Terms of Agreement

29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Charlotte

‘ C harlotte.’ A gentle touch to my shoulder pulled me blinkingly out of my vegetative state. ‘We’re home.’ The hand on my shoulder gave a gentle squeeze as I frowned at the view out of the window. I squinted out into the brown and grey of our building’s parking lot. My eyes were dry. Really dry. Scrunching my nose, I blinked in a futile attempt to coax some kind of moisture out from wherever eyeballs stored that kind of thing. I sighed, defeated. This was what happened when I slept with contacts in.

‘Charlotte?’ the voice called again.

‘Sorry,’ I said, lowering my hands and turning to the driver’s seat. ‘I’d planned on being a better road-trip buddy.’ Aiden offered a quick, polite smile before his face settled into his characteristic frown. My eyes flitted over his face as I studied his features. His mouth was a hard line across his face, but he wasn’t scowling. And as my gaze moved up his face, I found his gaze fixed on me, studying my face, his brown eyes warmer than usual.

‘Do I have something on my face?’ Unsettled by the intensity of his gaze, the words came out in a rush. Oh God, had I drooled? Mortified, I raised a hand to wipe at my cheeks.

Aiden’s mouth broke into a smile, one so wide that it left small creases at the corners of his eyes. ‘No,’ he huffed out on a low laugh as he leaned back against the car door, his eyes never leaving my face. ‘You’re good.’

‘Okay?’ I shifted in my seat, looking from the gearbox to the dashboard and then back to Aiden. Only to find he was still looking at me. ‘Look, could you… blink or something? You’re freaking me out.’

‘Sorry,’ he repeated, his spine stiffening as if he were snapping out of a daze. ‘Shall we head in?’

I nodded, breaking free from the hold of his gaze and opening my door. I’d just turned to swing my legs out of the passenger-side door when I was confronted by a large hand held out at face height. My head whipped back to the now empty driver’s seat. What in the Doppler?

Turning back, I slipped my hand into his, mentally readying myself for the now-familiar sense of calm excitement settled over me whenever we touched. I bit my lip, frowning as goosebumps blossomed up my arm—not good.

‘Thanks.’ I straightened up and out of the car. The door swung shut behind me and I tightened my hold on my clutch and the bundle that was my dress. ‘I feel a bit like Cinderella the morning after the ball,’ I admitted, holding the remnants of my outfit.

‘And would that make me Prince Charming?’ Aiden asked in a low voice. ‘Or one of her mice?’

I swallowed, looking away from the golden halos that encircled his pupils. ‘Well,’ I croaked, ‘can you sew?’

Aiden shook his head, his brow pinched in—if not confusion—then definitely wonder. He was looking at me as if I were the answer to some unknown question—like a puzzle piece he couldn’t place. I shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny of his intense gaze.

‘Then you couldn’t be a mouse.’

Aiden shot me a knowing look, and a trace of something flickered in the depths of his eyes so quickly I was sure I’d imagined it. Before I could say anything, the door to the apartment building clattered shut, breaking the stillness of our moment and allowing the world to come rushing in.

‘So…’ Aiden blew out as we made our way towards the building.

‘So…’ I parroted lamely.

‘Thank you,’ he said, clearing his throat and stepping into the elevator. ‘I know meeting my family wasn’t part of our deal and they can be a lot—even when you’re expecting them.’

‘No,’ I said, turning to face him even as he stared resolutely ahead. ‘Your family was lovely.’ My chest warmed as memories of our morning flooded my mind. ‘I had a wonderful time.’

‘Okay,’ he nodded as the elevator came to a stop on the second.

‘Okay,’ I echoed.

‘When is the Christmas party again?’ The doors scraped open, and Aiden stepped onto the landing, holding my dress out towards me.

‘The fifteenth.’ I took the dress from him and bundled it against my chest.

‘Right, right.’ he nodded, looking off to the side. ‘You’ll text me the details.’

‘I will.’ I nodded, answering his command as if it were a question.

‘Okay, well,’ he said, straightening and releasing his hold on the doors. ‘Bye, Charlotte.’

‘See you.’

***

I stood in the entryway of my apartment, my clutch and coat in a discarded heap on the floor. I grimaced, the traces of our stilted conversation still lingering like crumbs on my skin. With a sigh, I took a step forward, only for the heel of my shoe to sink into the plush carpet. Frowning, I reached down to unclasp the straps at my ankles, my mind returning to that moment the night before when Aiden had helped with my shoes. To the feeling of his fingertips caressing my skin and the look in his eyes that set my skin on fire.

I stepped out of the shoes and the memory, scrunching my toes against the carpet in an attempt to ground myself in this moment, in my space. But my mind wouldn’t focus. It was a whirr as residual excitement buzzed beneath my skin and I rubbed a hand across my face in an attempt to feel something else, anything else.

‘Goddamnit,’ I swore as the fingers I’d been trying to comb through my hair got caught in the braid I’d forgotten I’d tied. I pulled the end of the braid over my shoulder, determined to undo it. But a bright pink hair tie caught my attention and a wide smile spread across my face, the warmth in my chest cooling the itchy anticipation of the previous moment.

‘Next time I visit Aiden, we can hang out,’ Louise had promised, bubbling with excitement. Had she meant it?

I chewed on my lower lip and padded into the kitchen, my eyes landing on an appliance in the corner. The image of the shiny chrome coffee machine in Aiden’s parents’ kitchen had been seared into my brain and, overcome with guilt, I ran my hand over my coffee machine.

‘You’re still my favourite.’ My false promise caught in the air as I went through the ritual of making myself a coffee and then made my way to the living room. Everything taking twice as long as it should have as memories of last night rose, unbidden, to the forefront of my mind.

My heart stuttered as I recalled the way we’d danced together. The way he’d held my hand. The way it had felt waking up wrapped in his arms—or rather, what I had felt. My face burned and my mouth went dry as I recalled the press of his length and how difficult it had been to move out of his arms and away from him.

I leaned back into the sofa and closed my eyes, revelling in the images of his darkened gaze as he’d pulled my chair towards his, so close that I could feel his breath on my neck. Warmth spread across my chest, and I chuckled when I felt the soft tug of desire pulling at my lower abdomen. God, it’d been a while, but it must have been longer than I thought if something as small as this was turning me on.

The shrill ringing of my mobile pulled me out of my thoughts, although my lust-fuelled brain sent a swell of hope and longing into my chest as I leaned forward to read the caller ID.

‘Hi Nan,’ I said, answering with a bemused smile and holding the camera to my face.

‘You alright?’ Nan asked, skipping the greeting.

‘Yes, of course.’ I frowned, taking a closer look at the screen and noting her worried expression. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’

‘Well, it’s four-thirty,’ Nan stated.

I blinked.

‘It’s four-thirty on a Sunday,’ she reiterated, her words heavy with meaning.

‘Shit!’ I exclaimed, my hand flying up to cover my mouth. ‘Oh Nan, I’m so sorry, I completely forgot!’ Nan chuckled, the worry lifting from her brow and her eyes shimmering like they usually did.

‘Alright,’ she teased, ‘who’s the guy?’

‘W-what? There’s no guy,’ I sputtered, unable to look Nan in the eye. The neckline of my borrowed jumper feeling suddenly too tight.

‘You always were a terrible liar, Lottie,’ Nan chided. ‘I think that’s the only reason you didn’t do more of it as a girl.’

‘Hey!’ Indignation brought my eyes up from my knees.

‘Come on, out with it.’

‘Nan,’ I whined, dropping my head back against the sofa. ‘It’s no big deal. I went to a wedding with a friend. There’s no guy.’

‘What friend?’ Nan asked, her eyes taking on that bloodhound-like gleam that I’d always hated growing up.

‘You don’t know them,’ I assured her, hoping she’d drop it.

‘Please,’ she puffed. ‘I know all your friends.’ I leaned forward and took a long sip of my coffee, but Nan was nothing if not tenacious. ‘If it’s no big deal, why won’t you tell me?’

‘Fine,’ I said, opting to rip the Band-Aid off this conversation. ‘It’s Aiden.’

‘Aiden?’ The creases in Nan’s face deepened in confusion.

‘Yes, Aiden Walsh. My downstairs neighbour.’

‘I know who Aiden is,’ she gruffed indignantly.

‘I’m sorry.’ I held out a hand placatingly. ‘You just seemed confused.’

‘Of course, I’m confused,’ she blustered, working herself up. ‘But just because I’m confused doesn’t mean that I’ve lost all of my faculties.’

‘Nan,’ I groaned. ‘I didn’t say you had.’

There was silence for a moment, but evidently my words had been enough to prove my contrition because it wasn’t long before she asked, ‘So… what now?’

‘What do you mean “what now?”’ I quirked my head to one side.

‘Does his mean you’ll be seeing more of him? Your friend.’

‘Maybe?’

‘Charlotte Hall,’ Nan chastised, ‘I have limited years left in me. I do not intend to spend what little time I have playing guessing games.’

‘Alright fine,’ I conceded after she pursed her lips and gave me a pointed look that made it clear she was willing to wait it out. ‘He’s coming with me to the firm’s Christmas party.’

‘And you went with him to a wedding?’

‘Yeah, so?’

‘So,’ Nan drawled while she smoothed out the front of her blouse, ‘those are two pretty serious events to just take a friend to.’

‘Nan, we’re not really friends,’ I said, forcing out a laugh.

‘You said he was,’ she pointed out, confusion furrowing her brow.

‘An attempt at subterfuge,’ I muttered under my breath. ‘We’re just helping each other out. That’s it. We have an agreement.’

‘An agreement?’ she echoed, her voice laced with cynicism.

‘Yes,’ I said, nodding so hard that my coffee almost spilled over the lip of my mug. ‘I go with him to his event as…’ I paused, contemplating just how much of the truth to tell her, ‘moral support, and he comes with me to mine.’

‘And that’s it?’ she asked, not even trying to hide her doubt.

‘That’s it,’ I promised.