Thirty-One

 

In my clumsiness, I almost slipped again, saved only by bumping into Aidan's body. His hands at my hips steadied me as I reached for the bar again.

"Bel...do you want me to..." he began, but didn't finish.

"It's all right, I think I have it," I interrupted brightly, straightening with soap in hand. I worked to lather it to foam as fast as I could, turning to take my chances with his Irish luck.

No longer a grass tree on fire, now he resembled a sentinel stone, surrounded by frothy sea-foam from waves breaking at its base. A rock warmed by sun and the water that washed him. I paused to admire my soapy handiwork, but he shrank before my eyes.

"Fuck!" he swore. "Sorry, Bel, that's the last of the hot water." He squeezed past me, wincing as he rinsed his body in the now near-freezing water, before turning the taps off.

Aidan stepped out of the shower and reached for the towels, tossing one to me. The fabric felt warm, as if heated. I looked at him in surprise.

He laughed. "Heated towel rail. Otherwise they wouldn't dry in this weather. Now, if you want to turn shrinkage into swelling again, a little stroking should fix me, what with your warm hands and all..." He moved in closer for another kiss. I felt him stiffen slightly in the close contact. He evidently felt it, too. "See? You work wonders, Bel."

I smiled, unsure what to say. My stomach betrayed me with a gurgle. I was hungry for several things at once.

Aidan laughed again, responding with a lighter kiss. "I should make you some breakfast first. I wouldn't want a wonderful woman like you going hungry." He hung his towel back over the heated rail and walked naked out of the bathroom. The muscles in his bottom shifted with each step, revealing a tantalising tuft of red hair between his cheeks.

I hastily did the same with my towel so I could follow. After the steamy atmosphere in the bathroom, the chill of the kitchen struck me more forcefully than the cold water. I felt my breasts tighten as if they, too, were shrinking away from the cold. I reached for the nearest item of clothing – Aidan's coat, draped over one of the dining chairs – and slipped it on, holding it closed with my crossed arms.

Aidan stared at me, as he donned some clothing, too – a flowery apron that covered his front but left his bottom bare. "How about I fry you up some eggs for breakfast?" he asked with a wicked smile. He bent over to remove a frypan from a low cupboard and I found myself staring at his bum and what dangled so temptingly beneath.

"Should I help?" I asked doubtfully, as he strode around the kitchen, pulling out implements and ingredients.

"I can make you breakfast, Bel. You relax." Aidan smiled.

I sank into a dining chair, pulling my knees up to my chest to keep more of me warm inside Aidan's coat. I was so intent on Aidan's nether regions that I didn't realise his eyes were fixed on me, too. I smiled, embarrassed but rueful.

Aidan shook his head. "I still can't believe you're sitting in my kitchen, wearing nothing but my coat, letting me make breakfast for you. I feel like I'll blink and you'll disappear."

"Me either," I admitted.

He flipped eggs onto plates, salting them liberally before passing me some cutlery and an egged plate.

I swallowed the eggs as quickly as I could, barely tasting them, until my stomach was sated. I craved a different sort of satisfaction and my eyes strayed to the likely source of it, so the finger he slipped inside me beneath the table took me by stunned surprise. I straightened and tightened as Aidan slid his finger out again, with more difficulty than it had entered. "Still so wet, I see," he said.

Cutlery clattered as I dove for him, intent on finishing what we'd started in the shower. Beneath my fierce kisses, he murmured words that I didn't hear until his hands pushed my breasts away. "Bed. Bel, I'd like to take you to bed."

I shed the coat and stood, as he struggled out of the apron. Kissing and stumbling, caressing and gasping, we crossed the living area to his bedroom. The bed pressed against the backs of my legs and it took only a slight push to tip us both onto the slippery sheets. Red satin, like last night's shorts, I thought incoherently, my hands sliding over the fabric as Aidan's fingers were far more productive.

I could feel the ripples building for another powerful orgasm as Aidan asked, "What do you want, Bel? How do you want me?"

I crossed my legs around his hips, my feet pressing insistently against the bum I'd admired over breakfast. My voice came out in a sob. "In me. In me. Now. Oh, Aidan...Aidan..."