Shuttered Affections (Cornerstone #1) (11 page)

“You’re like a drug to me. I crave you.”

The next thing I knew, Aiden was on his hands and knees,
methodically making his way toward me.

Out of sheer instinct, I backed away while keeping my legs
slightly apart and propping myself back on my arms. He continued his prowl
until he was kneeling between my knees with both his hands braced beside me.

He edged closer to me, his lips hovering precariously close
to mine. A sudden gasp of breath was all I could manage before our lips met.

His right hand steadied my upper back while he held himself
up with his left, hovering over me. His chest pressed hot and hard against
mine. Our tongues met and tangled together. I struggled for air but couldn’t
pull away. He consumed me.

His mouth probed at mine. His teeth nipped and his tongue
laved at my upper lip before he moved to the corner of my mouth.

Forgotten were my doubts and fears. All that existed in this
moment was this man. His touch, his kiss, his very nature, wrapped around me
and filled me with desire and need.

Snaking his hands underneath my butt, he lifted me,
straddling me onto his lap. He was on his knees, sitting back on his feet,
while my legs wrapped around his waist haphazardly.

I could feel his excitement pressing into my center through
my jeans.

I reached for him, gliding my fingers through his silky, blond
hair at the nape of his neck, pulling him closer. My arms wrapped around him as
I began moving my hips slightly, uncontrollably, against him.

His strong hands held my back tight and tangled in my hair. I
lulled my head to the side, offering my neck as he trailed kisses down my jaw. Throwing
my head back gently, I willingly offered more of myself to him.

His kisses trailed down the lace-trimmed neckline of my
rather busty tank top. The wet sensation of his tongue tracing the swell of my
breasts made a moan escape my mouth in a sound of pure ecstasy.

He slowly pecked and licked his way back up to my mouth,
devouring me again and laving at me with his tongue.

His strong fingers caressed my cheek and the side of my head
as he began to pull away. Our breaths were short and erratic. Our foreheads were
pressed together, the tension between us exploding like a firecracker, sizzling
through our bodies.

“I’m sorry, Angel,” he said between panting breaths, his
lips still within an inch of mine. “I never should have let that happen.”

I pushed away and slowly climbed off his lap, disappointment
riddled on my face. I was embarrassed. I obviously stepped over a boundary I
shouldn’t have by trying to seduce him. His rejection pained me.

I turned my head away, praying I wouldn’t become a
blubbering mess. My emotions were already raw from the past few days. All it
would take is a slight shift in my control for it all to come flowing out
again.

“Please don’t be upset, Juliana. I would give anything to
take away that sad look on your face.”

“Then don’t regret kissing me,” I quietly exclaimed, with
obvious pain in my voice. I didn’t think before I let the words leave my lips.

“Come here.” He grabbed my hand and tried to pull me onto
his lap again. I struggled with him. I wanted nothing more than for his arms to
wrap around me and comfort me, but I also wanted him to know his rejection
hurt.

“Julia…”

“Stop, Aiden. Don’t toy with me. You either want this, or you
don’t. But there is only so much rejection I can take and…” I trailed off as I
stared at him and steeled my emotions so I wouldn’t make a fool of myself.

“Damn. Just let me explain. I’m not rejecting you,” he said
softly as he grabbed my hand again. This time I didn’t struggle. “Come here,
please. I need you here.”

I made my way back onto his lap. This time he was sitting
with his legs crisscrossed and directed me to sit with my legs dangling over
his right knee. He wrapped his arms around me and stroked my cheek with his
thumb.

“I didn’t mean to upset you. You demolish my control, Julia.
I can’t seem to stay away from you. From the moment you walked through that
classroom door, I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind. You’re like a
drug to me. I crave you. But I worry I may mess up your college career if I let
things go on like this. You have such a promising talent and I wouldn’t want to
ruin everything just because I can’t control myself.” His words were sincere
and heartfelt, but it was too late.

I couldn’t believe he was thinking about me over himself. He
should be thinking about his career, not mine. Ultimately, I would think the
professor would be the one reprimanded over a situation like this, not the
other way around.

“So, our only option is to stay away from each other? How is
that even possible?” I asked with bewilderment in my voice.

I know it had only been four days, but I already saw this
man as an irresistible part of my life. I couldn’t imagine going through each
day
pretending
not to care for him—
pretending
he didn’t cause each nerve in
my body to feel excitement and power.

“No, Angel. That is just not possible. I can’t stay away
from you. Not anymore,” he admitted.

“Then why are you trying to push me away?” I asked as I
looked into his eyes. He didn’t answer with words, but the emotion swimming in
his gaze was all the answer I needed.

I leaned into him and nuzzled my face against the crook of
his neck as I firmly said, “I guess we’ll just have to be careful then, Aiden. Because
there is no way I could stay away from you either. You have consumed my every
thought since you stole my parking spot.”

My words were muffled from being spoken into his neck. But I
could tell he heard every word, because the tension rolled off him like an
avalanche.

“Julia, I would give anything for a chance to make you
happy,” he said with a sigh in his voice.

He let go of his tight hold on me. Kissing my nose, he said,
“Let’s eat.”

I continued to sit on his lap and we ate the rest of our
lunch in silence.

It was a beautiful day and we spent every minute enjoying it
with each other. We still had about an hour and a half to kill, so we used our
time to get to know each other better. He talked about photography school in
Savannah and how much he enjoyed it there.

Somehow, we managed to get on the subject of my family. I
left the information about my parents to a minimum. There was no reason my
relationship with them, or lack of, should bring down this wonderful day.

Since we were on the subject of my family, I decided to tell
him about Daemon.

“My brother was the closest thing I had to a true family. We
were so close and would spend almost all of our time together when we weren’t
in school. He took care of me. He taught me how to ride a bike, how to drive,
how to fish, and even how to chase away icky boys,” I said with a smile. Remembering
my brother always brought a smile to my face, until I thought about that day.

“We were on our way back from one of his friend’s birthday
parties. Even though I was in high school and he was in college, Daemon still
took me places and didn’t leave me home often. He said it was good for me to
experience the college scene so that I wouldn’t go crazy when it was my turn to
party hard. He was always very responsible. He never drank unless he knew he
had someone to drive him or he was staying over,” I explained as I recalled how
uncharacteristically responsible my big brother was.

“That night was no exception. He didn’t drink the entire
night because he knew he had to get me home so I could get some sleep for my
SAT test in the morning. We were headed home at about ten at night when a
pickup slammed into the back of Daemon’s car, pushing him out into the
intersection. He immediately pushed my head down, so I didn’t see anything that
happened. But I was told later that we were pushed underneath a
tractor-trailer, which severed the entire top of Daemon’s Firebird. I survived
because he pushed me down, but he wasn’t quick enough,” I said, recalling my
heartbreaking story in as much detail as I could stomach.

“I lost my best friend that night all because some moron in
a pickup truck was driving drunk and didn’t notice a whole row of brake lights
in front of him.”

“Geez, Julia. I don’t know what I would do if I lost my
brother. He and I are thicker than thieves. I can’t imagine how tough that must
have been for you, especially at such a young age,” Aiden consoled as he
grabbed my hand and held it tight.

“Even though I miss him terribly and my heart aches for him,
I honestly love talking about him. Just the hope that he’ll touch someone
else’s life the way he touched mine makes me smile inside. He truly was an
amazing person,” I explained with all honesty.

“If he raised a wonderful woman like you, I agree.”

I smiled at his compliment. He was very sweet. Since we
still had about an hour left before his next class, I decided to take the brief
time as a chance to lie down on the blanket and close my eyes, breathing in the
fresh spring air and warming in the sun.

Shortly after I lay on my back, taking up real estate on
half the blanket, Aiden eased his way down next to me and laced his fingers
through mine to hold my hand.

After about five minutes of innocent hand holding, I decided
I wanted to go farther. Now that I have had a taste of Aiden Stone, I was
starving for more.

Bravely, I sat up and positioned myself over this gorgeous
man by straddling his hips. Bracing my elbows on either side of his head, I
hovered mere centimeters away from his lips, daring him to close the gap.

A sexy-ass grin crept up onto his face.

Digging his fingers into my hips, he lunged forward and took
control of my mouth. His taste exploded onto my tongue and sent flurries of
pleasure cascading through my body.

His strong hands began their ascent. Slowly lifting my tank
top, his fingers caressed the sides of my back and continued to make their way
up.

After grinding my hips and chest into him for a few minutes,
he stealthily rolled us both over so he was now on top.

Damn. And I thought he looked good beneath me. He looked
even more exquisite hovering over me with his strong weight between my legs. The
solid muscles of his arms pressed through the dress shirt he wore, making me
want to rip it off and toss it across the meadow.

“Oh, Aiden…” I panted, his name echoing more like a question
than I had intended.

“Yes, Juliana?” he breathed.

“I want you. Please, Aiden. I want all of you,” I pleaded.

“Fuck. I know, Angel. I know. I want you more than my next
breath.”

But… I could totally hear the
but
coming before it tumbled out of his mouth.

“But, not here. God, I want to, more than anything. But, not
here,” he explained.

 
With our
foreheads pressed together, we were both panting, unable to breathe between
passionate kisses.

As if he sensed the argument building inside of me, he
continued, “I don’t want to hold back. I want to make you scream, Julia. In my
bed. In my arms. While I make sweet love to you.”

“Oh, God. That sounds wonderful, Aiden,” I gasped.

Knowing we had to slow down, or there would be no stopping, Aiden
slowly rolled to the side. We both lay there on our sides, facing each other,
our legs intertwined together, as we attempted to catch our breath.

He had his hand on my cheek, stroking my face lightly with
his thumb. I held his wrist and pressed kisses to the palm of his hand.

After a few minutes, I slowly began to regain normal
breathing.

“Aiden?”

“Yes, Angel mine?”

“Don’t you think we’re moving too fast?” I asked. I knew it
was a silly question to ask, but I had to know his opinion on just how fast this
was progressing.

“Yes, I think we’re moving way too fast. But, there’s no
stopping it now. I don’t think we ever had a chance. You blindsided me, Julia. I
need you. There’s no going back.”

“I agree.”

He continued to lovingly stroke my face while we stared at
each other and absorbed the March sun.

I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew, Aiden was
cradling me in his arms, carrying me as if I were light as a feather.

“Aiden, what are you doing? Put me down,” I quietly scolded
him and wiggled so he would put me down before someone saw us. Luckily, we were
still within the confines of the shaded trees and hadn’t gone out in the open
yet.

Aiden began to put me down, slowly, allowing my body to
slide sensually down his hard front. He kissed my forehead and then released
me, walking back toward the way we came.

He had a humorous grin on his face and just shook his head
while carrying the lunch cooler.

“What?” What the heck was he laughing at? There was nothing
more infuriating than being excluded from a joke, especially when you had a
feeling the joke was about you.

“You have a little bit of grass in your hair,” he said, with
a slight chuckle. “I would get it out for you, but I’m worried you’ll bite my
hand off if I try to touch you in public.” He waved his hand around as if to
gesture we were now walking toward the gazebo.

He didn’t seem angry though… just making a joke at my
expense.

I tried to ignore his amusement as we passed through the
gazebo and continued toward the buildings.

By now, I was walking just a little ways ahead of him. So, I
flipped my hair down, bent at the waist, and shook my curls with my fingers to
try and rid my hair of any foliage. I then flipped my hair back up in a
dramatic fashion, shook it back and forth to make the curls lay just right, and
then glanced over my shoulder at Aiden.

He stopped dead in his tracks. His smoldering, animalistic
look told me he wanted me. No words were needed because pure lust emanated from
his eyes.