Chapter 25
CHAPTER 25
CHARLOTTE
Aiden kisses me.
My heart is already pounding out of my chest, and when his lips slant over mine, it skyrockets. His arm wraps around me and pulls me close. Like he can envelop me whole, if he only tries hard enough.
His other hand cups my face. Slides into my hair and musses it up.
What he’s doing is brilliant. No one can see my face when his is pressed against it.
He’s hiding me.
His lips are warm, and I slowly respond to his kiss, moving gently against his mouth. Languidly, I slide my hands up the luxurious fabric that covers his hard chest. He’s always been big, strong, and handsome. I’ve done my best to ignore that these past few weeks.
But it’s impossible to ignore when he’s touching me like this.
Each brush of his lips melts away my panic little by little. Like he’s searing it off, one stroke at a time, and I’m left boneless and heated.
I brush my tongue over his bottom lip.
Aiden groans against my mouth, and his tongue comes to meet mine. The sweet, sugary syrup that has spread through my limbs is replaced by a sudden flash of fire.
It races straight down my body. Makes my stomach tighten and my legs lock together. Oh.
His hand is on my lower back, and I feel it slide down, his fingers splaying before coming to a stop right above my ass.
“Fuck,” he mutters into my mouth. His lips move to my cheek, and he’s breathing hard.
I rest my forehead against his shoulder, hiding my face from view again. My heart is beating so fast, I hear it thundering in my ears.
Aiden locks his arms around my waist. Firm. Strong. A tree to lean on. Somewhere in the distance, music plays. It comes filtering back through the haze I’ve been in since I saw Blake standing mere feet away.
Right next to some actress who probably brought him as a date.
He’s still in the reality show business, after all. The latest season of Endurance Island just started airing—produced by Titan Media—and he’s one of the stars.
Time had been kind to him, the way it is to most men. The twenty-four-year-old I’d fallen in love with on The Gamble , has now been replaced by a thirty-four-year-old Brit with perfect teeth and a permanent Hollywood tan. He’d filled out, gained little lines on his forehead that make men in this business distinguished, and women so often “past their prime.”
I didn’t expect to see him here.
Had been so sure that no one would recognize me, that I hadn’t even thought I would bump into someone I know.
Aiden’s hand caresses my back. “Your heart is pounding,” he mutters against my ear. “Who did you see? Say the word, and I’ll have them killed.”
I chuckle weakly into his shoulder. The panic is gone, and it’s been replaced with a different kind of excitement.
We hadn’t kissed since Utah.
I’d forgotten how he kisses. The slow, steady movement of his lips. There’s no rush with Aiden. It’s not a race. He takes his time to learn my lips, to spark the fire inside me. No one has ever kissed me like that before him.
It’s always been rushed. At a bar, in a hookup situation. Stolen kisses in rare situationships with only one destination. Bed.
Aiden doesn’t kiss like that. He kisses me like he could do it forever. For the rest of his life.
“Charlotte,” he urges, and that’s when I finally hear the concern in his voice. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
I shake my head a little and pull back. Blake and his party had been moving toward the terrace, passing dangerously close to us. They should be gone now.
But I’m not taking any chances.
“Can you take me home?”
His eyes darken at the words. But he nods, and his hand slides down to grip mine again. He’s held it often tonight. Almost like he can’t stop himself. “Yes. Come.”
I stop him with my palm on his chest. “Wait,” I murmur and run a thumb over his lower lip. “You look like you’ve been mauled.”
His eyes dip to my mouth. “Good. So do you.”
“We can’t walk around like that.”
“With your mark on me?” His hand tightens around mine, and he pulls me along to the exit. “I’d be proud to, Chaos.”
We make it to the car and I gladly slump against the seat. The evening has been long—the day has been even longer—and I feel wrung out. Stretched too thin, my skin taut. Too aware of Aiden. It’s keeping my nerves on a permanent high.
“Who was it?” Aiden asks. His voice comes out low, and, while I think he’s concerned, he sounds angry, too.
I blow out a breath. “Not someone I want to talk about.”
“You looked scared, Chaos.”
My eyes close against the shame. Blake should not have that power over me. Not anymore. But I hadn’t seen him in almost a decade, and I didn’t want… couldn’t stand it if Aiden had seen us together. If the puzzle pieces slid into place.
If Aiden would have looked at me like the whole world did back then.
“It was someone from my past. Someone I thought I’d never run into again.” My voice comes out weaker than I intended, and I clear my throat. “Thank you for… hiding me.”
The silence is absolute from the man beside me. I take a few more deep breaths before turning to look at him. His face is drawn tight, jaw tense.
“Aiden,” I say. “I know the way you think. Please don’t try to analyze or figure out who or what it might be. Please… I’m asking you.”
He looks at me for another tense moment before sighing. “All right,” he says, and his hand finds mine again. Lying on the empty middle seat between us. “I won’t.”
No one to see us now. No one to perform for.
“Promise me.”
It takes him a moment, and I can see what it costs him. But then he nods. “I promise, Charlotte.”