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Well shit. What was he going to do? Yell at me?
I didn’t consider myself a coward. Screw it.
With a hug and a promise that he wouldn’t drive drunk, I took the long way toward the family room. Security was tighter than usual, but I finally made it to my destination to find the family room overflowing with people. Small groups bundled together, faces grim, some forcefully bright, but mostly, it was a bunch of ‘aww shit.’
I wasn’t the only one sort of dreading seeing the person they were there for.
My thing was, I just wasn’t sure if Aiden would even want me around despite giving me a pass. He’d hinted that he wanted me to go to the game, but now that they’d lost… I palmed the peppermint patty I’d stuck in my pocket just in case. The man he used to be would have wanted to be alone, but this Aiden, the one I knew now… well, I wasn’t sure.
On the other hand, if he didn’t want to talk to me, if he would rather be by himself, I would understand. I wouldn’t hold it against him. I wasn’t going to let it hurt my feelings or bother me.
This was a business deal. We were friends.
That sounded about as hollow in my head as it felt in my heart. The season was over. What was he going to do now?
So it was that uncertainty that kept me in the corner by the hallway so I could keep an eye out and catch Aiden before he left.
Not long after I settled into my spot on the far side of the room, and after I’d waved at a few of the women who had been friendly with me in the past, a couple of players started trickling out of the locker room. More minutes passed and more men came out. But none of them were Aiden.
Rubbing my hands over my pants, I started messing with my phone, checking to see nothing really. I just hated standing there by myself. Shuffling from foot to foot, my thumb rubbed at the side of my wedding ring set, the slightly rounded edge of the stone an easy distraction as more guys came out, some of them glancing in my corner, but most of them heading straight toward their loved ones. As the minutes passed, the room emptied out, and I was left trying to decide how long to wait until I called a cab. Ten more minutes maybe? Zac had to be long gone by then, and I definitely wasn’t going to call Diana to come pick me up. According to her last text message two hours ago, she was spending time with her boyfriend. Yuck.
Rubbing my hands on my jeans again, I swallowed and waited. Then I started messing with the zipper of my jacket. Up and down. Up and down.
Ten minutes and still no Aiden. Three-fourths of the room had to have cleared out by that point.
I pulled out my phone and searched for the number to the taxi company. With a sigh, I glanced up just as I was about to hit the call icon on the screen, and spotted the big, dark-haired man coming down the hallway. His face was a cool mask that said, ‘Get out of my fucking way and don’t talk to me.’ The way he held his shoulders and the stern purse of his mouth said the same thing.
Well, shit.
For a second, I thought about keeping my mouth shut and hitting that call button but… I was there, wasn’t I? And I trusted him not to embarrass me.
I thought.
“Aiden?” I called out, a lot softer than I expected, and wanted.
Those dark eyes flicked from the floor to eye level before his even stride faltered and he paused in the hallway. He’d worn a suit to the game that day and the two-piece charcoal gray looked great. It was only the duffel hanging off his shoulder making him look like the Aiden Graves I knew—the one who didn’t feel comfortable in anything other than his favorite ten-year-old hoodie, shorts, and runners. A crease formed between those thick slashes called his eyebrows for only a second, before I could think twice about what I was doing, I waved.
More waving. Help me.
The corner of his mouth twitched, and I knew I’d made a mistake. I shouldn’t have come. I should have left with Zac.
His nostrils flared at the same time he took another step forward, and another, no words coming out of his mouth.
I was so dumb. So damn dumb. What had I done thinking that all those little things he’d been saying and doing actually might have meant something? Just because we’d told each other things that I was sure we hadn’t told anyone else, didn’t mean we were more than friends. You could trust someone and not be their friend… couldn’t you?
At the last second, he stopped in front of me. A foot taller than me, so much wider, Aiden was… he was huge. His presence was overpowering.
His body radiated heat and that wonderful clean scent of his skin; I swallowed as he stood in front of me. The swallow turned into a shaky, uncertain smile. “Hi, big guy. I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to come back or not, but—”
“Stop.” Aiden ducked his face at the same time those massive hands came up. One went to my cheek, the other went to cup the back of my neck. He kissed me.
Aiden kissed me.
His bottom lip went to my top one, his grip reassuring and unyielding as he dragged his mouth to kiss me fully. And I did what any sane person would have done: I let him, and I pressed my lips to his instinctively. Our mouths met in a peck that was followed by a big, guttural sigh fanning over my neck for a moment, his forehead pressing against mine.
Okay. All right.
Okay.
I didn’t know what the hell had just happened, but I wasn’t about to let myself overthink it.
My heart beating, I tipped my mouth up to kiss him the same way he had me, my hand reaching to touch the side of his neck. Dropping back to my heels, his forehead followed mine down. I drew my hand over to knead his thick trapezius muscles, copping a feel for what may or may not be the first and last time I would ever be able to.
