Hate at First Sight (3 page)

“Nothing to apologize for, Megs. I pushed you to the edge and made you jump out of the car. It was very silly of me.”

Oh … that was unexpected. Who would have thought that arrogance and conscience could coexist in the same mind?  Maybe the guy wasn’t a lost cause after all?
...

I needed a drink, or better two.

Seeing Megan in that barely-covering-anything blanket made my body hurt. No, it wasn’t just a physical attraction that I felt for her. There was something else. Something that made me want to find out her every dark secret, taking off the pieces of her shell, one by one. And at that very moment the shell consisted of only two lacy pieces … God, help me!

“What are you looking for?” Megan asked, watching me.

I was searching through the cupboards, praying to find at least something that would block my thoughts about the gorgeous creature, sitting a few steps away from me.

“Bingo!” I said, showing her a bottle of what looked like an age-old whiskey.

“Oh, no. You are not going to drink that!”

“Why not?”

“Who knows how long that bottle has been hidden here!”

“It’s whiskey, Megan, not an orange juice. The older it is the better.”

I opened the bottle and took a sip. “Not bad. Wanna try?”

“No, thanks, I prefer to stay sober.”

I shrugged and took a few more gulps. My body welcomed the burning liquid, my muscles relaxed, and I inhaled deeply.

“Mmm, feels great! You sure you don’t want to try?”

“Positive.” She nodded and turned back towards the fire. “How long do you think the rain will last?”

“Don’t know. But I doubt we will be able to get out of here any time soon.”

I sat on the floor, settling back into the couch behind me. The only thing that the house was full of was the firewood. At least we were not going to freeze to death. Well, maybe I was exaggerating a little, considering that it was May outside. But the combination of whiskey and the flame made me feel really good.

I looked up at Megan. She seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. I remembered about the talk we had in the car. The sound of her laughter was still ringing in my ears. I was caught off guard. She looked amazing at the moment: young and careless. And I suddenly wished to prolong the moment just to see more of those cute dimples on her cheeks, and joy sparkling in her eyes. But I never told her about that.

“Hey, why don’t you come down to me? It’s warmer here.”

She looked at me, hesitating. “Why don’t you come up here instead? I will share the blanket.”

Wow… “Since when have you become so generous?” I asked, rising. Though the perspective of sharing the blanket with her was alluring.

“I’m not as much of a monster as you think.”

I smiled. “I don’t think you are a monster. I think you are….”

“No, please,” she stopped me half-word. “I have already heard enough for today.”

“Fine.” I shrugged. “Move so I could lie beside you.”

She hesitated again, apparently reconsidering the brilliance of her idea. Then she moved closer to the back of the couch giving me some space to lie down. The couch was too small for the two of us, but I hardly cared.

“You are still trembling,” I said, readjusting the blanket to cover our bodies. “Come closer, I’m not going to bite you. Well, unless you ask me to.”

“Watch your language and hands!” she warned.

“You can put your arm around me. It will help you warm up faster.”

She looked up at me, squinting. “You always take the opportunities, don’t you?”

“Oh, yes. I never miss my chances,” I said, smiling down at her.

“You are one shameless creature, Mr. Murphy.”

“I’ve been called worse.” I took her left hand and put it around my waist, embracing her in return. “Feel better now?”

“Not really.”

“Why don’t you take off your bra? It’s still wet.”

“Not gonna happen,” she snapped.

I knew she would never do that, but I liked prickling her nerves. “I was simply trying to make you feel comfortable.”

And it felt so unbelievably good to hold her in my arms. She smelled like a mixture of raindrops and lush leaves. I was dying to run my palm up and down her back, but I never dared to push my luck. I could feel Megan’s breath on my skin, and the way her breasts were rubbing my chest every time she sighed. It was so damn intoxicating. She was quiet. Though I was pretty sure she wasn’t asleep.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked in a whisper.

“About Mary and her parents, who must be still waiting for us at the airport.”

Well, not exactly the answer I expected to hear, considering that all my thoughts were wrapped around her.

“The line’s broken. I tried to call Owen, but failed.”

“He must be so angry at us.”

“I think he’s worried, but not angry. It’s not our fault that the rain started.”

“I hope the wedding day won’t be rainy.”

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Since when do you need my permission?” She shifted a little to see my face.

God, she looked so beautiful. Even with no makeup and her hair still wet, as if she had just taken a shower. When my gaze slipped to her lips, I froze, swallowing hard.

Megan cleared her throat, moistening her lips, and I groaned mentally, closing my eyes. Watching her doing that didn’t help my self-control. Not a bit.

Even in the dim lights of the room, I could see her blushing. She lowered her head, saying “So what about the question you wanted to ask?”

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down my body. Not that I was ashamed of its reaction to the girl in my arms, but I didn’t want Megan to feel uneasy.

“I wanted to ask you about the wedding. Have you ever thought about your own?”

“Of course, I have. Every girl dreams about her wedding day.”

“So what do you want yours to be like?”

“I hate big weddings. I want a private ceremony, somewhere on a beautiful beach; only family and close friends. No fancy stuff. Me, in a white, strapless dress, with a few orchid flowers in my hair. And my fiancé, waiting for me at the altar made of lilies, red roses and white ribbons.”

“Wow … I can easily imagine that.” And I really did. It was a perfect wedding picture for someone like Megan: elegant, beautiful and simple.

“What about you?” she asked, looking at me again. “Will there ever be anyone worth being called Mrs. Aiden Murphy?”

“I don’t know, maybe. I’m one hell of a man to stand, you know?”

“I’ve already figured that much.” She laughed.

“Can I ask you for a favor?”

“Sure.”

“You’ve been unbelievably obliging for the last ten minutes. First the blanket, now this….”

“Shut up!” She smacked my back.

“So my attractiveness works on you after all,” I said, tightening the embrace.

“Aiden, I swear….”

“Okay, okay, don’t be a scratch-cat.”

She gave me one of those evil glances of hers that I liked so much. The devilish part was definitely my favorite feature of her rebellious nature.

I put a finger under her chin and leaned closer, saying quietly, “If I ever meet a woman worth being called Mrs. Murphy, promise me you will never tell her how much I wanted to take advantage of holding you naked in my arms.”

Megan laughed again. “Okay, I promise. Though I’m not naked, I’m wearing my underwear. It’s almost the same as wearing a swimming suit. And I would have never let you do anything, but help me warm up.”

“I know other ways to warm you up, Dear.”

“I’m sure, you do.”

“And just for the record, no swimming suits look as sexy as lingerie.” I couldn’t but admit it: my body was on fire. And I finally dared to push my luck. I ran my palm up her skin, and under the back of her ivory bra.

“Don’t even think about it,” she said, meeting my stare.

“You can’t forbid me to think about it. Especially if it’s the only thing that I can think about at the moment.” My pulse accelerated. “What are you doing to me, Megs?” I said, my lips brushing her forehead.

Her breathing quickened. “Aiden, don’t….”

“It doesn’t sound entirely convincing,” I replied, trailing kisses down her eyelids and cheeks.

She put her palm on my chest, trying to push me away. “I mean it, Aiden. Stop, or I will….”

“You will what?” I asked, looking down into her eyes. They were the reflections of mine: full of attraction and desire. She could keep denying it as long as she wanted, but it was hard to fool me.

Suddenly everything changed. Megan broke free of my grip and sat on the couch. As far from me as possible.

I rolled onto my back and ran my fingers through my hair, sighing. “I’m sorry, Megan. I shouldn’t have….”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t have.”

I sat and outstretched my hand, saying, “Come back here. I will behave, I swear.”

“I think my clothes are dry enough to get dressed.” She rose and went to the chair where our clothes were.

Idiot! I shouted mentally at myself. I should have known better, Megan wasn’t like other girls I used to date. She avoided relationship, she avoided affection, and she didn’t want to be hurt. And I wasn’t sure if what I wanted at the moment was fair. I didn’t know if I was ready to give her anything, but this one night….

She got dressed in silence, moved an old chair closer to the fireplace and sat there, with her back to me.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose, sighing. She and I were so different in so many ways. I was a vivid picture of everything she hated about men, and she was a perfect picture of everything I liked about women.

But the thing was that neither of us was ready to sacrifice the freedom that we cherished more than anything about our lives.

I cursed the weather and the circumstances that brought us to the old house, got dressed and went outside to breathe some fresh air and blow the cobwebs away.

Too bad the rain was still too heavy to go any further than a few steps away from the porch, so I sat on the wooden stairs and welcomed the chilly wind touching my skin.

Tomorrow everything’s gonna be okay. We will get back to town, help Owen with the wedding preparations, listen to his vows and go back to our lives, as if nothing has ever happened. Yeah, it should be just that simple.

He left….

Even though I knew he wouldn’t go too far away from the house, I was still worried. I tiptoed to the window and looked outside. He was sitting on the porch, his right hand outstretched to catch the raindrops. I shook my head, inhaling deeply. We messed it up … badly.

It was foolish enough to invite him under the blanket, let alone give him a reason to think that this night could have ended differently.

Aiden made me feel something that I had never
felt before — weakness….

Yes, there was a moment when our gazes locked, and his fingers sent shivers down my spine. Yes, for a second I thought I could forget about everything and simply enjoy whatever his eyes promised. And though every single part of my skin and lips still remembered his touches, we couldn’t let it go any further. And we both knew it.

It was too soon to give up my dreams, too soon to let someone else decide anything for me; too soon to let emotions blind my eyes and ruin everything that I had been trying to build for so long. It wasn’t the time to let myself feel. And Aiden made me feel ... something that I wasn’t ready to deal with.

I returned to the couch, curled up under the blanket and stared at the fire. I didn’t know how much time passed, before I heard the door creaking, and footsteps coming to the couch. I closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep.

“Megan?” Aiden called. I didn’t reply.

He sat next to me and ran his fingers across my forehead and down my cheeks. His touch was very soft, barely tangible. And I wanted to cry. When his lips touched my shoulder, I stopped breathing. What was he doing?

“I’m so sorry, Megs,” he whispered, caressing my arm. Then he moved to the other side of the couch, and I let the tears flow.

I didn’t know if he knew that I was still awake, and I didn’t know how long it took me to fall asleep, but the next thing I remembered was the morning sun, breaking through the curtains and waking me up.

I rubbed my eyes and looked around. Aiden sounded asleep; half-sitting, with his right arm under his head. I looked at my watch - 7:30 a.m.

I rose and went outside, welcoming the light breeze that always followed the storms. I straightened up and looked down at my bare feet. I could already feel the blisters caused by walking without
the shoes that I left in Aiden’s car. The car! Of course, we needed to call for help.

I got ba
ck into the house and tried to find my phone, but it was nowhere around. Then I noticed Aiden’s cell, half-hidden in his jeans pocket. I came closer and reached for the thing.

Suddenly Aiden’s eyes flew open, and he stared down at my hand. “Actually it was last night when I expected your naughty hands to slip into my pants.”

“Morning to you too,” I said, taking the cell. Our eyes stayed locked for a few silent seconds, before I turned away and went to the window.

“What are you doing?”

“Going to call for help. We can’t stay here for one more night.”

“Definitely not,” he muttered, rising.

I felt the predatory anger forming inside me. He couldn’t stand me any longer? Fine. Whatever. The feeling was mutual.

Thank God, this time everything was okay with the connection, and my father picked up the phone after the second beep.

“Hi, Sweetheart! Are you and Aiden okay? Where are you? We’ve been so worried about you!”

“We are fine, Dad. We had some problems with the car and never made it to the airport. Do you know anything about Mary and her parents?”

“Yeah, they had to wait for the rain to stop, and then Owen and I went and picked them and brought them home. One of our neighbors said he saw Aiden’s car going to Peterson’s farm, so we thought you might have stayed there for the night.”

“Yes, we are at his old house. But we need someone to come here to pull our car out of the mudhole it got stuck into.”

“No worries, Honey. We will be there in no time.”

“Okay, will be waiting.” I hung up the phone and gave it back to Aiden. “They are on their way here.”

“Good.” He nodded, without looking at me. “What about Mary and her parents?”

“They are at home, safe and sound.”

I hated the way everything between Aiden and me was. He kept his distance, didn’t talk much and avoided looking at me. When about an hour later we heard the sounds of a car engine, we both breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh, God! You guys scared us half to death!” Owen said, as he entered the house and hugged me tightly. “Why the hell did you turn to the farm?”

It was the first time that
Aiden and I had shared a glance since the morning incident with the phone. “It was my fault,” he said. “I thought….”

“It was actually my fault,” I interrupted him. “I suggested travelling around the traffic jam. I didn’t know the road was so bad.”

“Why didn’t you stay in the car?” Owen looked at our bare feet, frowning. Aiden’s boots were in the house, but they were too wet to wear.

“Um … we thought that….”

“We thought that sleeping in the car wasn’t comfortable,” Aiden said. And I desperately wanted to kill him at the moment.

Owen chuckled at the response. “Right. So are you ready to go back to civilization? Or do you need more time to…” His joyful gaze shifted between his friend and me. “Never mind,” he said, realizing that we were not in a mood for his stupid comments.

We got into Owen’s Jeep, and went to see how bad the situation with Aiden’s car was. It took us no more than ten minutes to rescue it. Aiden brought my shoes and gave them to me wordlessly. Then he got back to his car and followed us home.

“Is everything all right between you two?” Owen asked, looking into his rear-view mirror. My dad was driving with Aiden, so we were alone in the car.

“Yes. Why?”

Owen looked at me suspiciously. “The only thing that hasn’t changed about you, Sis, is that you are still the worst liar I’ve ever seen. So tell me, what happened?”

I sighed. “Nothing happened. Really.”

“Megan….”

“Nothing your dirty mind is thinking of.”

“Oh … um, okay. Shall I be worried about you? Shall I talk to Aiden?”

“Absolutely not!”

“Okay, okay. But still … what happened last night that the two of you don’t even look at each other today?”

“I’m so not ready to discuss it. We … quarreled a little. Nothing else.”

Owen shrugged. “If you say so; but you can always talk to me, you know?”

“I know.” I smiled, touching Owen’s hand. Apart from being my elder brother, he was my best friend. I always knew that whatever happened, he would be on my side.

Owen was six years older than me. He was smart and good-looking. We shared the same dark-brown hair color and honey eyes. But unlike his best friend, Owen never used his attractiveness to break girls’ hearts. And actually, Mary was the only girl that I remembered him ever dating.

Deep down in my heart I wanted someone to love me as much as he loved his fiancé. Every time a guy asked me out, I compared him to my brother — an example of everything that a woman might want to see in her man. But none of my fellows was good enough to make me say
‘yes’
.

So here I am, with my hair messy after an awful, stormy night; dirty clothes and feet hurting from blisters; a heart full of emotions, tearing me apart; and my head full of thoughts about the guy that will probably never talk to me again. Did I miss anything? Nope, not a thing….

When we got home, I headed straight for my room. I didn’t even say
‘hi’
to Mary or her parents, or my mom. I simply wanted to be alone for a while.

When I got into the shower, the memories of yesterday’s rain came back to my mind. Aiden’s face, leaning so close over mine, his eyes, his hand, the warmth of his touch, the way he made me feel, the way he looked at me, the way I wanted to give up everything just to take a bite of a forbidden fruit … damn it!

Tears burned my eyes, and I never stopped them. I cried the way I hadn’t cried for ages. When I got out of the shower, I went straight to my bed, hid under the blanket and fell asleep in seconds. Mondays always sucked. And today I had the worst Monday ever.

When I woke up a few hours later, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to leave my room any time soon. My feet looked even worse than in the morning, every inch of them hurt.

I groaned and tried to find a first aid kit. When the blisters were plastered, walking felt like the biggest torture ever. I called Owen and asked him to go to the pharmacy to buy me some medicine. Meanwhile I got back to my bed and checked the messages and voice mails left on my phone and laptop. There were a few from my dean, who wanted me to write some articles for the university’s annual magazine. One message was from my friend who wanted to know if I was going to the graduation
ball, but I still didn’t know if I wanted to go with him. The last message was sent from an unknown number, and it said the following,
“I heard you are back. See you at the wedding.”
It could have been sent by any of my school friends who knew about Owen’s wedding, so I didn’t pay much attention to it.

Twenty minutes later someone knocked at the door.

“Come in!” I shouted, sending an e-mail to my dean. “Did you get what I needed?”

“I wasn’t sure exactly what you needed, so I bought a few different ointments.”

I stared at my visitor. It wasn’t Owen. It was Aiden.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, watching him. He put a bag on my night table and took a step back, his hands in his pockets. He looked fresh, wearing slacks and a new white shirt with short sleeves.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“Not good. But I’ll be fine.” I put aside my phone and laptop, and reached for the bag.

“Let me help you,” Aiden said.

I sat on the bed and waited for him to unpack the ointment.

“The chemist said this one was the best.”

I took the tube and started reading the description, as I didn’t know what else to do. Apparently Aiden wasn’t leaving.

“How bad are the blisters?” he asked, taking a seat next to me. I felt as if I were paralyzed. “Megan?” he asked again.

“What did you say?” I tried to remember his question. “Oh, the blisters. Not as bad as you think.”

“Let me have a look,” he said. And before I could protest, he kneeled near my bed and took off one of the plasters. I grimaced at the pain it caused.

“You sure you don’t want to call the doctor?”

The only thing I was able to think about now was Aiden’s palm caressing my ankle, and his soft fingers touching my foot. The pain was immediately forgotten.

Aiden took the ointment from my hands and started salving the blisters. Jeez, if only I knew it would be so….

“Um … you don’t have to do this,” I said, swallowing hard. He didn’t answer. Instead, he started doing the same with the other foot, slowly moving his fingers over my injuries.

It was even better than being in his embrace. It felt like he was touching not only my feet, but every inch of my body. Because I could feel the warmth of those touches everywhere; even where it wasn’t supposed to be felt.

I bit my lower lip, suppressing the groan that was about to escape my throat. Aiden’s every move was so sensual. I wanted to die right then and there. And it would be the most pleasurable death ever.

For a second our eyes met, and the familiar fire flashed in his gray-blue oceans. When he was done with my feet, he brought a towel from my bathroom and put it on the bed.

“Don’t cover your feet for a while. The ointment needs to soak in.”

When he went to wash his hands, I put my feet on the towel and sank back against the pillow trying to catch my breath. It wasn’t supposed to be so freaking tempting. My heart was beating so fast, I was afraid Aiden would hear the sound of it.

He came out of the bathroom and leaned against the door frame. “Megan, I wanted to talk to you.”

His words immediately broke the fantasies in my head.

“About what?” I asked, trying to seem calm.

“About last night.”

Oh, no! “There’s nothing to talk about, Aiden. We are old enough to know how the chemistry between two people works.”

“Are we?” he asked, coming closer. “It didn’t work well in our case, did it?”

I took a deep breath. “Listen … nothing happened. So there’s nothing to explain. You don’t owe me anything, and I don’t owe you anything. Why don’t we forget about it? As if last night never happened. What do you say?” I tried to display a smile.

“You sure you are fine with it?”

“Of course. I told you, I don’t want to discuss it anymore. We are here to celebrate one of the biggest events of my brother’s life. So let’s do our best to help him turn this moment into something special.”