Chapter Twenty
Finn
Aaron was hiding something. There was no doubt in my mind. Last night when he’d freaked out about the marriage thing, I could tell that there was more to it than simply being afraid to turn out like his parents. I almost pushed him into telling me, but seeing the panic on his face last night made me pause. I wanted to know, I truly did, but a big part of me was scared to find out. We’d been so happy, and everything about dating him was perfect. I didn’t want to ruin that, even if I knew it was inevitable. Eventually something would happen and our perfect little bubble would pop. But I wanted to keep that perfect little bubble for as long as I could.
And there was no way I was going to let something scare Aaron away from me. Even if our perfect bubble popped, I still wanted to keep him. I didn’t expect everything to stay all rainbows and sunshine forever, but I sure as hell didn’t want Aaron to run away once the storms and clouds came. I needed him in my life. I wouldn’t survive losing him a second time.
I looked down at my phone, reading the text from Aaron.
You going to tell me where you’re taking me tonight?
I smiled as I typed my reply.
It’s a surprise.
His response came immediately.
I hate surprises.
I chuckled at that.
Yeah right. You love surprises.
I laughed out loud again when he replied with an angry-face emoji. I sent one with its tongue sticking out, then I put my phone into my back pocket so I could wash my hands and get started dyeing some fondant.
“So things are going well with you and Aaron still, huh?” Layla asked as she sauntered up to me.
“Obviously,” I responded, drying my hands.
“You’re taking him somewhere tonight?”
I looked at her questioningly. I hadn’t told her that. Then my eyes widened. “He texted you, didn’t he?” She tried to keep a straight face, but I saw her twitch. “Oh my god. He convinced you to spy on me for him?”
“I’m not spying.”
“You’re trying to sneakily find out information to pass on to someone else. Pretty sure that’s the definition of spying. And since when did you get all buddy-buddy with my boyfriend?”
She sighed. “I’m not spying. But I do occasionally talk to Aaron.”
“Really? What do you talk about?”
Layla eyed me and sighed again. “Nothing. Usually he just asks me things like whether or not you still like a certain food or something.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “I don’t know how you got Griff to agree to help you, but it’s pissing me off that you two know something I don’t.”
“I knew you’d blab to Aaron, and I made your husband promise to keep it secret. I made him swear on the life of your firstborn not to tell.” I shot her a grin and she narrowed her eyes at me.
“You two are not allowed to have secrets from me!”
I shrugged. “Seriously, I want to surprise Aar. You’re just going to have to deal with it until I get him there. Then Griff can tell you everything.”
“Ugh. Fine.” After only about thirty seconds, she asked, “So where are you taking him?”
I chuckled. “You work for the enemy, I’m not telling you,” I said as I pulled a piece of white fondant out and added a little green dye.
“Ugh. You suck so bad.”
I stuck my tongue out, but luckily the bell over the front door went off, so I was saved from her retaliation. But Griffin peeked out of his office and whisper-yelled, “You owe me so big for this. She’s threatening to withhold sex for a month.”
“Ugh. Blech. I don’t need to know this.”
“Seriously, Finn, you owe me.”
“I know. I’ll make it up to you.”
“Are you offering to take her place? ‘Cause you’re not exactly my type.” He shot me a cheeky grin.
I gaped at him, then fake shuddered. “So gross.” I threw a piece of fondant at his laughing face. “What is wrong with you?”
He chuckled as he walked back around his desk.
I heard the phone ring, then a few seconds later, Griff called out, “Finn, it’s for you.”
I sighed and set my tools down before going over to the phone near my workbench. “Thank you for calling Aaron’s Bakery, this is Finn speaking. How may I help you?”
“Hey, Finn, it’s Tad.”
“Oh, hey,” I said with a smile. “What’s up?”
“I’m in a bit of a jam for a party this weekend. A customer came in this morning in tears. She had hired Town Central for her sister’s surprise birthday party and they totally flaked out on her. I know that you normally require a couple weeks’ notice, but is there any way you could work us in? I know you might be limited on the design, but do you think you could squeeze us in?”
I’d already pulled out the appointment book and was looking it over, then looking at all the toppers and decorations I had made for the week. I took a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m sure we can figure something out.”
“Oh my god, you’re a lifesaver. Thank you so much!”
“No problem.”
He and I talked about the cake he needed for a few minutes, but then he surprised me by asking me how I was doing, and how Aaron and I were doing. I ended up talking to him for another ten minutes about what was going on in his life too, and it was really nice. It seemed like maybe we could remain friends. Probably not close friends, but friends nonetheless. That made me smile.
By the time I got off work—Layla and Griffin let me leave early—got changed and over to Aaron’s house, it was dark out. When Aaron answered the door, I was happy to see that he’d listened to me and dressed warmly. It was pretty cold out and we were going to be outside for a couple hours, at least.
“Where are we going?” he asked immediately, without even saying hi.
“Well, hello to you too,” I said, going in for a kiss.
He grunted and kissed my smiling lips as he pulled me toward him with his hands on my hips. Then he whispered, “Sorry. Hi.”
I cupped his cheeks and kissed him before asking, “Are you ready to go?”
He sighed. “Yeah.” He was acting all put-upon, but I knew for a fact that he was excited. And he couldn’t exactly hide his giddy smile, either.
Aaron was a little quiet on the drive, but he held my hand while I told him about my day. I could tell that he was mostly just trying to figure out where I was taking him. I knew he would never guess, though.
When I pulled into a driveway in a random, expensive residential neighborhood, Aaron looked at me in confusion. “Is this where we’re going?”
“Yep.”
He looked around. “I don’t see a restaurant or anything.” He looked back at me. “Do you know someone that lives on this street or something?”
I turned the car off and grinned at him. “Come on.” Then I hopped out of the car and walked around to the passenger’s side. When Aaron stepped out, I took his hand, laced our fingers and pulled him toward the back gate of the house we were parked at.
When I unlatched the gate, Aaron pulled on my hand, trying to stop me as he whispered, “Finn, what are you doing? Whose house is this? Do you even know who lives here?”
I just smiled at him. “Trust me.”
He blew out a breath, but nodded, so I led him inside the very large back yard. As soon as we rounded the house, Aaron froze in his tracks. “Holy shit. Whose house is this, Finn?”
I laughed because he couldn’t take his eyes off the treehouse in front of us. It wasn’t huge or anything, but it was a real treehouse up in a tree with a ladder hanging down. I told him, “This is Griffin’s grandmother’s house. She’s out of town for a few days visiting her son, so she’s letting us use her back yard.”
He finally looked over at me and smiled widely. “Okay, lead the way, then.”
I pulled him over and climbed up the ladder with him behind me. Surprisingly, he only smacked my ass twice on the way up. If I’d let him go first, I’d have smacked his at least ten times, even if it was a very short climb. When I was finally inside, I was surprised by how warm it was. “Griffin came over earlier to set this up for us,” I said. “I didn’t know he had a portable heater for this place.”
Aaron came through the door and looked around as he sat down. It honestly was a pretty tiny room, but there were curtains on the windows and a big chest against one wall. I’d sent Griffin over earlier with some battery-operated Christmas lights and he’d hung them all around the treehouse. They looked amazing; I so totally owed him. I’d also given him a blanket, some pillows, and a basket of food, since he’d been coming over to water his grandmother’s plants, anyway.
I moved two of the large pillows and sat on one, then patted the other. “Come sit with me.”
Before I had a chance to move the basket closer, Aaron sat beside me and grabbed the back of my neck. He pulled me into a scorching kiss that I felt all the way to my toes. When he broke it, he said, “Thank you for bringing me here.”
I smiled at that and kissed his nose. “Thanks for coming.” I rubbed his cheek with my thumb. “Do you remember all the times we talked about building a treehouse next to the lake?”
“Of course I do. Do you remember the summer I convinced you to help me build one?”
I chuckled. “Yeah, what were we, seven? Eight? We thought we could string together a bunch of sticks to make the floor.”
He laughed. “Yeah, and we were going to glue leaves together for the roof.”
“You were so upset when our little contraption got blown over by the wind.”
“Thank god we hadn’t tried sitting on it yet,” he said with a fond smile.
“Wouldn’t have been the first time one of us broke a bone.”
He snorted. “True.”
I leaned in and kissed him again, whispering against his lips, “I made a picnic for dinner. You want to eat now or later?”
He hummed, then lightly pushed me onto my back. “You said no one’s home, right?”
I grabbed the back of his head and pulled him over me, capturing his mouth with mine. I wanted to tell him how much I loved him, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it aloud, so I tried to show him with my mouth instead. I poured all of my feelings for him into that kiss. How much I cared about him, how much I’d missed him, how grateful I was that he was back in my life, how much I’d always love him, no matter what. How much I worried that he’d leave me again.
I wrapped him in my arms and held him tight against me, loving the weight of him on top of me. He was leaning on his elbows and cradling my head in his hands, running his fingertips through my hair. I ran my hand under the bottom of his shirt and up his back while the other started kneading his ass. His ass and legs were glorious. Probably from all the running he did, even if he said he ran less now than he had before we’d gotten back together.
Sometimes his body intimidated me since I knew mine was far from being in the same league as his. I was a little soft around the middle, a little pudgy in my opinion, though Aaron always said I was sexy. It was embarrassing being around someone so stunning when I was so obviously not.
Aar broke the kiss and looked at me. “Hey, where did you go?”
“Sorry.” I blew out a breath. “You know I sometimes get…” I trailed off, unsure of how honest I wanted to be in that moment. I suddenly felt vulnerable.
Aaron’s eyes hardened, making him look a little pissed off. “Finn, baby, you are fucking gorgeous. You’re sexy and every time I see you, I want you. I don’t… I don’t understand why you think you’re unattractive. You’re the most exquisite person I’ve ever seen.”
I felt my cheeks heat up, but I looked away from him. “I’m fat, Aaron.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him gape at me. “Are you fucking serious right now?” Now he sounded more than a little pissed off.
I shrugged.
“Finnigan Jameson Moroianu, how can you even think that? You are not fat at all. And even if you were, it wouldn’t matter.”
I blew out a breath. “I’m not the same small person I used to be.”
“So what? Neither am I. And I think you’re even sexier now than you used to be.”
I eyed him and whispered, “You do?”
“Yes,” he said without hesitation. I could see the sincerity in his eyes. “I will spend every day for the rest of my life worshipping your body if that’s what it takes for you to believe me.” He leaned down and nosed my cheek so I’d turn my head, then he nibbled on my ear, kissed my eyebrow ring and started making his way down my neck. “I think I’m gonna need you naked so I can show you just how sexy you are.”
He slid his hand under the hem of my shirt and dragged it up my body. He scooted down and ran his tongue across my stomach, and he hummed in contentment before slowly kissing and licking his way up my body. He sat up and pulled me up so he could take my shirt off, then he held the back of my head and started kissing down my jaw, neck, and chest as he slowly lowered me back down. He tugged on my nipple with his teeth which made me moan, then he whispered, “Can’t you feel what you do to me?” He pushed his erection against my thigh, leaving me no doubt that he was turned on just from touching me.
I nodded and whimpered a little when he tugged on my other nipple. He made his way lower with his tongue and teeth. He sucked on my hip, probably leaving a hickey—he sometimes liked to mark my hips, chest, and thighs, which was a total turn-on—as he unbuttoned my jeans. Before he could strip me completely, I grabbed his shirt and said, “Please, Aar, I need you naked too.”
He grinned at me and pulled his shirt off, but didn’t go for his own pants, he went for mine. I lifted my hips so he could pull them and my boxer briefs off, then he started kissing up my thigh as he shucked his own pants and underwear too.
With both of us naked, I expected him to want to fuck me, but he seemed determined to get his mouth on every bit of my exposed skin. I was a moaning, trembling mess before he even touched my cock.
He explored my sac with his tongue, sucking each side into his mouth. Then he pushed my legs up, lifting my ass a little, and tongued my hole.
“Fuck… Aar… uh… god…” I was ready to beg for him to give my dick some attention. Luckily, he seemed to understand my incoherent mumbling because he used his tongue to make his way back up toward my cock, making sure to lick my sac again. Then he ran his tongue from the base to the tip and back down. He did this so many times, I lost count as I muttered and cursed. Finally, fucking finally, he put his mouth around the tip and swirled his tongue around as he sucked.
I felt like I was going to explode as soon as he took me all the way inside his mouth.
But then he did and I screamed out his name as he bobbed up and down, swirling his tongue each time.
I pushed his shoulder and panted out, “Please… I want to suck you too.”
Aar popped off and breathed out, “This is about you, baby.”
I shook my head. “But I want you in my mouth.” He smiled and was about to take me in his mouth again, but I cupped his cheek and said, “Aaron, I need you, right now. Please. I want to taste you.”
He eyed me for a moment. “You sure?”
“Oh my god, get your ass over here… well, your cock, really.”
He huffed out a little laugh, but finally complied as he said, “I’m so fucking turned on that I’ll probably come in five seconds, anyway.”
He was right, he was harder than I would’ve expected for not even letting me touch him. It sent a little thrill through me to know that touching me turned him on this much. I guess he really did think I was sexy.
We both rolled onto our sides and I started licking and kissing his gorgeous cock while he took me back into his mouth. Tasting him was about to send me over the edge. I took him all the way to the back of my throat and swallowed around him. He moaned around my own cock. I bobbed up and down on him a few times while he did the same. But then he let go of me and screamed out as he poured his seed into my mouth. He tasted so fucking good that I licked him up and kept kissing his softening cock.
Aar took me back into his mouth and he pressed his wet finger inside of me, brushing against my prostate. I yelled out and Aar swallowed everything I gave him as pulse after pulse of euphoria sizzled through my whole body. It took a long time for me to come back to earth, and when I did, I was beyond sated and breathless.
Afterward, we stayed there, using one another’s legs as pillows while we tried to catch our breath. When I felt like I could move, I climbed up into his arms, resting my head on his shoulder as he embraced me tightly. We were both still panting, but I told him, “That was… wow.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, wow.” He kissed my forehead. “You make me crazy… in a good way.”
I smiled at that and looked up at him. “Right back at ya, Romeo.”
He grinned, then leaned down to kiss my mouth gently. I put my hand in his hair, holding it lightly so he’d keep kissing me. Tasting our combined flavors was a heady experience, but I had to break the kiss a minute later to catch my breath. Then we just lay there for a moment, winded.
When he broke the silence, I looked up at him. “You know…” Aaron trailed off and blushed, which made me insanely curious about what he wanted to say. He cleared his throat and wouldn’t look me in the eyes. “You know… we could switch it up next time… if you want.”
“Huh?” Switch what up? “What do you mean?”
He scratched the back of his neck and blushed even further. “Um… you could… you could fuck me.”
I blinked at him for about ten seconds before the realization of what he was saying finally dawned on me. Then I leaned up on my elbow and opened my mouth, my words tumbling out at a million miles per hour. “Holy shit, you bottom now? How long have you been doing that? Who did you bottom for? No wait, I don’t want to know that. Have you bottomed for more than one person? Oh god, please tell me it wasn’t Tad? How many times have you done it? Do you actually like it or were you just offering in case I wanted to? You know I’d just ask you if I wanted to try something, right? If you like it, I can try, but I’ve never topped before, ya know? You want to try it? You’ll have to show me what to do. And, uh, I’m not ready to go again quite yet. Are you ready already? Damn, Aar, it’s only been like three minutes!”
He was still blushing, and spoke in a quiet voice. “Yes, I bottom now. Uh, maybe five years ago I tried it and only with one person. No, not Tad, he didn’t want to. I’ve only done it a few times, maybe like five, but definitely less than ten. Yes, I like it, though I still prefer to top, but sometimes it’s nice to switch it up. Yes, I know, or at least, I hope you’d ask me. No, I didn’t know that you hadn’t tried topping. Yes, I’d like to try, but only if you’re comfortable. And no, you sucked me dry… literally. I’ll need a little bit too.”
I pushed his shoulder for the sucked him dry comment and he grinned a little at me, obviously interpreting my push. I pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “So, uh, yeah, we can try it… but maybe at home where it’ll be more comfortable?”
He nodded. “Only if you want to.”
I smiled at him and pulled him closer. “I’ll try anything with you.”
“Anything?”
“I mean… within reason… I’m not sure I like that gleam in your eye right now… what do you have in mind? Seriously, I don’t know if—”
He kissed me hard on the lips to cut me off, which made me smile. He smiled back and the kiss changed into something sweet and loving. It was almost like he was trying to tell me he cared about me, like I’d been trying to do to him earlier.
I had to tell him that I loved him. That I was in love with him again, or that maybe I’d never really fallen out of love with him. He’d always been there in the back of my mind, in the back of my heart. Though now, he had all of me. All of my heart. All of my soul. And I was pretty sure I had all of him, or at least most of him… even if he hadn’t said it again either.
But for some annoying reason, I wasn’t ready to say it out loud again. We hadn’t said it again since I’d been freaking out… and saying it a second time seemed even harder. A part of me knew that I needed to hear him say it first, which probably wasn’t fair, but I needed it anyway.
We eventually sat up and fed each other the fruit I’d packed, then ate our dinner and dessert naked before getting dressed and heading home, or to his home. I’d started calling both of our apartments home for both of us. We were both ready for round two by the time we got there, and afterward we fell asleep in a sweaty, sticky pile of limbs. It was an awesome date.