More Than a Mission - Caridad Pineiro [53]
Aidan.
Funny how in a few short days he had become familiar enough that she could pick him out even from a distance.
He strolled onto the sand, but then just stood there, staring out to sea, hands tucked into his jeans pockets. Eventually, he plopped down before one small dune to watch the ocean.
She had a choice to make: turn around or keep on walking.
It took her but a moment to make the decision.
Chapter 18
“The Sparrow’s at nine o’clock and approaching slowly,” Lucia advised, but Aidan dared not move. Better not to let her know he was aware of her presence.
Instead, he whispered, “I’m going incommunicado, Red Rover.”
Lucia’s response came immediately, but he curtly advised, “I can’t think personal knowing you’re in my head, over.”
With that, he removed the earpiece, turned it off and stuck it into the back pocket of his jeans. The front one would be too obvious if they got down to doing what he wanted to be doing.
Solely on a business level, he reminded himself.
The sand masked the sound of her approach. When her bright-pink-painted toenails were directly to the left of him, he finally looked up.
She stared at him intently, as if trying to solve a puzzle, before she said, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were following me.”
Not quite what a normal woman would say, and a reinforcement of his colleagues’ suspicions about her true identity. Playing coy, he glanced over his shoulder behind her and then up to the public-access ramp he’d descended to reach the beach. Finally meeting her gaze directly, but with an easy smile on his face, he replied, “Seems to me I’m the one who’s sitting near his tiny pay-by-the-night room at the somewhat dubious Leonia Inn, while you, on the other hand, are quite a distance away from your cottage. So, who’s following who?”
She chuckled while shaking her head. “Touché.” Without waiting or asking she plopped down next to him and mimicked his stance, knees drawn up to her chest, arms wrapped around them. “What are you doing here?”
Playing it cool, he thought, but instead responded, “Watching the moon and stars and the ocean. And now, sitting beside a beautiful woman.”
Snorting inelegantly, she bumped his shoulder with hers. “You are such a liar.”
Pot calling the kettle black. “And you? What are you doing here?”
A long pause followed his question. He was unprepared when she said, “Wondering what it would be like to kiss you again.”
Barely containing his groan, he sneaked a peek at her. Despite her audacious words, she was staring straight ahead, a blush so bright on her cheeks that not even the indistinct light of the moon could hide it.
“Okay, so you’re right that I’m a liar,” he said and shifted slightly so that he might face her. As he did so, his butt sank a little deeper into the sand and his knee brushed her side.
She turned so that she might also be able to see him better and studied him intently. “So I’m not beautiful?”
Balls. The lady had them in spades and he liked it. Possibly too much. Cradling the side of her face, he ran his thumb along the blush of color. Was it his imagination or was her skin hotter? “That’s not what I lied about.”
She arched her perfectly waxed brow upward. It only emphasized her sexy girl-next-door look. “Really? So what—”
He slipped his thumb over her lips, silencing her. “I wasn’t just watching the ocean and the stars. I was thinking of how nice it would be to kiss you, too.”
“Liar,” she repeated again, taking him aback.
“Huh?
“You were thinking about doing more than kissing and duh, so was I,” she confessed, took his thumb between her teeth and gave a little love bite.
This time he did groan. When she licked the bite, it was impossible to ignore her offer.
He reached out and scooped her up into his lap, her knees splayed around his waist. He was totally hard and she couldn’t fail to notice. He didn’t rush it though, letting her get settled in a comfortable position.