“No kidding.” Dylan shook his head a few times, looking both angry and amazed. “He just left. I get that he was panicking—”
“No excuse.”
“—and that he didn’t want to hurt her—”
“No excuse.”
“—but that’s no excuse,” Dylan said, rolling his eyes.
Aidan offered a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I should have let you finish. But yeah, your brother needed to man up and talk to Claire. He planned on marrying the girl, for f**k’s sake. He owed it to her to tell her what was on his mind instead of dumping her via messenger and running away.”
“I know, but I couldn’t stop him. He pretended he was going to see her, and then he took off and left me holding the bag. And the messed-up thing? I think he made the right call. Not the running away part, but canceling the wedding. He and Claire were all wrong for each other.”
“Regardless, she didn’t deserve that kind of treatment.”
“Of course not.” Dylan’s green eyes darkened with displeasure. “But that doesn’t mean I want to spend the next few days holding her hand and wiping her tears and telling her everything’s gonna be okay.”
“You don’t want to, but you will.”
The SEAL’s eyebrows lifted in challenge. “Oh, I will, huh?”
“Yup. Because unlike your brother, you are not an ass**le. You’re a good guy, and we both know you have a major hero complex. So no matter how much you dislike the woman—who, by the way, is smoking hot, bro—you’re going to be there for her, just like you were this morning.” Crossing his arms, Aidan slanted his head to the side. “Am I wrong?”
After a moment, a defeated sigh rumbled out of Dylan’s chest. “No, you’re not wrong. Claire can stay for as long as she likes.” He faltered. “That is, if it’s okay with you.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? This is your place too. You can invite whoever you want over.”
“But this is much more than me inviting a chick over for an evening of dinner and f**king. She’d be a houseguest. A snooty, bitchy, annoying houseguest.”
“She doesn’t seem that bad.”
“Trust me, she is. She’s a snob.”
Aidan furrowed his brows, slightly perplexed by the note of scorn in Dylan’s voice. He’d known the man for a couple of years, had been living with him for more than a month, and this was the first time he’d heard Dylan speak about someone else with such distaste.
It made absolutely no sense. Dylan loved everyone. And everyone loved him right back. Men, women, children, pets—every living creature that came into contact with Dylan Wade adored him within minutes. Aidan had never met anyone more charming or likable, not to mention genuine, so to hear Mr. Congeniality throw insults Claire’s way was more than a little bewildering.
Dylan must have picked up on the cloud of doubt in the air, because his tone grew defensive. “You don’t know her the way I do. She’s obsessed with money, for one. Every time I’ve seen her she’s taken bitchy cheap shots about how I’m not rolling in the dough, or she’s gone on and on about Chris and his corporate job. Oh, and she has zero respect for my mother.”
Aidan frowned. “What makes you say that?”
“She made some shitty comments last year about how housewife doesn’t count as a real job. We argued about it.”
“I see.”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m just wondering…are you sure your animosity toward her doesn’t stem from the fact that she caught us making out?”
“What? Of course not.”
The look of surprise on Dylan’s face made him laugh. “I’m not judging you, man. I know you don’t want your family to know about us, and Claire knowing makes her somewhat of a…a threat?”
“Trust me, she’s not a threat. And it’s not that I don’t want my family to know,” Dylan said in a tired voice. “I’d just like to figure out what this is before I attempt to explain it to someone else.”
Aidan totally seconded that. He had no idea what “this” was, either. Yeah, Dylan turned him on like nobody’s business, but they were also friends. Best friends. And that’s what troubled him the most. Sex always complicated matters, and the last thing he wanted was to lose Dylan’s friendship. He valued it way too much to give it up.
At the same time, he couldn’t bring himself to give up the sexual nature of their relationship, even when the practical side of him knew they couldn’t have a future. A real one, with the whole happily-ever-after part.
As much as it sucked, they weren’t enough for each other and they both knew it.
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t take advantage of the time they had left.
“I missed you,” he said gruffly, moving away from the dresser.
“I was only gone for a day.” The teasing look gave way to a sheepish smile. “But I missed you too.”
Dylan got to his feet at Aidan’s approach, and a second later, their mouths found each other without hesitation. It was a fleeting kiss, a feather-light brush of their lips—or at least it was before Dylan angled his head and deepened the contact.
The moment that hot, wet tongue slid into Aidan’s mouth, he was a goner. No stopping this kiss, no controlling the way his dick turned to granite and tried to poke right out of his sweats.