Beautiful Mistakes

"Vixen," he stated, shaking his head, but lightly twining his hand around her waist and pulling her closer, giving her a slightly longer kiss on the lips.

Sighing against his mouth, she said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm so glad we got this first date thing out of the way."

"I'm getting the feeling you're just using me for sex," he said, his tone playfully offended.

Smiling wickedly, she grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him against her, backing up against the wall and asking, "Is that going to be a problem?"

"Not at all," he said, closing the distance between them again. He kissed her longer that time, taking his time to gently kiss every inch of her mouth—even light kisses in the corners, which made her smile—and pushing her gently up against the wall.

Julie's hands worked their way up his sides and around his back, pullin

g him even closer as they continued to kiss right there in the hallway.

"Someone could catch us out here," he murmured against her throat, trailing kisses down her neck.

"I can't say that I care right now."

He trailed his kisses back up her neck, lingering around her ear and nibbling a bit, then finally making his way to her lips and placing a quick kiss on her nose before leaning his forehead against hers and smiling a little.

"We need to go inside," he stated.

"I couldn't agree more," she said, anticipation warming her body.

Hand in hand, they walked inside, and Aaron kicked the door shut behind them, locking the door and going to switch on the light, then hesitating. "Do we really need this?"

"No," she said, taking his hand and leading him back toward the bedroom.

"So, despite your impatience, did you enjoy the date?"

"Once we left the apartment building, very much," she said, pulling him inside the bedroom and peeling off her coat.

"I really am sorry about that," Aaron said, a slight grimace on his face as he peeled the coat off. "I didn't mean to get all… Misery on you."

Smiling as she walked over to him and began unbuttoning his shirt, she said, "If you start reminding me of Kathy Bates, then I'll worry."

"I really want to trust you, and I… have no reason not to."

"I know," she said, trailing light kisses down his neck as she unbuttoned the last of the buttons and pulled the shirt back, easing it down over his muscled arms until she could push it in the floor. "And I understand. When someone wrongs you like that, it makes it harder to trust—especially considering the parallel in our situations. You don't trust me yet, but you will. I know that you will."

"You do?" he murmured, reaching out and unbuttoning her shirt as well.

"Yes. You will have no reason not to."

Goosebumps spread all over as his thumb lightly brushed the skin of her stomach as he undid the last button, pulling her shirt back exactly as she had and pushing it to the floor.

"You're very understanding, has anyone ever told you that?"

Chuckling a little, she said, "Actually, no."

"You are. And beautiful, very beautiful."

Closing her eyes as he trailed his hand down her cheek and along her jaw line, Julie sighed, leaning into him ever so slightly.

"And you have this… innocence about you—I don't understand it, but… you do."

Smiling shyly as she opened her eyes, she said, "I don't think I have that. That's been gone for a little while now."

Shaking his head, he said, "You're wrong."