“No,” I answer defiantly, setting my jaw.
He hums again. “Noted.”
I glare, but he only smiles wider. I finally give up with a laugh and shake my head. “Earlier, you said it was my fault.”
“It was.”
I scoff, but Sadie calls over, and we both glance in her direction. “Are you two okay with a forehead kiss?” She doesn’t take her eye from the viewfinder, watching us through the camera. Aaron nods in my peripherals, then glances at me in question. He waits for my nod before we face each other again.
The back of my head falls against the brick, and I follow Aaron’s fingers as they brush a few stray hairs into place. He patiently adjusts my bandana before his hand drops, and he hesitates before resting it where my belt cinches my middle. It wraps around my waist while his thumb finds the very top of my hipbone. He leans closer and presses his lips against my forehead.
Woody, spicy cologne surrounds me as I take a deep breath. My nose is only inches from his throat, and I watch his pulse thump beneath his skin.
“You aren’t lying?” I ask, and I feel his smile curve against my skin.
“No.”
“I didn’t have a stop sign.”
“Yeah, you did,” he insists, but instead of explaining further, he presses his lips back to my forehead. It doesn’t feel like it’s for the camera, though.
This doesn’t feel like it’s for show.
If that’s all it was, he wouldn’t be flexing his lips in tiny kisses or rubbing my hip with his thumb. He wouldn’t be squeezing my waist or dragging his nose across my hairline in a way that makes me shiver.
This feels like he’s forgotten we aren’t alone, and I’m beginning to wish we were.
“How do you know?” I argue weakly, and he huffs another of those quiet laughs. He breaks the script then, moving his mouth to my temple, then lower. He creates a whisper-soft trail of barely there kisses before he murmurs in my ear.
“I don’t live far from there.”
The mundane words shouldn’t pull such a reaction from my body, but it’s determined to betray me. I draw a heavy breath as my fingers curl around his suspenders.
A quiet chuckle leaves him as his lips brush my ear. “You were in the wrong, but once you got out of that car, I considered taking one for the team and running into you anyway.”
“Why?”
He pulls back and puts us eye to eye as his gaze drops to my mouth. “So I’d have an excuse to talk to you. It would’ve given me a reason to get your number.”
“I would have been so pissed.” I say, lifting my brow.
His grin is magnificent. “Yeah, you would’ve been.”
“I wouldn’t have given you my number.”
“Yeah, Devon. You would have.”
“Cocky,” I say.
“Confident,” he retorts. Two fingers tap the bottom of my chin, and as I lift it obediently, he huffs another of those breathy laughs.
“Confident,” he repeats.
I purse my lips to smother my grin. “And if I said you shouldn’t be?” I ask, trying to appear unaffected, but my lips part in a heavy inhale as he inches closer.
“Then I’d call you a liar.”
Sadie shuffles around as her camera clicks through shots. Quiet commentary about our chemistry floats in our direction, but Aaron doesn’t pull his eyes from mine for a long moment. He tips my chin up once more before he pushes off the wall. The heat of his body disappears, but he reaches to steady me as I find my balance.
