“You’re not a burden. But being close to you when I also have to keep my distance is the hardest thing I’ve ever done—and I failed.”
He took a step toward me, and I backed up until my hip hit the warm metal of the bike. The rain hammered the roof, a dull roar, and the warehouse suddenly felt too small for both of us.
His thumb brushed lightly across my cheek where Anderson’s elbow had hit me, gentle and careful. I froze, a strange warmth threading through the tension in my chest.
“You’re a fucking distraction, Evie,” he said, voice low but sharp.
“And you’re a coward, who might actually just hate me,” I snapped, hating the way my emotions seeped into every word. It was almost a cry, my voice threatening to break.
I didn’t want Aiden to hate me. I didn’t want distance or a fight.
I wanted him, and I wasn’t sure if I could keep being so close to him without getting what I wanted. It’s like my heart was ready to explode with every second I spent with him.
The pain turned to anger and I let it simmer like I always did—ready to strike.
“I don’t hate you, Evie, not even close.”
“Really? All you ever do is complain about being my bodyguard. You look for any chance to get a break.”
He stepped closer, the heat rolling off him. My body threatenedto give in, but I tried to fight it. “I always need a break, not from protecting you, but fromwatchingyou. Watching you flirt with other guys. Watching you move and not being able to touch you how I want. Watching every fucking thing you do and forgetting that anything else in the world exists. Yes, I need a break from you, but not for the reasons you think.”
My breath hitched, wondering if he was really saying what I thought he was saying.
“You’re not a fucking burden. I’m just always looking for any chance I have to put any sort of space between us so I don’t lose my damn mind wanting you.” He walked around the bike, and I wondered if putting the space between us was habit now. “That’s the only burden I have when it comes to you, and it always will be because it doesn’t actually do anything.”
“Aiden, I—”
“No.No.I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear your shit about the blackmail or the saving you or how this was just for fun for you. I want to stand here, quietly, until the rain lets up enough to leave.”
My hips dug into the gas tank as I leaned over toward him, my heart racing. Was Aiden really standing right in front of me, telling me he wanted me?
“You never said anything. I thought I was only a pain in your ass.”
“Well, I never said you weren’t.” He grinned. “But it’s not like I could clarify why.”
“Ass,” I said, my face inches from his, gravity pulling me in like I had no choice. He looked tired now, the anger long gone and replaced with an Aiden who looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks. “It was you in the woods on Hero’s birthday?”
His head dropped the slightest amount. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“I wanted a night to be like you,” he said, softer now. His hand reached for my chin. His fingers trailed up my jaw and back down, the soft caress making me lean into it. My heart squeezed, the confession somehow sweet. “Carefree, rules don’t matter, and doing exactly what I wanted.”
“And how was it?”
He grinned. “Fucking amazing. Nearly killed me the next day, but I’ve wanted to repeat that night a thousand more times.”
“And when we went to the cemetery, why didn’t you do anything after what you did there?”
“Technically, I did.” He grinned. “My bike paid the price, but there was more.”
We both glanced at the CBR before laughter slipped out.
The sound faded, but his grin didn’t. It lingered—arrogant, devastating—the kind of grin that made it hard to breathe. His eyes dipped to my mouth, and my pulse betrayed me, hammering like it wanted him closer. I wanted him to lose control first.
“Aiden,” I breathed, heat curling in my chest, “if you don’t follow that up by breaking every rule you’ve ever had and kissing me”—I tilted closer, my voice dropping into a dare—“I swear to everything in our life, I will ruin you.”
I was so close to everything I wanted—to the one man who made me feel everything, who knew my chaos and never flinched. He was the calm voice to my raging scream.
