Chapter Sixteen
When Aiden thought of school fundraisers, his mind went to wrapping paper and chocolate bar sales with an occasional car wash thrown in.
At the words “gymnasium banquet,” he’d expected folding chairs with seat covers.
A podium. Maybe a few strings of lights and one of those local DJs who played everything two decibels too loud.
What he had not expected was for the high school gym to be transformed into something that looked halfway between a wedding reception and a gala in one of those old movies his mother loved.
Round tables draped in white linen filled the floor, soft twinkle lights hung from the rafters, and every centerpiece involved blue and silver ribbons in some arrangement or another.
Somewhere near the stage the low hum of a string bass and piano curling through the room like they belonged here.
Texas was indeed a different world from New York.
Standing near the edge of the room in dress blues he hadn’t worn since before his injury, Aiden tugged once at his cuff.
The uniform still fit. Maybe a little better than it had a month ago.
His hip still ached from the day, but not enough to ruin the night.
That in itself felt like something worth celebrating.
“Man, you clean up good.” Kade’s voice came from behind him, easy and amused, and Aiden turned to find his former staff sergeant one arm already around his wife. Seeing the man on a weekend pass from base, standing there looking more husband than soldier, made something in Aiden’s chest loosen.
“So do you,” Aiden answered.
Kade looked down at himself. “My wife insisted.”
“I did no such thing.” Cassie smiled up at her husband. “You were already planning to show off.”
“Also true.”
Aiden shook his head. It still amazed him how many of the Sweets looked at each other like they’d invented love and no one else had caught on yet. Kade and Cassie. Preston and Sarah Sue. Carson and Jess. Rachel and Jim. Even Clint and Alice.
A moment later, something inside him shifted and he knew Colleen had arrived.
She came in at her mother’s side, her hair swept up soft and elegant, a few strands left free around her face.
The dress she wore wasn’t flashy. It didn’t need to be.
Deep blue, simple lines, something about the way it fit made him suddenly understand why men in old movies forgot how to speak when the heroine walked in.
“You all right there, buddy?” Kade’s voice held barely suppressed laughter.
Aiden cleared his throat. “Fine.”
“Uh huh.”
He ignored that. Or tried to.
Colleen spotted him a second later and smiled. Just smiled. And somehow that did more damage than the dress.
By the time she crossed the room, greeting family and friends as she went, he had himself more or less under control. More or less.
“Well?” At his side now, her eyes were bright with amusement. “What do you think?”
“You look beautiful.” It took every ounce of effort to spit out those three little words.
A little color rose in her cheeks, and that pleased him more than it should have.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
The banquet moved at an easy pace. Aiden listened to the speeches, clapped where appropriate, even smiled through a slideshow of football improvements and future goals.
But what he remembered most was the way Colleen leaned in now and then to murmur a comment, or how her shoulder brushed his when they both reached for the breadbasket at the same time.
By the time the tables were cleared and the trio onstage shifted into slower music, the whole room felt lighter. Freer. The formal part done.
Aiden stood and held out his hand. “Dance with me.”
A smile touched her lips. She put her hand in his, and together they moved out onto the dance floor where half the town already swayed in soft circles under the lights. The first slow turn felt as natural as breathing.
“How is your hip holding up after all the ruckus today?”
“It’s fine.”
She tilted her head just enough to let him know she doubted the word.
“Better than fine,” he corrected.
“That’s good.”
They moved in easy silence for a few seconds, not needing anything more.
Around them, couples drifted slowly across the floor.
Near one side of the room, Kade danced with Cassie, his head bent toward hers.
Beyond them, Alice and Clint looked like they had been together since forever and not something new.
Aiden glanced down at Colleen at the exact moment her gaze lifted to his.
Right here, in the middle of the dance floor, with the whole room warm and glowing around them, with music curling soft and sweet through the air, he slowly bent his head, his lips barely brushing hers before pressing harder, sweeter into the perfect kiss. Soft. Sweet. Certain.
When he lifted his head, her eyes were still closed. Her hand had tightened just a little on his shoulder. His mouth curved. “We really do make a good team.”
The words lingered between them as surely as the kiss still lingered on her lips.
For one suspended second, Colleen simply stared at him.
The music swayed softly around them, the gym lights glowed against the blue and silver decorations, and somewhere at the edge of the room someone laughed, but all she could hear was the echo of his voice and feel the brush of his mouth against hers.
“A really great team,” she managed to utter.
A lazy smile made his eyes twinkle. “Better than great.”
If she kept looking at him like this, she was going to do something foolish, like kiss him again in front of half the county. Not that she was entirely opposed to the idea. It was only the little bit of sense left in her head that kept her from rising up on her toes and doing exactly that.
His hand remained steady at her waist, hers still curled over his shoulder.
For Colleen, the whole room had narrowed to just the man in front of her and the sweet certainty settling somewhere deep inside her chest. She had known for a while that she was falling in love with him.
Maybe more than falling. Maybe already landed and too far gone to do anything but enjoy the ride.
But standing here, in the middle of the high school gym with a slow song playing and her lips still warm from kissing him, this felt solid. Steady. Like the man himself.
Around them the dance floor was still moving, still warm and soft under the twinkle lights, still full of people she’d known her whole life doing what Honeysuckle people did at the end of a long and eventful day—staying.
Lingering. Not quite ready to let go of something good. She understood the feeling completely.
“Aiden.”
His gaze held hers. “Yeah?”
She had no idea how to say what she wanted to say without sounding like an idiot. “You keep surprising me.”
“Was the kiss that bad?”
She couldn’t tell if he was teasing or worried. “It was that good.”
Now that smile that did funny things to her insides was back.
The jazz group played a soulfully slow song and Colleen leaned impossibly closer to Aiden. So close she thought she could feel his heart pounding beneath her fingertips.
“Colleen?”
She didn’t want to lift her head, step back so she could see him better. Close to him like this was too perfect. “Yes?”
“I meant it when I said we make a very good team.”
She nodded into his shoulder.
“Not just finding Romeo and Cauliflower at the field today, or fixing your new therapy workroom, or comforting Romeo. The list can be long, but I do believe that there isn’t anyone at all like you anywhere on this planet, and I’m damn lucky to have found you.”
Her mouth suddenly went dry and she took a half step in retreat so she could read his eyes.
“I love you.”
She blinked, staring into his eyes. Her mouth wouldn’t open, her tongue seemed to be glued to the roof of her mouth like a tablespoon of peanut butter.
And then she saw it, hope turn to panic.
Words wouldn’t be enough. Her arms curled around his neck and she gently pulled him closer and pressing her lips against his, her fingers drawing lazy circles at the back of his neck, she showed him everything she couldn’t find the words for.
When she stepped back and came up for air, she sucked in a deep breath.
“If you don’t speak kissing, that meant I love you too. ”