18. Aaron
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
AARON
The mountain air feels different up here. Cleaner. Lighter. It’s still muggy because, well, South Carolina in May, but it’s cooler in the shade of the towering oaks and pines that stretch up around us. I adjust my helmet and glance over at Liam, who’s busy wrestling with the strap on his own.
“Need some help there?”
He glares at me, his hands fumbling with the plastic clasp. “No, I don’t need help. This stupid thing is just…defective.”
“Sure it is,” I say, leaning casually against my bike. “Maybe being married has simply slowed you down.”
Liam scoffs, rips off his helmet, and throws it at me. Good thing I have the reflexes of a ninja, and I catch it pretty easily. But I make a big show of staggering backward like he’s just launched a boulder and I’ve caught it straight in the chest.
I laugh as I say, “Oh, yeah, domestic bliss has softened you.”
“Domestic bliss?” His voice drips with sarcasm. “You realize Hillary makes me go to yoga with her every Thursday, right? After work. Bliss is not the word I’d use, Aaron.”
“You’re telling me you don’t love a good downward dog?”
Liam bellows out a laugh so loud, a couple of birds squawk and take off from a nearby tree.
I chuckle with him as I hand back his helmet. “Come on.” I climb onto my bike, which is really one of Liam’s loaners. The man loves vehicles of all types, and he loves mountain biking on the weekends. Emma’s doing a baking-fest-thing at a cupcakery in Sugar Grove with her roommates, so Liam and I have come up near Columbia to spend some time on the trails.
“Let’s see if you can keep up with me,” Liam said, a Cheshire cat grin on his face as he mounts his bike too. He takes off before I’ve even comprehended what he’s said.
“There’s no way I can keep up with you,” I call after him, hurrying now to get my feet clipped in the pedals the right way. He’s already down the path, and somehow, his laughter filters back to me. I get going, and the tires crunch against the dirt as the wind whips against my face as I follow-weave Liam through the trees.
I haven’t done organized exercise in a while, but since I don’t sit still well, I find my rhythm pretty easily. Liam and I don’t have to talk when we’re together, and I bask in the comfortable silence between us.
Only the sounds of the rustling of leaves and the steady hum of our tires fills my ears. Sometimes, when Liam rides alone, he listens to music, but I never do that. There’s already too much noise in my head.
It’s nice being away from everything. No customers asking for help finding the right size screws, no deadlines, no wedding plans or park proposals. Just the trail, the trees, and my best friend.
Eventually, Liam slows to a stop at the top of a hill, and I pull up beside him. He’s breathing hard, his face flushed, but he’s grinning like a kid. “It’s been too long since I did this.”
“Yeah,” I say, taking a swig from my water bottle as he does from his. “Nothing like almost dying to remind you you’re alive.”
He swallows and grins at me. “So…how’s it going with Emma?”
I glance at him, surprised. Liam doesn’t usually ask about my love life—probably because it’s been nonexistent for the better part of the last few years. “Did Hillary send us out here so you could get the details?”
“No.” Liam blinks at me. “I mean, I’ll probably tell her whatever you say, but no. She didn’t ask me to ask you.”
I nod, my throat getting narrow. “Yeah, okay. Things are good.” That feels like the understatement of the century. “Really good, actually.”
Liam’s eyebrows go up. “That’s it? ‘Good’?”
“I said really good.”
Liam laughs and shakes his head. “I understand your momma’s frustration so much better now.”
I’ve told her absolutely nothing either, and yes, she’s probably dying a slow death. “I should probably introduce Emma to my parents properly,” I say. “Sometime soon.” I sigh out and take in the view. Trees and sky and the brown of deep, rich earth. “It’s just…we’re really busy this summer.”
“Summer is a busy time,” he says. The fact that he doesn’t ask me more about Emma means I’ve told him all he needs to know. Just the fact that I said I wanted to introduce her to my parents tells me a lot about how I feel about her, and it doesn’t have to be said out loud.
“I feel like I can be myself around her,” I say.
Liam nods, his expression softening. “That’s how it’s supposed to feel, man, and it’s amazing.”
“Yeah,” I say, my chest tightening in that good way. “It feels easy with her. But also exciting. Like, I never know what she’s going to say or do next, and I love that about her.” I grin over to him. “She’s hot and cold sometimes, and it’s…interesting. ”
“Sounds like you’re in deep.” Liam nudges me, grinning. “Come on, let’s get going. I’m hungry.”
“You’re always hungry,” I say.
“So are you.” He clips in and pushes off, and I let him get a bit ahead so I’m not breathing in his dust. The conversation bounces through my mind over the tree roots and rocks as we ride into the city, and I can’t wait to see Emma that evening and see what kind of cupcakes she made with her friends.
“Hey, you.”
I look up at the pretty sound of Emma’s voice. She’s carrying a pale pink box that makes my stomach roar though I’ve just eaten half an all-meat pizza.
I jump to my feet, my paperwork forgotten. “Hey, you,” I say back, taking the cupcakes from her and setting them on my desk and pulling her closer to me with my other hand, all of it in one fluid movement. I take a breath of her and get sugared frosting and pretty petals just before I match my mouth to hers.
She kisses me for only a moment before she pulls away, her hand sliding out of my hair. “You have sawdust in your hair, baby.” She brushes her hands together and looks up at me.
“Occupational hazard,” I say, grinning at her .
“I thought you were going mountain biking.” She takes in the pizza boxes on my desk. “No?”
“We went,” I say. “Liam had to stop by one of his sites, and I helped him with the barn for a second.” I pick up the top pizza box. “Then we got a second lunch. You want any?”
She puts one hand on her stomach. “No,” she groans. “I ate so much at lunch.”
“Are these cupcakes for me?” I reach over and pick up the pink box and flip it open. “There better be something chocolate in here, or I’m going Doberman.”
“I decorated those in our class today.”
I look at the delicate swirls and curls. “It was a class?”
She presses in next to me. “There’s only one chocolate one.”
I sure do like the heat of her beside me, the pressure of her at my side so needed and amazing. “Did you bake too, or just decorate?”
“We made the frostings today,” she says, lifting out a cupcake with a tall, swooped hat of diamond-white icing on it. “This one is a white chocolate raspberry.” It holds a silver-dusted star perched just-so in the frosting.
“White chocolate is not chocolate,” I growl.
“Oh, calm down, Doberman. That one in the other corner is double-chocolate.” She replaces the cupcake she removed.
I’ve just lifted the double-chocolate cupcake I want from the box when Fonda pokes her head into my office. “He’s here again, sir.”
I blink, my mind whirring as I try to figure out who she means. She lifts her eyebrows. “Matthew, sir.” Her eyes flit over to Emma. “Hello, dear. How did the cupcake decorating go?”
“Come see,” Emma says, and I shouldn’t be shocked that she’s softened Fonda—who literally doesn’t like anyone. Certainly never any of the other women I’ve dated. I’m not sure what’s special about Emma, only that there’s something.
“Matthew, right,” I say as Fonda comes into the office to inspect the cupcakes. I don’t dare leave the only chocolate one with the women, so I take it with me, sinking my teeth into creamy frosting. I eat the whole treat in only a few bites, and I dust my hands together as I approach the customer service desk.
“Matt.” I extend my hand for him to shake.
He does, with a healthy smile. “I couldn’t do it.” He chuckles at himself. “So I need a new microwave, and I’m totally going to get the installation this time.”
I can’t even fathom not being able to install a microwave above the stove, but I don’t make fun of him. “Couldn’t do it? I sent you the instructional video.”
“Yeah, I watched it.”
“You’re an engineer,” I say.
“A chemical engineer,” he says. “I don’t hold screwdrivers and whatever. ”
I perch on the stool and click to get the computer to wake up. “Why do you need a new microwave?”
His face flushes slightly, and I lift my hand. “It’s fine. I can send one with our installation team. When are you available?”
Matt pulls out his phone and starts to swipe and tap. “I’ve got so many meetings right now. Our fiscal year ends at the end of June.”
“Mm hm,” I say. Matt’s moved into a house down the street from me, having inherited it from his daddy. To say it needs some upgrades is an understatement, and he’s been coming in a lot, trying to do handyman projects in the evenings after his day job.
But the man is simply not super handy.
“Tell me when,” he says.
“I have any day next week after four,” I say. “And the week after that.” I click again. “And the week after that.” I look up, stifling the words that I’ll probably be the one to come out and install his microwave. Several of my employees could do it, which is why we have so much availability.
“Thursday next week?” he guesses.
“Sure,” I say as Emma joins me at the desk.
“I’m gonna go grab some more cupcakes,” she says.
I pause halfway through putting in Matt’s install, my eyes wide. “What? Why?”
“Well, Fonda really likes white chocolate,” Emma says with a smile. Her eyes drift over to Matt too. “Oh, hello. I’m Emma.” She shakes his hand too, and he might not have noticed the change in her tone, but I sure have.
“All right,” I say to him. “You’re set next Thursday at four-ten.”
“Thanks,” Matt says. He nods and then hooks his thumb over his shoulder. “What aisle might one find a socket set?”
“That would be aisle five,” Emma says with a grin. “Tools. I can show you, because there’s an amazing tool arrangement there I think you’ll really like.”
“Em,” I say, but she waves me off as she goes with Matt.
Yeah, there’s something going on there, but I’m not sure what it is. I stay at the customer service counter until Emma comes back, and I raise my eyebrows and fold my arms. “What is that about?”
She grins and comes around the counter and sits right on my lap, which makes me feel so dang good. She leans down and gives me a quick kiss. “He’s Lizzie’s latest crush,” she says, looking out into the hardware store. “And I can see why. He’s charming and handsome and personable.”
“He’s on his second microwave,” I say dryly. “Because he couldn’t install the first one himself.”
She turns and faces me. “Are you jealous?”
“You just said he’s charming and handsome and personable.” Maybe I’m a little jealous .
“For Lizzie, he’d be great,” she says. “Not for me, baby.”
“Because I’m for you,” I say, and I have no idea where the words come from. My throat suddenly feels like I’ve swallowed fire, but I can’t look away from her.
Emma cradles my face in one palm, her eyes searching mine too. “Yeah,” she says slowly. “You’re for me.” She kisses me, and wow, I’ve shared some hot kisses with her thus far. But this slow, sensual one is ten times better than any of those.
“Sir,” Fonda barks in her not-so-subtle way, and Emma breaks the kiss and turns away from my back-of-house manager.
“Why am I the one in trouble?” I ask. “ She’s sitting on my lap, kissing me .”
“Can I steal him, Fonda?” Emma stands up, smiles for miles on her face.
“He has to get payroll submitted by midnight,” Fonda says, giving me the evil eye.
“Great.” Emma reaches for my hand and pulls me, trying to get me to stand. “Come on, baby. Come buy yourself some more chocolate cupcakes.”
And since I’d go to another planet just to be with her, I go.