Page 18 of His to Cherish
His cheeks turned pink and his eyes narrowed, but I also noted that he didn’t move them away from my chest—or my hardening nipples—until I cleared my throat.
I didn’t do it to get his attention. I was trying to remember how to speak.
He looked good. Like he always did. Aidan owned his own construction company, taking it over after his father died years ago. All those years of hard manual labor did exquisite things to his body. A T-shirt and faded jeans couldn’t hide the physique beneath.
I cleared my throat again, and this time his eyes snapped up to meet mine. But I still noticed his green eyes were darker, his pupils larger than normal.
I figured my blue eyes looked the same.
“Cake.” He shoved the box into my chest so forcefully I stumbled backward a step.
It gave Aidan just enough room to enter my house and I was lost. Lost in my own house because I could not in any way, shape, or form decipher what the heck was happening.
Something sparked between us as he walked around me, and I looked to see if I’d stuck something in an electrical socket. There was nothing there, which meant it was all Aidan.
He simply exuded something powerful. He was strong and muscular and his hands were clenching into fists and then relaxing all while he stared over my shoulder.
“You told me to bring Kate’s Kakes with me next time I came, but I hadn’t done that yet.”
I rubbed my tongue across my teeth.Speak!
“Um.”
Aidan didn’t look at me. He glanced over my shoulder toward the kitchen and took the box back out of my hands. Then he sauntered away, like I’d actually invited him into my home.
I did the only rational thing I could think to do.
I scampered down the hallway, directly toward my bedroom and my closet.
I didn’t care that we were in the middle of a record-breaking heat wave and it was almost eighty degrees outside. I grabbed the largest sweatshirt I could find, threw it on, and hurried back to the kitchen.
I had cake and wine to enjoy with a man who sent my body into a flaming ball of lust, and I didn’t even care if it was wrong to think that about him.
I liked it.
But I’d still be smart and stay covered up.
—
“I won’t be around tomorrow night.”
I blurted this out and blamed the wine. Only a fool would think she needed to make some guy she wasn’t dating—or doing anything with—aware of her whereabouts. But I’d been thinking about tomorrow night for the last two hours since Aidan had shown up.
We drank a bottle of wine and shared an amazing red velvet cake.
We’d also watchedFlip This Houseso many times I felt like I could make it my career. Although when I said that, Aidan snorted and I swore he actually laughed.
Then I blushed because I was a moron. It was what he did for a living, and obviously you had to know more about building than what you gleaned watching a television show to actually be able to do it as a career.
“Where you going?” he asked. His head turned to me, slightly tilted. While he looked nonchalant, his shoulders tightened.
“Girls’ night out at Fireside.”
“Right.” He nodded and looked at the table. “Been there before when you and your girls are there.”
I knew that. There were several times over the last couple of years that Aidan and Derrick had come into Fireside while my friends and I were being so loud we knew everyone in the place was watching us. Not that we cared. The tequila gave us the ability to ignore any typical social manners.
“We do it every month,” I said. “Mostly because it doesn’t matter that Suzanne and Paige are married, they still love looking at Declan.”
