My heart rate picks up. I've thought about this a million times, but I never thought it would happen. Aiden is a player. I've told myself that over and over and over again, making myself believe it. Now it's like I don't want to believe anything else because I know that if anybody could hurt me, it would be him. In the beginning, I knew that he was a player. It's like a big joke between all of the guys how women fall at his feet anywhere he goes. He's a pilot, for fucksake; it’s like he can have any woman he wants. And the way my brother talks about it, he has. I shake my head and step back. “No.”
He repeats, “No? What do you mean, no? I thought...” He stops and shakes his head and tries again. “I hoped...”
I lift my shoulders. “I mean, I thought we were keeping this light. That’s what we always talked about. Friends with benefits.”
His jaw tightens. “Have you been with someone else?”
“Don’t ask me that.”
“Fuck,” he says, low and lethal. “Have. You. Been. With. Someone. Else?” he asks again, enunciating each word.
I should lie to him, save my heart, but I’ve never lied to him before, and I’m not going to start now. “No, you know I haven’t. But I know you're a player, Aiden. Everyone knows you're a player.”
His jaw clenches as if he's mad that I'm even saying what everybody else has already said before. “I'm not, though. Where am I every night? I'm with you. I'm either at your house or you're with me. When do I have time to be a player? I have no interest in that.”
I shrug. “Just because we fuck—"
He interrupts me. “Don't finish that sentence, May, and don't think you can tell me how I feel about you. I know how I feel.”
I laugh out loud then because this is crazy. We’re standing in the hallway of the Whiskey Whistler discussing our business. Half the town will know about it tomorrow. It's either laugh or cry, because he's telling me things that I have only dreamed about him saying. “I'm glad you know because I thought we were just having fun. That's what you do, right? Have fun.”
He grits his teeth and is staring at me like he’s seeing me for the first time. “Well, I want more.”
I pull my hand from his and put both of my hands on my hips. I have to do that to put some distance between us. He’s so much taller than me I have to lift my head to look up at his face, but I want to make sure that I'm looking at him when I say this. “Look, Aiden, right now you want more. But what about next week? This has worked this long because no one knows about it. You can come and go as you please. You can do anything that you want. We don't have a name on it. Now, let's go back out there, and we'll talk about this some other time.”
And before he can sway me, I start to walk away and go back out to the bar. I try to keep my expression clear as I walk back to the table. Thankfully, Colt is in a conversation with someone, and I sit down in the seat that I left earlier. Kinsey is looking at me wide-eyed, and I know she wants to know what’s up. I need to tell her. Dang, I need to tell someone, but I know she's not going to be happy that I've kept this from her for this long. Hopefully she understands, and with any luck she can help me figure out what the heck I'm supposed to do at this point.
3
AIDEN
I stalk back out to my seat and sit down. There's no hiding that I'm pissed and probably way more than I should be. Yeah, that was the way we started. It was just for fun. We agreed on friends with benefits, but she should know that after two years and everything that we've done together that there should be more than this.
And fuck, yeah, I used to be a player, especially when I was in the Army. But I was younger then, and I've settled down now. Obviously, I'm off my game if May had no idea how I was feeling about her. She's the one. I know she's the one.
Colt turns to me when I sit down. “I thought you had to go.”
And even though a part of me is ready to just storm out of here, I know that I'm not leaving May here at a bar. Her brother is protective as fuck, but I'm still not chancing it.
“Nah, my plans fell through,” I tell him.
I can feel May’s eyes on me, but I'm not looking at her. I can’t because I know I won’t be able to resist pulling her into my arms and doing whatever I have to do to make her realize this is the real deal.