His arms naturally wrapped her up tight and his fingers and palms caressed the warm skin of her back. She was tantalizing. He was in so much trouble right now, but he couldn’t have cared less. He was ringing the bell and giving up his will … to Melene. He had no idea how a mighty sailor had fallen so quickly, no idea how to navigate a future with her, and at the moment he didn’t care.
“Melene …” Her name came out in a moan.
She smiled up at him, blinking her long lashes at him. “Yes, Aquaman?”
Aiden groaned and bent down. Just one sweet kiss and then he’d apologize for his weakness and somehow regain his strength, distance, and priorities.
A splashing and the sound of voices yanked him from his besotted state and away from Melene’s intoxicating draw.
Aiden spun and held Melene behind him, trying to discern where the sound was coming from, how close it was, and why his alarms hadn’t gone off.
Melene leaned close to him, but to her credit she didn’t cry out or ask questions, seeming to feel the tenseness radiating from him.
Another splash and his gaze was drawn to the south. The moon illuminated a small canoe with two boys manning it. They were smoothly rowing around the cliffs and chattering to each other.
Aiden relaxed slightly. Just a couple of kids out on a ride at night. They were probably sneaking out and thinking they were rebels. He remembered that feeling well with all of his and Thor’s escapades, sturdy tricks, and a few activities that would’ve landed them in a juvenile detention center if they’d been caught. Thankfully, they hadn’t.
He pulled out his phone and checked, but everything was quiet around the villa. He turned slightly and sheltered Melene with his arm. “Just a couple of boys.”
She smiled up at him. “Boys are the best.”
His stomach lifted like he was speeding down a roller coaster. Was he the best? He was a boy. A man, but around her he felt like a boy with his first crush. “What about men?” he asked huskily. “In particular, Aquaman.”
Her smile grew and she cuddled in closer to him, one hand cupping his jawline. Her touch and the look in her eyes made his pulse take off. “Aquaman is the very, very best of all men,” she whispered, leaning up.
Aiden wanted nothing more than to kiss her long and slow, but the splashing and the voices were growing dangerously close. He had to keep his head on straight. The two boys were most likely no danger and wouldn’t expose them, but Aiden was taking no risks with this beautiful woman who was consuming him and becoming his entire world no matter how valiantly he claimed to be fighting these feelings.
He ushered her back across the beach. “Hold that thought,” he murmured. He would get her back to the villa. Set all the alarms. Then he was going to show her exactly how her Aquaman would kiss her. Hang the consequences, their callings in life, and his own fears that their relationship would implode worse than Jake and Charisse’s had.
To his surprise, Melene ducked under his arm and hurried to the water’s edge.
“What are you doing?” he asked, rushing to catch her before the boys saw her.
“I haven’t been around children in almost a week,” she explained. “Can’t we say hello?”
“No.” He shook his head. “What if they recognize you?”
She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “No way would those innocent boys know about some million-dollar bounty.”
Aiden was not taking any risks. He swept her off the ground and against his chest, burying her face into his shoulder. “It’s not worth risking,” he ground out.
“‘ello?” a young voice called. “Whatcha doin’ to the lady?”
Aiden pivoted, hiding her from the boys. “She’s my lady,” he said to them as the canoe got far too close for comfort and then they rammed their small craft into the beach. Those two were fast. “I’m taking her home.”
Melene pulled from his shoulder, and though he could’ve physically prevented her from moving, he didn’t want to be some brute and control her. “I am not your lady,” she shot at him. “You told me yourself we couldn’t get involved.”
Aiden tensed. This was no time to get into that discussion.
“Yo, mon.” The boys scrambled out of the boat and marched right up to them. They couldn’t have been more than seven or eight, scrawny and cute and full of fire, even though neither of them measured above his waist. He had a flashback to him and Thor thinking they were bigger than their britches when they were around seven, telling a couple of teenage boys to stop bullying Bentley Jardine, and gotten beaten up for their intervention. At their begging, Papa had never said anything to their parents or the boys’ parents, but he’d agreed to up their hand-to-hand training.
“You no hurt the lady,” the smaller one demanded.
“Oh my goodness, you’re adorable.” Melene clapped her hands together in delight. “I’m Mel—”
“Melissa,” Aiden interrupted. Did she honestly have no worries of General Phillip finding them? He’d gotten the impression Melene was smart and savvy to the ways of the world, but apparently children caused her to throw any caution out the window.
Kind of like her smile, dark eyes, and warm touch throws all your self restraint out the window?