Read Online Starbright by Alexandra Richland - Free Book Online Page A

remain a gentleman and depart from the bathroom no matter what.
    “Yeah?”
    “Please don’t go yet.”
    Aidan’s tenacity vanished. He turned around. The look in Beth’s eyes showed she wanted him here as much as he didn’t want to leave. He approached her slowly and discovered she was no longer shaking. He touched a tender hand to her cheek. She was no longer cold.
    Aidan bathed in her vanilla scent, which was extra potent from the rain. Her lips were just an impulse away, but he wasn’t about to be reckless with her. Not with Beth. Not his fragile little dove.
    “You’re so beautiful.” The compliment slipped from his lips in a reverent whisper.
    Aidan dipped his head and swept his arms around her waist. Beth closed her eyes in silent offering. Ever so slowly, he brought their lips together, his hands traveling down her sides to her hips.
    Beth whimpered and returned the kiss, weaving her fingers into his damp hair, tugging, swirling, and scratching. Aidan took that as a green light to go further. With a gentle nudge, his tongue entered her mouth. He was greeted with generous sucking and moaning.
    “Oh, Aidan.” Beth dragged her hands down his back, pawing at him in a desperate fashion. “I want… I want…”
    He pulled back slightly. “What is it, baby?”
    “Can you… touch my breasts?” Her voice was quiet but assertive.
    Aidan’s eyes flashed to hers. Had he misheard her? Was his mind trying to trick him into thinking she had sanctioned the act he’d longed to perform since he discovered her at his front door?
    When he realized she had, in fact, made the request, he grew concerned over where things might lead should he agree to it, and if he’d have the ability to stop himself before they got carried away.
    Beth’s face creased in confusion. “Do you not want to?”
    “I do.” His voice was hoarse all of a sudden. “You have no idea how much.”
    “Then touch me, Aidan… as you wish.”
    Aidan swallowed hard, his eyes the setting for a battle between reason and desire. “If you knew half of the things going through my mind right now, you wouldn’t say that.”
    Beth took his hands and squeezed gently. “Please, I need you.”
    He frowned. “That’s what frightens me.”
    Her lips formed a pout. “I frighten you?”
    “It’s not you, Beth,” he said, gazing into brown eyes that were so honest, so dependent, so warm. “It’s what I could do to you that scares me.”
    Beth kissed his lips tenderly. Then she said the three magic words that restored his confidence. “I trust you.”
    The yearning in her voice set Aidan’s blood aflame. He preferred not to do this in the bathroom, but she might get the wrong idea if he asked her to move into his bedroom.
    With his hands on her hips, he leaned in and kissed her carefully, unsure of how she would respond. His worry disappeared when Beth wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back with tongue and fervor, her body uniting with his.
    Aidan’s heart pumped fast as he pressed light kisses to her lips, her cheeks, and her throat, enjoying how receptive she was to his touch.
    His hands came to rest below her breasts.
    “Beth, you need to tell me where exactly you want me to go from here. What you want me to do. I won’t act upon my own desires. I won’t make assumptions.” His eyes brewed fear and vulnerability. “I can’t—not with you.”
    A crimson flush blossomed from her cheeks to her chest. “Can you touch me underneath my clothes?”
    Aidan cleared his throat. “Would you like to remove your slip or me?”
    “You.” That blush of hers deepened. “But I’d like to remove my brassiere, if you don’t mind.”
    Aidan nodded.
    Watching her face for signs of uneasiness, he lifted his hands to her shoulders and drifted them down her arms, taking with him the thin straps of her slip. The silk fell away, catching at her hips, leaving her covered from the waist down.
    Aidan took a step back as Beth undid the clasp of her