Chapter Sixteen #2
I let out a breath and return his stare. “She’s important to me.”
He nods once, a quiet understanding softening his face. He reaches out, clanking his bottle against mine. “Then don’t let anything mess it up. We don’t get many things that are just ours in this business. Hold on to it.”
By nine o’clock, the sleet has started, a rhythmic tapping against the glass of my windshield as I follow Eva’s Range Rover down the winding roads to my place.
We didn’t stay long after cleanup. Eva gave Alie a long squeeze, then snuggled the kids all together in a group hug.
But the look she gave me was heated before she stepped out into the freezing air.
I didn’t say a word to the others. I just climbed into my truck and followed her.
The tires crunch the icy pebbles on my driveway, right behind where Eva is parked next to the front door. By the time I get out of my truck, she’s already standing on the porch. But she doesn’t use her key this time. She waits for me.
I walk up to her, my boots heavy and my steps deliberate. I don’t say anything as I unlock the dead bolt, pushing the door open to let the warm air out into the cold.
When the door shuts behind us, the silence is heavy.
Eva turns to me, her coat buttoned up to her throat. Her cheeks are flushed, her eyes sparkling.
“You didn’t tell me you were going over there for dinner tonight,” she says with a smile.
“I didn’t know I was going to until I was getting ready to leave,” I say, closing the distance between us until my chest is inches from hers.
I reach out, my finger catching the zipper of her coat, slowly pulling it down to reveal her sweater underneath.
“Alie ordered me to come. If I had known you would be sitting on that stool, looking like an angel, I would’ve been a little more anxious to get there. ”
“Hmm. Well, I guess it worked out for both of us then,” she says, a smile touching her lips.
“I guess so.”
I don’t wait. I bring my hands up, my large palms wrapping around the sides of her neck, my thumbs tracing the soft line of her jaw as I pull her up to meet me.
The kiss isn’t gentle. It’s deep and hungry from my watching her for hours across the room.
I taste the sweet red wine on her tongue, and my teeth catch her bottom lip until a small whimper escapes her throat.
She tangles her fingers into the coarse fabric of my coat, pulling herself flush against me until her full breasts crush against my chest, her heat bleeding through my clothes.
“Aston,” she gasps against my mouth, her eyes swimming with an intensity that matches my own. “We should probably talk about this. We can’t keep this a secret from this group. I think Alie knows. And they’re like family to you.”
“Saint knows.” I rest my forehead against hers. “I know we need to tell them.”
Her hands slide down, resting flat against my chest, feeling the rapid thump of my heart. “It’s just not going to be easy to hide, the deeper we get into … this.”
I don’t move. I just hold her, fighting the urge to drag her upstairs and lock us away forever.
Dramatic, I know, but I don’t give a fuck.
“Are we doing this, Honeybee?” I ask, my voice thick.
“Really doing this? Because you’re right.
We can’t hide this much longer. And damn if I hate watching you from thirty yards away and not be able to touch you.
So, if we’re taking the risk of being together, I want the whole goddamn world to know who you belong to. ”
Eva stares at me, her eyes wide, but there’s no fear in them. The worry about her career, what the gossips will say, seems to burn away the longer we hold each other.
“I want to. I’m … ready,” she says, her voice steady. “I just want to make sure we’re on the same page before we do this. That we’re not making a rash decision.”
“It’s not a rash decision,” I say firmly, my fingers tangling in her hair, pulling her face closer to mine so our breaths are mingling. “You were meant to be mine the first time I saw you years ago.”
A beautiful smile breaks across her face, her fingers tightening on my shoulders. “I feel the same. So, I guess, we’re doing this thing.”
I lead her over to the kitchen, lifting her effortlessly by the waist until she’s sitting on the counter, her legs dangling between mine as I stand between her knees. Her hands rest on my shoulders, tracing the seam of my sleeves.
“If we go public, we need to do it right,” she says, her voice firm as her eyes search my face. “I need to talk to my dad first. He can’t be blindsided.”
“Understood, and I agree.”
“We’ll control the narrative. We’ll tell the people who matter first.” She takes a deep breath. “So, when we get back from Atlanta?” she asks softly.
“Yeah, that works.” I nod. But my stomach knots as I think about telling my brother.
“He needs to hear it from me before some rumor spreads. He knows who you are. He knows who your family is. If I tell him this is real, I think he’ll understand.”
I look at her, taking in the small, fierce line of her jaw. She’s ready to face it all for us. Ready to put her reputation and her career on the line just to be with me.
“Okay,” I say firmly. “I can come with you so I can look him in the eye so he knows this isn’t just some fling for me.”
“Aston,” she says, placing a kiss on my lips, “he’ll see what you feel for me. You kinda suck at hiding it.”
I belt out a laugh because she’s not wrong.
“Yeah, I’d say I’m gone,” I say against her lips, my hands sliding under the hem of her sweater, finding the soft, burning heat of the skin at her waist. “And there’s no going back.”