I wish I could help her more or knew more about her situation, but as soon as she’s comfortable, she’ll talk about it. My heart breaks for her as I head back to the office. I close out Penny’s computer and situate her desk.
Tabitha comes over with a dolly and a stack of boxes.
“Where’s Penny?” she asks.
“She had to leave early today,” I say, and Tabitha groans.
“I need her to drop these off at the high school.”
“I didn’t realize Penny did deliveries,” I say, skeptical of Tabitha.
“Sometimes she does. These need to get there before their practice, and I don’t have time,” Tabitha says, and I know I should tell her to go fuck herself. But there’s this nagging voice in the back of my head, the one that always wants people to like me.
“I can do it,” I say, and Tabitha smiles.
“Oh, thank you,” she says and just walks away. The thank you seems so insincere, but whatever. I think I can fit all these boxes in my car.
I walk down to Aiden’s office and knock on the wall. His face is passive at first, but when he sees me, he smiles. “Hey, Jessa.”
“Hi.” I grin like an idiot and forget why I came here for a moment. “Penny wasn’t feeling well so she went home.” His brows furrow, and I continue. “Tabitha needed some boxes dropped off at the high school, and I offered to do it.”
Aiden sighs and scrubs his chin. “You can’t let her manipulate you,” he says, and I sigh in return. Not wanting to get into how I need to be liked in the office, instead I just shrug my shoulders.
“It’s not a big deal, but might just push our dinner a little?”
He shakes his head. “No, I’ll go with you.”
“You sure?”
“Positive,” he says, looking at my exposed legs in this sundress. The look is heated, and all I can think about is how much I want him to always look at me like that. “We’ll leave at four-thirty.”
“Okay, perfect. Thank you.”
He smiles, and I go back to my desk and try to think about anything besides Aiden’s smile or his promises for tonight.
* * *
We take Aiden’s car because his is cleaner, newer, and there’s no concern of it breaking down on the way to the school. He only let me put one box in the car, while he loaded the others, I enjoyed that more than I should.
His windows are down, as well as the sunroof, his dark hair blowing slightly with the breeze. He looks so ridiculously hot in his sunglasses. He wore a dress shirt today that’s rolled up to his elbows and the top two buttons are undone. I swear I think I lose a few brain cells staring at how gorgeous he is.
That’s until he smiles and places his hand on my thigh as he drives. Now I’m completely done for. He gives my thigh a tentative squeeze and for the rest of the ride his thumb rubs my skin and toys with the hem of my dress.
We don’t speak in the car. He plays music instead and it just feels so easy. A part of me is shouting that nothing is ever this easy, but I shut that stupid bitch up. I’m not going to let anything take away an ounce of giddiness I feel when I’m around Aiden.
He rolls up his windows when we get to the baseball field and gives my thigh another squeeze before we both get out of the car. He groans as I pick up a box, but he leaves it alone as we walk them out toward the field. Aiden and a few of the players walk back to his car to get the rest of the boxes as I wait at the dugout.
The coach is young, probably only a few years older than me.
“Can’t thank you enough for dropping those off. We ordered a little too late this year for summer camp.”
I wave a hand at him. “It’s no problem at all, just glad the boys have everything they need.”
“Kemper’s helps make it possible with their donations every year.” He gives me a smile and break eye contact and look at the field. “I’ve never met you before though, are you new?”
“Yes, been here for a little over a month now.”
“That makes sense. I would have remembered you for sure. Tabitha is pretty, but you… you’re—”
