49
Trent
“So, I just want to say—well done guys, great job on our first full week on Jenkins Construction’s biggest project yet,” Kade says, scanning the crew with a proud smile. “We still have a long way to go until it’s completed, but I couldn’t ask for a better bunch of people to work alongside.”
The Sunny Mead project is officially underway, and I’m on-site as an office-based foreman, taking on light duties only until I get the final all clear that I can return back to my normal working routine.
The dynamics I’ve worked out with the crews are working well so far and the week has gone smoothly.
But even with the hum of chatter around me, my mind keeps drifting.
To one person.
Aubrey.
I still haven’t heard from her. It’s been over two week. I know Kade has talked to her, and they’ve sorted things out, but I’m left in the dark. The thought that she’s done with me and just doesn’t know how to say it tightens something in my chest and crushes me.
“Why the long face?” Clay slides into the seat next to me at one of the tables in The Rig, nudging my shoulder with his elbow.
I shake my head, forcing a shrug. “No reason.”
Clay smirks, leaning back with that familiar teasing ease. “Does this have anything to do with a certain brunette you’ve been pining after for weeks?”
“Fuck off.”
“Always so sensitive,” he says, grinning, though I catch the glint of knowing in his eyes. He leans back against the wall, arms crossed, like he’s daring me to argue.
I haven’t exactly been easy to be around lately. I try to keep to myself, to smother the foul mood bubbling under my skin, but it’s impossible.
From the moment I open my eyes, Aubrey fills my every thought. I ache to hear her voice, to feel her skin—anything that proves I haven’t lost her for good.
I thought walking out of her door after our argument was the right thing to do. She needed space to figure out what she wanted. I thought a little distance would make her realize we were meant to be. But then Kade found out, and everything became even more complicated.
Now that Kade’s finally fine with both me and Aubrey, I would have thought I’d have heard from her by now.
“Cheer up, man,” Brandon says, clapping a heavy hand on my shoulder. The smack making me flinch, though I don’t pull away.
“Yeah, Jesus, this is a celebration. You’re scaring everyone away,” Kade chimes in, laughter rattling through the bar.
“You lot decide to become comedians overnight or something?” I mutter, rubbing my arm, trying to hide the twitch of irritation—and maybe something else I’m not ready to admit.
I tune them all out, nursing my beer as laughter swirls around me.
I’m only here because Kade and Brandon twisted my arm.
If it were up to me, I’d be at home, getting blind drunk on my own, scrolling through my camera reel, staring at pictures of me and my girl, tracing the curve of her smile with my thumb, trying not to remember how it feels to hold her.
A sudden clap on my shoulder jolts me upright. “I think she’s here for you,” Kade says, nodding toward the door.
I follow his gaze, and my heart stops for a second. Aubrey. She’s standing there, scanning the room, and then her eyes lock onto mine. Everything around me—the laughter, the music, the chatter—blurs into nothing.
I glance back at Kade. He gives me a small, approving nod, a silent reassurance that he’s okay with what he knows about me and Aubrey.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I push myself to my feet. My legs feel heavy, like I’m moving through water, but I force myself to walk around the table, each step measured, as if the ground beneath me might shift.
Her face is unreadable at first, and my stomach knots tighter with every passing second.
Then—almost like sunlight breaking through a storm—her expression shifts.
A smile spreads across her face, bright and relieved, and before I can even react, she’s sprinting toward me and launching herself into my arms.
I catch her instinctively, gripping her tight as her legs wrap around my waist. The weight of her, the heat of her body pressed against mine—it all fits, like I’ve been walking around half-alive and she’s the piece that snaps me back together.
“Please tell me you’re real,” I whisper, my mouth brushing her temple.
“I’m real,” she murmurs against my neck.
“Fuck, it feels so good to hold you.” My voice breaks, and I don’t even care who hears it.
Aubrey leans back just enough to look at me, her legs still locked around my waist, her hands coming up to cradle my face. Her thumbs sweep over my cheeks as if she’s memorizing me all over again.
“I needed a moment to get my shit together,” she says softly, breath warm against my lips. “And I’m so sorry it’s taken me this long, but I’m ready to claim you out loud for everyone to see. You’re mine, Trent Gibson… and I’m yours. And I love you so fucking much.”
Without even thinking, my lips slam against hers. One hand grips her back, pulling her impossibly close, while the other curls at the nape of her neck, holding her as if I could anchor her to me forever.
Our tongues collide in a frantic, desperate dance, and the bar around us seems to dissolve, leaving only the heat between us, the weight of her body pressed into mine.
When she bites my lip, a groan rumbles out of my chest. My hand at her back slips lower, cupping her ass, and she grinds against me, with a hunger that makes my head spin.
“Fuck,” I breathe, my voice rough, swallowed by the heat of the moment.
Then a sharp cough slices through the haze. The bar snaps back into focus—laughter, music, and reality suddenly slam into me. I slowly lower Aubrey to the ground, her body sliding down mine, and I subtly adjust the hard-on straining against my jeans.
I keep my eyes on her, choosing—very deliberately—to ignore her brothers for a few more seconds. I cradle her face in my hands, my thumbs brushing her cheeks, desperate for another taste of her mouth.
“I love you,” I whisper, the words raw and real.
Her lips curve. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I rest my forehead against hers and breathe her in, grounding myself in the scent of her shampoo, the warmth of her breath, the tremble of her hands on my sides. “We doing this then, pretty girl?”
“We’re doing this,” she says without hesitation.
That’s all I need. A laugh full of relief bursts out of me as I haul her back into my arms. I spin her in a full circle, savoring the squeal that escapes her and the way she clings to me, fingers digging into my shoulders like she never wants to let go again.
“Yeah, alright, we get it—you two are in love,” Kade calls out dryly. “Now put her down and keep the PDA to a minimum. I’m willing to let whatever that was a second ago slide, but I’m not watching it happen again.”
I can’t help but smile against Aubrey’s neck. “Your brother is cock-blocking me already,” I murmur.
“I can also hear you,” Kade adds, louder this time.
I shake my head, amused, and press a soft kiss on Aubrey’s forehead. She shivers, her fingers brushing the back of my neck. “You want to stay for a little bit?” I ask quietly.
“Yeah,” she says, her voice warm, her eyes flicking to my mouth before returning to mine. “Just for a little while… and then I want you all to myself.”
The promise in her tone crawls down my spine, settling in my gut like fire. I tighten my arm around her waist, already counting the minutes until we can leave.
I lead her over to the table I was sitting at with Clay, Kade and Brandon and help her onto the stall, I then stand directly behind her, her back against my chest, my arms wrapped tightly around her holding her, needing her as close as possible.
For the first time in too damn long, everything feels right.
I tug her closer, breathing her in, already thinking about the moment we’ll finally be alone—no bar noise, no brothers watching, no distance between us. Just us.
And as she smiles up at me, cheeks flushed, eyes bright with everything we haven’t said yet, one thing is clear:
Whatever comes next…
We’re facing it together.