Love notes Read Online Free PDF Page B

absolutely, and that’s myself.”
    “Would that same therapist call
that trust issues?”
    “I prefer to call it inner
strength.”
    Her cheeks flushed furiously,
despite the cold and her body tensed. “In fact, I should be
thanking you, Aiden. Had we stayed together, I might never have
gone to America. I certainly wouldn’t have met Marty in a seedy
bar, or made millions out of writing songs about broken hearts.”
She allowed herself a quiet laugh. “Little Miss Naked turned you
into a two-timing bastard and me into a very rich woman. Seems I
got the better half of the bargain. I hope she was worth it.”
    Aiden couldn’t help himself and
his full lips softened into a slow, sexy smile. “Trust me. Compared
with you, no one since has been worth it.” Taking her by surprise,
he pulled off his glove and trailed a warm finger down her cold
cheek, sending shivers through Erika. “You’re still the most
beautiful woman I ever saw.”
    Erika jerked her head back,
breaking the contact. “You and ten million other men share the same
thought. Join the queue.”
    She’d heard all she wanted to
and got to her feet, ready to go back down the hill to the car, but
Aiden caught her hand.
    “Sit down,” he ordered. “You’re
not fit to walk back yet.”
    He unzipped the rucksack he’d
carried up the hill and produced a flask of coffee. He poured a cup
and held it out to Erika. The prospect of feeling warm again for
the first time in hours proved too tempting and she sat down,
tucking herself into an alcove in the rocks out of the wind. Aiden
joined her there, his broad, warm body shielding her from the worst
of the cold as she laced her fingers around the mug and felt
sensation returning to her hands.
    “You came prepared,” she said,
nodding toward the bag. “I wouldn’t have had you down as a boy
scout.” Far too naughty for that.
    “The art of survival on freezing
building sites,” he confessed. “Thick coat, warm boots and hot
coffee.”
    He took a sip and it glistened
on his lips, drawing Erika’s attention to the sensual curve of his
mouth. It became impossible to ignore the memory of those lips
scorching her skin as they’d trailed kisses along her spine and
down the backs of her thighs.
    Or the way Aiden had held her
face between his hands as he’d kissed her so deeply she’d been
transported beyond herself on a tide of passion and longing.
    What was it about Aiden Thirstan
that had her cursing his existence one minute and then remembering
the most disturbingly erotic things about him the next?
    As if it were yesterday, she
could recall the warm, masculine scent of him, and the taste of his
skin as she ran her tongue from his navel to the hollow at the base
of his neck.
    She closed her eyes to slam down
the shutter on such mutinous thoughts and hide the alarming
pictures passing behind them. She let the steaming coffee warm her
face.
    “How’s business?” she asked
eventually, desperate to take the conversation onto safer
ground.
    “Good.”
    He was casual but Erica knew it
was a colossal understatement. In the space of fifteen years, Aiden
had turned his father’s ailing property maintenance company into a
multi-million pound commercial construction firm, heavily involved
in building London’s Olympic park. Thirstan Property Holdings
rarely slipped out of the financial pages, where analysts lauded it
as one of the few companies to ride out the recession. By shrewd
investments, coupled with calculate risks, Aiden had more than
quadrupled his turnover since his split with Erika, making it one
of the most profitable firms in Europe. He’d consolidated his
fortune by floating the company on the Stock Exchange the previous
year, his majority shareholding elevating him to the ranks of the
super-wealthy – and, as a consequence, the gossip columns.
    “I’ve followed you career,”
Erika admitted, glancing sideways to gauge Aiden’s reaction. “Seems
I’m not the only one who’s a target for