It’s not a yes or a no.
It’s a picture of the future, painted in a wash of gentle colors and firm brushstrokes that sends a sizzle of pleasure up my spine.
It’s the softest, sweetest kiss I can remember, and when he pulls away, his gaze slightly awed, I don’t want the night to end.
I don’t want an end when it comes to him, not at all.
“Come inside?”I ask him, tilting my head, wondering if the world has shifted or if it’s just me.
“Yes,” he says on an exhale.
Giddy, I rearrange Prudence, who seems to be alert again, or at least, in less of a cheese-based coma state, and unlock the door.Aiden follows me in on quiet feet.
I reach around him in the narrow, checkered entryway to relock the door, and Prudence darts out of my admittedly loose grip, sprinting upstairs like her tail is on fire.
And, for the first time, he and I are truly alone.
Together.
“Sylvie,” he says, and I don’t think I’ve ever liked the sound of my name more than I do right now.
His hands cradle the back of my head, his lips meeting mine again in a flurry of sensation.
I can’t get enough.
My palms sweep over his biceps, and a soft moan leaves my lips at the swell of his muscled shoulders.
“You must work out all the time,” I say, breathless, as he pulls away, grinning down at me.
“It’s nice to be appreciated.”
“Seriously,” I say, eyeing him with unprofessional interest.“Do you work out every day?”
“Not every day,” he says, shaking his head.
“But almost every day.”
A laugh, then another kiss.
I could get drunk on them.
“Almost every day,” he agrees, then quirks an eyebrow.“Upstairs?”
“Probably a better idea than here.”
I squeak in surprise as he lifts me into his arms, then carries me up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
“You are definitely in better shape than me,” I tell him, cackling like a maniac as he pauses, glancing around my mostly unpacked apartment.
“I am trying really hard to pretend like I sprint upstairs carrying beautiful women like that all the time.”
My nose crinkles.“I don’t like the idea of you carrying beautiful women up the stairs all the time.”
“Well, you’re the only one I’ve carried upstairs ever, and I am very much trying not to look winded, so there goes my grand plan to look cool for you.”
All the happiness inside me spills out in a laugh.
“I like your laugh,” he says.
