He let out a slow breath and turned to look at me, and the expression on his face made me second-guess everything. I glanced back at the road before my attention wandered back to him. “Aiden? You are happy…right?”
I didn’t know what I’d do if he said no. There was a whole life I’d never thought I’d have, or even want, but that I had started to envision with him. If he said he didn’t want that, it might actually destroy me.
“What?” He looked at me in shock, mouth hanging open. “Of course I’m happy! No, fuck. Why would you even say that?”
I shrugged. It wasn’t like I was a relationship expert. He knew about my inexperience. “Just checking.”
He wiggled in his seat as he turned to fully face me. It was distracting, and difficult to keep my attention on the road, but somehow I managed.
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I’m just all in my head. Of course I’m happy. You make me so happy.” A smile lit up his face as he leaned against the seat and watched me drive.
A new worry wiggled its way into his brain as his smile slowly morphed into a frown, the line deepening between his eyes. When he finally spoke, his voice came out a soft whisper. “You’rehappy, right, Daddy?”
Worry was one thing, but at the sound of distress in my little bird’s voice, I quickly pulled into an empty lot. The building looked long abandoned, so we wouldn’t be disturbed.
My breathing was ragged, as though I were breathing through a sponge or something was obstructing it. The idea that he thought I wasn’t happy was unfathomable. There was worry in his eyes as he glanced around the overgrown lot, biting his lip.
“Daddy?” A low growl ripped from my throat at the tremor in my boy’s voice.
I yanked the seat belt off and flung myself across the console, tugging him against me. My lips crashed against him, his breath caught in his chest in surprise. But it was only a moment before his hands were on the back of my head, clutching into fists in my hair as he held me like he planned to never let go.
Fuck. He better mean it because I was never going to let him go.
Teeth clashed as we kissed in a frenzy, hands roaming over each other’s bodies, mapping each other like we were works of art we were just discovering for the first time.
“You make me the happiest I’ve ever been, sweetheart.” I breathed the words into his mouth, quiet as though afraid that saying them too loud would shatter the perfect moment. That if they were too real, it would all be over. Because it could be over in the snap of a finger if he ever discovered the truth.
But I’d do anything to keep that from happening. To keep him forever. And the thought scared the shit out of me.
“I love you, little bird.” I hadn’t meant to say it, but once the words were out, I couldn’t take them back. Didn’t want to take them back.
He pulled away, eyes wide as he stared at me in wonder. “You… you… you love me?”
For a moment, a swell of panic threatened to rise. Had I pushed too far, too fast? But as I looked into his face, all I saw was the eager and hopeful little bird I’d fallen for, staring backat me. In his eyes, I saw all of my feelings reflected back at me and my heart soared.
“Of course I do,” I whispered as I slid my palm around his head and into his hair. “How could I not? I knew from the first time I saw you, that you were meant to be mine, no matter what.”
Tears threatened to spill as he craned his neck up and captured my lips in a searing kiss that left its claim on my soul. “I love you too, Daddy.”
Pulling back, I smiled at him and cupped his cheek. If I could have, I would have stayed forever in that moment with him. But as nice as my SUV was, it wasn’t made for living in. Plus, I didn’t want to disappoint his family by making him late.
Wow. Look at me. Concerned about impressing the parents.I chuckled at the thought, ignoring the unease that rolled through me. Guilt had no place in my world.
I shimmied back into my seat and smiled at the way Aiden was left all flushed and debauched, before putting the car in gear and pulling back onto the road.
The snow had continued to steadily come down while we had stopped, and there was a thin layer on the street, but it wasn’t anything my new snow tires couldn’t handle. I hoped.
Thankfully, we hadn’t been far from his parents’ house and in less than fifteen minutes, I turned down their street, with plenty of time to spare before it was time to eat.
What I didn’t like, was the way Aiden seemed nervous once again, twisting his fingers in his lap. I didn’t want to say anything, but with the way the snow kept coming down, I almost wished he would tell me to turn the car around and that he wanted us to have a low-key Thanksgiving at his house.
“What’s wrong?”
He let out a nervous chuckle, his eyes never straying from his window. “Nothing gets by you.”
I waited him out. But he didn’t have long, not with hisparents’ house rapidly approaching. But I slowed the car down to give him the time he needed to put his thoughts together and say what he needed to.
“Okay.” He took a deep breath. “So, I might not have actually told my parents that we had broken up.”
