talk. He’d given her fair warning that what they’d shared would not be one and done. There was no way he would allow her to believe that her involvement with him meant nothing, that she was just another woman to him. She was more than that and he wanted her to know it.
She stirred, shifted in bed and then slowly opened her eyes to stare at him. She blinked a few times as if bringing him into focus—or as if she was trying to figure out if he was really here in her bed.
Aidan let her know she wasn’t seeing things. “Good morning.” He gently caressed her cheek before glancing over at the digital clock on her nightstand. “You woke up early. It’s barely six o’clock.”
“A habit I can’t break,” she said, still staring at him. “You didn’t leave.”
“Was I supposed to?”
She shrugged bare shoulders. “I thought that’s the way it worked.”
She had a lot to learn about him. He wouldn’t claim he’d never left a woman’s bed in the middle of the night, but Jillian was different.
“Not for us, Jillian.” He paused. “We need to talk.”
She broke eye contact as she pulled up in bed, holding the covers in place to shield her nakedness. Aidan thought the gesture amusing considering all they’d done last night. “I know what you’re going to say, Aidan. Although I’ve never heard it before, Ivy has and she told me how this plays out.”
She’d made him curious. “And how does it play out?”
“The guy lets the woman know it was just a one-night stand. Nothing personal and definitely nothing serious.”
He hadn’t used that particular line before, but he’d used similar ones. He decided not to tell her that. “You weren’t a one-night stand, Jillian.”
She nodded. “I do recall you mentioning that last night wouldn’t be your only time with me.”
He tightened his arms around her. “And why do you think I said that?”
“Because you’re a man and most men enjoy sex.”
He smiled. “A lot of women enjoy it, as well. Didn’t you?”
“Yes. There’s no need to lie about it. I definitely enjoyed it.”
A grin tugged at Aidan’s lips. His ego appreciated her honesty. “I enjoyed it, as well.” He kissed her, needing the taste of her.
It was a brief kiss and when he lifted his lips from hers, she seemed stunned by what he’d done. He found that strange considering the number of times they had kissed before.
“So, if you don’t want to say last night was a one-night stand, what is it you want to talk about?” she asked.
He decided to be just as honest as she had been, and got straight to the point. “I want to talk about me. And you. Together.”
She raised a brow. “Together?”
“Yes. I’ve fallen in love with you.”
Jillian was out of the bed in a flash, taking half the blankets with her. She speared Aidan with an angry look. “Are you crazy? You can’t be in love with me. It won’t work, especially when I’m in love with you, too.”
Too late she’d realized what she’d said. From the look on Aidan’s face, he had heard her admission. “If I love you and you love me, Jillian, then what’s the problem?”
She lifted her chin. “The problem is that we can’t be together the way you would want us to be. I was okay with it when it was one-sided and I just loved you and didn’t think you could possibly return the feelings, but now—”
“Hold up,” Aidan said, and her eyes widened when he got off the bed to stand in front of her without a stitch of clothes on. “Let me get this straight. You think it’s okay for me to sleep with you and not be in love with you?”
She tossed her hair back from her face. “Why not? I’m sure it’s done all the time. Men sleep with women they don’t love and vice versa. Are you saying you love every woman you sleep with?”
“No.”
“Okay then.”
“It’s not okay because you’re not any woman. You’re the one that I have fallen in love with.”
Why was he making things difficult? Downright complicated? She had to make him understand. “I could deal with this a lot better if you didn’t love me, mainly because I would have known it wasn’t serious on your end.”
“And that would not have bothered you?”
“Not in the least. I need to stay focused on my studies and I can’t stay focused if I know you feel the same way about me that I feel about you. That only complicates things.”
He stared at her as if he thought she was crazy. In a way she couldn’t very much blame him. Most women would prefer falling in love with a man who loved them, and if things were different she would want that, too. But the time wasn’t right. Men in love made demands. They expected a woman’s time. Her attention. All her energy. And being in love required that a woman give her man what he wanted. Well, she didn’t have the time to do that. She was in medical school. She wanted to be a doctor.
And worse than anything, an Aidan who thought he loved her would cause problems. He wouldn’t want to keep their relationship a secret. He was not a man to be kept in the closet or denied his right to be seen with her. He would want everyone to know they were together and that was something she couldn’t accept.
“I still can’t understand why you think me loving you complicates things,” Aidan said, interrupting her thoughts.
“Because you wouldn’t want to keep our affair a secret. You’ll want to tell everyone. Take me out anyplace you want. You wouldn’t like the thought of us sneaking around.”
“No, I wouldn’t.” He gently pulled her into his arms. She would have pushed him away if he hadn’t at that moment tugged the bedcovers from her hands leaving her as naked as he was. The moment their bodies touched, arousal hit her in the core. She was suddenly reminded of what they’d done last night and how they’d done it. From the way his eyes darkened, she knew he was reliving those same sizzling memories.
“Jillian.”
“Aidan.”
He drew her closer and closed his mouth over hers. She was lost. For a long while, all she could do was stand there feeling his body plastered to hers, feeling his erection pressed against her, feeling the tips of her nipples poking into his chest while he kissed her. Frissons of fire raced up her spine.
And when she felt herself being maneuvered toward the bed, she was too caught up in desire to do anything about it. The same urgency to mate that had taken hold of him had fused itself to her. As soon as her back touched the mattress she slid from
