“Have a hot date you need to get to?” I tried not to let the jealousy burning in my chest seep into my words, but it did anyway.
“Yeah, so get moving. You already ruined one date this week. Let’s not make it two.”
“Let’s make it five and then call it even for you making my boyfriend break up with me.”
“You act like I held him at gunpoint until he broke up with you. He got jealous you hang around a man he’s threatened by and couldn’t take it anymore.”
“He got mad about you not respecting boundaries between us,” I snapped.
Aiden leaned forward from his perch on the couch, watching me through the window as his blue eyes narrowed. His muscles seemed to swell more as he leaned on them, the casual but predatory stance like he could pounce at any second. “You want to talk about respecting boundaries? What about your fucking blackmail? Isthatnot crossing a boundary?”
I stiffened, clicking the mouse once to email myself the door logs. “What about you sticking your tongue into my mouth? Isthatnot crossing a boundary?”
His mouth snapped shut before he leaned back with a shake of his head. His face turned cold—a soldier falling back into line and not giving anything away.
Maybe it was wrong to blackmail him, but it was wrong of him to act like I didn’t exist outside of being Rook’s little sister. As if I couldn’t be more than that to him—to anyone.
Anger burned, the warmth flooding my veins at his detached coolness. Could he really feel so indifferent to the kiss?
I had done it in hopes he would suddenly open his eyes and realize how bad he needed me, but instead it seemed to push him further away—the wall he always kept between us only getting stronger.
Before I could actually snap back at him, the lights went out, plunging us into darkness.
“Fuck,” he said. “What did you do?”
“You are blaming me for the electricity going out?” I asked, not hiding my laugh.
“You hack into shit all the time. Who knows if you can go in and shut that off, too?”
“I hack into databases, networks, or websites. I’m not hacking my way into our own breaker boxes.”
“Who fucking knows with you? I would assume you are done now. We are leaving.”
My eyes darted around the dark garage, doing my best not to imagine all the nightmare scenarios my brain wouldn’t let go of.
“That would be a lot easier to do if I could see how to get outof here without falling on my ass,” I said, kicking my foot around to feel for the stack of motorcycle parts near the door.
He huffed, shifting around as he pulled out his phone and clicked on the flashlight, giving me enough light to see how to get out of the office without stumbling.
“You forgot to charge your phone again.” The words a statement more than a question.
“Great observation.” The door to my office shut behind me as I headed toward him and his bike. The garage door was open, letting the cool night air breeze in and making it clear we weren’t the only ones without power.
“Creepy,” I said, adjusting my bag around my shoulders for the ride home. The blackmail seemed to hang in the air between us, but it was also easy to fall into our patterns. We had spent so many days and nights here working together, time on the bike—for fun and for work. I played that Aiden being my shadow was annoying, but it wasn’t, not truly. I only hated him for not giving me more.
A part of me was embarrassed to admit Aiden was my best friend, too. He was the first guy—outside of Rook—who I knew cared about me. Maybe I let myself spiral in pity sometimes, but deep down I knew Aiden cared. I even knew that if I asked him, he would have shut my ex down faster than I could blink at the bar the other night. If I asked, he wouldn’t have let me be embarrassed—especially with his orders from Rook to keep me safe. He had been there for every good and bad thing in my life, and while he could be cold and unshakable, he could also be warm, funny, and caring.
I knew he cared to some extent. I wanted him to care for me not like a little sister, but more as a full-grown woman—a large part of me worried it was too late.
Could you really change someone’s perception of you so much?
Aiden stepped up next to me, getting ready to swing onto the bike first, making the light from his phone flash across his features.
I didn’t know what type of torture this counted as. I spent most of my days with one of the most attractive men I had ever seen, and he didn’t spend a second thinking about me, past being the annoying psycho little sister of his best friend that he had to watch over. He swung onto the bike, and I didn’t hesitate to follow—gripping him first, then settling into my seat behind him. My arms wrapped around him lightly, just enough so I could balance on the small seat.
None of it was new. It was a position we had been in a thousand times in a thousand different places and situations, but now I knew how his lips felt on mine. I knew how demanding and desperate he could be with only a kiss and I wanted to know if that’s how he would be during sex. Would he be demanding and quick to make me come or would it be a drawn-out delightfully painful orgasm? One that I would be a mess on the floor begging for.
My thighs clenched, heat flooding me at the thought. I wanted to know that side of Aiden. The anger burned at knowing another girl would know, but I wouldn’t. It pissed me off more than I thought possible.
