30. About Last Night
ABOUT LAST NIGHT
TARA
The first thing I see when I wake up is the clock on the bedside table, informing me that I’ve massively over slept. The second thing I see is a shirtless Aiden lying on his stomach beside me.
The memory of what we did last night comes back to me, and I don’t know whether to run and hide, or play it cool. Either way, we’re going to miss breakfast if we don’t get up now.
“Aiden,” I half whisper, not wanting to startle him.
He doesn’t move.
“Aiden.” I try again, louder this time.
Still nothing. I envy his ability to sleep so deeply, and it certainly had its advantages the last time I woke up beside him, but now it’s just annoying.
“Aiden!” This time I poke him, and this finally seems to stir him from his deep sleep.
“Wha,” he mumbles, his eyes still closed while he cuddles into the pillow further.
It would be cute if I didn’t need him to get his ass out of bed .
“Aiden Sanderson! Wake up right now!”
He finally opens his eyes and lifts his head. “Did you just full name me?”
“Yes I did. Has anyone ever told you how hard it is to wake you up?” I grumble.
He rolls over before sitting up, running a hand over his face. “It was my mother’s number one complaint about me when I was growing up.”
“I can see why.”
He grins, and my stomach does a little flip flop. At least when he does wake up, he’s fully functioning.
“So… about last night…” He starts, but I shake my head.
“As much as we should probably talk about it, we only have twenty minutes before they stop serving breakfast and we have to be in the first session, so it’s going to have to wait. I need a shower.”
He considers me for a moment before nodding and getting out of bed.
I stay where I am, the sheet held firmly over my chest. I may have been brave enough to be naked in front of him in the lamp light last night, but in the harsh light of day, it’s not happening.
I know he notices, but he doesn’t comment while he pulls his jeans on.
“I’ll meet you out in the hall in ten minutes,” he says, heading towards the door between our two rooms.
“You don’t have to wait for me,” I say.
He turns, hand on the door handle, and gives me a pointed look. “I’ll meet you out in the hall in ten minutes.” There’s no arguing with that look, so I nod and he disappears through the door.
Finally alone, I’d love nothing more than to pull the covers over my head and overthink about every detail of last night, but my growling stomach informs me that’s not an option.
I head into the bathroom and have the quickest shower I’ve ever had, before throwing on another one of my new dresses and throwing my hair into a messy bun.
With only two minutes left, I don’t have time for full make up, so BB Cream and mascara it is.
Grabbing my handbag from where I’d dropped it on the floor last night, I don’t have time to do anything more than shove my feet into my high heels before I’m running out the door.
Aiden is leaning against the wall opposite my door, typing something into his phone when I open the door.
His head snaps up immediately, and he runs his gaze over me.
Sliding his phone into his pocket, he moves to stand in front of me while I pull the door closed behind me, causing me to press my back against the door while my eyes meet his.
“Good morning, by the way,” he says, a soft smile playing over his lips.
I feel breathless all of a sudden. I’d managed to push all thoughts of last night aside while I raced around getting ready, but now that he’s standing right in front of me, all the emotions I was feeling when I fell asleep have come racing back.
“Good morning,” I say, the words feeling like they are lodged in my throat.
He moves closer still. “Can I kiss you, or are you freaking out?”
Unable to find my voice, I simply nod.
“Is that yes to a kiss or yes, you’re freaking out?” he asks, the smile widening.
“Kiss,” I whisper, licking my lips.
He bends his head to bring his lips to mine in the sweetest, most gentle kiss I’ve ever had while his hands grip my hips, pulling me closer.
Lifting on to my tiptoes, my arms circle his neck while I deepen the kiss, parting my lips when his tongue sweeps across them.
I sigh as I melt further into his embrace, and he laughs a little, moving to kiss the tip of my nose before stepping back.
“As much as I would love to take this further, we really need to get downstairs,” he says, and I’m pleased to see that he seems just as affected by our kiss as I am, his cheeks a little flushed.
I nod, and he slips his hand into mine, tugging me along gently towards the elevators.
Once we’re inside, he tucks me into his side and presses a kiss to my temple.
I’ve never experienced tenderness such as this, and a wave of emotion threatens to overcome me.
I swallow hard, determined not to let them get the better of me and just enjoy this moment without thinking about what it all means.
Yesterday, I’d been determined to take everything in through the day sessions, wanting to learn as much as I could.
But that is pretty much impossible today, because Aiden is sitting right beside me with his thigh pressed against mine under the table.
We’d managed to grab a plate of fruit and pastries each before making our way into the conference room and finding the only two chairs left together at one of the shared tables.
Out of sight of our colleagues, our chairs seemed to have gravitated closer all on their own until I was all but sitting in his lap, his hand on my thigh while the guest speaker drones on about liability insurance.
By the time the morning session is over, my libido has well and truly woken up, and I’m seconds from dragging Aiden back upstairs.
But we need to keep this professional. No matter how good it feels to be with him, we’re here for work, and the last thing I need is for either of his uncles, or our Melbourne colleagues, to work out something has happened between us.
While it probably won’t have any impact on Aiden, it would definitely ruin any chance of me moving further up the ranks if they think I’m sleeping with the boss’s son.
Even if that’s exactly what I’m doing now.
Because as much as I plan on keeping things professional in front of others, I also know that I want to continue sleeping with him. And from the way his hand has been inching higher up my thigh for the last hour, I know he wants that, too.
Chris finds me as we’re heading back into the restaurant for lunch, eyeing Aiden cautiously before asking if I want to sit with him .
“Sure. Grab us a table?” I ask, and Chris nods, heading off. I turn to Aiden, who’s watching Chris’s retreating back with an unreadable expression. “Do you want to join us?”
He brings his gaze back to mine and smiles a little. “It’s okay. I should probably make an appearance with my uncles. I’ll see you back in there?”
I nod, and he heads off towards the table that our colleagues have commandeered already.
I watch him for a moment, wondering if he’s still jealous of my friendship with Chris, before shaking it off.
If this is going to end up being something more between us, I need to make sure it doesn’t completely take over my life, and we don’t need to be together all the time.
In fact, maybe a little distance right now is what we both need.
After grabbing some food from the buffet, I find Chris sitting at a table for two and pull out the chair across from him.
“Is it just you here from your office?” I ask, realising I haven’t really seen him talk to anyone other than myself while we’ve been here.
“One of the guys from Sydney is here somewhere, but no one else from the Brisbane office.”
I raise an eyebrow. “That’s pretty impressive, right?”
He shrugs. “I guess. I think none of the higher ups really felt like going so just handed it off to the new guy.” He nods towards where the rest of the people from Sanderson’s are sitting.
“What’s up with you and David’s son then?
You guys seem pretty cosy now.” There’s a little smirk threatening to break out on his face.
I narrow my eyes at him. “I have no idea what you are implying, Christopher.”
He laughs. “Oh, the full name. Yeah, there’s definitely something going on there.” His expression softens into the caring older brother look he often gets towards myself, Bri and Kylie. “Seriously though, T. If you’re happy, that’s pretty cool.”
This is why I get along so well with Chris.
He doesn’t pass judgement, just gives support where needed.
All the guys in our friendship group are like this, even Will, who I begrudgingly admit is pretty awesome, even though I’m still hurt by how he pushed me away after Annelisa left him.
Although I tried to take a step back from the group a year ago, our little found family wouldn’t let me go far, and I’m grateful to them for that.
It turns out, I need them all more than I realised.
“I think I might be happy… At least, in that regard. There’s still so much other crap going on though,” I say, looking down at the untouched food on my plate.
In the whirlwind of getting organised for this trip and my changing feelings towards Aiden, I’d been pushing aside thoughts of my father and the whole ’other family’ situation.
After twelve years, it’s easier to just pretend he doesn’t exist rather than deal with all the stuff going on. And that just makes me feel guilty now.
“Yeah. I wish I had some words of wisdom on that. Bri mentioned your dad sprung meeting the kids on you the last time you saw him.” Chris sits back in his chair, studying my face.
“Yeah. That was really shit. But I shouldn’t have expected anything different. He was never great at respecting boundaries. Add in the whole dying thing and his selfishness is really coming out.” I take a sip of my drink just for something to do.
Chris knew our dad back when we were kids, so I’m grateful not to have to elaborate further. He was one of the people who was there for Annelisa and I when it all exploded.
“Well, you know we’re all here for you. And from the looks of it, your guy over there will be, too.
” He nods towards Aiden, who keeps glancing my way while talking to the others at the table.
“I know you think you have to deal with everything on your own, but that’s never been the case.
So just remember you have people you can lean on. ”
I smile gratefully. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
We leave the heavy stuff there, and spend the rest of the meal chatting about the conference and work stuff.
By the time we need to head back in for the afternoon session, a lightness has settled over me that I haven’t felt in a long time, and I squeeze Aiden’s hand under the table when he sits down next to me.
He flashes me a sweet smile, and the little butterflies in my stomach take flight once again.