Page 47 of Wildest Dreams

Growling like a little animal she smacks a pair of panties straight off my chest. I blink down at the pink lace, then cautiously peel them off my pecs.

“Real nice,” she says, her bottom lip wobbling dangerously. “I’m sure that she’d love to hear you joking around like that.”

I toss the panties aside and grip Aisling’s elbow.

“Aisling. What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Let me go, you giant annoying big shot!”

She slaps her palm against my abs and I clench my jaw, trying to calm my breathing.

“First of all,” I say quietly, quickly manoeuvring her further away from the sales assistant, “you need to stop calling me ‘big shot’, unless you want me to remind you of how right you are. And second of all” – I pull her around so that we’re face to face – but she keeps her nose in the air, eyes looking anywhere but into mine – “why the fuck would you think that I have a girlfriend?”

She keeps her face turned as far away from me as possible but, after a couple of huffy sighs, she gives me a curious glance.

“Iheardyouonthephone,” she mumbles.

A crease forms on my brow, still at a loss to what she’s talking about. “You… heard me on the phone? When did you–?”

Suddenly I’m hissing through my teeth as she pinches roughly at my nipple, my hand tightening on her elbow as I try to blink through the sting.

“Goddammit, woman,” I say hoarsely, as I try to prise off her murder-grip. Our eyes meet and lock, a heated warning in my blown out pupils. My chest heaves up and down, a ripple of pleasure slicing through my pec.

When I see her fingers in my peripheral twitching to pinch some more, I breathe out a laugh, grab her wrist, and position myself behind her.

“Just so you know,baby,” I grind out, shoving my chest against her shoulders, “if you’re doing that to elicit some kind of negative reaction, you should know that it doesn’t have the effect that you seem to think. Now tell me why you think that I’m dating someone so that I can clear this shit up for you, right now.”

She uses her free hand to slap another pair of panties off of my chest.

I grunt quietly and toss them aside.

“You done?” I rumble, still holding her wrist.

She shoots a scowl at me over her shoulder before sliding her eyes back down to the panty display.

I huff out a laugh and turn her around to face me.

“Talk to me, Aisling.”

There’s a wounded look in her sparkling eyes as she finally confesses.

“I just told you,” she mumbles. “I heard you on the phone and you said ‘I love you’.”

I’m momentarily taken aback, shoulders tensing before I realise what she’s talking about.

I keep my fist wrapped around her wrist and stroke my thumb over her soft skin.

“Aisling,” I sigh, wishing that I could pull her up against my chest. Heat scales my neck as I mumble, “Aisling, I was talking to my mom.”

Her eyes widen on mine before slowly trailing down the front of my body. My muscles flex under her heated gaze.

“Your mom,” she breathes out, when she’s finally looking at our feet – her pretty sandals tucked safely between the wide stance of my boots.

“Yeah.”

I can see that she’s curious as hell but too proud to ask more questions, so I just stand there, holding her forearms, feeling like I’m dreaming.

After staring at me with those big eyes for a good ten seconds Aisling finally purses her lips and begrudgingly mumbles out a, “Thank you.”

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