Aidan obviously isn’t hurt as he stands next to the mangled front end of his Porsche, but I have no idea what to expect when he finally speaks. His hands rake through his thick brown hair as he surveys the damage, grumbling profanities.
Maybe I should speak first, but he did make me wait three long weeks. Three weeks that turned me into a woman distraught enough to back out of a driveway without looking because I was too busy talking to myself. He finally came for me and in a moment of crazy, I crashed into his car, which if it didn’t so utterly define our relationship, I’d be horrified about.
As the sexy smirk I’ve come to adore crawls up the corner of his mouth, I don’t care what he says, as long as it’s not good-bye.
“I’m so sorry,” I say, half laughing.
“That pissed at me, huh?”
His playful teasing gives nothing away because Aidan often uses humor to distract from things that make him uncomfortable. Like when he may need to tell a mentally unstable woman to take a hint and get lost. No matter what he’s here to say, I’ll keep myself together and be strong.
“I didn’t exactly expect someone to be parked in front of my driveway.”
“Really?” In the two seconds it takes him to close the gap between us, his expression transforms from humorous to dead serious. It takes everything in me to hold my ground and maintain his gaze, knowing there’s a chance he’s going to rip my heart out all over again. “Because I thought you were expecting me.”
Actually I was begging and praying and groveling with every force in the universe for him to come, but . . . I wouldn’t say I expected him.
“Yeah, well you’re late.”
“Better late than never.”
The little shit knows I’m not mad, but I still want to make him work a little harder to win me over. Like three weeks of genuine hell crammed into the next five minutes. But who am I kidding? Waiting five more minutes is only bound to drive me further insane. Maybe even land me in the nuthouse. “I guess that depends on why you’re here.”
When his hand reaches up and caresses my cheek, I know he was worth every minute, every tear, and every restless night of sleep. And that I’d probably wait a lifetime for him.
I hold his hand close to my cheek, closing my eyes as he says, “I’m here to take a risk.”
“Better late than never,” Peyton mocks me before she lifts up on her tiptoes and plants a quick peck on my lips.
It’s not a proper kiss for a reunion of this magnitude. And I make sure she knows it, by grabbing both sides of her face and holding tight as I bring her lips back to mine and kiss her long and deep until she’s panting for air. I take my time tasting her and relishing in the sensations rippling through my body as I finally give in to my feelings.
Expressing how I feel with words would never convey my feelings for Peyton. All I can do is show her I’m ready to try by continuing to kiss her, while I massage her neck and back as if I can somehow force how I feel through her skin and into her heart. She attempts to pull away, but I hold her tight, not wanting the moment to end. Not wanting to look into her eyes and see how much I’ve hurt her.
Her hands press flat against my chest, pushing until she finally breaks the kiss. “I had to come up for air,” she says, laughing.
When I do look into her eyes, I don’t see a woman hurt and angry. I see something I’ve never seen before, not with Tori or Maria. Something unconditional; love and happiness and devotion, and all the things I don’t deserve from a woman I’ve toyed with. I’m just selfish enough to take what she wants to
give me because I want to feel straight again. It’s wrong . . . because I’m not sure I can ever love her the way she loves me.
“You should’ve left.”
Her head shakes frantically as her smile contorts to a gut-wrenching frown. “No . . . that last five minutes was all that was left in the time you needed.”
“I’m here because I’m selfish, Peyton, not because I love you.”
Her cheeks flame red as she recoils back. “Don’t . . . don’t revert to asshole status because you’re scared. You’re here because you want to love me or you’d never have come.”
“But I don’t know if I can.”
“I do . . . Okay?”
There’s no way to stop myself from smiling. “Okay.” I nod as her satisfied smile nearly knocks me off my feet before she kisses me again. I break away, glancing around. “We should go inside because all I want to do is rip your clothes off and give the minivan-driving, soccer moms in your neighborhood something to gossip about.”
She smiles and then I follow her up the driveway and into her place. The inside is completely empty, reminding me how close I came to losing her. I shake with nerves, considering I may lose her anyway when I tell her how I really feel. When she knows what happened to Maria may have completely ruined me.
“I don’t want you to go,” I say with hesitancy. It should have been the first thing I said when I saw her, but instead I acted like a dick.
Her eyebrow lifts as she sends me a flirty grin. “Okay.”