Chapter 14
Aspen glanced at the clock on the dash as she pulled into a space outside her favorite brunch spot. It was pushing ten thirty, which meant that, despite waking up with the sun, they’d effectively managed to while away the bulk of the morning in bed. Not that she was complaining. Far from it.
It had been, without question, the absolute best morning of her life.
A gentle warmth blossomed in her chest as she looked over at Eve, and she bit her lip as she drank her in. Eve was always stunning, but because she didn’t have any clothes at her house, she was wearing a pair of the leggings she’d wear to work out in and a crewneck sweatshirt from her days at the Academy, and there was something about Eve in them that just did things to her.
Eve’s lips twitched with a smile when she looked over and caught Aspen staring. The air thickened and warmed as their gazes locked, and her chest rose and fell with a deep breath as she husked, “Please stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?” Aspen asked as her attention dipped to appreciate the way her sweater hung on Eve’s smaller frame. While only a few inches taller than Eve, she was quite a bit broader, and she licked her lips as her gaze lingered on the enticing curve of Eve’s neck where it met her shoulder.
She snapped out of her ogling when Eve gave her shoulder a playful shove. “Like that!”
“It’s not my fault that you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” Aspen defended. She quite liked the way Eve’s cheeks pinked at the compliment, and couldn’t resist adding in a smoky voice, “Or that I really like the way you look in my clothes.”
Eve’s pulse visibly jumped in her throat. “I seriously can’t go again right now.”
Honestly, Aspen couldn’t, either, but that didn’t stop her from leaning across the center console to kiss Eve. It was a slow, sweet kiss, more lips softening against each other in easy familiarity than an attempt to arouse, and Aspen nuzzled Eve’s cheek when the kiss reached its inevitable end. “Are you trying to convince me of that, or yourself?”
“Both,” Eve croaked.
Aspen forced herself to ignore the way stomach clenched at the hunger in Eve’s voice as she restrained herself to a quick peck of a kiss. “Later,” she promised, grinning broadly when Eve responded with a definitive nod. “Come on, beautiful.” She stole one last kiss before pulling away. “Time to refuel.”
Because of its location at the base of Ajax, Timber was predictably packed with skiers and boarders looking for a bite between runs, but there was a decent mix of people in street clothes who’d wandered in to enjoy the restaurant’s killer brunch menu. Aspen had just given her name to the hostess when she spotted three familiar faces huddled around a table at the back of the restaurant.
“Would you look who we have here,” Aspen drawled. She pointed at Kit, Jack, and Lydia, who all wore dark sunglasses and matching expressions of the painfully hungover. There were two empty chairs at their table, and Aspen arched a brow at Eve. “I bet we could join them, if you’re up for it. Or would you rather wait twenty minutes or so for a table of our own?” Her stomach chose that moment to make its opinion loudly known, and she rolled her eyes at Eve’s amused laughter. “What? We burned a lot of calories last night.”
Eve’s eyes shone with happiness as she pulled their joined hands behind her back and leaned into Aspen’s side. “And don’t forget this morning.”
“How could I forget that?” Aspen turned enough that she was able to pull Eve’s hips flush against her own and dipped her head to murmur against Eve’s lips, “Especially that thing you did in the shower where—”
Eve interrupted her with a kiss. “Stop.”
“What? You were the one who—” Aspen batted her lashes innocently when she was silenced by a firm finger to her lips.
“If you want that to ever happen again, you won’t finish that sentence,” Eve warned.
Aspen arched a brow in a way that clearly asked, Are you sure about that? , and smirked as she watched a pretty blush spread across Eve’s cheeks. It was fun riling Eve up, but she would cry if it never happened again, and she was actually famished, so she kissed the tip of Eve’s finger to concede the battle. “Do you want to join the Troublemaking Trio or wait for a table?”
Eve smiled when Aspen’s stomach once again weighed-in with its opinion on the matter and tugged her forward. “Come on, you.”
Lydia was the first to spot them. “Well, well, well,” she drawled. “Look what the pussy dragged in.”
Instead of looking up, Kit groaned and dropped her head on the table. “No more pussy. I need actual food, Alexander.”
Aspen laughed and inclined her head at Lydia as she asked, “What happened to Kit not being your type?”
Lydia blushed and flipped her off. “Shut up.”
Jack sniggered and then whined as he pressed his hands to his forehead. “Shit. Don’t make me laugh. It makes my headache worse.” He turned and pressed his forehead to Kit’s shoulder instead as he grumbled, “Fuck, why did I let you talk me into drinking so much?”
Kit petted his head soothingly. “You can’t blame me for your headache, Jackie. You were the one doing body shots with that snowboard instructor.”
“Okay, admittedly not my finest moment,” Jack replied, though he didn’t sound especially sorry about it. “But did you see his abs? Totally lick-able.”
“Just his abs?” Kit teased as she sat up. She grinned at the way Jack yelped as he was thrown backward. “Shit, I thought you were gonna blow him in the middle of the dance floor.”
“Um, excuse me,” a server appeared at Aspen’s shoulder with two plates of towering pancakes and one that had some kind of breakfast hash.
Aspen bit her lip to keep from laughing at the scandalized look on the poor server’s face as she stepped aside so he could put the plates down.
Kit, being Kit, just grinned as her pancakes were set in front of her. “Thanks, man. Oh, and they’re joining us.” She waved at Aspen and Eve as she picked up her silverware and prepared to dig in.
The server smiled politely at Aspen and Eve. “Do you need a menu?”
Aspen just shrugged as Eve replied, “That’d be great, thanks.”
“Be right back with those,” the server promised as he disappeared.
Aspen nodded her thanks as she pulled the empty chair next to Lydia out for Eve because she figured it’d be safest for her to serve as a buffer between Eve and Jack. Once Eve was seated, she dropped into the empty spot beside her. She couldn’t help but smile when Eve nudged her chair closer, so their legs were brushing, and draped an arm over the back of Eve’s chair to lightly caress her shoulder as their friends dug into their food.
“So, like, how did you guys meet?” Lydia asked as she dug into her hash.
Aspen pursed her lips and inclined her head as she deferred to Eve with a look that said she’d be fine with whatever Eve decided. “You want to tell them, or should I?”
Eve worried her lip for a moment before, with a small eye roll, she placed a hand on Aspen’s leg and opted for a streamlined version of the truth. “Aspen’s cousin Michael introduced us.”
“Wait, you know Michael?” Jack asked around a mouthful of pancakes. “I haven’t seen that bitch in forever!”
Aspen pulled a face. “Dude, don’t be gross. Finish chewing before you speak.”
Jack smirked and swallowed. And then made a point of opening his mouth to show Aspen it was empty before he turned his attention back to Eve. “Anyway, how do you know Michael?”
“We met at a mutual friend’s birthday party like…god, maybe five years ago?” Eve shrugged. “Anyway, he’s my best friend, and, yeah. He introduced us.”
“And how’d that go?” Lydia asked as their server returned to drop off a couple of menus for Aspen and Eve.
Kit snorted and bumped Lydia with her shoulder. “Did you not see them in the club last night grinding on each other? Clearly, it went well.”
“Tactful as ever, Hawthorne,” Aspen muttered as Eve picked up her menu to hide behind.
Lydia rolled her eyes. “Okay, yeah. That’s a fair point.”
“What are your plans today?” Aspen changed the subject as she pushed her menu away. At home, she was a Greek yogurt and coffee kind of girl when it came to breakfast, but today she needed carbs, and she already knew she’d be going for the Belgian waffle topped with a mountain whipped cream and heaping piles of strawberries.
“Dunno yet.” Kit shrugged. “Probably something hangover friendly. Like a nap. Or sweating it out in the sauna.”
“Or both,” Jack said.
Kit gave him a look that said fuck yeah, we will as she asked, “What are guys up to?”
“Well, first we need to go back to Eve’s parents’ place to get our things. Then we’re heading back to my place,” Aspen shared. She laughed as Jack, who’d just popped another forkful of pancakes into his mouth, started humming the Mission Impossible theme. “But after, I dunno…” Aspen glanced at Eve. She’d thought of something the day before, but she wasn’t sure if it’d be something Eve would even be interested in. “I was thinking it might be fun to hit the trails on the snowmobile so Eve can get her art on.”
Eve hummed and arched a brow. “Really?”
“Only if you want, of course,” Aspen assured her. She didn’t know what to make of the way Eve was looking at her, so she explained, “I just noticed the way you were looking at the terrain and stuff on the lifts when we were skiing yesterday, and I thought it might be something you’d like. But if you’d rather just lay low, or do the sauna thing or something…” She let her voice trail off as Eve smiled at her like she’d just offered her the world.
“You’d really spend the day letting me take pictures?”
“Would I…?” Aspen tucked her hand under Eve’s chin and brushed her thumb over her lips. “Beautiful girl, I’d do anything to make you smile like this.”
“Damn, you’re a smooth fucker,” Kit whistled.
Aspen didn’t look away from the pure wonder that shone in Eve’s eyes as she flipped Kit off, and her heart squeezed when Eve blushed prettily and whispered, “I think I’d really like to try that.”