35

CARLY

 

My mom is trying to get Aiden to drive her twenty-year-old Smurf-blue Plymouth Voyager minivan back to her house.

Talk about horror!

“Mom, I think we’ll let Aiden get back to the airport from here. Call him a taxi, and---”

“It’s late. He should get some sleep,” Mom says.

She’s already given me starry-eyed looks about my boss as well as whispers when we were alone.

“Is he single? He’s really handsome, isn’t he?  Did you say he was single? What do you mean meh; are you blind? Does he know you’re freshly single?” She did this not five minutes after she got me alone.

To be fair to her, she’s been at the hospital for hours, waiting on me, and the stress about Dad is simmering down. The stress about Cait…well, Mom has been accustomed to that for more than a half a decade.

Truthfully, Aiden has been really wonderful all day. It’s like Aiden has been snatched by aliens and this nice alien inhabiting Aiden’s body has been looking after me mid-crisis. Mid-crisis squared, actually, because not only Dad but Cait are both here.

Here comes Stephiedearest. Great. She’s heading toward us in her navy-blue scrubs, her dark ponytail bouncing. Her eyes are aimed right at me.

“Oh my God, Carly.” She grabs me and hugs me. “I’m so, so sorry about your Dad. I heard he’s gonna be okay, though.”

“Hi, Mrs. Adler.” She lets go of me when she realizes I’m not hugging her back. She’s about to reach for my mom.

I’m not sure how I feel about her being here right now.

“Stephanie,” Mom says curtly and Steph freezes before she gets Mom into an embrace, so it winds up with Steph awkwardly wobbling.  “You heard Caitlin is here also?”

Steph’s face looks like it’s about to crumble at Mom’s reaction to her. Steph loves my mother. Mom has never been curt with her. Well, maybe that one time we got in trouble for pool hopping after dark and the police brought us home. But, she thinks of Mom as a mother-figure.

And then Steph’s eyes hit Aiden and the way they land on him, I can see she’s in shock that it took her so long to notice him.

To her credit, she actually noticed me before Aiden so that’s something at least.

“Oh,” she says, taking him in from head to toe. And then she looks at me and her eyes bounce back to Aiden. “What about Cait?”

“Caitlin got hit by a car,” I mutter.

Steph’s eyes go wide. “I heard about that. That was her? She gave a paramedic a black eye. She went rangy in the ambulance. Didn’t know it was Caitlin.”

Oh God, Cait.

“She’s now under police guard,” Steph adds. “Things were real bad with her after you left, Car. She was a nightmare. You look great, though. Love the new look.”

 

And Steph’s looking at Aiden again. With envy. She thinks he’s with me. With me, with me.

And, it almost feels like she’s getting a dig in about Cait to try to embarrass me. And that makes me angry, because she doesn’t know what Aiden knows or does not know about Cait. It dawns that she’s always done things like this. Disparaging my sister in front of other people. Volunteering my personal family information to others.

Seriously, though: I’m getting angry as I mull it over.

If I hadn’t left for San Diego and hadn’t heard her talking trash about me, we’d be out in public running into some old friend of hers or some work colleague I didn’t know, and she’d say something like, “Oh, this is Carly. She just got dumped.”

I dig deep and find my own inner bitch somehow. I move to Aiden’s side and put my arm around his waist.

“This is Aiden,” I say. “Hot Sauce, this is Steph. My former best friend. I think I told you about her.” I say it with contempt and look up at him.

He’s never heard of Steph.

Aiden’s arm loops around my neck and he kisses my temple. “Yeah, baby, you did.” He gives her the barest look of distaste without missing a beat. It’s just enough, too. Not too much.

Steph looks like she wants to shrivel up and simultaneously have a Veruca Salt style temper tantrum.

And I wanna kiss him for going along with this. He obviously got an instant read on her. I don’t look great, either. I’ve been stressed and on a flight after a half day at a busy conference, plus I’m a bit jetlagged and over-caffeinated, and she’s pointing out that I don’t look great by saying that I do.

“Well, I, uh… I hope Mr. Adler is gonna be okay. I have to get back …” She jerks her thumb behind her. “You staying in town a bit?” she asks.

“Not sure.” I give her nothing. In other words, none of your beeswax, bitch.

“I’m moved in with Tammy. She had a spare room, so … the apartment is all emptied out and cleaned. I didn’t leave it a mess so … you should get your security deposit back.”

“Thanks,” I say, still plastered to Aiden’s side.

Mom is standing there with her mouth wide open, watching this exchange.

“Mrs. Adler? Can you come sign these papers?” A nurse calls out from the desk. Mom dashes off. Stephanie’s giving Aiden another peruse from head to toe.

He’s in black chinos and a chocolate brown button down under a black leather jacket, with black shoes. He exudes money and power. His body language. The way his clothes hang on his body. His confidence. His looks.

“Bye,” I dismiss her.

She swallows. “Bye, Car.”

She scurries awkwardly away.

I would’ve maybe felt guilty if it hadn’t been for the way she looked at Aiden and then at me with jealousy and then tried, in her usual Stephanie style, to make me feel small. I don’t feel guilty at all. This is progress for me.

It takes a minute to realize I’m still standing here with my arm around his middle and he’s still got his arm around my neck. When it hits, I go to break away, but he tightens his grip.

“Thanks for that. She fucked me over,” I whisper. “She fucked me over for ten years straight, only, I just realized it just before I left for San Diego. She was looking at you and me with envy and I… it was petty, I know, but thank you. I could kiss you right now.”

“Yeah?” he asks.

“I mean… I…” I stammer.

“Not a hardship,” he whispers back and gives me an affectionate squeeze.

I side-step away from him. “So, are you gonna head back, or…”

“What do you plan to do?” he asks.

“Um. I’m thinking of staying and then maybe catching a flight back Thursday morning as planned. I won’t be able to do any of the stuff you guys wanted me to do for the rest of the conference, but I can do a video call with that guy that your Dad wanted me to meet with and…”

“No. Don’t worry about work. Take until Thursday. If you need longer, just let me know. Kieran can report to us on the rest of the conference.  Geller can come see us in San Diego if he wants to pitch us that badly.”

I swallow. “Thank you. I really wanted to do more for this conference. This timing sucked.”

“Never a good time for what happened today, peaches.”

My shoulders droop. “Nope.”

“In six months, there’s Westmark. We’ll go to that. Just as good as Eastmark. They even have a beach party. Don’t have a beach party during Eastmark.”

Oh. Six months. Will I have a full-time job with CC by then?

He glances at his phone. “I have some stuff to do in the office tomorrow, so I think I’ll head back there and do that and then see you back in San Diego Thursday.”

“Oh. Okay. Um, thanks for everything today,” I say. “Sincerely. Oh, and about the plane fare…”

He shakes his head. “Stop.”

“But…”

He puts his index finger to my lips to halt me.

I’m still for a second, sort of shocked, but then I pretend to bite his finger. He gives me look. That sex potion look.

Mom is back, breaking the spell with, “So, are you driving us, Aiden?”

I smirk and take a step back from him and look at her.

“Mom, Aiden’s going to head back.”

“Oh. You should get a good night’s sleep first. Fly out in the morning. We have the sofa bed in the rec room. Carly will sleep in her old room.”

“Mom, Aiden’s not gonna sleep on the sofa bed in the basement…”

As if.

“Actually, I’m pretty tired,” Aiden admits. “I could fly out tomorrow. He twirls Mom’s keys with her ‘Bingo Nut’ keychain in his hand.

This is ridiculous. All of it. No. Aiden Carmichael is not going to sleep in my parent’s basement on the lumpy green sofa bed in front of the old floor model television.  There’s another television on top. A modern one. The floor model serves as the TV stand. Dad watches sports down there. It’s a typical Dad-basement TV room. In other words, hideous.

But, apparently, he is planning on sleeping in my parent’s basement, because he winks at me and then holds out his arm and mom slips her hand into the crook. He holds out his other arm for me and gives me a wink.

My God, he’s handsome. That he just put that smile on my Mom’s face after tonight? I’m kind of awestruck.

 

***

 

Ten minutes later, we’re pulling into my parent’s driveway. Mom insisted I sit up front with Aiden and then I navigated as she updated Aunt Susan on the phone on the way home.

Mom was sparse with details, thankfully, and likely because my boss is in the van, though he’s heard way more tonight than I’d have wanted him to hear about my family life. As we pull into my parents’ driveway, she tells Aunt Susan she’ll call back in an hour because she has to get “the kids settled.”

I see a smile tugging at Aiden’s mouth when she says that.

My parents’ raised bungalow is an ordinary family house. Lots of knickknacks and photos on the walls. They haven’t decorated in ten years on the main floor, and the basement looks like it came straight outta the 70s, but my mother is a clean freak, so everything, though outdated, is tidy.  We take our shoes off at the door, like we’ve always done. Aiden looks a bit thrown by that, but then he takes his off, also.

We’ve come in through the kitchen door and Mom offers to make food.

“You don’t have to cook, Mom, not after the long day we all had. I’ll make some grilled cheese sandwiches and open a tin of soup. Is that okay?” I look at Aiden.

“Yeah,” He sits down at the big old farm-style kitchen table with the painted white chairs and the small houseplant in the middle. “Sounds great.”

“Nonsense. I’ll go to McDonald’s. Aiden, what do you like?”

Aiden raises his eyebrows and is about to open his mouth.

I roll my eyes. “I don’t think---”

“Nonsense. Big Mac meals all around?”  She says it like this is a big treat and grabs her purse and lifts the van keys from the table where Aiden had put them.

“Sure, Mrs. Adler,” Aiden says. “Unless you want me to go and

---”

“Nope, it’s just down the road. Carly make up the sofa bed while I dash out, will you?”

“Maybe I’ll take the sofa bed. It’s kind of…lumpy.”

“Is it?” Mom looks horrified. “I didn’t intend for Aiden to sleep on a lumpy bed. I---”

“It’s totally fine, Mrs. Adler. I can sleep anywhere. Not to worry.”

“Call me Charlene, Aiden.”

He smiles at her and she looks at him like he’s a celebrity.

She grabs her handbag, flashes me a smile, slips on her shoes, and slips out.

I sit down at the table and blow out a breath.

He’s got a huge smile on his face.

“What?” I ask.

“Sorry, peaches. Know you’ve had a heavy day, but now that the scary part’s over, this part? It’s fuckin’ funny.”

I roll my eyes.

“Your mother is the shit. She’s great.”

I shake my head. “This is all so embarrassing. I can call you a cab, get you out of here before she comes back, tell her you had to get back, and…”

He waves his hand. “Naw, I’ll head back in the morning. This is fine.”

“I’m so embarrassed. That whole shoe thing and the minivan, and McDonalds, ugh..”

“Shoe thing?”

“Yeah, rich people usually leave their shoes on, because they have a maid cleaning their house. Not so in my parents’ house.  If someone left their shoes on, my mother wouldn’t say a word, but she’d carry the insult around for the rest of the time she knew you.”

He laughs. “Glad I took my shoes off.”

I smile.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Carly,” he says, then his expression goes serious. “Unless you want me to go…”

I shake my head. “No. I don’t.” I’ve said that too softly. What did I even mean?

There’s loaded silence. I jump up.

“Want some coffee? A Coke? Bottle of water?”

“Got any beer?” he asks.

“Yeah, my Dad always has beer.” I open the fridge, grab one, and twist the cap off, then pass it to him.

“You doin’ all right?” he asks.

I twist a cap off a bottle of water.

“It was rough seeing my dad in a bed with all those machines, looking small and weak. He’s grouchy. Complaining about having to wear a hospital gown. He seems okay, though. He’s not talkin’ about it, but, he’s worried about my sister.” I shake my head. “Fucking Cait.”

“What’s gonna happen?” He asks, his face sober.

“She’s gonna hopefully dry out in jail. Finally get the help she needs. Hopefully court-mandated rehab or something.” I shrug. “She’s already been disowned by all of us to stop her from using us, stop her from using us to hurt herself. Before I left for San Diego she not only sold my Grams’ jewelry, she racked up $5K on my credit card, too. Tapped me out, screwing me over for my relocation. I cut her off. I had to, so she would have to make a decision to change her life, so she could have us back. And yet look what sort of domino affect her actions had. Now Dad’s in the hospital.”

Aiden gives me a tight smile. “I can relate.”

I roll my eyes. “No offense, but I doubt it.”

He shakes his head. “Not exactly, but my mother’s an alcoholic. She couldn’t be there for Adele the other night because she was too wasted to wake up and go to the hospital.”

My mouth drops open.

“We found out on the weekend that my Dad has prostate cancer. You’d think that’d make her pull up. “

I blink. “Prostate Cancer?”

“Yeah. Dad says it’s early stage. Treatable. But, it’s…” He looks lost for a second.

“Scary,” I say.

He nods.

“She cheats on him. She… isn’t a good person. She and I are in the middle of a war. It’s not fun to be at war with your own mother, but it’s always kinda been that way with her. And there’s other family bullshit happening, too, so, yeah, I get it, Carly. Family shit made me move to New York to escape it all. But, it’s my family. A few things’ve happened recently letting me know I need to man up and stop trying to hide from it.”

I reach across the table and squeeze his hand.

He squeezes mine, too, and stares at our hands for a second, looking deep in thought. His phone makes noise and lets go of me so he can fetch it from his leather jacket, which is on the back of the chair.

I get up and put my empty water bottle in the recycling bin.

“This is Jude. Got your tiara. Your panties, too.” He smirks. “It’s right now held up in evidence, but…” 

I whirl around and kind of throw myself into his arms and start to cry, which means I’m sort of on his lap as he’s sitting at the table, still.

He puts his phone down, then stands, holding onto me, squeezes and then rubs his hands up and down my back.

“Gosh, what a drama queen I am. Sorry.” I wipe my eyes. “That tiara just meant a lot. It… I can’t even describe. Thank you.”

I’m still in his arms. I wipe my eyes with my fingers.

His eyes drop to my mouth and his head lowers and then he’s kissing me. He moves us so that my back is against the wall and I’m kissing him, too. I’m kissing him with everything I’ve got.

His hands are on my face, in my hair, and then around my waist again. His lips are strong. And soft. And he tastes incredible. He’s kissing me with hunger.  My lips are tingling. My tummy is dipping. I break away, breathless.

What am I doing?

My eyes are on him. He’s still got his arms around me.

I try to pull away. He resists at first, but then sees what’s probably a panicked look on my face and he lets go.

“I should go make up your bed. Can you, uh, help me? It might take two of us to pull that bed out. It’s a bit stubborn.”

He cocks an eyebrow.

“And it may take all your strength to put it back in, in the morning. It’s kind of a, uh… beast.”

I’m trying for nonchalance. Pretending that didn’t just happen. But, wow.  My heart is about to beat straight out of my chest.

He chuckles. “A beast?”

“Don’t fire me if you wake up with a sore back in the morning. You know what a sofa bed is like.” I continue trying to make light of things because it all feels so heavy in here right now. I wave at him to follow me.

His look changes to one of confusion. “Nope. Can’t say that I do.”

Of course. He’s probably never slept in anything but high-end mattresses with bazillion thread count sheets.

“The bar across the middle. It digs in your back.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Oh God, I’m going to have to pay your chiropractor bill for the next three months.”

He laughs as we move through the dining room, then the family room, and I hear him snicker as he eyeballs framed photos on the walls.

“All sorts of stages of Carly. Many, many awkward ones,” I joke. We’re at the basement stairs so I flick the light on and he follows me down.

“So, we are now entering the 1979 museum of the average household in Buffalo, New York. They considered using our basement for the That 70’s Show set, but Dad said no as it’d interfere with Monday night football.”

Aiden laughs as he takes in the space. “Great TV show.”

“It’s one of my favorites,” I inform him.

He stops at the sofa. “Mine, too. How do we open this thing?”

I lift the cushions off and see the metal cage with the handle, the floral mattress underneath. I pry the handle up and tug. It doesn’t move. Not a bit.

“Uh oh,” I say, yanking on it.

“Here.” Aiden says.

I step aside, and he pulls, and it starts to budge, but makes a horrible, creaking, protesting sound.

I’m laughing. I can’t help it. He looks totally horrified. But it opens, finally.

“I’ll be right back,” I say, and I zip upstairs to the linen closet where I find sheets, pillows, and a blanket.

I come back down and start to make the bed. He watches me, smiling.

I’m smiling too, until I realize his eyes are on my butt as I’m bending over, trying to stretch the sheet over one corner.

“Grab that other corner, will you?” I ask.

“Hm?”

“My eyes are up here,” I tease.

His eyes move to mine and they sparkle. He moves to the other side of the sofa bed and helps me get the sheet on.

I hear noise upstairs.

“I’m back!” It’s Mom calling from the top of the stairs.

We go up and the three of us sit and eat our Big Mac meals and drink our Cokes while Mom quizzes Aiden about his family.

I’ve told her the tiara has been found and she beams for me. She knows how much it means to me.  She squeezes my hand and turns her attention back to Aiden.

He tells her he has a brother and sister and a nephew and a brand-new niece. He shows Mom two pictures on his phone of baby Lilly and a handful of Braeden. Mom oohs and awes and then says, “So, you like kids?” And then she pops a French fry in her mouth and waits, looking like she’s on the edge of her seat.

My God, Mom.

I roll my eyes. Aiden sees it and gives her a glorious smile. “Love ‘em. I’m a big one myself, so I’m on their level. Just ask your daughter.”

“Truth,” I agree, earning me a belly laugh from my Mom.

“And… are your parents still together?” Mom asks.

Aiden’s mouth opens.

“Mom. Not our business,” I answer for him.

My Mom makes an oops face and starts talking fast to cover up the awkwardness. “I bought you hot apple pie, Carly. You, too, Aiden. These are Carly’s favorite. I always buy her one. Sometimes she saves it for later, and her father takes it. If anyone eats hers, she has an absolute fit.” Mom spreads them out on the table.

“Carly doesn’t like people stealing her food, does she?” Aiden muses, taking a one, opening it, and biting the end.

I grin.

“Oh no. She has quite a temper.  Well… actually it takes a lot for her to lose it. I mean, a lot. If Carly loses her temper with you, it’s because you deserve it.” Mom starts clearing up the mess, missing the look on Aiden’s face. His eyes are on me and they’re… apologetic?

Yep, I think that’s exactly what they’re trying to convey.

My grin fades. My ears burn hot and I stare at my nails.

“Well, folks, I must hit the hay. I need to call Aunt Susan back and cousin Louise while I’m at it as well as Dad’s brothers. I’ll do that and then I’ll retire for the night. I won’t see you both until tomorrow morning. I’ll make pancakes.” She smiles and leans over and kisses my forehead.  “Thank you for coming home so quickly.”

I get choked up, so Mom taps my cheek affectionately.

“The doctor said Dad’s good. Now maybe he’ll listen about all that salt and red meat and as for Caitlin, well… something this bad was bound to happen. At least she’s alive. And maybe it will wake her up, right?” Mom’s trying to be strong, but I can see past it. I know it’s killing her that my sister has let it come to this.

I nod. “Yep. Love you, Mom. Night…”

“Love you more. Night, sweetie. Aiden, I hope that bed isn’t terrible. Thank you again for getting our Carly home so quickly. Pleasant dreams.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Adler. Thanks for your hospitality.”

“Charlene. And my pleasure.” She grabs her cell phone and heads out of the kitchen and down the hall.

“Oh. I have nothing with me. Ugh.” I blow out a big breath. I don’t even have any luggage. I might have some old t-shirts and shorts in my old dresser that I never took. Maybe. I don’t want to borrow one of Mom’s nightgowns. I have my bag with some make-up and a hairbrush as well as my birth control pills and my multivitamins, and that’s it. I’ll have to sleep in my contacts.  I did last night and now they’re kind of irritating me. At least Mom always has spare toothbrushes here.

“Joshua’s coming by noon tomorrow. He’ll bring your things.” He’s doing something on his phone.

“Pardon?”

“I’ll ask Jada to pack you up and pack me an overnight bag. Joshua’s gonna bring it down when he picks me up in the morning.”

“When he… oh?”

Aiden shrugs. “Yeah, he’ll leave at five, should be here by noonish and then I’ll work all the way back in the limo. It’ll be productive. And then, you’ve got your stuff here.”

“That’s… that’s awesome.” It is awesome. He could just fly home faster, but he’s doing this to get my stuff to me quickly. I’m touched.

He smiles and takes a sip of his McDonald’s Coke.

“Want another beer?” I ask.

“You’re probably tired,” he says.

“Are you?” I ask.

He shrugs.

“Um, actually, I’m not.” I say. “I’d like to wind down and watch TV or something before I go to bed. Do you want to watch TV with me?”

“Got Netflix?”

I nod. “My Dad does downstairs.”

“That 70’s Show?” he suggests.

I give him a big smile. I grab two beers and we head downstairs.

Aiden drops his leather jacket on the floor beside the bed. We climb onto it and lean back on top of the covers.

I get the TV on while Aiden looks around. He doesn’t look like he’s being judgmental, though, about my parents’ crummy wood-paneled basement with the old dartboard, my Dad’s comical man cave signs about beer and sports and lists of Man Cave rules.

I start the show, season one, episode one, and get comfy.

 

***

This is weird. This is so weird. In my parents’ basement with Aiden Carmichael.  On a sofa bed that’s older than I am, maybe close to as old as our ages combined.

Aiden Carmichael that I just --- one hour ago --- kissed in my kitchen, against the wall with the calendar on it from our local pizza joint.

He has been absolutely amazing today. And I’ve seen this different side of him today. He also opened up about his family a little. And some of his mood swings lately are now kind of understandable. I’m not giving him a pass on all the alphahole behavior, but some of it… I can kind of get.

We finish an episode and another one is about to start.

“Do you want anything?” I turn to ask.

He’s right there. Right there. He’s on his side, facing me. I don’t even know when he was last looking at the TV.

“Yeah, I do.” He reaches up and tucks a stray lock of hair behind my ear.

I suck on my bottom lip and stare into his eyes.

Episode two is starting.

And my eyes are on him.

His eyes drop to my mouth. “Can I kiss you again? I really wanna kiss you.”

I’m barely nodding before he’s moved in and has his lips on mine. He touches them softly with his and then his hand sifts deep into my hair and he’s pulling me closer. I tumble down onto my side, facing him.

My hands go to his rock-hard chest. He’s warm. My hands drift up to his shoulders, his neck, his jaw, then into his hair.

I’m the one that deepens the kiss. I’m the one that slips my tongue in. But, when I do, he must see flashing green lights, because then it’s go, go, go.

I’m suddenly on my back and he’s on top of me, using his knee to part my legs. He’s getting hard against me and his hands are exploring my upper body. Up my arm, to my jaw, touching my hair, then stroking my throat. And then his hand grazes the side of my boob and I let out a needy little sound.

He lets go and looks down at me. And he grinds into me a little.

I rise a few inches and nip his bottom lip and he groans and then he grinds his pelvis into me harder, deeper.

Oh my God.

“Fuck,” he whispers. “Wanted this from you for so long.”

I can’t help but giggle. He looks down at me questioningly.

“We’ve known each other… ten or eleven days.”

He laughs. “Sounds kinda silly when you do the math.”

“Kind of…” I agree.

“But, Carly,” he says. “It doesn’t change the fact that it’s true. I… I’ve pulled some shit on you and I’ve been a dick. But…”

“You have? No!” I fail at keeping a straight face.

He doesn’t crack a smile this time. If anything, he goes more serious. “This thing with us, I…”

“Shhh. Don’t screw this up by saying the wrong thing,” I warn. I don’t want him to throw cold water on my libido right now. “I don’t wanna overthink it. I just… if this goes no place, I just don’t want it to affect my job.”

“It will.”

I jerk back.

He grabs the back of my head. “It will go someplace, I mean.”

I breathe deep, my stomach does somersaults three or four times. I’m about to tumble down a rabbit hole. Do I want to allow myself to freefall?

He’s suggesting this isn’t just fooling around, that it’s the start of something. “You’re not finding another way to fuck me over, are you, Hot Sauce?”

“No,” he answers firmly. “I can see why you might think that, but no. Honest.”

“This isn’t next level of screwing me after Lingo or Twitter, or my email?”

His eyes light up. “You’re a smart girl. Figured all that out. What do you think?”

“I think you’ve got a lot going on right now, and…”

He swallows. “And you’re real. You’re real and three dimensional and I really want this. You. You don’t want me to fuck you yet, okay. Let’s try things on, though. When we get home, come to dinner with me. Get to know me. I warn you, I can be a dick, but you already know that and for some reason, I’ve met this girl who makes me have more good moods than I’ve had in a while. Makes me laugh. Gives me this feeling in my belly.”

I smile.

“And when I do dick things and see her hurting or sad or disappointed in me, it makes these other not nice feelings in my belly happen. So, let me make out with you a little bit longer, yeah? Then when we get home, let’s go out. Have some fun. See where things go.”

I chew my lip thoughtfully.

“Never gave a shit what someone thought of me. No one other than my father, my brother and sister. Braed. Now, you. You thinkin’ I’m a piece of shit has kept me up at night.”

I blink at him, stunned, lost for words.

He lets go of my head and runs his thumb across my bottom lip.

He then leans in and starts to kiss my throat. And it makes me woozy. In a good way.

“Your mother gonna come down here or anything?” he asks.

“Give me one sec,” I say, and he rolls. I jump up and go to the top of the stairs and listen.

I dash back down.

He’s sitting up now.

“She’s got her noise machine on. It’s low. She’s probably keeping it low in case the hospital calls. But she’s asleep. She’s a deep sleeper. She won’t come down here. She made it a point of saying she wouldn’t see us until the morning so in Mom-speak, she just gave us permission to fool around if we want to. She wants us to. She’s probably hoping we’re down here making grandbabies right now, in fact. No way will she come down and ruin the chance of that coming to fruition.”

He chuckles and then his expression darkens. “Fool around? Since  I have your mom’s permission…”

He grabs me and yanks me onto his lap so I’m straddling him, then he gathers my hair into a ponytail and attacks my throat with his mouth, holding my hair.

My arms wrap around him. He’s hard under me, against me. My knees are digging into the mattress and I can kind of feel the springs, so I adjust, and his grip tightens. He’s got my ass in his hands and then he leans in and kisses between my boobs.

“I can’t believe I’m making out with Aiden Carmichael in my parents’ basement,” I say with a giggle. “Ow, my knee.”

He stands and puts me on my back and then he’s on top again.

I grab his jaw with both hands and drag his mouth to mine. Tasting him.  His expression is hot. Molten.

He tenderly kisses the tip of my nose. “Gonna stop now. Let’s start this episode over.” He backs off and reaches for the remote.

I open my mouth to protest but nothing comes out. I shouldn’t push. It’s weird that it’s him that is putting the brakes on.  But I shouldn’t push.  Maybe I should take a cold shower, because he… he made me hot. And suddenly I’m remembering my shower sex dream of him and I don’t want him to stop.

He restarts episode two. He’s a foot away from me now.

I blow my hair out of my eyes.  I’m fidgety.

He immediately pulls me to him and I fight to find a way to simmer down. Eventually, part way through episode three, I fall asleep with my head on his chest, in just the same spot as his little nephew a few nights before.
 

***

 

I wake up to Aiden tickling my palm with his finger. The  lamp is still on and the TV is at the Netflix screen.

He’s awake.

“What are you doing?” I whisper.

“Caught me,” he replies, humor in his voice.

“Caught you what?” I ask, leaning up on an elbow.

“Did that on the plane when your head was on my shoulder. Every time I touched the palm of your hand, you nuzzled into me. Wanted to see if it’d work again.”

“Did it?”

“Nope. Woke you up instead.”

“Oh.” I nuzzle in, throwing my arm over him. “Maybe it was a delayed reaction.”

He’s flipping me. And I’m game.  I’m still wet from earlier.

I grab his face and pull his mouth to mine. He is amazing with his mouth. He groans into my mouth and I whimper as his hand is suddenly on my boob. His fingertips slide inside my blouse, into my bra, caressing my nipple. It goes rock hard at his touch. My breasts feel heavy and my panties are now wetter. My belly dips with desire. I grab his shirt and begin unbuttoning it.

“Change your mind about puttin’ the brakes on?” I ask.

“For you,” he whispered. “Didn’t wanna stop but thought you would want me to. I don’t want you to feel like I’m taking advantage after today, with your Dad, and …”

“I don’t feel that way, Aiden,” I whisper back.

He takes that as permission and starts unbuttoning mine, too. He pulls on the hem and I lift my arms, so he can throw it off me.  He then rips his own shirt off. I want to touch his chest, his arms, his back, but I settle for only looking as I attack his fly and pull it undone. He’s attacking my fly, too. We’re all fingers fumbling with buttons, lips touching, teeth nibbling on throats and shoulders, and I’m breathing hard.

He grabs my pantlegs and tugs. I lift by bottom and his face becomes buried between my legs before my pants are all the way off.

“Holy crow,” I breathe. He gets them the rest of the way down and off, kissing down to my knee as he tugs on them, and then my socks are gone, and panties are being peeled down. His mouth glides back up, then his tongue goes inside me and he licks up to my clit and rams at least two fingers inside me. I cry out. Holy shit.

“You’re soaked,” he mutters.

“Your f-fault,” I stammer.

“First time I’ve made you soaked, peaches?”

“Nope,” I say, popping the p. Holy wow.

“Knew it,” he says cockily.

He pushes my legs up, so my knees are bent and now he’s got better access. He gets up on his elbow, alternately watching my face and looking between my legs as he rams those fingers in over and over.

He grabs my right ass cheek with his free hand and then he’s licking, sucking, right on my clit, eyes pointed up to my face.

And my face is probably contorting less than prettily as his pace picks up and he alternates between looking at me and looking down at me and then picking up the tempo of fingering me.

My hand goes over my mouth as the sensation builds. My heart is in full-speed gallop and my whole body is practically buzzing.

He lifts up a little and spreads me wider with both hands and then sucks again on my clit. Hard. His fingers slip back in, two fingers crooking, inside of me and I explode. I cry out into my hand, my head falling back.

Oh fuck, this is crazy. This is crazy-hot. Maybe a little embarrassing that it happened in a minute or so, but he’s not done.  He smiles as I slowly float back down to earth. Now I’m feeling his stubble against my inner thighs. His fingers are magic. That tongue!

He spreads my butt cheeks and pussy lips wide with his hands spanning the whole area in between my legs. He sucks hard one more time.

I’m gasping. He is an absolute superstar at oral sex.

He’s up on his knees. He’s dragging my bra down so that the cups are underneath my breasts. He sucks one nipple, then the other, then the first one again.

“Grab my wallet, peaches,” he tells me. “Inside my jacket pocket.”

I roll sideways to reach for his coat on the floor. He sucks hard on my nipple while I do, and now his fingers are inside me again. Pumping, fast as I’m fumbling for his coat. My eyes are rolling around. I’m breathing hard, whimpering, feeling so much sensation.

I find the wallet and drop it on the bed, immediately plunge my hands into his hair, then I’m kissing him. 

“I taste really good on you,” I whisper. He growls.

“You talk dirty, too? You won’t get rid of me now, peaches.”

I shake my head and laugh.

“You’re dangerous,” he tells me as he reaches into his wallet and pulls out a condom.

I giggle. “No, I’m not. I’m a good girl. I’m boring.”

“No fucking way,” he says and then tears it with his teeth and gets up and yanks his pants and underwear down.

And I finally see it. It. Aiden Jr: the brains of the operation. I see it and it… is… beautiful.

He rolls the condom on and then climbs on top of me and starts kissing my breasts again.

I can’t just lie here, I don’t want to, I wanna touch him, but he’s very focused on my boobs right now.

“Aiden,” I whisper, rubbing his shoulders.

He looks up.

“Come up here, I wanna touch you.”

He flicks his tongue against my nipple one more time and then moves up. He has his cock poised and ready to slide in. And I have a sudden panic setting in.

We’re eye-locked. Locked and loaded. He’s directly against my opening.

God, what if he---oh wow. I don’t get the chance to let that flood of doubts materialize, because he flexes his jaw and then he drives in. Hard. His eyes close and the look on his face is the sexiest expression I’ve seen on his face so far.

Holy crow, he’s… there’s a lot of him.

I gasp.

He stays still, fully rooted. Staring at me.

“Good?” he asks.

“Oh yeah,” I say and then his lips are on mine and he is ramming hard, doing a gyrating thing with his hips as he does, and the one good thing about this lumpy sofa bed with the bar digging into my back is that it’s not creaking or wiggling. The heavy beast is staying still despite Aiden Carmichael’s powerful hip action.

I bite into his shoulder and he starts going harder, faster, and then he yanks out, grabs my hips, and flips me to my belly. It happens in one smooth seemingly choreographed move like I weigh nothing, and now he’s got my hips and is hauling me up to my knees.

My knees are not comfortable with these stupid springs, but I don’t care. Other parts of me are determined to let my knees do some sacrificing.

His hand slips between my legs and he begins performing magic on my clit again as his dick slides into me from behind.

He grabs my hair and pulls it to one side so he can bite the back of my neck, grunting as he drives into me over and over.

I let out a husky moan. God, this is beautiful.

He releases my hair, so he can grab my nipple.

I reach between my legs and put my hand to his and caress it as he keeps fucking me, as he keeps on rubbing me. I stretch to reach farther, and I feel the base of his cock as he slides in and out. I stroke his balls with my fingertips and that’s when his whole body goes tight and he lets out a sexy masculine “Ahhhh.” And it’s so hot that I’m coming too, with him, because his fingers speed up on my clit despite the fact that he’s coming.

Fireworks. Beautiful.  I’m loose and filled with butterflies.

He rolls off and pulls me close. I feel his heart beating into my body, he’s that close to me.

I blow out breath and try to get my head together.

Sex in the basement on a sofa bed with Aiden Carmichael in Buffalo. Well, well, well.

This isn’t Carly 2.0. This was a wormhole to Carly 3.0 or something, because I didn’t know I had it in me. I didn’t know based on how I felt about him on Sunday morning that I could ever be here with him like this and here we are, Tuesday night, closer to Wednesday morning now, and he’s naked beside me.  He’s just been in me and right now, he keeps kissing me, cuddling me.

And he’s good at all of that. Not selfish at it. At all.

He’s the best sex I’ve ever had. Bar none.

“Despite his skills and equipment, he won’t be worth the trouble…”

That’s what that girl said as a warning. She can’t be serious. I can think of a lot of trouble that I’d be willing to tolerate for sex like this.

“Are you his next victim or his last one?
 

I shake the bad thoughts off.  I shake them off hard.

“Gotta get this condom dealt with, peaches,” he whispers against my forehead and plants a kiss there.

“There’s a bathroom back there,” I point. “Beside the laundry room. Be ready for the possibility you’ll run into Red or Kitty Forman in there.”

He kisses my nose and finds the condom wrapper on the floor and takes that with him.

It’s a cringey half bathroom. Wood paneling walls, avocado colored toilet and sink. There’s one of those Victorian toilet paper skirt dolls on the back of the toilet that has a creepy doll head and arms, then a big full Pepto Bismol-colored skirt on and the skirt is what’s holding the spare roll of toilet paper. A matching Kleenex cozy is beside it. He’s going to wonder if he’s been transported into the past.

Should I sleep down here? Should I go up to my old room?

I hear a flush and the water running and then he’s back.

“Get under the covers,” he orders and then he’s pulling me close, arranging the blankets over us.

Okay, then.

And then I fall asleep cuddling with him.