24. MADDIE

CHAPTER 24

MADDIE

O nce I get him to stop stalling, it's surprisingly nice to sit side by side in the back of his car, shoes off, hearing the breeze, the quiet sloshing of the water at the shore, and the alternating sound of his typing or mine.

It's funny how his legs are so much longer than mine, and how tiny my chubby feet look next to his. Aran is so large he takes up most of the space, and his rock-solid arm brushes against mine every time either of us moves. It's the sweetest torture.

Fortunately, this time, I'm doing coursework. Unfortunately, that means I don't have any excuse to ask him for more reverse tutoring with his mouth. Or maybe with his hands this time. But after the conversation on the way here, I recalled when he said no strings yesterday, and it would definitely seem like strings if I initiate anything. I have to do whatever it takes to keep things professional during study sessions and friendly beyond them.

Wait. His hands stopped typing a while back.

Slowly, I turn. Aran's head rests against the back of the passenger seat, and his eyes are closed. It's only now that I notice how thick and long his eyelashes are. Darn him. I would love to have eyelashes like that.

"Are you staring?"

Crap. How does he know?

"I was just checking to see if you'd fallen asleep."

"Contemplating it," he murmurs in a way that makes me bite my lip. "This business case is so boring it makes me want to nap."

"Aran." I use my best admonishing voice. "Finish what you started."

He cracks an eye open. "Does that apply to things outside of this essay?"

I scramble to think of any possible innuendo behind that but come up blank.

"What are you talking about?"

" Hmmwell ." It comes out as one word as he sits up straighter and puts his ginormous laptop under the bend of his knees. "I started reverse tutoring you yesterday, didn't I?"

My heart leaps to my throat. I splutter but don't say anything coherent. Not when he's giving me that smirk that only means trouble.

"I should finish that session first, shouldn't I?"

"It finished quite nicely," I say, voice squeaky.

"Nicely?" He wrinkles his nose. "Is that a challenge to do better?"

"No!"

Oh, actually yes. Absolutely.

"So, here's my idea for today's session." With his hand on the blanket, he leans a little closer, which puts his nose almost against mine. "We're at a lake, right?" He stops, as if waiting for a reaction.

"Um, yes?"

"Then let's go for a dip."

I reel back with a laugh. "In February? Are you off your rocker?"

"It's really warm today. You said so yourself."

"Yeah, but not enough to swim."

"Well, I'm going in." Aran grabs the hem of his sweatshirt and pulls it off in a smooth move. His T-shirt catches on the other fabric for a moment, and I get a glimpse of cords of muscle down his side. He catches me staring and adds, "You can watch all you want."

Before I can even dream of protesting, he grabs a fistful of the back of his T-shirt and pulls it off. And just like that, my brain stops functioning.

Not true. It functions, all right. But to drink him in.

Aran leans a little away from me, twisting so his shoulder rests against the door. "Got your fill yet?"

"Not yet, actually," I respond with shocking calm compared to how fast my heart is racing. "Stay still."

His shoulders vibrate with a chuckle, but he really stays there, letting me ogle him openly.

The real deal is so much better than the training video of him I watched months ago. Aran bends one knee up and rests his elbow there, head against his fist. His bicep bulges in this position. No wonder he can pick me up easily. His arms are as thick as my thighs.

"Good gravy," I mutter like a Southern lady. "Your stomach looks like a chocolate bar."

That's not even a six-pack. He has eight defined squares of muscle that stay defined even when he's hunching over. Then they disappear into a V that starts at his hipbones. That might be more shocking than how small his waist is compared to his enormous shoulders.

He smirks. "Do you want a bite?"

That's when I gasp and cover my face. "Aran Rodriguez, stop teasing me or I will spontaneously combust in this car and burn it to ashes."

"Fine."

It's not fine. I hear rustling, and when I open my eyes, I find him unzipping his jeans. I should look away. I really should. But I don't. Aran lifts his hips, which makes his core muscles flex so beautifully I wish I could snap a picture. And then he's sliding his jeans down.

I force myself to hide my face inside my sweater, and he must see it, because he starts chuckling.

"Don't worry, Strawberry. I'm not going to get naked for you unless you ask for it."

"Argh!"

I feel his heat move away and peek out once more.

Urgh , his back muscles have muscles, and all of them bunch and flex as he drags himself out of the car. There, he leans one arm against the open door and peers at me.

"So, what's it going to be? Are you going to keep watching or join in the fun?"

I fold my arms and try to copy his bravado. "Is this all a ploy so you can see me in my underwear?"

"Of course it is." Aran has the nerve to smile as he adds, "I mean, I've already seen your underwear, but what I'm really interested in is what's underneath."

I paw around me until I come up with his sweatshirt. Then I ball it up and throw it at him. Which was useless, since he catches it easily and tosses it back onto the blanket.

"C'mon, Maddie. Don't be a coward."

"I'm not a coward. What happened to professionalism?"

"It can get bent for all I care."

Aran leans away, giving me ample view of his incredible body, clad in only black boxers. Folding his arms, he throws a final challenge. "Don't writers need to experience a lot of things to write about? Stop being a spectator, Maddie. Do something different." And he bends his fingers in the way he must know drives me wild.

I grit my teeth, knowing he had me the second he started taking his clothes off. Knowing I'm not going to reject any chances at another tutoring session in the romance part of the hockey romance. My own body feels so hot I could melt my clothes off. Obviously, the only way to not turn into a sweaty mess is to take them off.

No! What am I doing?

Something different.

Something I want.

Something my mom would never imagine me doing.

I want to have fun with Aran. Maybe get in just a bit of trouble. Nothing terrible.

"Okay." His eyebrows rise at my response, and I motion in circles with my hand. "But turn around."

"Why?"

"Because, unlike you, I'm shy."

"But you enjoyed the full show. Why can't I?"

I don't know whether he realizes he sounds like a whiny kid right now. It's adorable and normally would make me tease the crap out of him. But not right now. Right now, I'm fighting with my insecurities.

"Aran, not all of us have zero percent body fat like you."

"I do have fat. Eight percent of it." I give him A Look and he puts his hands up. "All right, I'm turning." And he does, and I'm ashamed to find my eyes lowering to his perfect bubble butt. Unfair. The man is just perfect. If he knew I'm well into the double digits of fat percentage, he'd probably be put off.

Even then, I start taking off my clothes. A part of me is defiant. He's known I'm a chubby lady since day one, like everyone else. But on the other hand, it's different when you're wearing clothes than when you're not. Or when you're wearing as little as underwear.

Wait a second. I glance down at my bra and relax. It's a cute pink one. And I know I wore matching undies.

Oh my word. Am I really undressing in Aran's car?

Yep, I am. I pull off my leggings, and that's it. I'm semi-naked.

Slowly, I scoot to the edge of the car and lower my legs. Despite how warm the day felt earlier, now the breeze raises a chill out of me. The sand feels like snow under my bare feet as I stand.

Clearing my throat, I say, "Okay. I'm ready." Aran starts to turn, and I push my hands against his back. "No! I didn't mean you could turn yet."

"Then how can I know you're telling me the truth?" His voice sounds light, teasing. Uncharacteristic. Beautiful.

I rest my forehead against his back. "You'll have to trust me."

His body vibrates with a grunt. "So that's what today's lesson is, huh? Getting you out of your shyness."

Good luck with that. I've spent twenty-one years trying to hide myself and make myself as small as possible.

"Wrap your arms around me."

"What?" I jerk away.

"You heard me." He reaches back and grabs one of my arms, pulling me flush against him. I melt against the heat of his back and let him find my other arm. It's Aran, not me, who places my hands against his stomach. "Huh, you did undress."

I bury my face against his back, although there's no point. He must be feeling how hard my heart hammers against him.

"I am dying," I declare.

"Let's go die in the water."

Slowly, he walks us to the shore. I am way too pleased at the feeling of his velvet-soft skin against my face, at the hair on his stomach, the unrelenting hardness of his muscles. When I try to put any distance between us, his hands grab my arms tighter and pull me even closer.

But then the freezing water makes contact with my feet, and I jerk away with a yelp. And Aran turns to face me.

He doesn't flinch at the water lapping up at his ankles. Instead, he tilts his head and runs his eyes down my body.

Too late, I think about trying to cover myself. Except my hands are too small to try to hide anything.

"Why are you trying to hide yourself?" Aran takes a small step forward and slides his left hand around my waist, bringing me against him. It's exhilarating to feel all of him. "Because in case you didn't notice, I find you damn hot, Maddie."

My tongue is heavy, which makes my voice come out weird when I ask, "You do?"

"Yeah. It shouldn't take some random horndog guy for you to realize it."

"You're not random, though," I say in a voice barely above a whisper.

With his free hand, he cradles the back of my head, and I think he's going to kiss me. Instead, it keeps going down over my braid, and down still until he reaches the end of it. I feel the tug but only realize what he's doing when he pulls the hair tie off.

"What are you doing?" I ask, breathless.

"I want to feel your hair on me."

A shudder racks my body. I don't know if it's that I'm overly sensitive, or if it's him, because those words shouldn't be enough to make me feel like this. Like I'm a ball of fire and liquid all at the same time.

"That's more like it," Aran murmurs as he runs his thumb across my bottom lip. "I like this look on your face. Not the one you had before."

I bite his thumb. Pretty hard. "That's what you get for teasing me."

His eyebrows are up. "You may think you're punishing me by biting me, Strawberry, but you're not."

I squeeze my eyes shut tight, dying of embarrassment. "Are you always so forward?"

"No." I feel him lean down to my ear, and then he whispers, "I'm a goalie."

I can't believe he's making me laugh in a situation like this, but here I am. Semi-naked with a guy who knows exactly how to make me forget all my worries and fears. And I forget myself too, because I'm not even sorry when I bring my arms around his neck and stick flush to him.

"You're incorrigible."

"Wait to see what I have in store next."

"What—"

I don't finish the sentence, because next thing I know, I feel his arm slide below my knees and I'm flying. I yelp and grab him tighter, burying my face against his neck. But the clean spice of his skin gives me even more vertigo.

And then we're crashing into the icy water.

Aran himself pulls me to the surface. We both gasp as we come up for air, and now there's hair in my mouth.

"I'm going to kill you," I announce while spluttering.

Aran laughs. The nerve.

I try to push hair away from my face, but it's stuck like glue. He shifts his grip to release my legs, and I dip underwater a bit more. If it weren't for my arm around his neck, I would sink.

With his free hand, Aran brushes my hair back more effectively than I can, clearing my view of him. Drops of water trickle down his face. One of them catches on his eyelashes. His eyes are on my lips, and I'm cured, because all of a sudden, I'm not shy anymore.

"Aran," I rasp out.

"Hmm?"

"If you don't kiss me right now, I'm really going to kill you."

He smiles. "Who's the murderess now?"

But he also doesn't bother with playing any more games. Circling my waist with both arms, he lifts me up until I have no choice but to wrap my legs around him. And as gravity takes me, I let my lips crash against his.

Aran opens his mouth, and I groan, pleased I'm getting exactly what I wanted. Yesterday, he was in control. He was the only one who knew what to do. Today, I'm a little bolder.

Suddenly, I'm encased in ice again because we're underwater. But I don't let go of him. Even if I can't breathe, I'm not breaking this kiss. I gasp a little when he pulls us back up. I don't care that my hair is a curtain covering both of us, tickling in places and pulling in others. I care more that one of his hands is on my butt. That the other one is sneaking under the band of my bra.

Aran bites my lower lip softly, opening his eyes just a bit. His face is obscured by my hair, but it doesn't seem to matter. It could be storming with lightning bolts striking the water, and it wouldn't matter.

"I died and went to heaven, didn't I?" he murmurs against my lips.

"Stop talking and kiss me again."

"Yes, ma'am."

But instead of kissing my mouth, he dips his head down and kisses right under my chin. Then lower. The kisses turn into nibbles, and then he runs his tongue along the base of my throat.

I clutch at his head, gasping. "Aran."

"Yes?"

"I meant my mouth."

"Mouth, yes." He grumbles, pulling my hips lower against him until our faces are at level again. The smirk on his face makes me want to scream. "Sorry, I got a bit sidetracked there."

Annoyed, amused, and a concoction of other feelings sloshing in my belly, I bite his shoulder. Too late, I remember his words from earlier.

"Strawberry," he says, voice low and choked up. "I wasn't planning for this tutoring session to end horizontal, but it will if you keep biting me."

Lifting my head, I whisper in his ear. "How were you planning for it to go?"

Slowly, he turns until our noses touch. "Just like this. Exactly like this." And kisses me again.