Chapter 14 #2
“Actually…that’s why I’m here. My mom got me an opportunity to skip to the front of the line, so to speak. Training starts in January.”
He stilled, his brows lifting as he studied me intently. “And then you’re off,” he said, his voice just a murmur.
“And then I’m off,” I agreed. The words felt heavy. Wrong. But I didn’t know why.
This was what I’d been dreaming about my whole life…
the chance to experience different places and cultures, learn about different people.
To explore the world. I had a tattoo of a plane inked on the top of my foot to remind me of exactly that, for fuck’s sake.
So why did it feel like I just wanted to explore him?
“What about you?” I asked, desperate to get the topic off me. “How’d writing go today?”
He froze with his wineglass halfway to his mouth, and I worried I’d overstepped.
Maybe he didn’t like talking about his work with other people.
After all, he hadn’t told a single soul about it other than his agent and publisher.
And the only reason he’d confided in me in the first place was because he thought he’d never see me again.
That conversation with Mabel proved why he kept his mouth shut. I wasn’t sure why I thought it would be any different with me. It was clear Aiden kept things close to his chest. He was a man of many secrets, and he had no reason to share them with me.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to badger you like Mabel did—even if she didn’t realize she was doing it. You don’t have to tell me that.” I waved a hand through the air. “Forget I asked.”
“No,” he said, sharp at first, then he cleared his throat and spoke again, softer this time.
“No, I was just…surprised. I’m not used to people asking.
And Mabel is an entirely different beast. If she knows something, the whole town knows it.
And you saw how well that went for her. I don’t want to think about what it would do to the—” He cut himself off with a shake of his head and cleared his throat.
“Anyway. You really want to hear about it?”
“Of course.” I’d take any nugget of information about him that I could get, but I wasn’t about to say that. “Why wouldn’t I?”
He raised a brow but otherwise didn’t say anything.
“Right.” Because it was the reason our relationship—whatever it may be—hadn’t gotten off on the best foot. The reason I hadn’t been riding the Aiden train every night while I was staying in the room next to his. “I owe you an apology for that.”
“You don’t.”
“I do,” I insisted. “My reaction was more a reflection of me, not you. I…don’t have the best history with secrets. Let’s just say my dad kept some pretty important shit from me and my mom, and I’ve been soured to them ever since.”
He studied me for long moments, no doubt wanting to ask me about it. But he must’ve read the closed-off expression on my face because he just dipped his chin in a nod. “Fair enough.”
“But I do want to hear about this. If you want to tell me. I mean, you don’t have anyone else to talk to about this stuff, right?”
“Just you,” he confirmed after a long moment, and the weight of those two little words settled deep in my chest, a flurry of butterflies taking flight in my stomach.
Ignoring how much I loved that I was the only person he’d entrusted his secret to, I raised a brow and lifted my wineglass. “Then I’m all ears.”
Then, like a switch had been flipped in him, his entire being lit up with every word that passed his lips as he discussed realms and enchantments and evil forces dead set on keeping the hero and heroine apart.
It was as if whatever front he put on for other people dissipated completely as he shared this part of himself with me.
A part he’d never shared with anyone else.
This was the real Aiden. Not the guy who was stressed all the time or who wore a scowl like a second skin or who barked orders at his sister and never had enough time to get everything done.
This man, who gave me all his smiles. Who talked about tropes and archetypes and casually asked if I thought twelve sex scenes were enough in an erotic novel or if he should add one more…
That was who he truly was when he wasn’t fearing judgment or ridicule or the demise of his family’s business.
That was who he was with me.
“So, it went well, then?” I said on a laugh when he finally paused long enough to take a bite of our entree.
He chuckled lowly, dipping his eyes to the plate of grilled steak with red wine reduction in front of him before lifting his gaze to meet mine. “Surprisingly, yes. It was the best writing day I’ve had.”
“On this book? Nice.”
“No. Ever.”
I stared at him with wide eyes. “Seriously?”
He breathed out a disbelieving laugh and shook his head, like he couldn’t believe it himself. “Seriously. I wrote as much today as I usually do in a week, sometimes two.”
“That’s amazing, Aiden! What do you think did it?”
“I’m not sure. I guess we’ll see if it happens again tomorrow.”
“Does that mean you feel better about meeting your deadline?”
“If I can have a couple more days like this? Yeah. I have no doubt I’ll get it done on time.”
“So you just need to spend the rest of your time here pounding away.”
Aiden choked on the sip of wine he’d just taken, and my eyes widened when I realized how that sounded.
“At the keyboard!” I clarified. “Pounding away at the keyboard. Not at—” I gestured wildly with my hand, although I had no idea what that was going to accomplish.
All it did for me was conjure up images of our night together, his hips slapping against me as he sank inside me over and over and over again, all while whispering the filthiest things in my ear…
I couldn’t even blame my overheated cheeks on the temperature. From the way Aiden’s gaze pinned me in place, his eyes heavy with something that looked an awful lot like lust, he knew exactly what I was thinking about. And there was no denying his thoughts mirrored my own.
I didn’t know if it was the aphrodisiac ingredients we’d been shoving into our mouths for the past two hours and that I was a little tipsy on all this wine, or the fact that Aiden and I had chemistry in spades, or that I knew exactly what he could do to my body, but I couldn’t ignore it anymore.
I wanted him. Badly. And it was getting harder and harder to deny.
I could only hope this upcoming couples massage was actually relaxing and I’d somehow be able to ignore the fact that Aiden was lying next to me. Naked.
Truly, what was the worst that could happen?