Pleasures of the Night(18)
Author: Sylvia Day

Aidan couldn’t figure out what to do with his desire to snatch Lyssa up and take her far away.

A knock came to the door just as Lyssa slid to her feet.

"Yeah?" she called out, her voice husky.

"Chad’s here." Stacey’s voice through the door was more serious than any Aidan had heard from her today.

Lyssa breathed in sharply. "How do I explain to him," she asked plaintively, "when I don’t know what’s going on myself?"

He caught her chin and urged her gaze to meet his. His chest ached at the sight of her. She was pale, her dark eyes tormented, her lower lip worried between her teeth. "Tell him the truth. An old flame showed up and you have to reevaluate."

She nodded, but looked shamed enough to set him on edge.

Her hand came to rest on his bare shoulder, and his eyes closed a moment in pleasure at her touch. She moved then, her fingers sifting through his hair.

"Are you okay?" Lyssa asked, her voice filled with concern.

Aidan nodded. Inside him, something vibrated anxiously, making his stomach clench tight. "I hate this. I don’t want you to go."

"You’re awfully possessive for a guy who walked out of my life at some point," she said dryly.

He stilled, conveying the truth of his words with a steely stare. "I’ve looked for you my whole life."

All these years he couldn’t figure out what he was missing. He’d searched for answers in an attempt to calm his restlessness, and he still wanted them. But what he’d needed was Lyssa and the connection he found with her.

She shook her head, her lush lips drawn tight. "You say the corniest shit, but it never sounds corny coming from you. You could give lessons on how to make the worst pickup lines in history work."

Reaching for her purse, Lyssa set her keys and some money on the desktop. "Get some clothes. I don’t carry much cash—I’m a debit card girl—but there should be enough here for some jeans, shirt, and boxers. Talk to Stacey she’ll tell you where to go."

Aidan caught her wrist before she turned away. She lifted her gaze to meet his. They stared at each other, questions and confusion filling the air.

"I have to go," she said finally.

He caught her then, his hands fisting in her hair, tugging her head back, his mouth taking hers. Taking it, completely, his tongue gliding deep and thrusting. Drinking in the taste of her, leaving his flavor in return. Her hands clutched at his back, her knees weakened, her body sagged with the weight of her desire. Only when she was whimpering into his mouth did he release her.

His nostrils flared. "Make it quick, or I’ll hunt you down. You won’t like what happens if I do."

She swallowed hard and nodded, backing away slowly. Dazed.

As the door closed with a click of finality behind her, Lyssa released her pent-up breath. There was no denying it. She was head over heels.

But she still had to deal with Chad.

"Shit."

The last time she had felt this torn was when she’d made Jenna Lee cry in college because of a thoughtless comment. Chad deserved someone who was really crazy about him. That bit of knowledge was the only thing that kept her from hating herself completely.

Lyssa lifted her chin and moved down the hallway to the rear clinic door. She could do this. She could.

Then she stepped outside, saw the handsome man leaning against his Jeep, and began to cry.

It wasn’t that she regretted what she had done with Aidan last night; she didn’t. But she should have handled this entire situation better. Add in the events of the last twenty or so hours and her overwhelming feelings for Aidan, and she was reduced to an emotional wreck.

"Hey," Chad said softly, coming up to her and holding her close. "It’s not the end of the world. I’m a big boy I can handle it."

Lyssa leaned into him, grateful that he was letting her off the hook. After years of hoping for a great guy to come along, she somehow ended up with two at the same time.

She was letting go of one. She prayed like hell she didn’t lose the other.

* * *

Chapter 10

"Who the hell are you?"

Aidan glanced at Stacey who stood in the doorway of Lyssa’s office, and raised his brows. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. What do you want with Lyssa?"

He settled back against the desk and crossed his arms. He knew Lyssa cared a lot about her friend Stacey and it appeared Stacey felt the same in return. "I don’t think that’s any of your business."

"Sure it is." Her gaze narrowed. "Chad’s a nice guy. He’s good to her."

"I’m a nice guy. I’m good to her."

"I don’t call what you’re doing good for her. ^fou left her before, and you don’t look like you’re planning on sticking around this time, either."

There was nothing he could say to that. He didn’t know what his next move would be. In the last forty-eight hours, he hadn’t had much time to think about it. Even when Lyssa had been busy with her patients, his thoughts had been more on the rift between them than it had been about the days ahead. He needed to focus. "My work keeps me away."

"What is it you do? Lyssa said you’re Special Forces or something."

Clever. "Or something."

Her foot tapped. "Don’t you think it’s a little selfish to just drop in when you feel like it, especially when she’s got someone steady?"

"I tried to stay away, Stacey" he said softly. "I really did."

She studied him for a long moment, then said, "I’m withholding judgment for now."

"Thank you." And he meant it. If Stacey took sides against him, it would make an already uphill battle worse.

"In the meantime, we need to get you some clothes."

"That would nice," he agreed. Looking "normal" was one way to soothe Lyssa’s nerves.

Taking a second to put the precious books away in the top desk drawer, Aidan snatched up the keys and cash, and gestured for Stacey to precede him out to the parking lot. He was having a hard time feeling so helpless. It was a state of being he’d never experienced before, and it definitely didn’t suit him. He needed to get Lyssa settled, then he could concentrate on the ancient texts in earnest. The day was half over. The evening would be upon them soon. Then sleep, when Lyssa would be most vulnerable.

Time, something he was used to having in endless quantities, was running out.

* * *

"For a man who was just promoted to Captain of the Elite, you’re awfully quiet."

Connor shot a sidelong glance at the curvaceous Guardian sprawled across his bed. Flushed from their recent f**king, Morgan was lovely, tempting him to abandon the polishing of his glaive to take her again. "Cross is captain."

"He’s gone." Morgan pouted.

"He’ll find a way back. I’ll make sure of it." Aidan was a warrior to the core. He couldn’t live without a sword in his hand. "Can you see him driving a mini-van?"

"No." She laughed and rolled over, baring her body in a sinuous stretch. "But then I can’t see him so attached to one woman, either."

Snorting, Connor returned his attention to his task. "Temporary insanity. The Elders screwed with him. First they sent him to the Dreamer twice. Then they sent him to the Gateway."

"Is it as horrible as they say?"

"Worse. He’s not thinking with the right head, trust me. He’ll find the Dreamer and they’ll f**k like rabbits. Then he’ll get over her and do his job."

"Do you think she’s the Key?"

He paused. "I don’t know. But you’re going to try and find out."

"What?" Morgan sat straight up in bed.

"I checked the roster. Philip Wager is set to lead the team tonight." The team that would make a second attempt to enter the mind of Aidan’s Dreamer. He was kicking himself now for switching places with his friend that one night. Now he wished he’d both kept Aidan away from her and checked her out himself. He simply couldn’t pic-ture a woman alluring enough to swear off bachelorhood.

"Philip’s mad at me. He’s not going to tell me anything." She tossed her dark hair over her shoulder. "And I don’t particularly want to talk to him anyway."

Connor’s mouth curved. "Yes, you do. You’re curious about the Dreamer. You had a thing for Cross for a long time."

"I had a thing for you, too."

His grin widened. "You still do." He set aside his glaive with barely enough time to catch the tasseled pillow Morgan threw at him. Standing, he moved to the bed, noting the way her dark eyes dipped to his rapidly swelling c*ck before lifting to meet his gaze.

"Oh no," she murmured dryly. "I recognize that look. You want something. Unfortunately for you, I’m feeling pretty good from the orgasms I’ve had already, so I’m not likely to agree."

"I can make you feel even better," he rumbled, setting one knee on the edge of the bed before crawling over her.

Her smile faded. "Seriously, Connor, you’re asking too much. The Elders would punish me for going around them like that."

"I’ll protect you."

"No one can be protected from the Elders."

"Try me."

When her jaw set stubbornly, he cursed inwardly and changed tactics. "I just want you to talk to Wager," he cajoled. "Find out what their orders are. What methods he’s using. What resistance he’s facing."

"What excuse would I have for wanting to know all that?"

He kissed her breathless, his mouth slanting across hers in a blatant promise of reward, one he hoped hid his desperation. "I’ll make it worth your while, Morgan love."

"That would take a lot." She inhaled sharply as his chest touched hers. She paused a moment, then her arms came around him.

"I’ve got a lot to give." Adjusting his hips, he thrust smoothly into her tight, slick cunt. Then he withdrew completely. "If you want it, that is."

She growled softly, a sound that made his heart beat faster with a combination of arousal and anxiety. "You’re cheating," she complained.

Yes, he was, but he would do whatever was necessary to help Aidan. He would not leave his commanding officer and best friend out there alone.

Stonehenge.

As memories flooded Aidan’s mind, his fingertips drifted over the recently deciphered text in the jeweled book. He had been to Stonehenge once. A Dreamer had a fantasy there—passionate sex under the stars in the center of the stones. The formation had been whole then, complete, not decimated by time as he now knew it to be.

That woman and the acts he’d committed with her were so distant and foggy as to be rendered meaningless. From the moment he first slid inside Lyssa’s mind, every woman in his past had faded to insignificance. He hadn’t thought such a loss of memory was possible, had even considered the possibility that the journey from the Twilight had altered his brain in some way. But he remembered every other thing in his immortal life. It was only when it came to his sexual past that things got fuzzy. Only Lyssa shone with golden vibrancy in his thoughts, warming his blood, making his heart beat faster.

Lyssa.

His hand closed into a fist and a growl rumbled up from deep in his chest. He was in bad shape. She had been gone nearly two hours now, and he was slowly going insane. Concentrating on the ancient text helped a tiny bit, but not a whole hell of a lot. Even when he managed to decipher a section, it didn’t lead to comprehension. Stonehenge, petroglyphs, and astronomy would be fascinating if Lyssa were beside him, believing in him. Safe. But that wasn’t the case. He feared he was losing her. He, a man who had never feared anything.

He forced his thoughts back to the book. He needed more information. Since a trip to England would leave Lyssa vulnerable, it was immediately ruled out. Somehow he needed to learn what was necessary from thousands of miles away.

The unmistakable sound of the heavy rear door opening brought his head up. He stood, his mouth dry, and waited for her to appear. When she did, he held the edge of the desk with damp palms and searched her features for some hint of her thoughts.

"Hi," she said wearily.

He came around the desk, but didn’t go to her, afraid that if he kept pushing, he would push her completely away. "Hi."

"Everything go okay while I was gone?"

"I missed you." The understatement of his entire life. She made him feel alive, her proximity bringing a tangible wave of awareness across the space that separated them. How different this was, their physical bodies existing and touching on the same plane. Sex with her had been amazing in the Twilight. In real time it was phenomenal. Altering.

She heaved out her breath, dropped her purse to the floor, and walked into his embrace. His arms went around her; his eyes squeezed shut against the painful ache in his chest. He buried his nose in her hair and breathed her in. Her tiny hands stroked up and down his back, soothing him, once again offering him the comfort he hadn’t known he needed until he met her.

"I missed you, too." She rubbed her face into his new white cotton T-shirt and clung to him. "You look great in jeans."

Recognizing an olive branch when it was presented to him, he managed a smile and kissed her forehead. "I’m glad you approve."

"Stacey wasn’t too hard on you, was she?"

"Nah, she’s all right. It’s you I’m worried about. How are you holding up?" There was such sadness in her eyes, and she carried herself as if burdened by a great weight. The distance between them was painful, crushing.

Lyssa tilted her head back and stared up at him. "I’m okay. I’m glad there are only a few more hours left before we can leave."

"Me, too. Anything I can do to help speed things along?"

She gave a wry laugh. "Keep my office door closed. Every time I walk by and see you, I get flustered. Slows me down."

As warmth suffused his blood, Aidan’s mouth curved. He half sat on the edge of the desk and pulled her between his legs. "Flustered? Or hot and horny?"

"All of the above." Her hands stroked across the soft cotton that covered his chest, then she caught the chain that peeped out above his neckline and pulled it into view. "What kind of stone is this?"