Page 22 of Heat Exchange
“You’re younger than I am,” she said, with a new tone in her voice that bordered on husky.
Touching him would be a mistake. She pressed her hands to the wall behind her, the old brick coarse under her palms.
When Aidan braced his hands against the wall, too—one on either side of her head—Lydia’s breath caught in her chest. He was close enough so she could smell his shampoo and the slight tang of his aftershave. And he was close enough to kiss her.
She wasnotgoing to touch him.
“Not by enough years to even count,” he said, “unless you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel looking for reasons why I shouldn’t kiss you.”
“There are so many reasons you shouldn’t kiss me, I don’t need to scrape the bottom of the barrel.”
With his hands still braced against the wall, he dipped his head low, so his mouth was close to her ear. “Trust me, I know. But it’s all I think about so unless you tell me you don’t want it, I’m going to kiss you anyway.”
His breath was hot on her neck, making the soft wisps of her hair tickle her skin. Lydia knew she should tell him she didn’t want him to kiss her, but she couldn’t make herself say the words. “It would be a lie.”
Aidan’s cheek grazed hers and she sighed at the contact. His lips pressed lightly against the corner of her mouth and then she had a brief moment of staring into his pretty blue eyes before his mouth was on hers.
Her fingers curled against the wall, the brick rasping her nail tips like an emery board. Their breaths mingled and the desire that had been building in her since he walked into the bar her first night back solidified into a needy ache. He kissed her until she made a hungry sound deep in her throat, and then lifted his right hand from the wall to cup the side of her face.
“Why do I want you so much?” he whispered against her lips.
“It doesn’t make any sense.”
“It doesn’t.” He brushed his thumb over her cheekbone, looking into her eyes. “I don’t care.”
His mouth closed over hers again, more demanding this time. Giving up on her determination not to touch him, Lydia ran one hand up his chest and buried the other in his hair. It was as soft as it looked, and she moaned against his lips when he put his hands on her hips and pulled her hard up against him.
The sound of a breaking plate jerked her back to her senses. When he lifted his head, looking in the direction of the noise, she sidestepped so she was no longer between him and the wall.Saved by the jinx.“I should be out there. I need to go.”
“Or you could stay here and kiss me some more.”
She laughed, and it sounded a little more high-pitched than usual. “I’ll feel bad if the poor schmuck doesn’t kiss Bobby’s picture and then gets hit by a car or something.”
Aidan nodded and picked up a chair, turning it upside down in his hands. “Go ahead, then. I’ll put up the chairs and bring the bus pan back.”
“Thanks.”
Lydia wasn’t surprised to see that her dad had already taken care of making sure their customer fended off the broken glass jinx, and she also wasn’t surprised when her dad gave her an odd look. It hadn’t occurred to her that she might look like a woman who’d just been kissed and the only guy back there was Aidan Hunt.
“It’s hot as hell in that alcove,” she said, hoping to fend off any questions.
As expected, he latched on to the easy answer. “I’ve been thinking about replacing the ceiling fans with something with bigger paddles.”
“Good idea. Aidan’s finishing up the last of the chairs and he’ll bring the bus pan out.”
“Took you a while.”
She wasn’t sure if he meant anything by that other than general criticism, but she kept her back to him and focused on the cash register. Hitting the button to pop it open, she took out some ones and started counting. “We got talking about Scotty’s apartment. It came out nice.”
As she’d hoped, Fitz took over the conversation, wanting to know how the third-floor renovation was going. Leaving them to it, she counted and bundled the bills in the register drawer.
When she heard Aidan set the bus pan on the bar, she took a deep breath before turning to face him. It was weak to avoid making eye contact, but she could almost feel her father’s presence behind her, so she concentrated on putting the spray bottle back under the bar. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Not a problem. You want me to take it out back?”
“I’ll get it for her, son.” Her dad got off his stool, jingling the key ring clipped to his pocket. “Time to lock up, everybody.”
Aidan slapped his hand on the bar, which startled Lydia into making eye contact with him. He smiled. “I’ll see you around.”
