Chapter 12: Aiden

 

 

I should’ve kissed her. Why did I hesitate?

If it had been any other woman, I wouldn’t have stared at her like that. I would’ve gone for it and dealt with the consequences.

What the hell was my problem?

And what the hell was she thinking?! That I was drunk? That I didn’t know what I was doing?

I grabbed the peppers and sliced the tops off, turning the knife around the inside to remove the seeds.

I needed to get a grip and make a move. So what if she laughed in my face? I had to know if she tasted like cake, if her mouth could be as soft as it could be hard. And I wasn’t so drunk that I didn’t know what I was doing.

Sure, I knew that she was my best friend, that she probably didn’t look at me that way. But there was only one way to find out, and I wasn’t going to make the mistake of asking politely. She wasn’t that kind of girl. She fell for guys who knew what they wanted and weren’t afraid to go for it.

Not that I wanted her to fall for me or anything. I wasn’t thinking anywhere near that far ahead. I just wanted to kiss her, just to see what it was like, just to satisfy my curiosity before it became too much.

Because if I didn’t think of an excuse to lay my hands on her body, I felt like I might never relax again.

I took a deep breath and started slicing the peppers.

It had to be tonight. After all, I was drunker than she was which meant I stood the best chance of getting away with it. If she thought I was being a cheeky bastard, she’d just slap me, and we could both laugh about it later. However, if she was tipsy enough to kiss me back…

“You’re doing a good job with that,” she said, peering over the counter. “I don’t know why I doubted you.”

I looked up and smiled. “Thanks,” I said, wincing. “But I think you spoke too soon.”

“Are you okay?”

“Shit,” I said, holding up my hand.

“What is it?”

I looked at my finger. A second later, a thin line of blood began seeping through my skin.

“Damn it, Aiden,” Lucy said, coming around the counter. “You should’ve waited for me to do it.”

I started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” she asked, grabbing my wrist and looking at the damage.

“It’s such a little cut,” I said, a tear springing to my eyes from laughing so hard. “But it burns like a bitch.”

“You’re an idiot,” she said, marching me over to the sink.

She turned the water on and held my finger under the tap. When she moved it, it started to bleed right away. “From now on, we get take out when we’re drinking.”

“Agreed,” I said.

“Do you have any band aids?” she asked.

“You mean I’m not going to lose the finger?”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re going to lose your tongue if you don’t stop laughing.”

I held my hand over the sink and pointed to a cabinet by the fridge. “Above the microwave.”

I watched her go to the cabinet and lift up on her tippy toes. When she reached for the band aids, her shirt lifted just enough that I could see a strip of her skin.

I swallowed.

She walked back over to me, keeping her eyes on the box of band aids while she pulled a few out. “Do you want Batman or Spiderman?”

“Is there no more Superman?” I asked, pretending to pout.

She groaned and dug her thin fingers inside the box. “Ah-hah,” she said, pulling out a Superman band aid.

I held my finger out in front of her and watched as she wrapped the cartoon bandage around it. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” she said, lifting the box of band aids off the counter. “I feel like it’s kind of my fault for leaving you alone with the knife and the peppers.”

“Lucy.”

She looked up at me, her breath catching in her throat.

Then, before she could say anything, I lifted my hand and dragged my thumb across her cheekbone, sliding my palm against the side of her neck.

She froze when I touched her, neither blinking nor breathing.

I searched her eyes for a moment before lowering my gaze to her parted lips and kissing them, pressing my mouth against hers softly enough that she could’ve pulled away.

But she didn’t.

Instead, she inhaled, and I felt the breath she sucked into her lungs move past my lips and fill her with the energy she needed to kiss me back. I slid my other hand around her waist just under her shirt, a waist I had only ever held before to help her hop fences or for brief moments at school dances. But it was different this time because there was nothing between my rough hand and her silky skin.

I slipped my tongue in her open mouth and swirled it around hers, tasting my best friend for the first time and feeling her go slack in my arms as I did so.

I willed her to put her hands on me, to run them up my chest, but she seemed too overwhelmed by my kiss.

And it only made me want to overwhelm her more.

I dropped my hand from her cheek and scrunched the bottom of her shirt in my fists, eager to see the breasts I’d been thinking about since she bent over in the salon. But as soon as I started to lift it up, her hands came down on mine and pushed them away.

I craned my neck back and looked at her.

Her eyes were wide and her face was white except for her pink lips. “I have to go,” she said, backing away from me.

“No, you don’t,” I said. “Stay.”

“No, I really need to,” she said, grabbing her purse.

“I didn’t mean to upset you, I just got carrie-”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, avoiding eye contact. “I just forgot I have to do something.”

“What?! What are you talking about? Wait! Lucy!”

She stuffed her feet back in her shoes without untying the laces and slipped out the door.

“I said I was sorry,” I called, swinging my front door open just in time to see the staircase doors closing.

I couldn’t believe it. She was in such a hurry she didn’t even wait for the elevator.

I closed the door and slammed my fist against it. “Goddamnit!”

What the fuck was her problem? I couldn’t have been any gentler.

And the truth was I wasn’t sorry I did it. I was only sorry she hadn’t given in to me.

Cause I thought she was going to. I really did, especially after she’d let me press right up against her and explore her mouth with my tongue. That was a fucking green light as far as I was concerned, and I never would’ve stopped there if she hadn’t fled like a goddamn Okie.

Worst of all, kissing her had been more amazing than I ever imagined it could be. I mean, I thought it would be fun, but the way she felt in my hands, the way she tasted...

It wasn’t like kissing my sister at all. Not that I’d ever kissed my sister, not like that anyway. And it wasn’t like kissing a friend either.

On the contrary, there were sparks, and everything that was familiar about her seemed to disappear in that moment until…

No, I definitely wouldn’t have stopped there.

So why did she?