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“It’s not.”
She pulled back, and her face was so open, so sweet, I had to kiss her again. But when I pulled away, intent on deepening it, she laid a gentle finger on my mouth.
“I think you and I held onto the things that hurt us because it seemed … easier, somehow.” She gave me a soft smile. “Yours was your grief, the thing you lost. And mine was”—she screwed up her lips—“sort of the same. I lost something too, but gained something really great in return. But I know I kept a tight rein on the things I could control so that I’d never feel that way again.”
I nodded. “No one can hurt you again if you don’t let them in.” My heart pinched at the understanding I saw in her midnight eyes. For so long and for so many reasons, I’d written her off as wrong, but she was exactly right.
“You have the power to hurt me, Aiden Hennessy,” she admitted. Isabel slid a hand over my cheek. “And I’m trusting you not to.”
My arms curled around her back, and I sighed contentedly at the strength in our embrace.
When she finally pulled away, her eyes looked a little red, but I knew better than to comment on it.
“You know what you owe me?” she said.
“Hmm?”
She leaned in, whispering some of the X-rated things I’d imagined when she’d been in my own tub, and by the time we left the bathroom, wrapped in plush towels and skin wrinkled, I’d delivered every single one.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Isabel
“I don’t believe you.”
I set my chin on his chest the next morning before the sun had risen in the sky and grinned happily. “It’s true.”
“You’ve never tried sushi?”
With a shake of my head, I let my fingers walk up his abdomen. “Nothing could sound worse to me than slimy uncooked fish.”
“That is a crime,” he muttered, snatching up my fingers to kiss the tips.
“Your turn.”
He sighed. “I’ve never baked a cake.”
“I’ve never baked one well,” I said. “Add it to the list.”
Aiden’s hand swept over my lower back. “What else do we have?”
We’d spent the last hour trying to figure out firsts we could experience together, Aiden’s attempt at trying to wrap his mind around the fact that I’d never slept with anyone before him. In his mind, he owed me a few of those, and the idea of it made me so warm and melty inside that I was not arguing. I’d just experienced the most perfect night of my entire life, even if I would limp out of this hotel, wearing my bridesmaid dress from the night before.
“Never ran a marathon,” I started. “Never successfully baked a cake. We’ve never worn roller skates. And we’ve never slept out under the stars.”
His face took on a thoughtful expression. “I probably shouldn’t admit this one.”
“Tell me.”
Aiden’s fingers slid through my hair, and I closed my eyes at the feel of it, soaking in the affection like a dried-out sponge. It felt so good that I almost missed what he said.
“I’ve never bought flowers for someone.”
My eyes popped open. “Really?”
He shook his head. “Flowers made Beth sneeze like crazy, so I never got her any.”
It was the first he’d mentioned her since we left the reception, and I spread my hand out over his chest, laying a soft kiss onto his skin. “What was she like?”
