Excerpt: Fighting for Irish by Gina L. Maxwell

Just the mention of having her at all had him getting hard in his jeans. “Yeah?”

“Well, we didn’t really get that. So I thought maybe tonight you could, I don’t know…stay?”

His hand on the doorknob tightened. Pressing the metal into his palm until it hurt was the only thing keeping him sane while she nervously asked him for something that both excited and scared her.

“You sure, kitten?”

She swallowed hard and nodded. Holding her gaze, he closed the door, flipped the locks, and secured the chain before slowly walking to her. His hands moved to her small waist as he stepped in close. Her hands slid up his arms and stopped at his elbows as though she wasn’t sure she should hold him any closer. He hated there was any space between them, but he’d allow her her baby steps if that’s what she needed to feel safe.

Ever so gently, he kissed her lips. She didn’t shy away, but met him with a quiet intensity of her own.

He let her set the pace and take the lead. He didn’t want to take things further until he was sure she was ready. They came together again and again, sometimes pressing firmly as they breathed each other in.

Sometimes touching with no more than a whisper as they teased themselves with the promise of more.

It was that “more” that had Aiden’s cock straining for release and his brain fighting it back to wait until she made the first move. Then again, maybe she wasn’t as ready as she’d thought.

Pulling back, he cupped her face with his hands to still her. “I don’t want you to think we have to do anything you don’t want. Sex is not a condition of my staying the night. I can just hold you and be perfectly happy with that.”

“I’m not hesitating because I don’t want to be with you. I know you’ll stop if I tell you.” She lowered her gaze and a slight flush colored her cheeks as she whispered, “I’ve never had that before.”

A silent rage washed through him. “Look at me.” He waited the extra second it took her to obey before speaking again. “No man should ever push you for more than you can give. You have a goodness inside of you, Kat. And that goodness recognizes itself in others. So you listen to that. Trust it. And don’t go near anybody that doesn’t have what you got. You understand?”

She nodded. Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them back before they fell. He thanked God for small favors with that. She was already breaking his heart; he didn’t think he could handle her tears, too.

“So tell me what you want, sweetheart.”

“I want my night with you, but—” She took a deep breath and pleaded with her light blue eyes. “Can you lead, but do the going slow thing?”

Aiden wanted to wrap her up in his arms and hold her close forever so no one could ever put that look in her eyes again. The people who wronged her when she was young should be bound and tortured. Maybe someday he’d do some hunting, but his only concern now was to give her what she wanted—what they
both wanted—and show her how good he could make it for her.

“Ah, Kitten, I can do more than that.” Picking up the end of her braid, he slid the elastic from it and began to unweave her hair. “I wanna make you feel things you never thought possible.” He brushed the golden-red waves behind her shoulders and sank his fingers through them at her nape. “I wanna give you nothing but good things to remember from now on. So the past can never touch you again.”

And with that promise, he kissed her.

Aiden entered her mouth and stroked her tongue with his, guiding her in the erotic dance. Not fast or forceful, but slow and deliberate. He took his time with each step before progressing to the next. He wanted her to feel every moment, every connection their bodies made.