- Lucy -
is expression fell with his hand. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I shrugged. “Nothing.”
“That’s not fair, Lucy. Come on.”
“I just- well- I came after you.”
“I know. Claire told me.”
“She did?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I’ve been looking for you for the last half hour.”
“I didn’t mean to find you,” I said. “I just figured having your Mom and Claire barge in wasn’t going to help anything.”
“What’s your point?”
“I found you.”
He shook his head. “I don’t understand what-”
“And I was confused by what I overheard.”
He angled his body towards me, raising one leg off the floor. “What did you hear?”
“I only stayed for a second. As soon as I realized you were okay I left so-”
“What did you hear?”
I sighed.
His face was full of kindness, and I found it unsettling, like his expression would make it easier to believe any lies that came out of his mouth.
“I heard you say you only brought me because I know your family and because you had to ask someone.”
He let his head fall to the side.
“I heard you tell her there was nothing between us.” I looked down at my glass. “That we weren’t a thing.”
“Oh Lucy. You don’t believe that do you?”
I kept my eyes down.
He lifted my chin with his fingertips. “Of course we’re a thing.”
“You don’t have to say that just to-”
“I’m not just saying it,” he said.
I pursed my lips.
“We’ve always been a thing.”
“That’s not what I mean. I mean-”
“I know what you mean,” he said. “And you have to believe me when I say this isn’t nothing.”
I swallowed. “So why did you say it?”
“Cause the less Chelsea knows about my life- and who or what matters to me- the better.”
I drained the rest of my champagne and squinted while the bubbles burst in my nose.
“Okay?” he asked.
“I want to believe you.”
“So believe me.”
“But that’s not the only thing I overheard.”
“Okay.”
I rolled my shoulders back and pushed my hair to the side. “I heard her ask you about the panties.”
“Yeah.”
“How did she even find them?”
Aiden looked up at the ceiling and then back at me. “Cause she showed up at my place one night like a psycho.”
“I’m listening.”
“Which is my fault cause I should’ve taken her key when I first kicked her out, but I was in such a hurry to make her leave, I didn’t think about it. And I certainly didn’t think she would fucking turn up uninvited.”
“Like she did today?”
“Yeah.”
“I see.”
“Does that answer that question?”
“Sort of.”
“Spit it out, Luce. What’s on your mind?”
I sat back against the pillows and put my legs straight out on the bed behind Aiden.
“Well?” he asked.
“Were they mine?”
“What?”
“Were they my panties that she found?”
His eyes went wide. “Of course they were yours. What do you mean were they yours?”
“I thought maybe they were someone else’s? I mean, you haven’t spoken to me in weeks so I thought maybe you were-”
“What? Maybe I was what?”
“Seeing someone else? Or other people? Tindering? I don’t know.”
“I haven’t been seeing anyone else,” he said. “To be honest, I haven’t even noticed another woman since I spent that night with you.”
I folded my hands in my lap.
“Okay?”
“I’m sorry to be so stupid. I just-” I exhaled.
“You’re not being stupid. I’d rather you ask me then-”
“I guess my feelings were hurt because you almost sounded ashamed.”
“Ashamed?”
“Yeah, at the accusation that they might be mine. So I started to worry that maybe you were ashamed of sleeping with me in the first place.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it though?” I asked. “Because if you’d rather forget it ever happened and go back to being friends I would understand.”
“I can’t do that.”
“You can’t or you don’t want to?” I asked.
“Both.”
My breath was shallow as he drained the rest of his champagne, squinting his eyes as I’d done to mitigate the burning of the bubbles. Then he leaned forwards and placed his empty glass down beside mine on the nightstand.
“I’m not ashamed that I slept with you Lucy,” he said.
“No?”
He shook his head. “I don’t regret it at all.”
I tried to smile, but it didn’t take.
“I’m only ashamed of two things.”
“What things?”
“I’m ashamed of the way I acted that night when Fiona told me you knew about Chelsea, ashamed of the way I treated you because of my wounded pride.”
I nodded.
“And I regret the fact that I haven’t slept with you since that night at my apartment.”
I pursed my lips.
“Because it’s not that I haven’t thought about it.”
I squeezed my hands together, afraid to move when he had that look in his eye.
He turned towards me, placing one arm on the other side of my legs. “If anything, I’d say it’s become a bit of an obsession of mine to have you again.”
I almost laughed from nerves but the intent in his voice was mesmerizing.
“But there is one thing I would change,” he said.
“Oh?”
“From the last time we hooked up.”
“What?”
“Next time I don’t want you to slip away in the night.”
My eyes grew wide.
“The only slipping I want you to do is on my dick.”
I felt a warm twist in my guts.
“And I want you to stay in bed beside me afterwards.”
I wondered if he could hear my heartbeat.
“So I can have you again in the morning.”
I felt my lips fall apart but nothing came out.
“Does that sound like something you can do for me?”
I nodded.
“Cause I can’t tell you how frustrated I was when I woke up and you were gone.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It was the kind of frustration that only you could help me fix.”
“I understand.”
“Speaking of fix-”
I bit my lip.
“Seeing as how we finally have some privacy, what do you say I make it up to you?”
“Make what up to me?”
“The fact that I’ve been a lousy friend and an appalling date.”
“What did you have in mind?” I asked, barely able to hear my own words.
“I was thinking you could give me some medicine.”
I felt my eyes smile.
“The kind of medicine that will make both of us feel better.”
Aiden leaned forward and slipped his hand around the back of my neck, keeping his eyes on mine as he ran his fingertips up into my hair. Then he pulled my lips against his and kissed me softly, sending a wave of warmth down my spine that made the hairs on my arms stand up.
I scooted my butt away from the headboard and let him twirl his tongue around mine, stirring my insides. He tasted like expensive champagne, and I felt my chest draw closer to him as if I was being pulled by invisible strings.
His hand dropped from my head and he dropped his lips to my neck, kissing me with such focus I had to close my eyes so my senses wouldn’t be overloaded.
I inhaled sharply when he moved his lips to my collarbone, my breath catching in my throat as he pinned me against the pillows with his perfect mouth.
Then I felt his large hand flatten against my thigh and slide up under the short skirt of my dress until he was holding my hip in his hand. At that moment, I knew my body was his to do what he wanted with, that nothing could stop me from giving in to him.
He moved his upper body back, looking at me like prey and laid his other hand on my thigh. Then he looked down at the hem of my dress as it rose up my leg with his wrist.
And from the hunger in his eyes, I could tell what was coming.