The Proposition (9 page)

“No, as a matter of fact I didn’t.”

Casey squealed and then flopped down in the
chair. “Deets, Em! I desperately need deets!”

“Then go be a good best friend and get me
some coffee,” Emma moaned.

With a huff, Casey rose out of her chair.
“Fine. But you better give me every single, erotic detail when I
get back!”

As Casey stalked out the door, Emma sat her
things down and turned on her computer. In the middle of reading
her appointments for the day, her phone buzzed in her purse. She
grabbed it out and scrolled through her texts. Seeing one from
Aidan caused her heart to leap into her throat.

Sorry I didn’t say good-bye. You looked too
peaceful to wake up. Looking forward to Wednesday---A

Emma couldn’t fight the goofy grin from
filling her cheeks. He wasn’t such a huge asshole after all. He
actually cared enough to send her a text to check on her.

Quickly, her fingers flew over her keyboard.
Thanks. I did sleep well last night…well, after everything. I’m
looking forward to Wednesday too.

Casey came in the door with a steaming mug of
coffee and passed it over to Emma.

As Emma blew little waves over the dark
liquid, Casey’s lips turned downwards into a pout. “Em, I really am
hurt you didn’t call me on the way home this morning. I mean, I’ve
been dying all night and morning to hear from you! I drove Nate
practically crazy last night wondering about how you were
doing.”

Emma shot out of her chair, sloshing coffee
onto the floor. “You seriously told Nate about mine and Aidan’s
hookup?”

Casey rolled her yes. “Of course I did. Don’t
you think he’d wonder what was up when you turned up pregnant out
of the blue?”

“I guess you have a point.”

“I think by the end of the night, he was just
as antsy to hear from you as well. I think his concern was more
about making sure you were okay, and that Aidan hadn’t tied you up
to subject you to some kinky shit or something.”

Sweeping her hand to her hip, Emma gave Casey
an exasperated look. “And what did you expect? Me to text you a
blow by blow account of what was happening?”

“That would have been interesting. I’m not
sure how moans and groans translate in text speak.”

“You’re impossible,” Emma muttered, gulping
down some coffee. The warm liquid burned a welcoming caffeine trail
down her throat and to her stomach.

“So how was it?”

A flashback of the previous night’s events
flickered through Emma’s mind like an X-rated movie, and she
couldn’t help blushing. “Amazing.”

“So it was everything you thought it would be
with him?”

Emma nodded. “And more.”

Relishing every detail, Casey leaned forward
so far in her chair that she almost face-planted to the floor. “So
how many times did you come?”

“Casey!” Emma cried.

“Oh come on, Em! With Nate’s crazy interning
hours, I have to live vicariously through you,” Casey argued.

Warmth flooded into Emma’s cheeks. “Okay,
fine then. Four…No wait five. There was the time in the shower,
too.”

Casey’s dark eyes widened, and she clapped
her hands gleefully. “Em, that’s fanfuckingtastic!!”

“Only you would clap for orgasms!”

“I can’t help it! I’m just so happy for
you.”

A dreamy sigh escaped Emma’s lips and then
she told Casey some of the details that weren’t so mortifying. When
she got to the part about Aidan staying the night, Casey’s eyebrows
furrowed. “What’s wrong? Didn’t you think that was sweet?” Emma
asked.

“Yeah, it is but…”

Emma twisted her hands frantically. “Would
you just spit it out?”

“I just want you to be careful, Em. You’ve
slept with him once, and you’re already starting to invest too much
emotionally.”

“I am not!” Emma protested.

“Yes, you are. You wigged out when he tried
to leave last night, and you’re already giddy about him texting you
this morning. I just don’t want to see you get hurt, okay?”

Emma let her head fall back against the
chair’s headrest and sighed. “You’re right. I am feeling too much.”
She blew a strand of hair out of her face and gazed over at Casey.
“Why does everything have to be so damn hard on me? Women
everywhere can drop their panties and have mindless sex, but no,
not me. I have to get emotionally invested in a douchenozzle who is
only willing to knock me up for his own pleasure!”

Casey laughed. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.
Even I have to admit that the douchenozzle, as you call him, does
have some serious seductive game. Hell, I might’ve even been
tempted to feel a little more with the fact he took me to dinner,
gave me lingerie, and stayed the night.”

“I need a new strategy. I’m going to have to
keep it purely physical from now on out. I’ll go in, do the deed,
and get the hell out of there.”

“That’s my girl.”

On Wednesday when Emma stepped into Aidan’s
office, he glanced up from his paperwork and drank in every aspect
of her appearance. She knew she appeared so different than how he
left her the other morning—practically naked under the sheets with
her long auburn hair splayed across the pillow. Today she appeared
every bit the seasoned professional woman in her pencil thin grey
skirt, black frilly blouse, and heels. She’d also swept her hair
into a loose knot. But even as finely dressed as she was, she might
as well have been naked from the way he was staring at her.

Get in and get out quickly, and you don’t
get hurt
she tried reminding herself. She met Aidan’s hooded
eyes and blushed. “Hi,” she said, shyly.

“Hello. To what do I owe the pleasure of
seeing you?”

Deep breath, Em. You can do this. All he
can do is say no…and then potentially embarrass the hell out of you
for suggesting such a thing in the middle of the day. Not to
mention he could potentially file a sexual harassment charge.
She glanced around. “Um, you aren’t busy right at the moment, are
you?”

“No, I’m in between meetings. Why?”

She chewed her lip Once again, she was unsure
if she could actually approach him like this. From the moment she
took her ovulation test in the bathroom, her mind screamed how
crazy she was to even think of propositioning Aidan while they were
at work. The entire elevator ride up, her conscious worked in
overdrive to call her a brazen slut for even considering a booty
call in the middle of the day.

She tuned the voices in her head out. “Well,
you see, my temperature spiked a little while ago.”

Aiden’s brows furrowed. “You came up here to
tell me you’re sick?”

With a nervous laugh, Emma replied, “No, no,
it’s nothing like that. It’s just…” She drew in a breath, trying to
still her nerves. It did little to help her shaking knees.
Especially since she was going to have to talk about more alleged
unmentionables again. “You see I’ve been taking these tests to tell
when I’m ovulating and when I’m most fertile. And well…it’s
now.”

He stared at her, unblinking and barely
breathing, for a moment before a smirk curved on his lips. “Oh, so
you came up here for a fuck?”

Emma cringed. “Do you always have to be so
crude?”

He chuckled. “I’m sorry. Would you prefer I
call it an afternoon delight?” he teased, seeming to enjoy the fact
she was now squirming in her heels.

“Please stop,” she murmured. Testing her
courage, she stepped closer to his desk. Miraculously, the legs
that felt rubbery actually supported her. With him acting like such
a sex crazed ass, she didn’t have to worry about not feeling
anything for him. This was the despicable Aidan she remembered from
the Christmas party, not the one who had spooned with her the other
night. She realized she needed to file away his behavior in her
mind for whenever she started slipping into the emotional land mine
of feeling more for him.

Drawing on more willpower caused her to inch
around the side of the desk. When she met Aidan’s leering gaze, she
sighed. “Could you please act the way you did the other night?”

“And how was that?”

She ducked her head. “I don’t know…just not
like this.”

“I’m sorry, Em. It’s just I’m not used to
being made to feel like a piece of meat in the middle of the
day.”

She met his amused gaze. “I’m sorry if I made
you feel like that. I would much rather have waited for tonight.
You can’t imagine how hard this is for me. To come up here and
proposition you like this is absolutely terrifying, not to mention
mortifying. But as much as I hate it, I need you to help me
conceive. And I need you
now
.”

Aidan shifted in his chair, and Emma could
tell her plea was having an effect on him. “I have to admit that
you needing me like this is one hell of a turn on, Em,” he mused.
Motioning to the door, he instructed, “Lock it.”

Emma scurried to ensure nobody would
interrupt them. When she returned to his side, Aidan pressed the
button on his phone. His secretary’s voice came over the speaker.
“Yes, Mr. Fitzgerald?”

“Marilyn, please push back my 3:00 meeting.
I’ve had something unexpectedly come up.” He winked at Emma.

“Yes sir.”

“And please make sure I’m not disturbed for
the next thirty minutes.”

“I certainly will.

Once Emma was sure he had hung up, she shook
her head. “Half an hour? Someone sure thinks highly of himself and
his stamina.”

Aidan laughed. “Never doubt my stamina.”
Rolling his chair back, he swiveled around to where his knees
knocked into hers. Desire burned in his eyes as he brought his
hands up and laced his fingers around the back of his head. “Okay
then. I’m all yours, babe. All you have to do is take me.”

Emma’s eyes widened. “But aren’t you…” she
trailed off, her gaze flickering over to the leather couch.

He slowly shook his head back and forth.
“You’re the one who needs me. The ball’s in your court.”

Mortification and anger rocketed through her.
He would make this harder on her than it had to be. “Fine,” she
huffed. Without taking her eyes off of his, she jerked her straight
skirt up to her hips.

Aidan sucked in a breath when she flashed him
a view of her lacy thigh highs. “Damn, those are sexy,” he
murmured.

After she slipped off her panties, Emma eased
her skirt back down a little and stepped over to him. She would
have loved to smack the smirk right off of his handsome face. The
amused glint in his blue eyes told her he was enjoying her
embarrassment way too much. With more force than she needed, she
knocked his legs apart with one of her knees. She then bent over
him, bringing her fingers to his belt. His erection already tented
his pants. After quickly unzipping him, she started to ease down
onto his lap.

“What no foreplay?” Aidan asked, his voice
vibrating with humor.

She scowled at him. “This isn’t about getting
off. It’s about getting what I want,” she countered, her hand
slipping into his underwear to grip him around her fingers.

“Sorry babe. But if
I
don’t get off,
you
don’t get what you want.”

Rolling her eyes, she guided his erection
between her thighs. As she slid slowly and deliciously down the
length of him, Aidan groaned and brought his lips to her neck. Once
he was all the way inside her, he licked a moist trail up to her
ear, sucking on her earlobe. “Hmm, someone’s so wet and ready for
me without even a touch. I must have some effect on you, babe.”

Emma ran her fingers through his hair,
jerking his head up to meet her gaze. With a smile, she said,
“Don’t flatter yourself. It’s clearly biology. It’s the hormones
and estrogen, not you, that’s got me this…”

He gripped her hips tight, his fingers
splaying into her flesh. “Say it.”

She hesitated before whispering, “Wet.”

Aidan growled and thrust his tongue into her
mouth. Emma shifted her rhythm to ride him faster. His hands eased
from her hips to the waistband of her skirt. After he untucked her
shirt, his determined fingers worked their way down the row of tiny
pearl buttons.

Emma bit her lip when his hand slipped inside
the lacy cup of her bra to caress one of her breasts. As his thumb
pinched her nipple, she couldn’t help the moan that escaped her
lips. She hated herself even more when Aidan smiled triumphantly up
at her. He was determined she would want him for more than just
procreating, and it pissed her off she had given in to him. Anger
pushed her to rock harder against him, hoping to finish him off
quicker.

But Aidan must have anticipated her. He
gripped both sides of her buttocks firmly in his hands and then
scooted to the chair edge. Emma squealed and gripped her legs
around his waist to keep from falling. “Hold on,” Aidan said. In
one sweeping movement, he was on his feet, sending Emma’s arms
tight around his neck. His chuckle warmed her ear. “Ease up a bit,
babe. I’d still like to breathe.”

“Sorry,” she whimpered.

He gently eased her down on the edge of his
desk, and then brought his lips to hers. Kissing her hungrily, he
pushed her onto her back. She shifted her hips and once again
wrapped her legs around his waist, bringing him in even deeper.
They both groaned against each other’s lips at the sensation.
“Fuck, Emma,” he murmured as he thrust into her.

Keeping a steady pace, he tore his lips from
hers to start kissing down her neck. His mouth replaced where his
hand had been earlier, tonguing and sucking on her nipple. Emma
closed her eyes. Her resolve not to feel anything faded as she
panted and pushed herself further into his mouth. When he moved to
the other breast, she knew she was close to the edge of coming.
“Aidan,” she panted.

He raised his head from her breast to watch
her as she came. “Seeing you do that drives me crazy,” he said. He
thrust a few more times and then he was done. “Christ!” he cried
out.