The Proposition (4 page)

He gave her a crooked grin. “You vastly
underestimate your allure and sex appeal.”

“If I’m going to even begin to take you
seriously, you’re going to have to give me a better reason than
that.”

Aidan squirmed a little in his chair and
cleared his throat before replying. “Well, there is another
reason…”

“And?”

He scowled at her. “Okay, fine. I promised my
mother when she was dying of cancer that I would have children some
day. This way, I figure I can keep my promise with the least amount
of commitment necessary.”

Although he tried to hide it, Emma could see
the pain simmering in Aidan’s eyes. It was obvious how much he
loved his late mother. “I’m very sorry about your mother,” she
murmured.

He shrugged. “It was five years ago.”

“Why did she make you promise to have
children? I mean, didn’t she just assume you would have them one
day?”

“Not really.”

She gave a disgusted shake of her head. “I
bet you can’t even stand being around kids.”

“For your information, I have nine nieces and
nephews and a three month old great-nephew. If you talked to any of
them, they would tell you what a good uncle I am.” He took out his
iPhone and scrolled through a few pictures before thrusting the
screen in front of her.

“Oh,” Emma murmured, as she surveyed the
smiling faces. “I didn’t realize you had such a big family.”

“Four sisters, remember? Plus, we’re Irish
Catholic.”

She nodded. “Aren’t you a little young for a
great nephew?”

He pointed to an attractive middle-aged
woman. “Angela is fifteen years older than I am, and Megan wasn’t
actually expecting to become a mother at twenty-two.”

Emma smiled at the newborn in the young
girl’s arms. “He’s beautiful.”

“In nine months, that could be you,” Aidan
said softly.

Emotions swelled in her chest, and she felt
like she couldn’t breathe. She momentarily closed her eyes,
desperately trying to keep the frail thread of her sanity from
snapping in two. The answer to all her problems was sitting
directly across from her. All she had to do was say yes, and she
could finally be a mother. It was all too much to process, and she
desperately needed to get away from Aidan to think clearly.

When she finally opened her eyes again, she
found Aidan staring at her. She smiled apologetically. “I’ve had a
lot thrown at me today. I’m going to need some time to think about
this.”

“I understand. Take all the time you need.
You know where to find me.”

Emma nodded and then stood up. “Thanks for
the drinks…and for listening.”

He nodded. “Anytime.”

And then she did something that surprised
herself. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. When she pulled
away, Aidan’s eyes bulged. “Goodnight,” she murmured before
hightailing it out of the bar.

Late summer heat smacked against her face as
she started into the night. Drained emotionally and physically, her
legs felt wobbly, and she stumbled a little on the uneven pavement.
She had just entered the dimly lit parking deck when someone
grabbed her arm. Emma whirled around and used all her strength to
connect with the assailant’s face. Hard.

“Damn, you have a good right hook,” Aidan
groaned, bringing his hand to his right eye.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know it was
you!” she apologized.

“No, it’s okay. I was a dick to not call out
your name first.” He peeked at her through one eye. “Let me guess.
You took the company up on their Female Assertiveness Training
course?” She bobbed her head. “Yeah, well, they taught you well.
I’m just glad you didn’t go for the old SING method.”

“Oh, the Solarplexus, Instep, Nose, Groin
thing?”

Aidan nodded. “Nailing me in the balls
wouldn’t have worked very well with my offer.”

Desperate to change the subject away from his
manly parts, she asked, “What are you doing anyway?”

“My car is here.”

“Oh, that’s right,” she muttered, feeling
like an idiot.

“And I promised Connor I’d make sure you got
to your car okay.”

She tried to resist the fluttering of her
heart at his act of kindness. “Thank you. That was awfully sweet of
you.” She pointed down the aisle. “I’m just over there.”

“I can walk you.” When she eyed him
skeptically, he grinned. “You know, to prove chivalry isn’t dead
and all.”

“Okay then.”

Their shoes echoed off the pavement, filling
the silent parking deck. “So, um, do you live nearby?” he
asked.

“No, I’m about thirty minutes away in East
Cobb.”

“That’s not too bad a drive. You know, when
there isn’t any traffic.”

Emma ducked her head to keep from giggling at
Aidan’s bad attempt at small talk. She must not have hid her
amusement very well because he suddenly asked, “What’s so
funny?”

She smiled. “Oh, I was just wondering when
you might mention the weather.”

“I was that bad, huh?”

“It’s okay.”

He grinned at her. “I guess I’m off my game
because you’re not like the women I usually come in contact with.”
When she opened her mouth to protest, he shook his head. “Trust me,
Em, it’s a compliment.”

“Oh, I see.” Emma motioned to her Accord.
“Well, here I am.”

“Connor would be proud I got you here safe
and sound.”

Emma grunted as she fished her keys out of
her purse. “If he lives to see tomorrow after blabbing to you like
he did. I’m surprised he hasn’t taken out a billboard on I-75
saying, “Please Knock Up My Friend!”

Aidan laughed. “Go easy on him. He cares
about you.”

Her eyes widened in surprise at the
tenderness of his tone. “I know he does.” They stood awkwardly for
a moment, staring into each other’s eyes. “Well, thanks again for
tonight and for walking me to my car.”

“You’re welcome.” While Emma pressed the
unlock button on her key fob, Aidan started walking away, but then
he stopped. He turned back and shook his head. “Oh fuck it.” Taking
Emma totally off guard, he shoved her against the car. He wrapped
his arms around her waist, jerking her flush against him.
Electricity tingled through her at his touch, and his scent invaded
her nostrils, making her feel lightheaded.

She squirmed in his arms. “What are you—”

He silenced her by leaning over and crushing
his lips against hers. She protested by pushing her hands against
his chest, but the warmth of his tongue sliding open her lips
caused her to feel weak. Her arms fell limply at her sides.

Aidan’s hands swept from her waist and up her
back. He tangled his fingers through her long hair as his tongue
plunged in her mouth, caressing and teasing Emma’s. Her hands left
her side to wrap around his neck, drawing him even closer to her.
God, it had been so very long since someone had kissed her, and it
had taken Travis a week to get up the nerve to kiss her like this.
Aidan was hot and heavy right out of the gate.

Using his hips, Aidan kept her pinned against
the car as he kept up his assault on her mouth. Just when she
thought she couldn’t breathe and might pass out, he released her
lips. Staring down at her with eyes hooded and drunk with desire,
Aidan smiled. “Maybe that will help you with your decision.”

And then he pulled away and started off back
down the aisle, leaving her hot, bothered, and alone against the
car.

During the
next day at lunch, Casey strolled through Emma’s office door and
tossed her wallet on the desk. “Do not under any circumstances let
me near the vending machines. I have another dress fitting in a
week, and it’s salads and celery until then.”

Emma half-heartedly chuckled. Her mind was
still reeling from the previous night’s events to be too involved
in Casey’s wedding dress diet drama. She had spent the night
tossing and turning as her mind whirled with Aidan’s proposition.
But mainly she’d been kept awake by her lips still burning from
Aidan’s scorching kiss. Her body had ached with longing most of the
night as well until she had finally broken down and dug her
vibrator out of the nightstand drawer.

After plopping down in the chair, Casey
cocked her head at Emma. “What’s up with you?”

“Nothing,” Emma lied.

Casey eyed her while opening up her
Tupperware container. “Bullshit. You look like hell.”

“Thanks. I’m going to assume that’s the low
carb diet stress talking, and you’re not just intentionally being
bitchy?”

“Ha, ha. You look like you’re having a baby
shower emotional hangover today,” Casey replied, through a forkful
of lettuce.

“No, it’s nothing like that.” She doodled
mindlessly on her desk calendar. Although she wasn’t really sure
she was ready to say anything to Casey about her evening with
Aidan, she would burst if she didn’t tell someone. At the same
time, she knew she needed her best friend’s advice if she was
really going to take his offer seriously. “Case?”

“Hmm?” Casey didn’t look up. Instead, she
stared at her salad with a disgusted expression. “You know, I’d
kill for some ranch dressing right now.”

“I need to tell you something.”

Casey snatched her gaze from the Tupperware
over to Emma. “Oh shit. I don’t like your tone. What is it? You’re
getting fired? No, wait,
I’m
getting fired?”

Emma waved her hand dismissively. “No, no,
it’s nothing like that. It’s just…” She drew in a deep breath.
“After the baby shower, I had drinks with Aidan Fitzgerald.”

“Oh Jesus you didn’t! Em, I warned you about
him!” Casey pinched her eyes shut. “Please tell me he didn’t take
advantage of your weak emotional state after the baby shower?”

“Give me a little credit,” Emma huffed.

Casey’s dark eyes flew open. “Then what
happened?”

Emma then proceeded to tell her everything
from Connor showing up and confronting her to Aidan’s offer of DNA.
When she got to the part of conceiving naturally, Casey shot out of
her chair, sending her salad flying. “Holy shit, Em!”

“I didn’t say yes.”

Casey’s eyes widened. “And why not?”

“Why
not
? You just freaked out two
seconds ago when you thought I had hooked up with him!”

“That’s different. I know you want a
relationship—a
husband
, and Aidan Fitzgerald is
not
husband material. But he’s sure as hell stud material.” When Emma
didn’t respond, Casey leaned over her desk. “Why did you really
turn him down?”

Emma refused to look up. “Well…you know.”

“That’s your answer? I can’t think of a
possible reason to say no! Let me break it down for you. You have
the opportunity to get what you want most in this world, a
baby
, from a smart, healthy, good-looking man while
combining it with potentially mind blowing sex.”

Emma flushed and shook her head. “You know my
experience, or lack thereof, with men. I wouldn’t even know how to
begin.”

“Oh, I’ve got a million different scenarios
in mind right now on how you start,” Casey replied, waggling her
eyebrows.

“Ew!” Emma screeched.

Casey laughed. “Okay, okay, I won’t torture
you with anymore innuendos.”

“Thank you.”

“But,” Casey said, holding up one hand, “only
if you’ll promise to take Aidan up on his offer.”

Emma jerked her fingers through her hair in
frustration. “Trust me, there’s a very insistent but annoying voice
in my head telling me to march up to his office this very instant
and tell him yes. Like it was some weird twisted stroke of fate
that made him appear when he did last night.”

“Sounds like the voice of reason talking to
you, and I couldn’t agree with it more. He’s offering to give you
the experience of a lifetime, in more ways than one. I mean, if I
hadn’t been in love with Nate for five years, I would’ve considered
letting Aidan make a play for me.”

Emma crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh
really?”

“Yes,” Casey replied dreamily. “It’s like I
told you before, he’s sex on a stick. Who wouldn’t want to
experience that at least once in their life?”

“So what you’re saying is Nate isn’t sex on a
stick?”

Casey chuckled. “Nate is barely sex on a low
fat wheat-thin. But I sowed a few wild oats back in my day, so I’m
totally satisfied with what I have.” She bent over to grab up her
abandoned container and silverware. Waving her fork at Emma, she
said, “You, on the other hand, have a bag of oats needing
satisfying.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Let’s leave my oats
out of this please.”

“Come on, Em. Aren’t you the least bit
curious what it might be like to have sex with him?”

Heat rose in Emma’s cheeks as she thought of
Aidan’s steamy kiss against the car. If he could get her that hot
and bothered in a dingy parking lot, what could he do in the
bedroom? “Of course I am. I’m about to hit my sexual prime, so I’m
not totally dead in the desire area.”

“Then what the hell is the problem?”

Emma pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Okay,
here’s a really bad analogy for you. Aidan is like the Indy 500 of
Sex, and I need someone who is more—”

“Bumper cars?”

“I was going to say the slow lane,
smartass.”

Casey laughed. “Sorry. I couldn’t help going
there.” She straightened up in her chair. “Go on then.”

Emma twirled her pencil absentmindedly. “What
I meant is that Travis and I were the same speed. Sure, I’d messed
around with a few guys, had some third base action, but nothing
like with him. He had only been with one other girl. We dated
forever, and he was patient and took his time.” She shook her head.
“Aidan doesn’t impress me as the patient, understanding type. He’s
more like the ‘wham, bam, thank you ma’am’ type.’”

“You won’t ever know unless you try. And
hell, Em, he’s not a Neanderthal whose going to grab you up by the
hair and drag you off to his cave.” Casey paused and licked her
lips. “Although that scenario has some kinky potential.”