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“More?” Lola asked, but her voice was far away. I was in a land of my own where only Aria and I existed. A world where no one cared she was seventeen, and I was twenty-five. A world where it didn’t matter that she was my student. A world where love trumped everything, and rules and regulations didn’t matter.
“Yeah…more,” I repeated to Lola, and finally looked away from Aria.
Lola’s smile was so big I was sure it was going to break her face. “Are you in love with her, Cade?”
I didn’t answer her. I wasn’t sure what I felt, but there was no way I was going to admit anything to Lola when the woman I couldn’t stop thinking about was sitting at the other end of the table.
“Leave the boy alone, Lola-Girl,” Sal grunted. “He don’t wanna talk about his fluffy feelings ’round a table full of men.”
“Yeah, Mama,” Asher said, his small voice trying to sound deeper than it was. “We men.”
Lola laughed. “I know you are, honey.” Asher puffed his chest out at her words. She leaned toward me and whispered, “I hope I get to meet this girl soon.”
I nodded and stared back at Aria, finding her gaze right away. It was on the tip of my tongue to blurt out she’d already met her, but…I couldn’t. We were keeping secrets from everyone, and all it reminded me about was the secret I was keeping from Aria.
* * *
ARIA
The cookout was different from all the others I’d attended. Usually, I helped Lola and Mom make the food. I’d set the table with Belle and then play with Asher, but today was different. Today Cade was here, and every little look was making me more and more on edge about what would come when the sun set and the darkness took over.
Mom and Sal had left an hour ago to close up the diner. Lola had put Asher and Belle to bed, leaving me in the backyard with Uncle Brody and all his friends.
I’d spoken to all of them, but it was always Ford who I had real conversations with. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was younger than the rest by more than a decade. He’d just turned thirty, which meant he was closer in age to Cade and me than his teammates.
“So, senior year, huh?” Ford asked, not looking at me but at Cade as he helped Uncle Brody clean the grill. “You decided if you’re going to college yet?”
I glanced over his face. His nose was straight apart from a small crook in it. I shrugged. “Probably. Mom said I should try and get a track scholarship but…I don’t know.”
“You run track?” Ford swiveled in his seat, giving me his full attention. His hazel eyes focused on me.
“Yeah.” I tilted my head to the side. “I thought I told you that last time I saw you?”
Ford shook his head. “I would have remembered that.” He shuffled forward on his seat, balancing on the edge. “Cade your coach?”
“I…” I could feel the burning of my cheeks at the mention of his name and what we’d done the last day I’d had practice. The memory of how he’d made me feel was etched into my mind, and I squirmed at the thought of it. “Yeah.” My voice was small, almost a breath, and from the way Ford’s brows rose, he definitely noticed.
His gaze tracked over me. He drank in my face and then moved down to the hands I had clutched in my lap. I felt like I was being interrogated silently. He was taking in every bit of my body language, and I had no idea what conclusion he was coming to.
“Aria?” Cade’s voice broke through our stare-off. “You need a ride home?”
I blinked. “Yes, please.”
Ford stood, the top of his head only a couple of inches shorter than Cade’s. “I’m heading that way, I can give her a ride.”
Cade tilted his head and looked between the two of us, but there was nothing I could say. I wasn’t good in situations like these, especially not surrounded by five alpha-male DEA agents. I was out of my depth, so I stayed silent.
“I got it. I take her home after practice anyway, so I know the way,” Cade told Ford and positioned his body so he was partly in front of me. The move was an obvious one, and I felt like I needed to tell him to stop, but that would make it all the more obvious.
“You do?” Ford asked, but his voice wasn’t light and airy like it had been all night. It was calculating, and he wasn’t only assessing my reaction to Cade now, but Cade’s reaction to me.
“Yeah, I—”
“Aria? What are you still doing here?” Lola asked, and my breath whooshed out of me. The tension was building, but with Lola as a buffer, it would be sure to dissipate—I hoped. “I thought Cade was taking you home?” Lola stood at the edge of the semicircle we’d made, glancing between Cade and Ford.
“I’m gonna take her home,” Ford told her.
Lola snorted. “I don’t think so. You’ve drunk way too many beers.”
