Free elemental 03 - whitecap by Larissa Ladd Page A

to rise up. Aiden was hot to the touch; she knew it was his fire energy that caused the sensation, but knowing it intellectually didn’t stop her from responding to it emotionally. 
    Aira gasped, feeling his fiery energy sinking into her skin. She pulled back in surprise and instinctive self-protection; she shouldn’t let herself fall into him. Aira took a deep breath attempting to still the lust she felt welling inside of her. Trembling, all pain and grief temporarily gone from her mind, Aira licked her lips, unsure of what she should do. Rationally, she should stop. She should tell Aiden to go. She could go outside and find Dylan to be close to someone without feeling the incredible sense of physical need wearing away at her in Aiden’s presence. Filled with grief and her inhibitions lowered by the painkillers she had been given, her self-control, her sense of good judgment and restraint, was far away. 
    She looked up at Aiden; his gaze set intently on her, his bright eyes full of emotions she couldn’t quite read. Aira reached out and ran her fingers along his arm, basking in the tingle of contact. 
    Aiden’s gaze flicked down to her hand, and back to her face. “Aira,” he said quietly, shifting slightly next to her. “Are you…” he licked his lips unconsciously. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.” Aira shook her head, bringing her finger up to cover his mouth. She saw the expression in his bright eyes intensify, and a jolt of white-hot electricity ran through her. It was too easy to remember how it had felt to kiss him; too easy to remember how intensely she had wanted him then—how close they had come to having sex. She felt the temperature in the room rise, heat radiating from Aiden’s body, and Aira smiled faintly at him, feeling oddly shy and unwilling to make the first move, although she knew very well what she wanted.
    Aiden pushed her hand away from his lips and reached out for her. Aira trembled with barely contained lust as he lowered his lips onto hers, kissing her hungrily, his arms wound around her waist, pressing her body to his. She moaned against his lips, the contact between their bodies sparking something deep inside she hadn’t felt with any of her previous partners—something secretive and intense, a kind of lust that almost startled her in its intensity. She kissed Aiden back, shifting on top of him, letting him slip his tongue past her lips and tasting the curiously sweet and spicy flavor of his mouth. Aiden rolled over, pinning Aira to the bed. Her arousal intensified as his hands began to wander over her body slowly, the heat sinking through the fabric of her nightgown. 
    Aiden broke from the kiss, panting slightly as he looked down at her. Aira was shaking, feeling the rush of hormones in her blood, the pulse of energy flowing between them. She fleetingly remembered reading a book about interactions between elementals. Fire-air interactions were volatile, and even dangerous, because the two elements reinforced each other in a continual loop. Instead of being frightened, however, she was intrigued, feeling Aiden’s fiery energy seeping into her, crackling along her body like electricity. She pulled herself up slightly and kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pressing his body to hers. Aiden broke the kiss with a groan, holding himself up and away from Aira. “We have to stop,” he said, his voice harsh with self-restraint. “Aira, you’re not in the right state of mind…” 
    She held his gaze, feeling the temptation to do something that she had never done before.
    “Lock the door and make love to me right now,” she said, hearing the control in her voice, the push of her mind against his. Aiden looked at her, mystified, and then slipped out of the bed, closing and locking the bedroom door before turning up the volume on the speaker for good measure. Aira felt a stab of guilt for what she had done—but forgot it in the midst of the need that