Riding Curves Read online

  ********************

  The hours passed in pure torture. My parents came up from the lake about five minutes later. We had lunch on the deck before my dad and Aiden took the boat out again to fish for dinner. They returned with an ice chest full, dad grinning from ear to ear but Aiden unusually quiet.

  Mom and I started prepping the fish, as always, but Aiden took the knife from me after about three minutes.

  "I'm fond of your fingers, baby girl." He finished filleting the fish I was working on then grabbed the pliers and another fish.

  Mom released a frustrated puff of air. "I swear, she's been like that all afternoon! I can't get more than two words out of her at a time. Would you believe she actually walked into a wall while you boys were out on the lake?"

  I closed my eyes for a few seconds, too embarrassed to keep them open. "It was the doorframe and just the edge, mom."

  "Baby girl is probably mooning over some frat boy," Aiden teased as he used the pliers to peel the fish skin away.

  Her eyes on her hands as she filleted a fish, my mom offered one of those secret smiles of hers that drive me batshit crazy. "Oh, I'm pretty sure Cece's interests are closer to home."

  I groaned, mortified that they were talking about me like I wasn't even there when, only a few hours before, Aiden had me bent over the sink and climaxing harder than I could have imagined was physically possible.

  "What makes you say that?" As if they were in cahoots with one another, Aiden gave his own soft smile that my mom, thankfully, did not see.

  Mom answered in a very matter-of-fact tone, as if she had read it in Cosmo or Ladies' Home Journal, making it irrefutable. "Young women away at college don't make so many trips home just to visit their parents."

  "So, baby girl…" Aiden stopped peeling the fish and nailed me with melting brown eyes. "Were you dreaming of a frat boy or someone closer to home?"

  I was fantasizing about him, of course, and the big jerk knew it. I crinkled my nose at Aiden then lied. "I was thinking about my car and how I'm getting back to school."

  "Had a signal out on the lake." He finished skinning and beheading a third fish then picked up the filleting knife. "So I booked a rental."

  "You know I can't drive a rental." I didn't remind him why. I had six points on my license and I didn't need or want a fresh lecture from him or my parents.

  "Hmm…" Mom's face wrinkled for a second. "I have an appointment with Doctor McKinley on Monday. I guess I could cancel."

  Doctor McKinley was mom's gynecologist and I didn't want that conversation to erupt.

  "No need, Gale," Aiden interrupted. "Nothing going on at the shop that requires both bosses to be there Monday."

  "But Daddy--"

  Aiden stopped my protest with a curt shake of his head as a satisfied grin fought to surface across his handsome features. We all knew my dad was scheduled for knee surgery in three weeks. The long, roundtrip drive would have been pure torture for him.

  "I'm driving. We'll go back Monday afternoon." The smile that had been waiting to bust out finally escaped. His brown eyes glittered dangerously and I felt the slow crawl of lust along my flesh. "We'll take my bike if you don't want me to rent a car."

  He was being a total tease, not missing a beat as he cleaned the fish. Whereas I had been so distracted thinking about him I could have lost a finger. My only defense was to be a brat.

  "That's not going to work. I still have to go to the parts shop and--"

  "No, you don't. I'll take care of it Tuesday." He cut another glance my way, his dark gaze sparkling like the lake outside.

  "They see a girl walk in who doesn't know how to change her own oil..." He cleared his throat and I could hear the innuendo bubbling inside him before he continued. "Well, baby girl, they'll just bend you over."

  Remembering how Aiden had bent me over just few hours before, a flush heated my skin. He knew how easily I colored but apparently didn't care how easily mom could read me. He was about to get us both busted because I have never been able to fumble my way through a lie when my she directly questions me.

  Before that could happen, I quickly headed for the back door. "I'm going to get wood for tonight's fire."

  The last thing I heard as the door shut was my beloved mother gently teasing.

  "Don't run into any trees, sweetie."

  ********************

  Twenty minutes later I was in the woods, leaning over the trundle cart, when two strong hands ran over my hips. I straightened. Arms circled my waist, the familiar hands moving to cup my breasts while warm lips pressed against my neck.

  Melting into Aiden's embrace, I sighed. "What do you think you're doing?"

  "Helping."

  A moan gurgled up my throat. "Not really."

  I turned to face him and wrapped my arms around his neck. That was something I had imagined doing a thousand times over but never thought possible. Pure bliss filled me and I was certain I would float away without his arms securing me.

  His palm against the small of my back, Aiden drew me closer. He cupped my head, his mouth angling down to kiss me. The kiss started with a slow lick across my bottom lip. Stopping in the center, he moved up, his tongue slipping between my top lip and teeth. He drew the lip in, sucking on it a few seconds before his tongue probed deeper.

  Breaking the kiss, he took me by the arm and walked me over to a tall stump a few feet away. The gentle pressure of his hands on my shoulders forced me to sit. He sank to his knees on the ground. Wrapping his arms around me, he tugged me to the edge of the stump and slowly feasted on my neck as he kneaded my flesh.

  My legs circled his waist. Pressing tighter to him, I wished that we were naked and his cock was buried inside me. Squirming against his shaft, I felt how hard and ready he was and I ached all the more from the realization.

  His teeth grazed the underside of my chin before he found and kissed the nearby hollow. "Damn, little girl, I want to take you right now."

  "Why don't you?" I flexed my thighs, challenging him with the question and begging him with my body.

  "Because I want to take my time doing it." Leaning back, he drew my shirt up to expose my bra. "I want..."

  Aiden ceased talking. His big hands dug softly into the cups of my bra to release my breasts. Rumbles and growls vibrated across my skin as his lips brushed against me. He inhaled the scent of my flesh, his eyes closing as his mouth tracked toward one puckered nipple. Reaching the swollen point, he licked a circle before he lipped the tip.

  Groaning, I arched against him. He latched on at the sound, sucking and teething the nipple as his hand squeezed and pinched at my other breast. I cradled his head, my ass moving in tight circles atop the stump as I pumped my mound against his erection.

  Stopping, he purred roughly and dropped one hand between my thighs. He unsnapped the button on my jeans then traced the seam along the crotch. "Baby, you should be in your bathing suit by now."

  I couldn't contain the twitch of self-consciousness that jerked my shoulders back. Aiden was right. Any other weekend at the lake, I would have been in my bathing suit already. But on that day, Aiden no longer was the close family friend who drove my wet dreams. He had done things to me, things I wanted him to repeat. Seeing my ample flesh in the one piece I brought would have killed any man's erection.

  Sighing, he shook his head at me. "You've never hidden your body from me, baby. You're not going to start now."

  I wrinkled my nose at him, communicating that I didn't like having my mind read. Then I made a little gesture at my chest. "I'm hardly hiding."

  He grabbed my breasts with both hands, using them to pull me flush against him. His eyes drifted shut then he placed his cheek against mine and nibbled at my ear. "It's an access issue, baby."

  "If you wanted access, my panties and jeans would be off," I snorted, my Fattitude rising to poke at him. "I'm starting to think you're all talk and no cock, Aiden Perry."

  Laughter rumbled through his chest and he gave my nipple a h
ard tweak. His hand snaked between our bodies and I heard the snap of his jeans then the slide of his zipper. He kissed the side of my face, close to the corner of my mouth as if purposefully taunting me.

  "Sure about that, little girl?"

  I turned my head, my mouth searching for his as my fingers skimmed down his waist to the top of his jeans. His erection topped the line of his cotton briefs, the whole head with its fat arrow tip free and smooth to the touch. I licked my lips, wanting my first taste of him.

  A throaty sigh left him and he stopped evading my mouth. His tongue slipped past my lips as his fingers dug into my arms. I eased my hand into his underwear to gently stroke at the shaft. He was longer than my hand by a good three inches and as wide as three fingers.

  Need gripped me -- gripped and squeezed my pussy, my chest, my stomach. Gripped and throttled until I trembled like a leaf in a strong breeze.

  "Why are…we waiting?" A moan broke the question in half and I finished with a mewling whisper.

  His kisses turned into small, hungry bites and I sensed that he desired me every bit as badly as I crave him.

  "Because I want to slowly drive you crazy." Squeezing my breast, he launched a fresh attack against my throat. "I want to tie you down and fuck you softly before I fuck you rough. I want to take you loving before I am merciless. I want you so thoroughly used and exhausted, you won't give those boys back at school so much as a smile. You'll shut them out completely because you can't wait to get back to my bed."

  "I already do." Frustrated, pussy throbbing, I was close to tears. I squeezed at his shaft, trying to goad him into action. "I haven't--"

  Aiden stopped mid-kiss to look at my face. One dark brow arched and his mouth went all serious. He shook his head slowly, nostrils flaring. The tanned skin paled, telling me I had said too much.

  "You don't mean..." He took a deep breath as his pupils dilated. "You can't be..."

  The question died on his lips. I understood him well enough to know that he was thinking about what he did in the kitchen -- the animalistic passion, the way he claimed my flesh after I tightened my anxious virgin pussy to bar his admittance. His actions were fueled by the misconception that I had at least a little experience under my belt.

  Now he knew differently. Outside of my own fingers, I had only that afternoon with Aiden.

  "Cece, you're pulling my leg." There was no conviction in his face or his tone. Far from it -- he looked like he had just stepped on a newborn kitten.

  Suddenly, I felt like I was back in high school, not college. I didn't know a single woman my age who would or could have admitted to being a virgin. I didn't want to admit it either, but I did. "I haven't...no one has touched me like..."

  I blushed and looked away. Ten feet from us, a robin was building its nest, oblivious to the way my heart thundered inside my chest. I was terrified Aiden would walk away.

  "Kevin--"

  Still refusing to look at him, I shook my head. Kevin lost his virginity in the back seat of my sedan, but he lost it to a boy. I had waited on a park bench thirty feet away, sitting oh-so-carefully so I wouldn't get the hem of my prom dress dirty. But it wasn't my place to tell Aiden that I spent the last two years of high school shielding a friend who didn't want his parents to know he was gay.

  I almost cried from those memories. Kevin had been considered a real catch. The only thing I caught was hell. Hell from the girls at school who couldn't figure out what he saw in me, hell from the boys who thought I must have been hiding something really good up my plus-size skirt. Most of all, I had faced the withering scorn of his mother who couldn't understand why her precious, gorgeous quarterback son was dating that "disgusting whale, Cece Harpoon" as she so inelegantly phrased it.

  I swiped at a stray tear, my voice trembling. "We've always been just friends."

  "College?"

  I tilted my chin at an obstinate angle. "You might be blind to my..." I stopped before fat could leave my mouth. "Faults, but the men at the university--"

  He growled, the sound a wave of protective heat rolling over me.

  "Those are boys, not men." He spat the words out like he was scraping shit off the sole of his boot. "Men don't need Vogue to tell them what's sexy. They feel it in their balls and their heart."

  He cradled the side of my face so that my gaze met his.

  "Baby, looking at you not only makes my heart happy." His hips pushed forward and I felt the rigid bulge of his cock pressing against me as another growl rumbled from him. "It makes my dick hard."

  My hips flexed in response and I whimpered.

  "Fuck, Cece." His hands gripped me roughly. He blinked, his eyes staying shut a full heart beat or more. When he opened them, he caught his bottom lip between his teeth and studied me. "You should have told me, little girl."

  My heart fell at those last two words. Doubt clouded his serious gaze. Reverently he scooped my breasts back into the bra and pulled down my shirt, his head sweeping left, then right, with regret.

  Standing, Aiden stepped toward the trundle cart. "I'll finish up. You go back to the house."

  "Aiden..." I took a step toward him but froze when he stiffened. "If I'd told you, you would have stopped. But it doesn't mean anything, doesn't change anything. Really..."

  Half nodding, his back to me, he gestured in the direction of the house. "Just go on back, Cece. I'll be along in a few minutes."

  ********************

  Mom had a look in her eyes when I came back without any firewood.

  "Aiden's finishing it up," I said before she could ask. Hoping to avoid her all-knowing gaze, I looked out the window to the porch where my dad was messing with the fire pit.

  "Is something going on with you and Aiden?"

  My eyes flicked her way as my cheeks began to burn.

  "Cecelia..."

  Oh God, I did not want to have that talk. I started toward the door mumbling something about Dad needing a hand.

  "Your father is perfectly capable of scrubbing the grill, young lady." She tossed the dish towel over the sink's divide and then her hand found her canted hip. Her sharp gaze inspected my clothes. "Your button's undone."

  Since I was wearing a t-shirt, there was only one button and it was on my jeans. Cheeks burning, I reached down to my belt line and fastened it. "I had to go pee."

  "Cecelia Harper, you've never once in your life taken a pee outside!"

  My shoulders slumped. It was a dumb lie to tell a woman who knew me better than anyone else.

  "You think I'm upset, don't you?"

  Hearing the faint smile in her voice, I looked up to find her eyes sparkling at me. "You mean you're not?"

  "Upset, no." Her hand came up to wipe nervously at her chin. "But I am worried."

  "You mean?" I looked out the window to where my father was dunking the grill in a bucket of water. I wasn't sure how Dad would take the news if there was ever going to be anything to announce. He was pretty protective when it came to his "little" girl.

  She shook her head.

  "Mom, Aiden would never hurt me."

  "Oh, I know that." Her hand zeroed in on her hip. "I'm worried about you hurting him."

  Color me shocked. My mouth gaped and she rewarded me with a little laugh.

  "Honey, you're young. Aiden, on the other hand, is at an age where he's looking to settle down." Her mouth pursed thoughtfully. "Aiden won't want to stop at a fling."

  My eyebrows crawled halfway up my forehead. It felt surreal having this conversation with my mother -- about Aiden of all people.

  "He has lots of flings," I reminded her.

  "Not with his good friend's daughter. Not with a woman like you."

  "Right, his flings are all at least six sizes smaller." I snorted, my reply bursting thoughtlessly from my mouth. "Aiden goes through women faster than the shop goes through drafting paper, Mom. He doesn't even bother to bring them around anymore, they're gone so fast."

  "Aiden thinks you're beautiful. I've seen the way he watches
you, has been watching you the last several years." She retrieved the dish towel and ran it through her fingers. "Why do you think I replaced the pullout with a regular couch?"

  I stared at her, mouth agape. Was she telling me, despite her warning, that she had actually been trying to encourage the two of us?

  "You..." My gaze jumped to the porch where my father was attacking the last of the grill with gusto. Even if she was trying to encourage it, she was seeing things with Aiden that just weren't there before that day. "But dad..."

  Another laugh, this one loud enough to draw the attention of the man in question. "Honey, your dad knows engines. He can be kind of clueless about people. Where else do you think you get that from?"

  My jaw dropped closer to the floor. "I haven't been clueless about Aiden, he…"

  My protest petered out before I could finish. Aiden had asked me in the kitchen if I had thought about us before. Out in the woods, he had said he wanted to drive me so crazy I wouldn't give any other man a second glance. Yet he had never been possessive of his lovers before, never cared enough about them to worry one way or another.

  Had I really been clueless about his budding attraction to me?

  "He hasn't had a fling in over a year -- the guys at the shop are all teasing him that he must be seeing a married woman or something. But that's not it at all." Stepping toward me, she put her hands on my shoulders. "I know you and I know Aiden. If he's finally given into his feelings, you have to be ready for forever, Cecelia."

  Forever? Forever was a fairytale -- almost. I knew less than a handful of people that had been married more than a decade. One of them had her hands on my shoulders, the other was watching us through the window with a happy doofus grin on his well-loved face. I started to shake my head, but she cupped the side of my face.

  "If you aren't ready, Cece, you need to stop right now."

  ********************

  All of my mother's fretting was for nothing. Aiden returned a few minutes later, the cart loaded with wood. He didn't tease me the rest of the day. Hell, he hardly looked at me.

  Utterly deflated, I begged off staying up past ten.