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“Let me show you just how much I love you,” he said, his voice deeper now as he picked me up and walked into the bedroom. He was gentle, caring, loving.
This wouldn’t be the frantic kind of night where we needed to touch each other as much as we could. No, this would be the kind of night I’d never forget.
He laid me down on the bed, coming down on top of me, and whispered, “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
I’d never tire of saying those words, not to him.
* * *
CADE
Aria’s hand was firmly encased in mine the whole drive from her Tuesday session with Dr. Bay, right up to the point I pulled into Dad’s driveway. Since I’d told her three days ago how I really felt, I never wanted to stop touching her. I wanted to hear her voice every second of every day, but now that she was staying with Dad and Lola for the next two weeks, it would be harder than ever before.
At least when Jan and Sal were here, they worked so much, they didn’t think twice about looking for Aria in her bed. Either that or Aria could get away with messaging her mom and telling her she was staying at Hope’s.
We couldn’t do that now, though. Lola and Dad were big on family, which meant she had to be home each evening for dinner. But today was Tuesday, and I wasn’t sure if she’d told them where she was going and that she’d be late.
“Ready?” I asked Aria and turned to face her. She was biting down on her bottom lip, her gaze connected with mine.
“Yeah.” She puffed out a breath and moved her hand from mine. I hated not being able to touch her with people around. I wanted to tell my dad and Lola so we wouldn’t have to hide it from them over the next couple of weeks, but we’d discussed it at length and decided to tell everyone all at once, which meant we had to wait.
“I’m ready.”
We both pushed out of the car, and we hadn’t even made it to the front door before we heard Belle shouting, “Aria is here with Cade!” I closed my eyes and puffed out a breath. You couldn’t get anything past Belle, not with her nosy nature. She flung the front door open and planted
her hands on her hips. “You’re in trouble.”
I wasn’t sure who she was talking to, but when I looked at her, I saw her attention was focused solely on Aria.
“Me?” Aria asked. “Why am I in trouble?”
“Because you’re late for dinner. And I’m so hungry.” Belle moaned and placed her hand on her stomach. “I’m starving to death here, Aria!”
“You’re so dramatic.” I darted toward Belle and wrapped my arms around her, flinging her in the air. “You’d never starve, not with the amount of food you eat.”
Belle gasped in my arms, and I heard the front door close as I entered the living room. “Are you calling me fat?”
“What?” I shook my head and let Belle down. “No. That’s not what I said.”
“Uh-huh, you did. You said I eat all the food. That’s mean, Cade.” I opened my mouth to tell her that wasn’t what I meant, but she ran into the kitchen shouting, “Dad, Cade called me fat!”
“No, I didn’t!” I followed her, feeling like a ten-year-old kid who was denying what his little sister said and not the twenty-five-year-old I was. Dad’s brows flew high on his head as Belle looked up at him. “I didn’t say you’re fat, PB. I said you can’t starve because you eat loads of food.”
“See?” She pointed at me. “He just called me fat!”
“I didn’t—”
“Belle Easton, sit your butt at this table right now,” Lola demanded, her lips in a straight line. Well, shit, Lola really wasn’t happy. Maybe Aria was in trouble after all.
“Ugh. Fine.” Belle stomped over to the table and sat next to Asher, and it was only then I noticed Aria lingering in the doorway, gnawing on her bottom lip.
“Aria?” I asked, trying to gain her attention, but she was too focused on Lola.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” Aria whispered. “I…erm…I have a standing appointment on Tuesdays and forgot to tell you about it.”
“No worries, baby girl,” Dad said, moving over to the table.
