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I paced away from her then, running a hand over my hair and the stubble that dotted my jaw. Donna had made it clear to me that she thought I was a good man, but what if she didn’t think I was good enough for her daughter? And Joe? My stomach clenched. He’d have his own feelings about it, I was sure. He called mesonall the time, but that didn’t mean he wanted me dating his daughter.
Aria stepped over to me and touched my forearm. “Don’t worry about my parents. They love you. And Paul loves you, too. As soon as he gets his head out of his butt long enough to remember that he’ll change his tune.”
My eyes found her face again and my heart squeezed painfully in my chest. She was so beautiful. How had I wasted so much time not allowing myself to admit that? Well, I’d admitted it. But acted on it? Nope. And that was the real shame. I’d give anything to go back to that night when we were teenagers and work through my issues back then. Maybe we could have been together all this time.
Stepping back over to my bike, I sat sideways on the seat and let my shoulders droop forward. “I get why you’d want to talk to him, but I’m really not sure if it should be all three of us. And if you do decide to go, I think you should give him some time to cool off first. He was pretty heated earlier.”
Anger flashed in her pretty brown eyes, and she stepped toward me. “He didn’t hit you, did he?”
“No. But he sure looked like he wanted to. And I deserve it.”
She clenched her jaw. “No, you don’t. And I’m glad he didn’t stoop that low. Because if he had, that would have been a bigger betrayal than the one you made. After everything you’ve been through, I’d probably kill him if he’d laid a hand on you.”
I couldn’t help the smile that shot to my lips, even though her words were dripping with darkness. “Oh, look at you. Who’s the overprotective one now?”
She rewarded me with a giggle. “Very funny.”
I hooked a thumb in her belt loop and tugged her to me, wrapping my arms around her as she nestled between my thighs. Touching my forehead to hers, I let out a sigh. “I love you so much I think it might killme. I wish he’d be okay with it.”
Aria touched her lips to mine in the sweetest, most tender way that it made my eyes sting. Then she pulled back and leveled me with an intense stare. “He will be okay with it. Don’t lose hope, Will. It’ll be okay. Just give him some time.”
“Okay.” I sighed and shook my head. “I almost feel like it would have gone better if this were a new thing.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“This. Us. Like, if we’d just developed feelings for each other and were both surprised by it, maybe he would have understood or something. But the fact that I’ve been keeping this secret for so long really bugged him.”
She pursed her lips, placing her hands on my shoulders and giving me a gentle shake. “And just how long have you had these secret feelings, anyway?”
“A while.”
“Come on, Will. Gimme the goods. How long? When did you stop thinking of me as more than Paul’s annoying little sister?”
Stalling, I blew air through my pursed lips. “Shoot, sometimes you still act like Paul’s annoying little sister, Ms. Hoodie Thief.”
She laughed, erasing another chunk of pain in my heart with the happy sound. “What was I supposed to say? Was I supposed to admit that I kept it because I’ve been in love with you for as long as I can remember? I didn’t want you to think I was a freak.”
I grinned. “Yeah, that has stalker vibes all over it.”
She kissed me lightly, a smile stretching her lips as she did. “I know. Now tell me. Do you even remember when things changed for you?”
“Honestly? I’m not sure if there was a specific moment. Ms. Hattie reminded me of that time you were a Girl Scout and you made me buy all those cookies. I remember wishing you weren’t you because all my friends were starting to get their first girlfriends or whatever, and I thought maybe I’d want you to be mine.”
Her jaw dropped. “Will, that’s a long time ago.”
“What? I don’t know, you asked. I think it was the first time I thought I had a crush on you. High school was a pretty big turning point, for sure.”
“Ah, yeah, my cheerleader days.”
“You killed me in that uniform, I swear,” I said on a groan, looking up at the sky.
She rolled her eyes. “It must not have beenthateffective on you, though, since you dated half my squad but barely gave me a second glance.”
Silence overtook us then, and I gulped. This little walk back in time was fun for a minute, but now it just brought up the fact that I hadn’t been honest. And I didn’t like it.
I reached up and cupped her face, forcing her to look at me. “Hey. I’m sorry. The truth is I wasn’t strong enough to act on how I felt. Trust me, I gave you a lot of second glances. It was mostly that being with you felt out of reach. So, I dated other girls instead, but no matter how hard I tried, there was no substitute for you. So now we’re here. It might have taken way too long, but I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
Aria didn’t reply with words, but she leaned in and snuggled close against me. I closed my eyes, concentrating only on the moment, blocking out everything else so I could thoroughly enjoy it. I hadn’t allowed myself to realize how much I wanted this, and now that I had her in my arms, I never wanted to let her go.
