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“What?”
“Nothing.” She shook her head, but I didn’t miss the pink that tinged her cheeks. I ordered two water bottles, and when I glanced back at her, Gem’s attention was firmly focused on me.Now or never, a voice whispered, and I knew I had to do it.
“Aiden.” “Gem,” we both said at the same time and laughed. She cast her gaze away when the bartender returned with our bottles, and I took care of the tab. I opened one, and when I handed it to her, our fingers brushed and the air around us feltwarmer. Thicker. Like a jolt of electricity flowing through me. I felt more alive than ever.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and despite the loud music and countless gyrating bodies, all I could hear was her.
“Welcome,” I hoarsely answered. “Have you…?” I asked, and she blinked so slowly I wondered if time had stuttered.
“Have I what?” she asked, I leaned in closer, bent my bod, so we were at eye level, and gave her a knowing look.
She was so fucking tiny. Since I had my first growth spurt in middle school, I’d always felt like a damn giant around her. Like a freaking bull in a china shop worried about somehow hurting her. Yet that size difference between us got me hot under the collar.
“What you were asking about earlier…” I let my words hang between us when she turned beet red, and I had to bite away the laughter that I felt bubble up in my throat. She was so damn adorable.
“I was asking about us drinking and?—"
“Gem.” My hand rose and held the side of her face, my thumb grazing her blushing cheek. “Have you ever thought about us?” I finally asked out loud. With the question, I was putting our friendship in jeopardy for the first and only time.
To win big, you had to take big risks.
Gemma and her heart were most definitely worth the gamble.
CHAPTER THREE
gemma
“Have you ever thought about us?”His words clung to the air between us, and I felt like a fish out of water.
Both angel and devil inside of me were jumping for joy, happy dancing their little hearts away. Even the pessimistic side of me stayed quiet, wondering to herself. If he was asking, that could only mean he’d thought about the two of us in more than a friendly way, right?
“Aiden—"
“Answer me,” his voice rumbled, leaving delicious prickles of awareness covering my skin with just how close we were and the way he was touching me.
Like he owned me.
Like I was his.
And I was.
“How much have you drunk?” I found myself asking him and watched his jaw clench tightly. “Aiden.” My hand rose, and he stilled under my touch as I soothed his chin.
“You know what I’ve had to drink,” he clipped.
“Maybe…”
“Have you?” he pressed. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. “It’s an easy yes or no, Gem.”
“And if I say no?” I asked like a lunatic.What the hell are you doing?I scolded myself.
“Then we go back to the dance floor and pretend we never had this conversation. Is that what you want?” I opened and shut my mouth quickly. Not trusting my voice, I shook my head and watched the relief hit his stare. “I need the words, beautiful.”
“What if… what if…” Panic was a bitch. I knew he saw it in my eyes. He helped me off the barstool and started to lead us toward the exit, or so I thought. Instead, he pulled me into an empty dark alcove inside the club. It turned out to be hallway that led God only knew where, because we didn’t explore.
The moment we were deep enough to where it was just the two of us, he stopped. I rested against the wall and suddenly, he was there. His strong, muscular body caged mine. Everything about him enveloped me.
His heat.
