Chapter 15
Aidan
Cielo stares at me like I’ve grown a second head. “A swim? Now?”
“Right now.” Laps in her gym’s indoor pool always helped her recalibrate. And I’m not ready to say good night yet.
Her eyes narrow. “What for?”
“Old times’ sake.”
“I just can’t believe you’re already nostalgic about falling into the creek. That was only a couple hours ago. Don’t you remember how cold it was?”
“Come on.” I gently brush her arm. “Let’s sneak out. The rehearsal dinner is already over.”
“It’s dark outside,” she says, but she’s smiling a little. She wants to be talked into it. I can do that.
The hall window reveals a pale moon rising in a late September sky.
I gesture to the pristine garden beyond.
The tables of the wedding party are illuminated by string lights, but the guests are filing out.
Shafts of pale light stream through the fruit trees, and the flower blossoms are pinched closed for the night.
“Tomorrow is a full moon. There’s plenty of light to see. ”
Lo steps closer to the window—and me—to get a better look. Moonlight spills across her cheekbones and she is divine. “It is pretty out there.”
I grab her hand. “Come with me.”
She doesn’t jerk out of my grasp. “I didn’t bring a bathing suit.”
“It’s practically pitch-black out there. I won’t see a thing.” I wink.
She laughs and I can feel some of the tension leave her.
After a quick detour to my room to grab bath towels, we are on our way. Most of the guests have settled into their rooms for the evening. We slip past the courtyard and it takes a moment for my vision to acclimate, but once it does the sparkle in Lo’s eyes is enough to rival any star.
She hasn’t looked at me in this way in so long. I keep my big mouth shut on the walk there so I don’t mess this up. The back of Cielo’s hand nearly brushes mine again as our arms naturally swing with an unrushed pace. My fingers itch to reach out and wrap around hers.
Lush grass releases its fresh, heady scent under our feet with each step.
Frogs croak around us as we amble in silence, filled with wonder at the beautiful night.
From here, the castle is impressively lit, spotlights on each majestic ash tree along the grand entrance; it looks like something from a storybook.
But now that we’ve turned off the lit footpath to follow the creek itself, everything is darker and a little less refined.
Clusters of reeds grow thickly, and it takes some time to find an easier route to the water’s edge. I’ve no idea if the creek is deep enough for a proper swim but that doesn’t seem to matter now. I’d splash around in a paddling pool just for a few more minutes with her.
Cielo pauses when we reach a gap in the reeds, giving me a sidelong glance. “Is this whole thing a ploy to get me undressed?”
“Don’t worry, I can’t see you in the dark, anyway.”
This earns me a flash of her teeth because obviously we can see each other just fine. Lo wrings her towel in her hands, either dreading a dip into the freezing water or hesitant to get her kit off in front of me. Definitely the latter. Murmuring water is the only sound for a few moments.
A low branch close to the water’s edge is a good place for the towels. I hang mine over it and whip my shirt off, tossing it over a bush.
“Are we going the full monty?” I ask, unfastening my belt.
“Does it really matter in pitch-black darkness?” Now she gives me a sarcastic wink and I can’t help but laugh.
“Suppose not.”
For a second, it looks like Lo will lose her nerve, but she pulls her dress over her head.
The navel ring at the center of her soft belly glints in the light, and I’m reminded of her telling me about piercing it as her first small act of rebellion when she turned eighteen.
A lacy bra I don’t recognize cups her full breasts.
Of course she’s bought new underwear since we were together.
I squash the possessive jealousy that flares through me.
I’ve no right, though it doesn’t stop the feeling.
This is a racy one, made to be enjoyed with the eyes, touched by the hands, stripped off by teeth.
God, I want to do all those things. Though I’ve always had a soft spot for her simple cotton knickers that hugged her round arse just so.
“You okay?” she asks.
I suddenly realize that I’ve been standing here with my belt in my hand, just watching her strip, but can anyone blame me?
She’s a vision. I quickly push my trousers down and then notice that I’m still wearing my shoes.
I step out of them and only remember my socks when they squish against the moist soil. “Grand.”
Lo tosses her dress over a handy bush and kicks her sandals near it. She considers me for a moment. A greedy part of me hopes she’ll undress further. She doesn’t. This is enough. More than enough, more than I expected or deserve.
She steps toward the water in her knickers, and I reach my hand out to help her along the murky bank.
A hiss escapes her lips when she dips her foot into the chilled water, then a bubbling laugh that breaks the tension.
This is ridiculous. Two adults sneaking out in the night to wade in a little creek.
Yet I’m almost as excited as I was when I performed as a headliner for the first time.
“Ahh, that’s cold!” I bark when it hits me. My dick practically inverts by the time the water is waist-height. Stones shift under our feet and make it a slow journey, which is fine by me—I want this moment to last. Cielo’s hand in mine, a smile on her face, the silver moon watching overhead.
Beside a boulder that peeks out from the surface and breaks the flow, we find a swath of water that moves a bit slower.
Lo sinks into it until she’s underwater.
That’s how she handles life—a complete submersion into everything she does.
No half-assed attempts or lukewarm commitments.
There’s where I’d messed up: I hadn’t proven to her that I was all in.
Lo pops out of the water. Already, she’s more relaxed.
Moonlight shimmers on the water droplets stuck to the strands of hair that cling to her face.
We float on our backs and cast our gazes up at the stars.
Heavy light pollution in London means I don’t see them much anymore.
Now there’s one blazing right in front of me.
Brilliantly mesmerizing and slightly volatile.
“What are you thinking about?” I venture after a few moments of restorative silence.
“Wondering if it’s going to rain tomorrow.”
I chuckle, because the answer is obvious. “You do realize we’re in Ireland? I can count on one hand the number of days it hasn’t rained since I was ten. What difference would it make anyway?”
“Some people think it’s bad luck on a wedding day.”
“Well, we don’t. Or no one here would ever do it.”
“I just want things to go well. Today, I had to get after the linen company because they brought these weirdly yellow-tinted tablecloths that didn’t match the sample Lark and Callum chose.”
“Isn’t the wedding planner supposed to handle that?”
“Pfft.” She shakes her head. “It’s faster if I just take care of it myself, rather than trying to get ahold of her and explain the situation and wait for a resolution.”
This is worse than I thought. “So you didn’t even give her a chance to handle it?”
Cielo frowns. “I’m not trying to take credit or anything. I didn’t even tell Lark it happened because I’m trying not to add more stress. Getting remarried is a loaded issue for her. I don’t want to give her any reason to get anxious about this. She loves Callum, they’re the perfect match.”
“Exactly. They can handle ivory tablecloths without it derailing their relationship.”
“Making things easier for her is what being the maid of honor is all about. I’m smoothing out potential drama, not creating it.”
“So, you’re gonna control the weather and do other people’s jobs without even giving them a chance to step up? Maybe people would surprise you if you let them.”
Lo blinks at me, and suddenly I’m very aware I’m not just talking about Lark’s wedding.
She never gave me a chance to prove the feasibility of a healthy relationship while I traveled and toured.
But we can set up standing video-chat dates.
I can commit to a frequent schedule of flying home to visit.
Whatever she needs—but first, I need to convince her I deserve a chance.
“I’m pretty good at predicting how things are gonna go. Curse of being a realist. Just doing my best to prepare.”
“You don’t need to do that. Things will be okay even if everything doesn’t go exactly as you planned.”
“I just want my cousin to enjoy her wedding.”
“She will! But it’s not only about that. It’s the way you approach school and life and everything. This hyper-independence. Like you have to excel in everything all the time and try to take care of everyone else out of some weird sense of guilt.”
Cielo scoffs. “What am I guilty of?”
“I don’t know, but don’t tell me it’s not guilt. I’m Catholic, I recognize guilt when I see it, okay?”
“I…well, yeah, I mean…” Lo’s expression drops. “My parents’ marriage fell apart because I got sick. I would hope something positive came out of the experience.”
“It already has.” I softly smile to reassure her, but my heart breaks.
On some level she really believes her parents’ divorce is her fault.
“You’re here today and that is the best possible outcome.
That little girl grew up to be a phenomenal woman and will be a phenomenal doctor.
But you don’t need to be perfect to deserve good things in life. ”
Cielo’s floating on her back, but she pauses, turns completely to look at me. Even in the dark, it’s clear there is more than cynicism in her eyes. “Thank you.”
She’s even closer now, lazily treading water.