Water and Fire (8 page)

Aidan stuck up from his shorts
like a grass tree, though a grass tree on fire. His expression held
shock and hurt, yet I still couldn't stop laughing.

I climbed off him to stand
beside the couch, trying to control my helpless laughter.

I sucked in a breath, a gasp
and another deep breath before I could form words. "I don't know
where you heard such a strange thing, but down here in Australia,
it's stroking a lady that'll bring you luck in the bedroom, if you
do it well enough. If not, you'll be stuck stroking yourself." I
burst out laughing again.

Aidan's smile started to
return. "If that's how it works downunder in Australia, I'll give
it a go," he said.

My hands shook as I lifted them
to take off my knickers. I hesitated, then strode to the table.
Lifting my whiskey glass instead, I knocked back the contents, the
burn barely registering compared to the blush I felt rising to my
cheeks as Aidan's eyes fixed on me. He looked like he was drinking
me, much the same way as I'd drained my whiskey. The alcohol flew
straight to my head, so I sat down to deal with the dizziness.
Still he stared.

Feeling self-conscious and
slightly chilly, I reached for the fluffy blanket that had fallen
to the floor earlier and pulled it over me.

Aidan's voice surprised me.
"Don't, Bel. You're beautiful. I guess I'm still a little stunned."
He knelt on the rug beside me and pushed the fluffy thing away.

I let go of it, a little less
nervous now. "No one's ever called me beautiful before," I
admitted.

"Then all the blokes you've
been with before were either blind or stupid," he declared.

I gave a
small smile.
You have no idea.

He looked uncertain. "There
have been other blokes, right? I'm not your first?"

I laughed outright. "No, you're
not my first. I was pregnant once, remember?" My smile felt tight
as I tried not to remember.

"Hey," Aidan's said softly,
caressing my face with a kiss. "I didn't mean to bring up stuff
that'd upset you. Let me help take your mind off it." He grinned.
"I may be a bad doctor, but I'm bloody good at anatomy. Are you
willing to let me get my hands on yours?" He reached eagerly for my
chest, flexing his fingers.

I ripped off my undies,
flicking them aside with my foot as his hands gently closed on my
breasts.

"Do your
best, for I'd like to try for some Irish luck tonight, too," I
murmured, my hands doing a little stroking of their own.
"Oh,
Aidan
…"

He chuckled as my thoughts
settled on him and nothing else.

Ohhh…bloody good indeed…

I woke up on the rug in front
of the fire, my head nesting in Aidan's lucky chest hair and the
fluffy blanket attached to my leg by some sticky substance.

I lifted my head a little to
look around. My clothes were strewn across the floor, along with
Aidan's. The fire had died down to smouldering coals, but the room
was warm enough for this to suffice. Through the condensation on
the windows, I could see that the sun had risen.

I relaxed. I had no deadlines
or pressing responsibilities today. I could sleep on the floor all
day with this naked man and not feel I was shirking something,
except perhaps a shower.

Aidan stirred beneath me.
Bloody hell, the man's whole body was stirring. My thought drifted
eagerly to what he could do with it. With me. I felt his lips in my
hair and his fingers gently stroking my back.

"I knew it
was too delightful to be a dream. You are amazing, my beautiful
Bel." Aidan's lips touched mine, in a burning kiss that felt
familiar. How many kisses had we shared overnight to make me
accustomed to his touch? Did it matter?
I
want more…

I shifted on top of him, so
only my knees, shins and toes touched the rug beneath him. Skin on
skin, except where…

Aidan gave a gasp. "How do you
feel about trying for one more time before breakfast?"

I feel like
I'm on fire, with a fierce blaze that has nothing to do with
whiskey or the embers in the fireplace.
I
didn't say the words. I simply smiled and shifted my hips, as Aidan
sighed with pleasure.

"Ladies first," he murmured,
his hands reaching for me. The next sigh of pleasure was all
mine.

We were considerably stickier
when we rose from the floor and I longed for a shower to wash the
sticky sensation away. I wished also for some medication to dull
the ache in my head.

"What would you like for
breakfast?" Aidan asked with a smile, pulling on the red, shiny
shorts.

I shrugged. "I don't mind. I'd
like a shower first." I started to cross the room to reach the
bathroom.

"Would you like some
company?"

I stopped and turned,
wondering. "I…" I began, unable to complete my sentence nor close
my hanging mouth.

Aidan nodded as if he
understood something I didn't and directed his eyes at the floor,
his lips pressed together firmly as if he was trying to restrain
laughter. After a moment, he said softly, "You enjoy your shower,
Bel. Use all the hot water if you like. I'll make you some
breakfast for when you're finished. I'll have a shower after we've
eaten, when the tank's heated up again." He took a step
forward.

He reached out and curled his
hand beneath my jaw, as if checking my heartbeat with his fingers.
Cautiously, Aidan touched his lips to mine, opening them to prolong
the kiss as I leaned in closer, my tongue darting out.

Last night's passionate fire
was nothing to the rapid acceleration of my heart-rate now. From
Aidan's response I knew he could feel my pulse racing beneath his
fingers. His free arm closed on me as my own arms reached around
him to pull his body closer. A furious flurry of lips and tongues
that left me breathless and panting, yet still wanting more. My
chin resting at the base of Aidan's throat as I paused for breath,
I gasped out words without thinking.

"Yes, I'd like you to join me
in the shower. Please."

Aidan chuckled, stroking my
hair as he said, "Sure. Give me five minutes and I'll come join
you. The water should be nice and hot by then." He gave me one last
lingering kiss and crossed the living room to his bedroom.

Dizzy with excitement and
adrenaline, I stumbled for the bathroom, longing to feel the flow
of warm water over my skin and his.

I twisted my hair up in a knot
on the back of my head as the cold water hissed and pattered into
the bathtub beneath the shower head. It was barely above freezing
as I stepped into the spray, slowly heating until my skin warmed
once more in the water. When steam rose to the ceiling from the
shower rose, I turned to stick my face into the stream.

A slight movement in air
current told me Aidan had entered the room, for I didn't hear the
door over the noisy cascade. His hands on my waist were warm as he
pressed his body to my back, kissing my neck from behind.
"Beautiful, Bel. You're so beautiful," he murmured.

Aidan reached for the soap and
worked up a lather of foam between his hands, rubbing the bar in
front of me for what appeared to be an inordinate length of time.
Clinking the bar back into its dish, Aidan's breath tickled my ear.
"For letting me share your shower, the least I can do is help you
wash." His foam-filled hands cupped my breasts, gently massaging my
skin until I relaxed against him. "That's better. You were so tense
it was like you were worried you'd sprout tentacles as soon as you
touched water!" Aidan laughed at his own joke but I merely smiled,
closing my eyes as I enjoyed his caresses.

My skin tingled as Aidan's
soapy hands slid down my belly to the length of my legs, all the
way down before all the way up to my bottom, until he reached for
the bar again. With a handful of foam, Aidan's firm fingers
smoothed the tension from my shoulders and down my back. As he
reached around me for the soap again, he murmured in my ear. "Stand
with your feet just a little further apart…"

I slipped a little in the
soap-slick bathtub, so Aidan's arm closed firmly across my chest to
steady me, holding my body against his.

Now better
balanced, I complied, my eyes on my toes as his foamy fingers
reached between my legs and inside me. Without his strong support,
I'd have crumpled to the floor, for my legs felt more like the
consistency of gel and not bone, as his intimate caresses
concentrated on the spots where I was most sensitive. And he
knew,
he knew
…

The wordless cry I heard could
only have come from my lips, but I couldn't remember uttering it. I
could only focus on Aidan's hand as a louder cry tore its way out
of my throat. I tensed in anticipation.

"Relax, Bel. I've got you." As
if to illustrate his point, Aidan's arm tightened across my breasts
as his fingers drove deeper. My voice sobbed his name, not once but
over and over, my tipped-back head resting on his supportive
shoulder.

I couldn't stifle the hoarse
scream that ripped from my throat, for only a moment before it was
muffled by Aidan's mouth as he bent his head to kiss me, his hand
clenched between my trembling thighs.

I lifted my head as we both
loosened our respective grips. I turned to face him, still lost for
words as sensation lingered.

Aidan's face looked as stunned
as I felt. "God, you're full of surprises, Bel. I almost came just
watching you."

Not just
watching,
my sluggish thoughts
stirred.
Stroking and circling, sliding
and slipping, strong hands that sensed every stutter in my breath,
every shiver of my body…

I groped for the soap, not sure
what I was going to do with it but determined to at least attempt
to respond in kind. "Irish luck," I murmured, one hand reaching for
him as the other closed on the softened soap. I was so intent on
stroking Aidan to his increasing pleasure that I dropped the bloody
bar into the bathtub.

"Bugger," I muttered, bending
over to pick up the soap.

In my clumsiness, I almost
slipped again, saved only by bumping into Aidan's body. His hands
at my hips steadied me as I reached for the bar again.

"Bel…do you want me to…" he
began, but didn't finish.

"It's all right, I think I have
it," I interrupted brightly, straightening with soap in hand. I
worked to lather it to foam as fast as I could, turning to take my
chances with his Irish luck.

No longer a grass tree on fire,
now he resembled a sentinel stone, surrounded by frothy sea-foam
from waves breaking at its base. A rock warmed by sun and the water
that washed him. I paused to admire my soapy handiwork, but he
shrank before my eyes.

"Fuck!" he swore. "Sorry, Bel,
that's the last of the hot water." He squeezed past me, wincing as
he rinsed his body in the now near-freezing water, before turning
the taps off.

Aidan stepped out of the shower
and reached for the towels, tossing one to me. The fabric felt
warm, as if heated. I looked at him in surprise.

He laughed. "Heated towel rail.
Otherwise they wouldn't dry in this weather. Now, if you want to
turn shrinkage into swelling again, a little stroking should fix
me, what with your warm hands and all…" He moved in closer for
another kiss. I felt him stiffen slightly in the close contact. He
evidently felt it, too. "See? You work wonders, Bel."

I smiled, unsure what to say.
My stomach betrayed me with a gurgle. I was hungry for several
things at once.

Aidan laughed again, responding
with a lighter kiss. "I should make you some breakfast first. I
wouldn't want a wonderful woman like you going hungry." He hung his
towel back over the heated rail and walked naked out of the
bathroom. The muscles in his bottom shifted with each step,
revealing a tantalising tuft of red hair between his cheeks.

I hastily did the same with my
towel so I could follow. After the steamy atmosphere in the
bathroom, the chill of the kitchen struck me more forcefully than
the cold water. I felt my breasts tighten as if they, too, were
shrinking away from the cold. I reached for the nearest item of
clothing – Aidan's coat, draped over one of the dining chairs – and
slipped it on, holding it closed with my crossed arms.

Aidan stared at me, as he
donned some clothing, too – a flowery apron that covered his front
but left his bottom bare. "How about I fry you up some eggs for
breakfast?" he asked with a wicked smile. He bent over to remove a
frypan from a low cupboard and I found myself staring at his bum
and what dangled so temptingly beneath.

"Should I help?" I asked
doubtfully, as he strode around the kitchen, pulling out implements
and ingredients.

"I can make you breakfast, Bel.
You relax." Aidan smiled.

I sank into a dining chair,
pulling my knees up to my chest to keep more of me warm inside
Aidan's coat. I was so intent on Aidan's nether regions that I
didn't realise his eyes were fixed on me, too. I smiled,
embarrassed but rueful.

Aidan shook his head. "I still
can't believe you're sitting in my kitchen, wearing nothing but my
coat, letting me make breakfast for you. I feel like I'll blink and
you'll disappear."

"Me either," I admitted.

He flipped eggs onto plates,
salting them liberally before passing me some cutlery and an egged
plate.

I swallowed the eggs as quickly
as I could, barely tasting them, until my stomach was sated. I
craved a different sort of satisfaction and my eyes strayed to the
likely source of it, so the finger he slipped inside me beneath the
table took me by stunned surprise. I straightened and tightened as
Aidan slid his finger out again, with more difficulty than it had
entered. "Still so wet, I see," he said.