CHAPTER 30
Harper
He’s kissing me.
He’s kissing me!
YES!
He tentatively licks at my lips to deepen the kiss and I, well, I snap.
I take over, basically devouring him like a dessert fresh from the oven.
I run a hand up his massive shoulders into his hair and tug.
I think one of my legs might be wrapped around him.
He groans and tightens his grip around my back.
But it’s not enough.
This is already the best kiss of my life. He’s so strong and sure and a little bit desperate and I am too. More. Need more.
I hop up on the hood of the old Ford behind me and spread my legs so Aiden can come closer.
“Yes,” he hisses as I pull him into me. He kisses down my throat repeating that word over and over.
Without really thinking, I pull at his shirt, untucking it from his slacks.
“Wait, wait,” Aiden says. But I grab his face in my hands and kiss him again, because I want to.
Because I can for the next few minutes, until my brain fully registers how bad of an idea this is.
I scoot to the very edge of the truck so we’re touching everywhere.
He’s so tall and firm and so blazing hot I might burn up and die right here, right now.
I grab at his shirt again and he pulls away.
“Woman! Stop! You will be the death of me. Wait,” he pants out the words.
He rests his forehead on mine and goes on, “Whatever it is that you want to do…”
“Use you for your amazing body,” I joke.
He smirks and says, “Bloody hell. Yes, please, let’s absolutely do that, just, maybe, not, you know, outside? With multiple towns worth of people just over there?”
I scoff, “You care what the townies think?”
“No,” he blinks, “I suppose not.”
“It’s almost dark,” I say, he’s still blinking. So I pull him closer again and say, “Aiden.”
“Hm?”
“Kiss me.”
He does, but he’s still hesitating, sort of frozen.
Like he thinks I’ll break or change my mind.
The latter, I will, any minute now. So I need to get the most out of this one precious moment together.
I grab his hands from where they’re planted on either side of me and guide them to me.
On me. Right where I’m betting he wants them.
He makes a growly sound that I’ll remember the rest of my life before he says, “Here I was thinking you were shy.”
“Yeah, well you’re rubbing off on me. I want something, I’m taking it,” I say before moving my own hands to wherever I want…probably exactly where he wants.
“Hell, yes,” he grits out before finally snapping.
I snap too. We’re a clash of tongues and teeth, muttered curses, and whispered praises.
Time stops and speeds up at the same time.
Eventually I notice the sun’s gone down.
But my soul left my body at one point. I cried, then tried to hide it.
It was everything, everywhere, all at once, but right here, right now. Amazing. It was amazing.
Later, in the dark, we laugh as we right ourselves. We are both happy and a little in awe and maybe even a little freaked out.
All we did was fool around in the field like a couple of teens and still it felt…big. Important.
Okay. I’m a lot freaked out.
“Happy birthday,” I joke.
“Best bloody birthday of my whole life,” he chuckles as he tucks his shirt back in.
I hop down from the truck and dust myself off.
He watches and says, “I love that dress, did I mention that?”
I smile, “You did. Something about how easy it was to move out of your way.”
“Yes, right. Let’s go home so I can see what it looks like on the floor.”
I huff a small, sad laugh, “This was it, Aiden.”
“What?” He pauses, one half of his shirt still untucked.
“This was it. You got it out of your system,” I explain as I start to walk back.
“Got what out of my system?”
“Me.”
He grabs my arm to stop me, “It really pisses me off when you talk about yourself that way. What about the last hour made you think I wouldn’t want to do that again and again and again?”
I pull my arm away, “The novelty will wear off, trust me.”
“Novel…you know what? I don’t trust you. I’m finding you highly untrustworthy. You don’t see yourself accurately at all. Or me, or us,” he says, stomping behind me.
“There is no us, Aiden.”
“Bollucks, you—”
I turn and face him, “I am not available! I’m not up for this! I can’t, I won’t…I just can’t do it. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t understand,” he says, shaking his head.
“You don’t need to. You’re leaving in what, two, three weeks? This was it, tonight. It was nice, and it’s over.”
“It was nice?” He mutters.
I go on, “Now we go back to being friends.”
“Friends,” he sneers the word. “You’re really so afraid I’ll sweep you away and you’ll fall in love with me and then I’ll leave you behind?” He asks on a rant, not waiting for an answer. He adds, softer, “You don’t seem to be in any danger of that at all from where I’m standing.”
He starts to walk past me. I start to say I’m sorry again but he holds up a hand.
“No, it’s fine. You’re right. Back to friends.” But he won’t look at me as he says it, and he doesn’t wait for me to catch up with him. He doesn’t look back as he stalks by the barn out into the crowd.
Every cell in my body wants to follow after him. I want to hug him and explain, lay it all out. All my baggage and pain and issues laid bare.
But it’s a long, horrible, embarrassing story and for what? I. Am. Right. This is pointless! He is leaving!
So, with watery eyes and an ache in my chest, I let him walk away.
_____
“It has to be decorated for Christmas, that’s the whole point!” Steven says loudly over the grinder I just flipped on.
“You don’t think it’ll be tacky, snowy trees and gingerbread men and stuff when it’s 90 degrees out?” Maxine says.
“Max. We’re a Christmas town. Tacky is kind of our thing,” Shelly argues.
“False!” Steven points at her. “We are not tacky. We are cute. But if we don’t drag every single Christmas activity out that we can, like Harper said last week—tree lighting, bear hunt, mistletoe everywhere—go totally over the top, why would someone drive in from Manhattan?
” I nod as I slide Carl his mocacchino. “Otherwise it’s not Christmas in July it’s just the plain old Fourth of July.
They can see fireworks over the Hudson in the city.
Or in the Hamptons. And either will be like, a much bigger, better show than we’ll have, probably. ”
“Who’s got a better show?” Aiden says when he comes in.
The room stops.
There are moments where I remember why I hate living in a small town.
This is one of those times.
Of course someone saw us making out in the field.
Of course they told everyone they could about it.
I’ve already been cornered this morning. I said it was nothing, explained it will never happen again and explicitly commanded everyone in this room not to mention it.
So they’re now frozen, staring at Aiden like they’ve never seen him before. Tyrone is fighting a laugh. The aunts have looked away in old-fashioned-disapproval. Maxine in biting her lip, Shelly just started humming and I think Steven might combust.
“The fireworks,” I say, giving Steven a pointed glare.
“Right! Yeah, we’re talking about how it has to be Christmassy or else what’s the point of people coming into town? Our fireworks show can’t compete with the ones in the city, those things are hella expensive.”
“Are they?” Aiden hums absently while, I’m pretty sure, he stares at me. I turned away to pour his coffee and get a couple boxes ready. The room has gone bizarrely silent again, staring at us.
“What do they want?” I ask Aiden for his crew’s order without turning around.
“Muffins, please. With your crack butter, as my foreman calls it.”
“K,” I say, with a quick wide-eyed glance over my shoulder to the crowd of people who are completely failing at playing it cold right now.
“Wh-what’s the best fireworks show you’ve ever seen, Aid?” Steven asks.
“Have you been to Disney? I hear it’s da best, man,” Tyrone pipes up.
“Nah, New Years in Vegas I bet,” Maxine guesses.
“New Years in Dubai,” Aiden answers plainly, like that isn’t the most amazing and exotic total-billionaire-answer he could have given.
“Dubai,” I whisper in awe without even realizing it.
Aiden has turned back to me and waits for the moment I have to hand him the boxes, as he often does. He’ll study my face and frown when I don’t look up and do the same song and dance as always. And everyone is waiting to watch it all happen.
It does. Silently. With tension so thick I could stick it in the bread slicer.
“You’re wearing a dress,” he says quietly.
I sigh, “And remembering why I don’t. The apron just doesn’t cut it, I already ripped the skirt and spilled jam down my front,” I say as my face turns strawberry-jam-shades of red remembering just how well he’s acquainted with my front after last night.
“Have a good day,” I say without looking up at his piercing stare.
He clears his throat and turns with his box. Everyone quickly turns away. Someone coughs. Pathetic. We are pathetic!
Aiden straighten as if to intimidate the townies, though that ship has definitely sunk, “So, everyone knows we kissed then?”
More than kissed! The whole town thinks we went all the way in the back of that truck. Someone laughs, conveying all of that to him.
“Yeah and you must not be very good at it!” Tyrone teases.
“Uncle Ty!” Steven whisper-shouts.
“Seriously! Months we’ve been waiting and now Harp says it was nothing and won’t happen again.” Max crosses her arms and challenges him to argue.
“Brilliant,” Aiden says, getting angrier.
Maxine turns to Steven, “She was so riled up about that realtor you shoved at him, too.” She turns back, “How did you manage to screw this up, man?”
Aiden stops suddenly, like every muscle in his body has pulled tight, ask whispers, “She what?”
“Maxine!” My turn to whisper shout.
The man transforms before me as he twists in my direction. His faces goes from unsure and frowning, to shocked, to as smug as smug gets. “That’s what it was. You weren’t angry, you were jealous.”
I roll my eyes.
“No?” Aiden goes on, still smirking, “So I should call Elizabeth up then?”
My eyes snap up at the sound of her stupid, sophisticated name in his stupid, hot accent. Someone whistles behind Aiden.
“Fine,” I say, but my voice is so weak even I don’t believe me.
“She’d probably let me take her out to a proper dinner,” he says, walking closer to where I’m mindlessly wiping the counter.
“Forget a proper dinner, take her dancing!” Shelly sighs.
Maxine adds, “Helicopter ride. I’ve seen your chopper coming and going.”
“No, shut up, all of you!” Steven says. He points at me, eyes alarmingly wide. “He’ll take you to see your favorite boy band.”
My eyebrows raise at the idea.
“I will?” Aiden asks.
“They have a show in the city,” Steven explains.
Aiden nods and turns to me, “I will.”
Tyrone laughs, “You don’t know what you’re offering!”
Everyone shushes him. Aiden frowns but says, “I think I can handle it.”
I can’t help but smile at this hilarious turn of events.
“You want to take me to a concert as friends?” I ask.
“Absolutely not. But I will,” he says, his face going soft, “If you’ll let me.”
I let out a small laugh of excitement and nerves I can’t help. “Okay.”
“Plus dinner, non-negotiable,” Aiden adds quickly.
“Okay!” I repeat.
Everyone cheers. Someone yells at me that I don’t need anymore friends. Maxine is clapping.
“Pulling up the tickets now!” Steven calls out over the noise.
I shake my head, “I can’t believe this.”
Aiden huffs, “It’s a concert, what’s not to believe?”