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“Do you know what she’s talking about?”
“Hope—”
“You do, don’t you, Aden? You know what the woman was talking about?”
“Hope, I—”
“You rented a billboard, didn’t you?”
He looks like he’s about to deny it and then with a sigh, answers. “Yeah, I went into town two days ago and had it done. Paid extra to have it ready by the weekend, because there’s a big—”
“Antique sale,” I finish for him.
“Yeah. I figured that might get us some customers,” he answers as if what he did wasn’t huge… monumental. Seriously, why does he have to be…nice?
“How? We didn’t have the money and the bank refused to extend me any more credit. How did you do this?”
“I had a ring I found in my stuff in the hotel. It wasn’t doing us any good lying in a box,” he shrugs.
“You sold your ring, to boost our motel for the week?” I ask, not understanding how he could be so selfless.
“Well, no.” he answers, and I blink. “It was a really nice ring, babe.”
“So for the month? Half a year?” I ask, feeling guilty, but almost hopeful too. If we can manage to book like this a little longer I can pay him back with interest.
“A year.”
“You rented a billboard for a year?” I ask completely in shock.
“No. I rented two billboards for a year,” he answers.
Tonight was the night I was talking with Aden and confessing everything. I had pulled pictures from the internet, I had listed out the facts and how this started as an accident that just snowballed. I was scared—to death. I knew that White wasn’t wrong. I was running out of time. I was also pretty sure I was falling in love with Aden and that was something that was bad—really bad—because there was no scenario in which this was going to work out with a happily ever after.
Aden was going to hate me—maybe worse.
And because I knew that was going to happen, and because I knew it was right around the corner, I selfishly wanted as much time as I could with Aden. I needed as much time with him as I could have. I had to have something to see me through the lost and lonely nights without him.
Now…with everything he had done to save this motel and the pains that he took to surprise me with it—or maybe not even tell me at all—I found I was an even more horrible and selfish person than I was before.
Because I wanted one more night with Aden. One more night to hold him, to love him, and to say goodbye to him.
That’s the only excuse I have. It’s not much, but it’s—for once—completely truthful.
“Hope?” he asks as I walk around him, go to the door and lock it. I turn around to face him and then I jump off the edge of the cliff.
“Aden, take me to bed.”
forty-six
aden
“Hope, you don’t have to do this, not out of gratitude. Not like this. We have time, honey. We’ll find our way back to each other,” I tell her. I should get a damn medal. I want her so bad, I ache. But, I also want her whole heart, and not gratitude, when I take her. That’s not what me doing this for the business was about. I did that because I wanted to prove that she could trust me, that despite our past, I will never let her down again.
“It’s not gratitude that I’m feeling right now, Aden,” she murmurs, walking toward me and only stopping when she gets right in front of me.
“What are you feeling?” I ask and it feels like, for a moment, my heart stops mid-beat.
“Wet,” she whispers softly, reaching up to kiss the side of my neck. Her lips touch the warm skin, and then I feel her tongue dart out to lick against my Adams apple.
Her hands move down to my belt and she starts undoing it, all while nibbling on my neck.
“Hope, are you sure?” I ask, choking on the need to take control.
“I need this, Aden,” she whispers.
That’s it. Three words. Three words that push me over the edge and there’s no going back even if I could.
“Finish undressing me,” I order her.
“You’re bossy,” she murmurs, but she moves her hand down, releasing the button on my jeans and then the zipper.
“Babe,” I answer, shaking my head.
“What?” She asks, pushing my pants down over my hips. I didn’t bother wearing boxers today. Truthfully, Hope and I have been playing so much my damn balls have gone past blue. They’re so fucking sore, I can’t stand anything to touch them. I might have come a few times, but the pain of not being able to plunge inside of her is driving me insane.
“You like it when I’m bossy,” I grumble.
She drops down on her knees, looks up at me with her eyes looking a little bit dirty and with a mix of innocence—all at the same time.
