I couldn’t believe what she was asking of me,” Aiden says. “I couldn’t take it. I told her no, but I just didn’t know how to stay in the same apartment with her while she was asking me for the impossible.”

“So you came here.” I reach out over the back of the sofa to touch his hair and caress him. I can’t express how happy I am right now.

I mean, it’s not like I’m thrilled about what’s happening. This whole thing sucks. But Aiden has a problem and he comes straight to my apartment. This is a big step forward for us.

And there’s no denying it, but I’m kind of desensitized to parental deception now. My dad has lied to me so many times and done so many things behind my back that were supposedly for my own good, I’m not surprised that my dad would be capable of being the mastermind of this whole mess.

“I’m sorry, A,” I say. “But you shouldn’t blame your mom. It sounds like she was in a really bad situation.”

“Yeah. It just sucks that she’d been telling me it was bad luck, or it was because she had bad taste in men and she didn’t want to risk getting involved with another alcoholic gambler in Vegas.” Aiden sighs and throws his head back on the sofa. “They were ridiculous, flimsy excuses, but I thought my mom truly believed in the bad luck thing, you know? I didn’t think she was lying to me.”

“My dad’s the one you should blame,” I say.

I hate watching Aiden get this agitated. I hate thinking about whether Aiden’s relationship with his mom will ever be the same again. And I place the blame squarely on my dad’s shoulders.

“Here’s what I think happened: my dad found out about your dad’s accident from the hospital staff and approached your mom to offer the deal, knowing she needed money.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Aiden’s eyes appear troubled. The warm light from my favorite Pottery Barn floor lamp hits his hair and casts shadows on his face as he turns to me. “What are we going to do, princess?”

“You’re not going to leave me like my dad wants you to, are you?” I ask in a playful tone. I don’t think he will and maybe this is just a gentle joke, but maybe I also want to hear him say it, say that he won’t leave me over this.

I’ve faced my dad many times, and I’m still here. I’m still fine. He doesn’t scare me. If Aiden needs me to, I’ll go to battle against my dad for him.

But I can't lose him again, now that I know how perfectly we fit together.

“Of course, I won’t,” Aiden answers quickly, without any hint of hesitation. “I’m not letting you go again.”

I can’t help but smile at the certainty in his voice. “Are you sure about that, A? There are many things in my life that have happened over the past ten years that you don’t know about. Maybe I’m not who you think I am anymore.”

“I don’t care,” he says. He turns to me and caresses my cheek with his thumb. “I don’t know if you want to hear this, but after I finally accepted that you didn’t want to talk to me anymore, I tried filling the void that you left… but I could never find someone like you. Nobody even came close.”

“Funny, I had the exact same experience.” I smile. “Every once in a while, whenever I got into a new relationship, I’d have a dream about you. By the next morning, I’d compare everything about that guy to you, and he wouldn’t measure up.”

“Yeah. It was like . . . It was like I was looking specifically for you. I tried to find you in those other girls, but it never felt right.” Aiden stares deep into my eyes. “Not like this. This is—”

“—right,” I say, finishing his sentence. I pull him close and nestle into the crook of his neck. “This feels right.”

“Yeah. I can’t explain it,” Aiden says. “But it feels like we're pieces of a puzzle locking together.”

“Or a lock and key clicking open.” I tilt my head up to shoot Aiden a smile.

His blue eyes gaze deep into my soul, full of gentleness. “It really feels like we can just pick up where we left off, doesn’t it?”

“It’s like we never parted at all,” I agree.

“It wouldn’t be a surprise, then, if I tell you . . . I love you?” Aiden smiles.

“Hmm . . . Yeah, it wouldn’t.” I smile as my heart jumps for joy. “But are you? Telling me that?” I ask, giving him a cheeky grin.

“Yeah,” he says, his smile widening into a grin. “After all this while, I still love you, princess. I’ve never stopped.”

“Me neither.”

“Say it,” Aiden says, leaning closer until his forehead rests against mine.

“I’ve never stopped loving you either. I love you, A.”

As raindrops outside hit the windows, Aiden’s lips find mine. All the memories of all the kisses we’ve ever shared flood my mind, blurring the lines between the past and the present.

I knew I was kissing my prince the first time; that’s why I could recognize all the frogs that came after him so easily.

“I don’t know how I ever survived without your lips, princess,” Aiden says, his breath warm on my skin. “I need it like air now.”

I giggle. “Have you always been this smooth?”

“I may have learned a thing or two over the years,” he says with a grin. His eyes grow sober as he watches me intensely with those sharp eyes that never miss any detail. “I’m never leaving you again, princess. I’m serious. I’m not going to let my mom or your dad keep us apart.”

“They can’t make us do anything they want,” I say. “We’re adults now.”

“Yeah,” Aiden says, although he sounds unconvinced.

“Hey, let’s forget about that for now, okay?” I don’t like the gloomy atmosphere that has suddenly descended as soon as Aiden mentioned our parents again. “You told me to be present. Let’s just be here and forget everything else. So we missed out on each other for the past ten years. That sucked, but I’m here now, and you are, too. We're finally together again.”

Aiden studies my face, his eyes darkening. “Okay, princess, nothing else matters tonight except you and me.”

He lifts my chin up and takes my lips again, but this time there’s hunger in his kiss. He’s not trying to show me how he feels about me. He’s claiming me. He’s taking what he knows belongs to him, what he knows I’ve offered up to him.

“Look at me,” he says in that low, demanding voice that makes me melt. “Take off your clothes. I want to see you.”

I pull away just enough to take my shirt off. My cheeks heat up when I see Aiden’s eager eyes roaming all over my cleavage and my creamy belly. I slide my butt off the couch and wiggle out of my jeans.

Sitting in my underwear now, I meet Aiden’s gaze, my heart pounding in my chest.

Damn it, if I’d known Aiden was coming, I would’ve worn something other than a giant sports bra and a pair of old cotton panties.

Still, there’s nothing but appreciation in his eyes. “Take it all off,” he says in a deep voice that almost resembles a growl.

Slowly, with full awareness that Aiden’s watching my every move, I unhook my bra and slide the straps off my shoulders, then I let it fall to the carpeted floor, to join my shirt and jeans in a heap.

Just as I hook my thumb into the waistband of my panties, Aiden leans forward and puts his hand on my back, pulling me close. He drags his lips over the sensitive skin of my neck as his hand grabs my tits. When my lips part, my breaths come out in deep, heavy pants.

“Lift up your legs,” he whispers near my ears, his breath tickling me.

I put my legs up on the couch like Aiden wants me to, and he pulls them over his lap. Without any warning, he drags me over the couch, positioning me so my ass rests on his sturdy thighs.

Aiden watches me with a smirk as he pulls my panties down my legs, exposing all of me. His gaze travels from my eyes down to linger at my nipples before he settles on my pussy. His runs his fingers lightly over my mound, sending tingles straight to my core. Wetness drips out of me.

It hasn’t escaped Aiden’s notice. He catches my arousal with his finger, making me gasp when he touches my pussy lips. He licks his own fingertips. “You taste real sweet, princess. I bet you’ll taste even sweeter when I’m through with you.”

Aiden’s hand runs up and down my thigh. My breath catches in my throat every time he gets close to the top, but he always chuckles and takes his hand away again, watching my frustration with amusement.

“I’m going to have so much fun playing with your sexy little body,” he says as his fingers dig into my flesh, giving me a hint of the torrential desire running just under Aiden’s calm exterior.

I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy having my body be his little plaything.

His hand, dark and oversized, looks menacing resting on my creamy thigh. I feel small and vulnerable under his touch. His denim rubs against my ass, reminding me of how naked I am, how powerless.

He can do anything he wants to me.

And yet, even though normally I hate the thought of being under anyone’s control, right now I want nothing more than for Aiden to take charge.

“Look at me,” Aiden says as his hand finds my petals. He lightly runs his fingers over my folds, sliding back and forth as I watch him with eyes open wide and lips parted by desire.

He finds my clit and presses lightly, but it’s enough to send a shudder through my whole body. “Good girl,” Aiden says as he pushes two digits inside me at once, keeping his thumb on my clit. He finger-fucks me until I’m writhing and moaning, lifting my ass off his lap to get him deeper. I know I’m acting wantonly, but I don’t care. All that matters is release.

But as soon as it seems like release is just within my reach, Aiden takes it away. “Not so fast, princess,” he says. “If you’re going to come, you’re going to come on my cock.”

Aiden flips me over until I’m lying with my bare stomach over the couch—I’ve never been happier to have chosen this couch with a removable fabric cover; we can get down and dirty now, and all I have to do later is take off the covering and throw it into the wash.

I mean, I wouldn’t want to interrupt Aiden right now, when he’s in his element. Every little thing he does feels so powerful, so masculine, and I can’t help but yearn for him. My clit is, without a doubt, throbbing right now. Throbbing.

Aiden gets on his knees between my legs and pulls my wrists together behind me. “You said you’re mine. Are you prepared to give me everything, princess?”

“Yes,” I sigh as Aiden rubs my hands over his bulge. Even through his jeans, I can feel how hard he is, and it excites me. I want that inside me. It’s the only thing that’s going to satisfy me now.

I hear the sound of Aiden’s jeans being unzipped. The couch shifts as he takes them off and drops them on the carpet.

My heart pounds. With my hands held behind me and my legs spread apart, I’m completely helpless. Aiden can do whatever he wants with me. The thought fills me with apprehension, but at the same time . . . excitement , too. I trust him not to hurt me.

“Get on your knees, princess.”

I gasp when Aiden’s cock brushes against my thigh. It’s hard and impossibly hot.

“Ready for me?” he asks, almost growling.

“Yes,” I say, sticking out my ass, begging him to fill me.

“Good,” he says as he aligns the head of his cock with my slick opening. “But I was going to do this, whether you were ready or not.” He thrusts forward and fills me completely.

“Fuck, princess, you’re so wet for me,” Aiden groans, letting go of my wrists to grab my waist. He pulls me onto his cock and grinds into me.

I whimper as my pussy muscles clench around him.

Aiden slides in and out of me, his hard cock rubbing my pussy walls in all the right places. He pushes my waist down, forcing me to arch my back, allowing him to get even deeper inside me.

I lose my breath, both from my own pleasured gasps and Aiden’s vigorous thrusting. I pant and gasp, too lost in our mating to remember to breathe.

Aiden lies flat on top of me, his chest hard and hot on my back. When he starts to kiss the back of my neck, I shudder, making him growl. “That felt so fucking good, when you shiver like that.”

I whimper as he bites me.

“Am I hurting you, princess?” he asks.

“No,” I moan. “I mean, yes. Yes, you are but I love it.”

“I’m going to leave a mark if I bite you any harder.”

“I don't care. Please, A, do it.”

Then, so encouraged, he bites the back of my neck, hard, like a lion would when he mates. The harder Aiden bites and the more painful it gets, the tighter my muscles clench around his cock.

He picks up his speed, slamming into me harder and faster. As his movements become more frantic, he wraps his arm around me, holding my neck in the crook of his elbow. He supports himself with his other hand on the couch as he rocks back and forth on top of me.

“Say you're mine,” Aiden growls in my ear.

“I’m yours,” I say in between moans.

“Good girl,” he says as he fucks me with abandon, slamming again and again inside me, impaling me with his thick, hard, pulsing cock. My body shakes, out of control, as I reach my peak. Aiden grunts at the final thrust as he pumps his hot cum inside me.

As he wraps his arms around me, his body relaxes, and he plants a sweet kiss on my temple. That’s the opposite of the dirty fucking we’ve just done, but it’s also the most appropriate thing for him to do at this moment.

“I love you,” he says.

“You always know exactly what to say and when.” I smile as I nuzzle into him. “I love you, too.”

We remain in this state of blissful unawareness for the rest of the night. Aiden stays over and sleeps like a baby until it’s time for us to go to work. After work, he comes home with me again.

And so, without much discussion or negotiation, we slip into shared domesticity.

I always thought living with a man would be difficult, but it’s surprisingly nice to wake up to Aiden, come home to Aiden, and fall asleep in Aiden’s arms.

After ten years of pining for him, I finally have him back and I can’t get enough of him. It feels like work and sleep are just obstacles I need to get through to get my next fix of Aiden.

As if it’s not enough that I get to spend virtually all my free time with the love of my life, there are other perks to living with Aiden, too. He’s great with house chores, having lived with his busy single mom previously. Some nights he even cooks for me.

Oh, and the sex. That’s nice, too . . .

Okay, it’s more than nice. It’s better than I thought sex could be.

I wish things could continue to be this way, indefinitely. But we both know that’s impossible. There’s an axe hanging over both our heads, and we’re trying our best to ignore it because we know how precious time is.

We tell ourselves that we’re just trying to be fully present in the moment, but in reality we’re just stalling.

We both know a storm’s coming our way.