Page 125 of The Nanny

“Sometimes none of this feels real,” I admit. “I keep expecting to wake up on Wanda’s couch.”

“How do you think I feel? I have to convince myself every day that someone like you would want to hang around.”

“Um. Pump the brakes there, Mr.Reid. Let’s not pretend that you aren’t a six-foot-something temptation station with sex eyes.”

“Sex eyes?”

“Oh, come on. They’re so pretty it isn’t even fair.”

I feel his hand slide minutely up my side to press at my waist only to drift back down as if only to feel the shape of me. It makes my stomach flip. “I think yours are nicer.”

“You, my friend, are crazy.”

His laugh is so low I might almost miss it over the music, but then he leans in so that I can feel the warmth of his breath at my ear, making me shiver. “You make me feel crazy, Cassie.”

I close my eyes when I feel the soft press of his lips at my jaw, my knees giving a ridiculous wobble that I thought was only a thing in movies.

We’ve been at this party for more than an hour, closer to two, really, and suddenly all I’m thinking about is getting out of this classy place and going back to Aiden’s to do far less classy things. The things I’m wanting to do might even be called downright rude, to some.

I have to press up on my toes to get close to his ear, dropping my voice to a whisper. “How much longer do you have to stay?”

I feel him tense when my fingernail teases the collar of his shirt on the back of his neck.

“As long as you want,” he murmurs back, pulling me closer against him.

“I think I’m ready to leave, Mr.Reid.”

He makes a sound low in his throat that puts my knees in danger again, squeezing my hip for good measure. “Then let’s get you home.”

Home.

Weirdly, the word makes me shiver.

I’m incredibly grateful that we don’t have to wait for the check.

—

I have no idea how we make it in the house, let alone up two flights of stairs to Aiden’s bedroom. I don’t have time to let it marinate that this is the first time I’ve been in Aiden’s room, since we’ve never been brave enough to sneak up here with Sophie normally down the hall. Somewhere in the back of my mind I’m aware of the general color scheme of Aiden’s room; it’s the same black and gray throughout every other facet of the house, but it’s averydistant thought. I don’t exactly have time to tease him about it right now. Not with the way he’s holding my face, tongue laving against mine while I fumble with the buttons of his shirt.

He’s already torn down the clip holding up my hair, fingers tangling in the thick mass as his palm slides up my thigh to ruck up my dress. He groans when I get his shirt open, my hands running over his chest and shoulders to tug at his head, trying to somehow deepen the kiss. Everything about tonight feels somehowmorethan any other time we’ve been together; some heady combination of the date and coming clean to Sophie making all of this feel morerealsomehow.

I don’t come back down from my kiss-related high until I feel him undoing the zipper at the back of my dress; I’ve alreadymanaged to work his shirt and tie off and undone the fly of his pants when I come to my senses.

“Wait, wait.”

Aiden’s eyes are wild when he pulls away from me. “Wait?”

“The dress,” I huff. “I need to hang it up.”

“Fuck the dress,” he growls, trying to kiss me again.

“It’s the nicest dress I own now! It’ll get all wrinkled on the floor.”

“I will buy you another dress,” he argues.

This makes me laugh, the neediness in his voice doing all sorts of things for my ego.

“Get on the bed, Mr.Reid. I’ll be right back.”

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