Silence was imperative if itwasa home invader, but I needed to know so I screamed, "Aidan! Please tell me that’s you!"
"Who else did you expect?" He walked through the door as calm and as collected as you like and turned on the lights. The instant relief I felt got me riled up. "Jen?"
His mockery had me squinting at him and blowing out a puff of breath to get the hair off my forehead.
In comparison to my discomposure, he was so put together it was annoying. He’d always been hot, but this year, some of the strain had begun to ease from his features.
His cheeks were no longer gaunt; the creases around his eyes and at the bridge of his nose hadn’t disappeared, but they were easing up as if he weren’t scowling so much anymore.
Salt and pepper flecks blurred in the tangled dark hair that always made my fingers itch with the need to stroke it, and his bright green eyes were no longer muted, but bright with life. Even after the last couple weeks of stress and strain, of grief, they hadn’t reverted to how they’d been last December.
There were makings of a beard on that jaw of his that was forged from cast iron... God, he was beautiful.
"Little one?" he rumbled, making me realize I’d just been gawking at him.
Heart beginning to slow now he was in my sights, the shock slowly leaching out of my system, I whispered, "I thought you could be a home invader."
"Shit!" His jaw tensed, and his anger, self-aimed, had him storming over to me. "I am so fucking sorry, sweetheart. I never thought—"
"No. I didn’t either," I admitted gruffly. "Until you opened the door."
His hands stroked down my arms before he pressed a kiss to my mouth. "Let’s get you loose."
His reaction was so immediate that it calmed me down. "No. I don’t want that. I don’t need that. I just need you."
"You have me." He wrapped his arms around my waist which was pretty awkward in my current position, but I’d take it.
Pushing my face under his chin, I forced myself to calm down and slowed my breathing by sucking in air that scented of him.
His arms tightened. "Are you okay?"
I firmed my mouth to still a quiver. "I’m fine. I just freaked myself out."
"No one will get into our home again, Savannah," he told me, his voice a strange combination of smooth and rough that had all the hairs on the back of my neck standing to attention. "Tell me you trust me to keep you safe."
"I trust you to keep me safe," I whispered, joining our mouths together in a silent reunion.
I breathed into that kiss and he swallowed it, took a hold of me and my fears and turned them the right side up.
When he pulled back, I murmured, "I want you to be safe too, Aidan.I need that.I won’t do anything to jeopardize that."
Slowly, he pulled back, dipping his chin to allow his slippery gaze to drift along my body.
Something about how he looked at me always set me on fire.
"Look at that pussy," he mused, making me bite my bottom lip in response. "Bright red and wet. Need my dick, little one? Even after the scare?"
Swallowing, I nodded.
His smile was a surprising combination of tender and cocky—it looked good on him.
Seeing him stand looked better, so did watching him walk over to the vanity table.
Not for the first time, relief filled me that he’d listened to me and had gone to the doctor my dad had used for the knee replacement surgery.
He was stronger. Not just because of that, but because he’d been working out too.
I didn’t think he was unstoppable, but he was a damn sight less of a target than he’d been before, now that his knee was at almost total functionality.