Ten years ago, she’d melted in his arms so fast he’d almost forgotten she was just barely legal. He ground his teeth, knowing a gentleman would not remind her of the way she’d reacted the last time he’d kissed her.
But damn it, some sort of reminder was definitely in order. He would have easily squelched that seldom-used gentlemanly conscience if only he didn’t need to make some serious plans for his stakeout tonight.
Instead, he settled on a surprise move that served both his purposes. Catching up to Brianne’s hell-on-wheels walk, Aidan slipped an arm around her to halt her in her tracks.
He leaned close to her ear to speak, close enough to feel the rapid-fire pounding of a pulse gone rogue.
“Wait a minute, Bri,” he breathed against the shiny silk of her hair.
Right away, he knew he’d made a big mistake touching her. Not only did that brief contact fog his brain on the details of an investigation that had seemed so important two seconds ago, but having Brianne in his arms—even just for a moment—also made him start to rationalize ways he could instigate a hot, no-holds-barred encounter with her and still be true to his case.
An ill-advised thought at best. A surefire road to disaster at worst.
She remained perfectly motionless, almost as if she was afraid to breathe for fear of touching him any more. “What are you doing?”
He would take his hands off her any second.
Soon.
“I’m steering you in the other direction.” And proving to her she wasn’t totally immune to him, maybe.
Too bad what started out as a bid to save his ego had just bitten him in the ass.
He no longer had any idea who was proving what to whom. But he knew exactly how much he wanted Brianne right now.
“My office is this way.” She managed to say the words without moving an inch. “Along with all the surveillance equipment.”
Aidan needed to explain he wanted a walk-through of the whole property first. In his mind, he told her exactly that.
In reality, he breathed deep enough to get the full effect of her sex-in-a-bottle perfume.
In reality, he spread his fingers and thumbs a bit farther apart on her waist to cover a little more territory.
And in reality, he knew he didn’t stand a chance of letting go without just one taste.
IF AIDAN HAD TRIED a frontal approach, Brianne would have been prepared.
She would have fended him off with a few well-chosen words, maybe another decorator crack, and she would have been on her way to her office right now.
She hadn’t counted on this sneak offensive from behind.
Funny thing was, now that she stood so close to him, encircled in his arms and surrounded by enough muscle to bench press her several times over, Brianne didn’t feel like fending him off.
To fight against an attraction that had plagued her since high school seemed foolish. And damn it, she hadn’t spent ten years in New York’s balls-to-the-wall film industry only to run away from a little confrontation.
She’d take what she wanted from Aidan and move on. Follow the heat right into the fire of the kiss she wanted so badly and then get on with her life. Nothing like tackling your demons to excise them.
Aidan had started this sultry interlude. But she was going to finish it.
Right here, right now.
She didn’t give him a chance to retreat. Turning in his arms, she faced him in the deserted hallway, stared up into eyes she’d seen in more dreams than she could count.
But instead of allowing Aidan to come to her, as he always had in her overactive imagination, Brianne rose up on her toes to meet his lips with her own.
Consciously, she choreographed the moves as carefully as if she were behind a camera directing the action. This was not a kiss to indulge in for selfish reasons. This would be a tongue-tangle with a mission. Not only would Brianne demolish her old infatuation with Aidan, she also intended to wipe all memory of Daisy Stephenson from his mind while she was at it.
Her hands smoothed over his white T-shirt, appreciating the sculpted perfection of his body. Her fingers twined in his hair, tripped along the back of his neck.
He tasted like toothpaste and Tic Tacs—minty but warm. She anchored herself to him, savoring every inch of his hard masculine planes next to her soft, compliant curves. She couldn’t have molded to him any more perfectly had she been made of Play-Doh.
It would be a challenge to break away from the heat of his body, the seductive taste of a kiss she had been waiting ten years for. But she had no choice.
She had to walk away from him.
And then he touched her.
Perhaps she’d been so absorbed in playing out their kiss just the right way that she hadn’t noticed he wasn’t participating fully.
Until right now.
Aidan’s hands cupped both her hips, steering her exactly where she needed to be between his legs as they stood in the hallway. Brianne didn’t dare open her eyes to peek at their reflection in the swimming-pool size mirror because she had a feeling the image of them pressed together would be too erotic to bear.
But then, keeping her eyes closed proved to be an incredibly sensual experience as well. Without the distraction of her sight, Brianne seemed all the more in tune with her other senses. The slight evergreen scent of his soap mingled with the fragrance of her perfume, the heat of their bodies amplifying the normally subtle smells.
Aidan’s hands continued to hold her prisoner through pleasure. He ran his palms up her shoulders and outlined her collarbone with his fingers. The palms of his hands hovered a scant inch above her breasts, making them tingle and tighten in response.
But more intoxicating than anything else was the wet slide of his lips over hers. His tongue teased and tasted her, made her a full participant in her own seduction.
She could feel herself swaying on her heels, recognized the approach of a sensual tidal wave sure to drag her under. Still, she couldn’t take her hands off Aidan if she tried. Her fingers moved with restless energy over every available inch of him, cataloguing the shape and feel of his chest through his cotton shirt. She pressed him as close as possible to the needy greed of a body gone too long without a man.
Every ounce of her energy went toward remaining on her feet or she might have ended up sprawled across the Moroccan tile with Aidan Maddock.
Instead, a shrill rendition of a pop anthem reached their ears.
She was saved by Summer’s bad taste in music.
Brianne broke away, still reeling from the out-of-control mouth mating. Her heart slammed against her ribs as if she’d sprinted a mile. She simmered with need, her body on fire for more.
But she couldn’t let Aidan know. The man had already refused her once. She would make sure he never had that opportunity again.
It required every shred of her limited acting ability, but Brianne found her motivation in a hurry.
Aidan could never be a part of her life.
“That wasn’t too bad.” She fluffed her hair and called up a smile for Aidan’s benefit, hoping her knees wouldn’t cave right underneath her in the wake of that kiss. “Maybe all you needed was a little practice.”
4
THE KISS HAD OBVIOUSLY fried Aidan’s neurons because no way in hell could he have understood what Brianne had just said. Then again, blood blasted through his veins as if his body was fuel injected, so maybe he just couldn’t hear over the rush of red blood