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On Wednesday evening, I left the office before Aiden and drove straight to his place. I was relieved that I’d gotten my daily run in with nausea done around lunchtime. In his apartment, I made sure I’d thrown in the last few things I needed for the trip and then made myself a cup of coffee. I didn’t usually drink it past two or three in the afternoon, but lately, I could sleep at the drop of a hat. I’d been miserably tired in our last brand development meeting, and I was worried that Blake had taken my half-closed eyes as some sort of come on.
He wasn’t happy about Aiden coming to the charity ball, either. He tried to play it off, but we could tell that his joke about how surely Aiden had more important things to do wasn’t a joke at all. I’d never tell Aiden, but more and more, Blake was starting to give me the creeps. Even though I’d made it perfectly clear my only interest in him was professional, he still let his gaze linger too long on mine. I’d taken to wearing oversized cardigans to our meetings with him under the pretense that the conference room was cold. It was really so he couldn’t stare at my breasts while he pretended to think.
I drank my coffee and slowly felt some animation seep back into my limbs. They felt so heavy lately, like my body had one foot in the bed and it was just waiting for the rest of me to catch up. As I poured artificial energy into my body, my excitement about the trip sparked up again. By the time Aiden walked through the door, I was practically vibrating with it.
“We’re going on vacation!” I cried, jumping on him as soon as he walked through the door.
Aiden staggered back a step, and I could feel his chest vibrating with his laughter. “Not if you kill me, we aren’t.” He hoisted me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, securing myself to him.
“I can’t wait. Let’s go now.”
He laughed again as he carried me forward and deposited me on the kitchen counter. “I can’t wait either but let me check my email one more time.” He pulled his laptop out and checked it right there on the counter. I drummed my heels impatiently into the cabinets until he shot me a quelling look. “You’re ruining my kitchen.”
“Then you’d better get me out of here,” I countered.
Aiden answered a few quick emails and then we were on our way. The drive was nearly five hours, but it went by so quickly that I was shocked when I saw the city skyline appear, framed in the windshield. “How did you get us here so fast?”
“If you call four and a half hours fast, I apologize for how disappointing our sex life must have been for you so far,” Aiden said, nodding toward the clock. He grinned when I socked him in the arm and reached over to squeeze my knee. “I’ll do better tonight.”
I put my hand on his and moved it up. There wasn’t a single thing about sex with Aiden I would change, but if he wanted to prove something, I was ready. This was our first vacation after all. “I bet the drive went by so quickly because I’m such a great DJ,” I teased him.
He made a face but didn’t argue. We’d taken turns playing each other our favorite songs and quickly realized that our musical tastes didn’t overlap at all. He liked pounding rock music and I liked soul singers. He considered a screaming chorus the hallmark of a good song, and I liked it if you could maybe understand the words.
“I hope our kids get my musical taste,” I said without thinking at one point in the drive.
Aiden hadn’t said anything, and the silence morphed into something tense and terrible. I could have kicked myself for saying it. We’d said we loved each other, but we’d never really talked about the future. In my head, Liv’s cautious voice was the soundtrack to that long silence.
Are you sure he’s as serious as you are?
It’s not a good sign if he keeps you a secret.
Then I’d let Aiden pick the next song, and his emo screamo choice drowned her out.
As we pulled up to the hotel and Aiden handed the keys over to the valet attendant, I refused to let that one moment dim my excitement. Here we were in the city that never slept, and Aiden had promised me a night I wouldn’t forget.
I was going to take him up on it.
CHAPTER26
AIDEN
The hotel room was probably nice. I’m not sure. I barely glanced at it as the porter who had carried our bags up tried to give us the ten-cent tour.
“The coffee machine is over here,” he said, and seemed to be about to demonstrate how it worked.
“Got it.” I pressed a twenty-dollar bill in his hand. Not so much a tip as a firm suggestion to leave. He took me up on it.
“What if I wanted to know how the coffee machine worked?” Layla teased, tilting her head and putting a finger to her mouth.
“If you want coffee, I’ll figure it out.” I walked toward her.
Her smile widened behind her finger. “I don’t want coffee.”
Normally, I liked to take my time with Layla, but over four hours in the car, so close but unable to really touch her, made me impatient. I walked her backward until she came up against the dressing table, then lowered my mouth to hers. As always, our connection ignited like wildfire, a fusion of emotions and desire that had been building for weeks. Our lips met, and time seemed to stand still as we surrendered to the intensity of the kiss. I could feel her heart pounding through the thin material of her shirt. I was sure she could feel mine.
When we were alone like this, all the shackles on our relationship came off. It was just us–no friends, no workplace–just the raw, unbridled passion we were both tired of pretending didn’t exist. My hands explored every inch of her body, her curves and contours, caressing her breasts, sliding over her hips, and tracing the outline of her ass.
