Chapter 16 #2
She moved her tongue between her teeth, and he wanted to suck on her bottom lip. She lowered her gaze. If she struck him down it’d hurt like fucking hell, but if she wanted to take things slow—
With her chin slightly tucked, she lifted her lashes. “I guess the big question is, my place or yours?”
He caught her under the arms and pulled her down on top of him. “I’d live in a fucking tent if it made you happy.”
Her laugh tinkled in the air. She brought her lips to his and his senses fizzled. She pulled away and rested her palm against his jaw. “We can discuss over lunch.”
He trailed his fingers over her shoulder. “I’ll start the coffee,” he said, and then slid off the bed and tucked the covers around her.
“I knew you were a smart man.”
He laughed easily as he stepped into his shorts. “I must be since I fell for you.” He winked and strode out of the room.
Contentment filled him. Dez loved him. Everything else would work itself out.
* * *
Aiden shuffled the scrambled eggs around the pan and reached for the salt. He sent a glance over his shoulder at Dez sitting at the island, her laptop in front of her, a pen and paper in hand, and her phone pinched between her ear and shoulder.
“Yeah, I’ll order the new register and display cases today if you can handle the products.” A pause followed. “Perfect. Thanks, Louise, you’re a gem.” She hung up and heaved a sigh.
“Making progress?” he asked.
She scrunched her nose. |Getting there. I’m waiting to hear back from my insurance adjuster, but I can’t put off ordering the items we need for too long. These things could take months to come in.”
“It’ll take close to that to repair the damage to the shop.”
She slumped and pushed her hair out of her face. She’d showered and changed into cut-off shorts and a black T-shirt while he’d started lunch.
He turned back to the stove and flipped the hash browns.
“Did Hank get back to you?” she asked.
“Yeah. He didn’t want to bother me with details while we’re recovering, but things are worse than we thought with Meredith.” He turned toward the island and began filling the plates he’d laid out.
She pulled back her head. “How on earth could they be any worse?”
“Well, they got a warrant and searched her place. She had photos of you and I having sex Saturday night.”
Dez gasped. “How did she—”
“From the angle, it looks like she was in the trees outside my bedroom window.”
“Ugh.” She twisted her face with disgust. “That makes me feel icky.”
“They also found her diary. Originally she planned . . .” He cleared his throat. “Never mind.”
“Aiden, don’t you dare hold anything back from me as if I can’t take it.” Anger flashed across her eyes. He slid more hash browns onto his plate.
“It’s not that you can’t take it. It’s better not knowing certain things.”
She tilted her head and narrowed her gaze. “Try me.”
He lifted a shoulder. “Fine. She wanted to set your store on fire with you in it.”
Dez pressed her fingers to her lips and regret filled him as quickly as he’d filled his coffee cup earlier. “I shouldn’t have told you that.”
She shook her head. “It’s fine. I mean, she’s caught now. She can’t hurt us. It just blows my mind that anyone could want to do that to another human being. How did she get to that point?”
He reached for the pan of eggs and spilled them onto the plates next to the hash browns.
“They’re still delving into her history, but it looks like she’s had a lot of men hurt her over the years.
Five years ago, she was married and pregnant.
Her husband left her for another woman, and shortly after she miscarried.
There was a chain of shitty relationships after that. ”
She dipped her chin. “Gosh, that’s sad. I almost feel sorry for her.”
“Too bad she didn’t seek out help instead of hunting people down. Now she’ll have attempted murder charges, arson, assault . . . and jail time. She really screwed up her life.”
Dez winced, squeezing her eyes closed. “It’s so terrible”
He went around the island and covered her shoulder with his hand. “For us, this nightmare is over.”
She reached for his fingers, and he brought his lips to her hair. “I’m starving,” he said.
“Me too.” She stretched across the island and dragged their plates close.
He took the seat next to her and stabbed his fork into the hash browns and eggs.
“Mmm. So good,” Dez said. She swung her gaze to him. “I need to work for about an hour or so and get these orders placed. What are you going to do?” She took a bite of the potatoes and waited.
“It’s weird having time off. I just took vacation days last month.” He glanced out the window. “I wouldn’t mind cutting the grass and cleaning up the yard. I should probably get the house ready to sell.”
She froze midbite. “You want to move into my place?”
“Well, it’s nice that you don’t have neighbors to share a wall with,” he said, nodding at the interior wall behind them. “And to be honest, just knowing Meredith was next door and doing all this gives me the creeps.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I agree. I love your place, but those are two downfalls.”
Delight coursed through him. “Can I ask you a favor?”
She swallowed her mouthful and washed it down with water. “Anything.”
“Will you meet my parents? Not this week, but sometime soon.”
She wound her fingers around his forearm. “Only if you agree to meet my mom.”
He threaded his fingers with hers. “I can’t wait to meet Charlene. I feel like I know her after all your talk about her and Ray.”
“Oh, she’ll be thrilled to meet you. I’ll apologize now for how much she’ll fawn over you.” She took another bite of eggs. “Actually, I should call her before I get lost in my orders. She has no idea what’s happened and she’ll be pissed I didn’t call sooner.”
He finished eating then went out to the yard.
The whole scene was so . . . domestic. Wholesome even.
He liked the pace when Dez was around. And he didn’t need to pick up the phone when he needed to hear someone’s voice besides his own in his head.
He could just talk to her, touch her. She brought so much light and happiness to his life and he hadn’t even packed a single box yet.
They had a future, and he’d enjoy making Dez happy for the rest of their lives.