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“Have you ever tried?” she asks, her tone sharp. “I’ve told you before. If we’re going to keep doing this – if we’re going to stay on the run – then you have to start trusting me.”
She’s right, and I know that. I don’t think that we’re going to be able to stay on the run if I don’t start trusting her.
“That’s what I thought,” Aria says with a shake of her head. She gestures between us. “How the hell are we going to co-parent a child if you can’t even talk to me about what’s threatening our child?”
“Let’s talk about it now.”
She turns her back to me, grabs the cream, and pours it into the pan with the pork. I watch her work, noticing her tense shoulders.
“We are at very different points in our life,” I say, remembering what Damien told me. She might be the one to poke and prod to get a hard conversation going, but she isn’t going to be the one to lay it all on the line first.
“No shit. Although, right now, we are both hiding in a cabin from the seventies in the middle of the woods. You think Damien would have updated this place every now and then after he bought it.”
“We are at very different points in our life. And I know that I don’t seem excited to have a baby, but I am. Even with those different points in our lives.”
“And here we go with the age difference being a problem again.” She turns back to face me, throwing her hands up in the air. “I don’t know why this keeps being a problem with you.”
“It is a problem, Aria, but not in the way you’re thinking. I have no problem sleeping with a younger woman as proven by exhibit A.” I gesture to her stomach.
“Funny.”
“The problem is that one day you’re going to wake up and realize that you missed out on your twenties because you were too busy chasing after an emotionally unavailable older man.”
“So, now you’re a therapist? Or a fortune teller. I’m getting both of those vibes from that load of bullshit you just tried to feed me.”
“Look,” I say, grabbing her hips and pulling her flush against my body. “I don’t want you to wake up one day and regret wasting your time on me.”
She sighs and reaches up to cup my jaw, her thumb drifting over my cheek. “I don’t think I’mwastingmy time with you.”
“Aria, if you don’t think you’re wasting time with me, you’re not paying enough attention.”
She shrugs and weaves her way out of my arms, turning back to the stove to finish making dinner.
As she stirs the sauce, she looks over her shoulder at me. “I’m not wasting my time.”
“One of these days, I’ll prove you wrong.”
“Fucking try me, Tyson,” she says, affection in her voice.
While I stand there in the kitchen with her, I can see forever unfolding in front of me, and fuck if I don’t wish I could have it.
21
ARIA
The water is hot as it cascades down my back the next morning. The words Tyson said to me in the kitchen keep playing through my mind. I don’t know what to think about where we go from here but we finally settled on taking everything one day at a time.
Even though we’ve only been at the safe house for a few hours, my stomach is already churning. I don’t feel safe here. Even though Damien says my father doesn’t know that the house exists, I don’t want to stay in any place too long.
“You look like you’re thinking hard,” Tyson says as he opens the glass door to the shower.
Thank you, Damien, for renovating the bathroom and putting in a shower big enough for two.
My gaze travels down his naked body, taking in every inch of tattooed and toned muscle. I grin as he steps inside with me.
“I’m always thinking hard.”
I back up, giving him more room as he stands beneath the spray. Tyson reaches behind me and turns on the other showerhead. He laughs as I squeal, cold water hitting my back.
