The tiny smile that came over that beautiful mouth made the lines at the corners of his eyes crinkle, and for one moment, I couldn’t believe his crap about how he claimed he wasn’t in the business of smiling. I couldn’t see it. He seemed so good-natured and thoughtful and warm, I couldn’t see him for anything else but the man who went out of his way to make mecomfortable.
He didn’t say a word as he tugged me toward a white door in the center of the carport area below the house, opening it with the hand he’d been using to drag my bag behind us. Aaron didn’t let go of my hand as he led me into a mudroom and then reached back to drag my suitcase in and close the door behind us. He kept right on holding it while we walked up a flight of tiled white stairs that weren’t really wide enough for two adults and a suitcase, but we made it work somehow as anxiety at meeting people who had been in Aaron’s life for decades filled my thoughts and stomach even more than theyalreadyhad.
He smiled at me lightly on the next landing when he dropped my bag off besides the stairs with a “Your room’s on this floor. I’ll show it to you after we find everyone.” Then we were back going up the stairs, and it was subconscious when I squeezed the fingers still entwined with his, this man I’d barely just seen for the first time threehoursago.
Aaron didn’t let go when we made it to the third floor, which opened into a huge living area painted in a bright blue with sea-themed frames and knickknacks highlighting white furniture. It was the sound of voices talking over each other that had me glancing to a big kitchen tucked to the right, further into the wide-open layout. I sensed Aaron perk up, his spine straightening, and something about him in general just changing. There were two men and two girls standing around the white kitchen island,arguing.
One of the men, the tallest of the two, who might have been stunning if I hadn’t seen Aaron first, happened to glance up just as he finished saying, “I don’t want pizza either, but it’s the only thing open,” and spotted us. A grin immediately crept across his sharp face. I almost paused, but when Aaron kept walking, sodidI.
“Where have you been?” the man asked, almost immediately, looking back and forth between Aaron and me, not being very shy or sneakyaboutit.
My friend, who had been nothing but soft spoken with me, tightened his hold on my palm. “We stopped to eat. Itextedyou.”
The handsome stranger opened his mouth for a moment before slamming it closed. He reached into his front pocket and pulled out a cell phone, then frowned down at it in the time it took us to stop a few feet shy of the island, where the rest of Aaron’s friends were doing the same thing I would have done. Looking at the odd personout.Me.
“I had it on silent,” the man admitted with alaugh.
If Aaron screwed up his mouth into a smirk, I wasn’t positive. What I was positive of was how hard he smacked his friend on the shoulder. “Told you. You barelywokeup?”
The second man, with light brown skin and bright green eyes, nodded as he gazed directly at the hand I was clutching, his eyes seeming to sharpen and narrow enough so that I started loosening the grip I had on Aaron’s hand. He held my hand tighter. “Not all of us can run on three hours of sleep like it’s no big deal,” the green-eyed man commented, still watching that spot between Aaronandme.
My friend made a dismissive noise in his throat as his hand slipped out of mine all of a sudden, and before I had a chance to snatch for it again, he moved it… and settled his palm on my lower back. The next thing I knew, he was leading me forward as he shifted to the side, giving me room to stand beside him directly in front of the island. I hadn’t even realized I was standing partiallybehindhim.
“This is Ruby. Ruby,thisis…”
I didn’t mean to zone out as he pointed from one man to another and then moved on to the two girls, but I did. One of them was a younger girl in a cast, and the other was older than me. They were both smiling genuinely… at least I hoped it was genuine. All I could do was freeze there and breathe as I stood and listened to one name after another, going in one ear and out theother.
I think I blinked and I might have smiled, but my heart started beating so fast, fast, fast again, there was no way I couldbesure.
What had to be Aaron’s palm rubbed at my lower back and swept up my lower spine to the middle of it, landing right by where my bra strap lay. That big hand had outstretched fingers spanning what felt like most of my back, and I swear I heard him whisper, “It’sfine.”
And from one moment to the next, the hand on my back disappeared, and I sensed it move further up my spine before moving to cup my shoulder and gradually ease me in closer to his side. More than a little distracted and only slightly aware of what was happening, I reached out to shake each person’s hand across the island, trying to rack my brain for their names and who was who but failing miserably. One of the fingers on my shoulder rubbed a circlethere.
“We’re going downstairs. Neither one of us got any sleep. See you in the morning,” Aaron told them, the hand on the back of my neck sliding down to palm my lower backoncemore.
The guy with the darker skin and light eyes was still glancing back and forth between us as he said, “We need to go grocery shopping, but the store closed ateight.”
“We’ll go in the morning then. You good with goingatten?”
The tall, good-looking man almost blanched. “Ten? In themorning?”
The fingertips on my back did a little tap. “Nobody told youtonap.”
The tall guy and the one with the green eyes made a noise that had Aaron making a noise in histhroat.
“Go by yourselves then. I’m going at ten. I’ll see you in the morning,” Aaron said as he took astepback.
Nerves started to clog my throat, but I managed to mutter out a, “It was nice meeting you all. See you in themorning.”
The four of them waved at me, two more nicely than the other two. With another bye, I followed after Aaron as we headed toward the stairs we’d just come up. He stopped to scoop up four bottles of water from a pack on the floor I hadn’t seen on the way up when I’d been too busy looking around ateverything.
Neither one of us said much as we headed down and turned off onto the second floor where he’d left my suitcase. He stopped almost immediately and frowned down at me. “You don’t have to go bed if you don’t want to. I just figured you were tired.” He paused. “We can stay up ifyouwant.”
Was I tired? Yes. It was only eight, and it wasn’t even pitch-black outside, but for the first time since I was younger than ten, I was more than ready to pass out before midnight. Plus… “I can go to bed.” Then I thought about it. “Unless you don’twantto.”
Aaron flashed me a lazy smile. “I’mtired.”
I nodded at him and let out a breath that was supposed to be calming but really felt more embarrassed. “Will you tell me everyone’s name again tomorrow?” Iwhispered.
