Page 49 of Wildest Dreams

Our eyes meet and my chest swells as something like excitement shimmers in her irises.

“Put them back,” I demand, neither of us blinking.

“But I thought you liked them,” she says, all wide-eyed and mock-pouting. Her fingers slip into her basket, hook around the panties, and then she holds them right in front of my chin, her eyebrows lifted. A silent question ofyou don’t want me to keep them?

I glance down at the panties for a half-second and grunt.

With my eyes back on hers I murmur, “You’re a tease.”

She flutters her eyelashes at me, slowing down my brain.

And then she smacks the panties clean off my jaw.

“That’s it.”

A deep sound thunders in my chest as I crush Aisling up against my abdomen, squeals of delight tinkling out of her as I slap the crotchless panties back inside her basket. I take the handles and yank them so that I’m the one carrying her veryexpensive lingerie, and then I cart her back to the middle of the store so that she can grab what she came here for and never step back through those doors again.

I face her in front of a rack of ‘pyjamas’ and give her a squeeze.

“Pick one and then we’re leaving,” I tell her, not much caring for the fact that I can feel her cell phone vibrating in her back pocket. I can take a good guess at who the hell that’ll be.

Feeling the same thing that I am she shoots a look at me over her shoulder, pupils all sparkly and dialled out with a naughty smile on her lips.

“That better not be who I think it is,” I rumble quietly.

Her eyes twinkle brighter. “What’re you gonna do about it, big shot?”

My chest expands as she hits me with that word. She pushes her vibrating cell harder against my thigh.

Refusing to take the bait I tear my gaze away from hers and look blankly at the row of pyjama tops in front of me. I lift the hand clutching the basket and run a knuckle over the fabric.

“This shit’s not cotton,” I murmur, flicking through the rack to try and search for something that Aisling will actually sleep comfortably in. “All these tops are just gonna make you sweat. As soon as you’ve got it on you’re gonna end up taking it off–”

As the words leave my mouth understanding finally dawns. Heat spreads through my cheekbones as Aisling watches me over her shoulder.

Of course none of this shit is going to be comfortable. We’re in a goddamn lingerie shop – these clothes are purposefully designed so that, once you’re in them, you end up out of them.

These are hook-up pyjamas.

I swallow hard and step away from the rack.

“I’ll give you another shirt,” I rumble, dropping my forearm from her belly, grabbing her wrist, and dragging her to the next table. All panties. Of fucking course.

Aisling scoffs. “Uh, I think that I’ll be the judge of what I do and do not buy, Tanner,” she says, rolling her eyes at me.

“You’re not the one doing the buying,” I tell her as I finally spot what it is that I was looking for, pulling her toward them with me. I glance at her over my shoulder as she tries to dig her heels in and I pull my wallet out of my pocket. “I am.”

Her eyes go stratospherically wide. “Oh no you’re not,” she whispers, unblinking as I slip my card from the holder and toss it down into the basket with her panties.

She lets out a little gasp.

I shake my head and turn back to the table, so that I can grab the pair of panties that I would die to see Aisling slip up and down her thighs. She watches me in stilled silence as I hesitate above them, then snatch the khaki thong and toss it down with her other items. I don’t meet her eyes as I drag her with me to the till.

I drop the basket on the counter, remove my card, and wait for the sales lady to do her thing.

Aisling fumbles in her shorts as she tries to find her card, throwing me these confused, kind of aghast glances every few seconds. I lean casually against the counter, wondering if she realises now that she’s the one gripping my hand in a chokehold.

I tap my card, thank the sales assistant, and steer Aisling out of the shop, her hand still in mine.

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