Chapter 16
sixteen
. . .
Aidan
Annie is Cecilia Ramos.
What the actual fuck?
My best friend is the beautiful woman who haunts my dreams.
She’s a gorgeous, brilliant tech billionaire.
And fuck, I have to work with her.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Never did I think Annie and I would know each other in real life. But the second I heard her voice online, I knew.
And it turns out, I’m 100 percent attracted to her. Her voice has always been alluring, a hint of sultriness in her tone even when she’s complaining about a bad day. Maybe it’s just the pitch of her voice. But it definitely gets my engine going.
In person? Holy fuck, did my pants situation get uncomfortable. I shouldn’t be thinking about my platonic best friend in such an unfriendly way. It’s not like I’d ever considered pursuing her. There are boundaries. Unwritten rules.
And they all got thrown out the window when I realized Annie is a woman I’m attracted to in real life.
Now I have to figure out what the hell I’m supposed to do about it.
Do I talk to her, or do I pretend I don’t know? Our conversation last night was so charged, so tense, and now…
How do I do this? What do I say?
I wasn’t ready to meet Annie. But I’m pretty damn sure there’s no escaping her. I can’t go on like this, knowing that we’re connected in real life and pretending we aren’t.
My Annie is a tech genius.
My Annie lives in Boston.
My Annie loves the bistro where I’ve seen Ceci on two separate occasions.
My Annie…
She’s mine.
I’ve had half a crush on Annie all these years. Her husky voice echoes in my ears, her sense of humor is unmatched, and her brains… whew.
Add in that I’ve had physical reactions to Ceci every time I’ve met her, and she’s one potent package. I thought it was her perfume that turned me on, but looking back, I think it was my subconscious drawing me to her.
She’s hot as fuck and has a killer brain. Is it any wonder that all the pleasure centers in my brain lit up like the Fourth of July?
Now I simply have to tell her. Offline, we’re little more than acquaintances. She works for the team, she’s friends with my sister…
But online, she’s my best friend, whether she knows it or not. And I can’t simply sit here and do nothing when she’s just across town, when we’re working in the same building every day and interacting offline.
I have to do this. I just don’t know how.
The sound of a key scraping in the lock startles me, and I look up from my oatmeal as my front door opens and my sister steps through, leaning on her cane.
Must be a bad pain day. Ryan follows her over the threshold, then crosses the apartment so he can pull out a chair at the kitchen table for her.
Hailey makes a face. “You’re so gross.”
“Uh, thank you?” I don’t know what I did or said to trigger this reaction, but honestly… sometimes, I can be gross. Isn’t that true of everyone?
“I’m making eggs,” Ryan announces. “Do you want any?”
“Any of my own eggs?”
“Yeah. Hailey says I’m not allowed to eat oatmeal in the house anymore. If you’re not careful, she’ll outlaw it for you too.”
“It smells so bad,” she complains.
Ah. She hates oatmeal. Always has. I don’t get it, but I don’t have to.
“Deal with it.” Oatmeal is one of my safe foods. It’s hard to fuck it up. I start my day with a bowl every single day, have done so for the last fourteen and a half years. “I’m not making you eat it.”
She gags. “Nope. Not happening.”
I roll my eyes. “So why are you up here, stealing my eggs?”
“I can’t visit with my favorite brother?” She widens her eyes in innocence.
“Cut the shit.”
I’m her only brother, and since our parents died when I was in college, the summer before she was supposed to go away, I’m her only family.
I skipped rookie development camp to help her figure everything out, and I thought I’d lose my spot on the team, but San Diego felt sorry for me, or maybe I’d sufficiently impressed them during my Frozen Four play at the end of the prior season, because they called me up to training camp.
I was as surprised as anyone else when I made the starting roster, and after Hailey finished packing up the house, she moved to where I was.
From San Diego to Boston, she’s lived with me ever since.
Until she moved in with her fiancé, that is. Although I wasn’t happy with the way she and Ryan got together—or more specifically, the way I found out—I can’t deny they’re happy together.
And at the end of the day, that’s all I want for her. For all of us.
Why can’t I be happy too?
Annie knows me. Ceci. Ceci knows me.
Well, she knows Wish. She doesn’t know Aidan. Would she be interested in someone like me? I don’t have to worry about her selling my story—she has as much to risk as I do if word got out.
“Ceci says you dropped by the lab yesterday but were super weird. What happened?”
“It was fine,” I lie.
Hailey rolls her eyes. “Try the other one.”
What, does she want me to tell her I got turned on by the mere sight of her friend? That I lack so much control over my libido that I’m lusting after a woman who would never look at me twice?
Because outside of that one encounter at the gala, Ceci has never been interested in me. Of all the women my sister has set me up with, it’s never been her.
And now… I wish it was. If only we’d met before now, we could have had something real all this time. A chance setup at a gala is not the same as an actual conversation. I didn’t get to know her. I never even gave her the chance.
Not that our relationship isn’t already real. But it’s not the same.
“I’ve got a lot on my mind,” I finally say.
Outside of the whole Annie/Ceci thing, I’m worried about Sinclair’s meltdown, I’m worried about Jenkins’s partying, I’m worried about Reynolds’s OCD compulsions flaring up, and I’m worried about the team’s stats and our recent tumble in the standings.
I’m worried about everything. It keeps me up at night, only one more reason I’m up for gaming well into the dark.
It distracts me enough that when I finally pass out in the wee hours of the morning, I can’t hyperfixate on everything swirling through my head.
“You can talk to us,” Ryan chimes in.
This is the third time in as many weeks that he’s encouraged me to open up.
For a while after they first started dating, I did shut him out.
I was hurting, and I lashed out, and even though we quickly put it behind us, there’s a little more distance between us now than there was before he stared dating my little sister behind my back.
Seeing them now, happily engaged, I can’t deny there’s still some lingering resentment. It was supposed to be me and Hailey, together against the world. Since the day our parents died, we’ve been all the other has. I’ve looked out for her, taken care of her.
And now she doesn’t need me anymore. Is it a crime that I want to be needed?
“I did something shitty, and I don’t know how to make up for it.”
Hailey stares at me. “You? What did you do?”
“It wasn’t kind.”
She rolls her eyes. “Aidan, you are the dumbest idiot to ever live. What did you actually do?”
“I didn’t show up when I said I would. I let them down.”
“The team will forgive you,” Ryan says. “We know you’re busy.”
“It, uh, wasn’t someone on the team.” Heat rises in my cheeks, and I know my face is flaming as red as my hair. “Someone else.”
“They’ll understand,” she says. “Did you have a good reason?”
“Not really.” I look away, shamefaced. “I ghosted.”
“Oh, Aidan.” My sister clucks her tongue. “You sweet, lovable fool. Just tell him you’re sorry and move on.”
I clear my throat. “Not a him.”
Her jaw drops as she stares at me. “You had a date?”
“Kind of. Not really.” Wincing, I try to decide how much detail I want to go into. “She’s someone I met online, but I got cold feet. And then I was a total dick and didn’t show up.”
“Apologize,” she urges. “Flowers help. Candy is a bonus. Go to her, tell her you fucked up and you’re sorry, and see where it goes from there.”
“But will she forgive me?”
“I don’t know her. Maybe. You might have screwed up for good.” She glares at me, then sighs, relenting. “I’m glad you’re dating again. Maybe now I can finally get a sister-in-law.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
“It’s nothing like that,” I’m quick to assure her. “We’re not… that way.”
Although with the way I’m attracted to Ceci, I’m not opposed to starting something with her. With Annie.
“Maybe she can be a friend?” Ryan suggests.
“I hope so.”
Hailey reaches over and pats my hand. “You’ve got this. Don’t fuck this up, dumbass.”
As annoying as they are, I do take their advice to heart. Flowers. Candy. Apologize.
That’s how I find myself back at the training facility a few hours after practice.
I navigate through the halls of the admin wing like a man on a mission.
The bouquet I’m carrying is enormous, filling my arms, and the gift bag hanging from my wrist cuts into my skin like barbed wire.
It’s a shackle grounding me to this moment.
Am I really doing this?
As I reach the office, I take a deep breath, but it does nothing to settle my nerves. I rap twice on the door, and after a moment, it swings open to reveal Ceci.
Annie.
“MacGregor?” She cocks her head, her eyes narrowing as she studies me. “What’s up?”
Her intoxicating perfume washes over me, settling my nerves. Her long dark hair is tied up in a jaunty ponytail, and she’s wearing a full face of makeup, accentuating her pretty features.
I’ve never seen her not done up, and I wonder what she looks like without it. Does she allow anyone to see her bare and vulnerable?
I want to be the one. I want to pull the tie from her hair and let her waves tumble down around us. I want to pull her into my arms and never let her go. I want… I want her.
My heart thunders against my rib cage. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.
“Annie, we need to talk.”
She goes still. “Wh-what did you call me?”
“Annie.”
Ceci’s eyes widen, and she gulps.
“I suppose I should introduce myself properly.” Setting down the flowers on her desk, I take a step back and rub my sweaty palms on my jeans. “Hi. I’m Aidan MacGregor. But you know me as Wish.”