt
and he touched my upper back lightly.  “Is there something wrong?”

“No,” I said.  “Well, other than the fact
that my bed is not nearly as comfortable as yours.”

He laughed and slid down the zipper on the
back of my dress.  “I don’t care.”

“You say that now,” I said, “but wait
until…”

My voice died out in a whispery moan as
Aiden dipped his head and licked down my spine.  I moaned and staggered back a
little.

“How drunk are you, Lina?”  Aiden asked
suddenly.

“Not that drunk.  Why?”

“I’m not in the habit of taking advantage
of women who’ve had to much to drink,” he said.

I laughed.  “I have a nice buzz going,
nothing more.  You’re not taking advantage of me.  You know I want you.”

“I want you too,” he whispered before
kissing the back of my neck.

I leaned against him.  I was feeling very warm
and relaxed thanks to the alcohol and Aiden’s touch, and I helped him ease my
dress down before stepping out of it.

“You look so beautiful tonight, Lina,”
Aiden whispered.

“Thank you,” I said.  I couldn’t stop my
moan of relief when Aiden unhooked my bra.  I took my first deep breath of the
night, moaning again, and Aiden touched the deep marks the material had left in
my skin.

“Jesus, Lina,” he said.  “This looks
incredibly painful.”

I shrugged.  “Gravity is not my friend.”

I inhaled sharply when Aiden’s tongue
traced the grooves in my skin.  He kissed and nuzzled the skin lightly.

“I think this is starting to bruise,” he
said.

“Probably.  I’m a bruiser, remember?”  I
giggled a little.  “Bruiser…”

He kissed me and I sighed happily at the
feel of his warm tongue.  His hand slipped into my panties and he rubbed my
clit firmly.

“So wet, Lina,” he said in a low rasp.

“You do that to me,” I said.

“Good,” he growled before kissing me again.

“Aiden,” I moaned when he finally stopped,
“Don’t tease me tonight, please?  I need you.”

“I need you too, Lina,” he whispered.  “So
much.”

We undressed each other quickly and I
straddled Aiden’s hips when he stretched out on the bed.