Chapter Six
AIDAN brINGS ME TO the town's one and only steakhouse, and I can't help fussing over my hair, having just realized that we're about to be seen by his friends again.
"Are you sure I look okay?" I ask one last time.
"You already know the answer to that."
I can't help making a face at this, and Aidan grins.
"Telling me I'm beautiful over and over can't actually make it true, you know."
But Aidan being Aidan, he only smiles and takes my hand. "Let's go in. I'm starving."
The place is only half full, and while it's obvious everyone knows everyone, it's just as obvious Hartland's townsfolk are keen to give us space, with the way they smile and nod at Aidan and me without attempting to engage us in small talk.
"I feel like something's going on," I tell Aidan as he helps me to my seat.
"There is," Aidan confirms easily as he takes his seat across me. "I put the word out that it's our first date tonight—-"
I nearly choke on my glass of water.
"—-and that I'd appreciate some privacy while I do my wooing and dining."
Okay, make that I'm officially choking now, and Wyoming Keanu here even has the gall to act like a knight coming to my rescue as he asks, "Are you alright?" He leans forward and takes a napkin to gently pat my mouth dry.
He leans back. "All good now."
"It is not all good!" I'm aghast and mortified, but more than anything else, I'm in despair at how my lips are still tingling at his touch. This man has such a gift for driving me crazy and making me want to swoon all at the same time.
"You can't do things like that in public," I hiss under my breath. "You know about Jack—-"
It's my first time to see Aidan's lip curl. "If you feel guilty about him, don't be. He'll get over you—-"
"Thanks a lot." I'm hurt and more than a little stunned that he can say something so crass.
"It's only natural," Aidan says patiently.
And the blows just keep coming. Why does he even bother saying I'm beautiful in one breath—-
"He doesn't need you the way I do."
Only to make me feel like I'm so worthless no man will pine—- what did he just say?
Aidan catches me staring at him. "What is it?"
I hastily shake my head and manage a smile. "I was just lost in my thoughts, sorry."
"As long as it's not another man you're thinking about..."
The grimness of his tone makes me bite my lip hard against the urge to laugh...and cry. Aidan's actually jealous. It's written all over his beautiful face, and he isn't making any attempt to hide it either.
Aidan.
Jealous over me.
Me!
I lower my hands to my lap, and my fingers automatically clench.
Just make the most out of this, Raffi.
Aidan suddenly cups my chin, and my gaze automatically lifts to his. "Are you sure everything's alright?"
I nod quickly, and with my soul clinging to that one thought, I don't need to force myself to smile. My lips are already curving on its own, and when I see his own lips soften...
"You're so handsome."
This time, the words are something I consciously choose to say, and my heart leapfrogs in dazzled excitement at the rich, sexy sound of Aidan's chuckle.
The rest of the evening is easily one of the most magical moments in my life. The food is fabulous, the music is lovely, and the ambience of the place romantic. Everything's perfect, but it's not what makes each moment magical.
The magic is all in the man looking at me across the table.
The way his dark gaze pierces my soul is magical. The way his words make love to my ears. The way his every touch etches a promise on my skin.
Everything about Aidan Blackwood is sweet, beautiful magic, and I just don't understand why it has to be me.
It should be another girl he's pulling out the chair for. A more deserving girl whose hand he should be holding, a more deserving girl he should be opening doors for. All the perfectly magical things Aidan's doing now...he should be doing them for any girl but me, and I feel my heart breaking as I watch him climb into the pick-up and pull his door shut, and even those things, dammit...every little thing he does is executed with such seamless grace it almost makes me want to cry. And maybe...ask God if he's playing favorites?
Like, c'mon God . Isn't it enough you've made him extraordinarily handsome? Does Wyoming Keanu have to be poetry in motion, too?
I mean, sure, I know Jack also rates higher than me in the attractiveness scale, but I've never found him dazzling. I've been with the guy for over two years, but I've never thought Jack was out of my reach, and it's probably because I've also known of his flaws since day one.
Which is fine, of course.
There's nothing wrong about that.
It just means we're both imperfect, and while Jack and I may not ever make magic together, the two of us make sense at least.
Aidan and I, however...
"Stop overthinking things."
Aidan's tone of gentle chastisement pulls me out of my thoughts, and I can only smile weakly, knowing by now it's pointless to lie. The man is just too good at reading my thoughts, and besides...
"I just can't see things working out between us."
Some things simply have to be said, no matter how painful, and I mentally brace myself right after, thinking he'd tell me it's not true because he's nice like that, and of course I'd have to argue otherwise because I'm just pragmatic like that, and—-
"Have you figured it out yet?" Aidan asks calmly.
So much for my imaginary script, and I can only gaze at him in bemusement, asking, "Figured out what?"
"What you want to do with your life. Or even just what you want, to start with."
"Uh..." I can't help blinking, thinking that those words certainly came out of left field.
He raises a brow. "Well?"
"No, actually I haven't, and—-" Wait a minute. My gaze narrows at him. "What does that have to do with you?"
Aidan only smiles, and even though it's always enough to make my heart skip a beat...
Oh my God.
The glint in his gaze tells me exactly what he's thinking now, and I don't even know how to feel about it.
"If you're thinking what I want is you—-"
"I am."
I can only look at him helplessly, unable to believe he really went there. "Aidan—-"
"That's the first time you've said my name," he suddenly says, and I can only stare at him, my skin tingling at how his voice has become rough with need all at once.
"Say it again," he orders.
My brain tells me not to do it, but my heart is foolish than ever. It's actually thrilled to hear the note of command in his voice, and oh my God, it's hopeless. I'm hopeless, and next thing I know—-
" Aidan ."
I say it grudgingly, but because I still did say it, both of us know who's the winner and loser here, and I can't help grimacing at the way Aidan's dark gaze gleams in triumph.
"Again."
"Seriously?"
"Again."
No way am I going to do it. Just no way. No, no, no.
But next thing I know, I'm already saying it.
"Aidan."
I growl it out, but that doesn't really make things any less worse, and I'm not surprised to see Aidan's lips curve ever so slowly into the cockiest and sexiest of smirks.
Hopeless. You are completely hopeless, Serafina Edison.
Wasn't it just five minutes ago that I told Aidan I can't see things working out between us? So what the hell am I doing now? Why am I flirting like I can hope for something more and—-
"I heard it all, you know." Aidan's murmur cuts through my thoughts, and I look at him in surprise.
Heard what?
"Do you remember the first time we met?"
"Outside the diner?"
He smiles. "I saw you before that, though. Well, everyone did. Colette was giving you such a hard time we all kinda felt bad—-"
"Say no more," I interrupt with a wince. "I was such a wimp—-"
"You were kind ," Aidan says simply. "You could've given her as good as you got. I saw it in your eyes. But you chose not to because you were kind, and frankly, that was what turned me on—-"
I can only gape at him. "My kindness made you horny ?"
"Still does."
Oh my God .
I laugh and shake my head, speechless and shaken, but also thrilled and confused at the same time. I've never even thought myself as kind in the first place, and now Wyoming Keanu is telling me the reason he's been after me all this time is because I'm... kind?
"You are such a freak."
But Aidan only smiles and starts the engine.
I watch him drive, and I feel like there's something new I should be figuring out now. I've told him that I don't know what I want in life, and his response is to tell me that I'm kind. Is there even a real connection between these two things or am I just reading too much into things here?
When we make it back to the B&B, I'm still stumped, and there's only one thing I know. I'm just not ready for the night to end yet, and as Aidan helps me out of his pick-up, I hear myself ask, "Can we hang out a bit?"
Aidan only looks at me, and I add hurriedly, "They have a fireplace in the living room. Bettina says guests can use it whenever."
I want the magic to last, even for just a moment longer, and when I see his gaze glints—-
"You, me, a fireplace..."
I know he wants the same thing, too, and my toes curl.
"You're sure?"
I can only nod, and well...what happens after that is even more magical than I can ever dream of.
Fire crackles next to us as Aidan lays me down on a soft, thick rug, and my eyes close as the hot, hard weight of his body settles over mine. Our mouths touch, and the magic of his kiss seeps into my soul.
We kiss slowly at first.
Gently.
Teasingly.
But just as the flames watching us begin to burn hotter, so do things change between us.
All traces of softness disappear.
And all that's left is wild and feral.
His tongue thrusting hard into my mouth.
His teeth sinking into the fullness of my lip.
His mouth latching onto the sensitive flesh of my neck.
It's magic uncontrolled.
Impossible to contain.
And so heartbreakingly beautiful that even as it has me gasping and moaning, my body shuddering against his powerful hardness—-
There's also nothing I can do to keep the tears from falling.
Just nothing I can do...
Except cry at how magical it is.
And the tears fall harder and faster when I feel Aidan's mouth ease from my skin.
He sits up and leans back against the sofa as I curl on his lap like a baby, my tears wetting the sweater under his coat.
Words explode in my mind.
There's so many things I want to say.
So many things I want him to know.
Just so, so many things I wish I can say.
But I can't.
My lips are trembling too hard, and all I can do is sob—-
"It's alright, baby."
No, it's not.
"Just listen to me," he says softly. "Alright?"
I don't want to.
"I know you think everything's happening too fast, and that things between us can't possibly be real."
I can't and mustn't listen.
"I know you've decided to leave, and I'm telling you now..."
Because whatever he has to say—-
"It's going to be fine, baby."
I'm sure I won't be able to bear it.
"I want you to take as much time as you need."
And it's just as I feared.
"There isn't any need to hurry because we have forever."
He's telling me he's okay with waiting. He's giving me the time that Jack himself doesn't think I deserve, and every word is magic.
"But until then..."
Just beautiful, heartbreaking magic, and it's because of that...
"I know I have to let you go."
It's because of that every word hurts.