It took me over a year, the love and support of my friends and the McIntyres, and one hell of a therapist to realize all the excuses I made for why Aria was better off without me were utter bullshit.
Aria’s hushed voice floats in the air like wisps of smoke. “Why did you do that? Stupid, stupid,” she quietly mutters to herself. “He just wanted to kiss you good night, and you freaked out.”
She kicks the rail post of the deck, then curses and bends to grab her foot.
My chest feels like someone reached in and gripped my heart in a stranglehold. Some guy tried to kiss her? Tonight? If she was dating anyone, wouldn’t Carter or Christy have told me? Dearborne is a small town that thrives on small-town gossip. If Aria was seeing someone, they should’ve heard about it.
She folds like an accordion to sit down on the deck, still muttering curses while briskly rubbing her foot. I can’t take the thought of her hurting.
You hurt her, jackass.
As if she senses she’s not alone, her head very slowly swivels from side to side, carefully scanning her surroundings. Slowly, she turns and looks in my direction.
“Jesus Chr—”
Like a cat getting sprayed with the jet from a water hose, Aria startles and topples backward onto her elbows with a loud yelp that causes a nearby neighbor’s dog to start barking.
With a hand clutching her heaving chest, she clambers back into an upright position and quietly apologizes. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know anyone else was out here.”
At hearing her soft, husky voice after over a year, my heart jackhammers wildly and tries to punch itself out of my chest. I thought I was prepared for seeing her again. I’d practiced the words I would say over and over until I had them memorized and could recite them in my sleep. Funny how I can’t remember not one of them now.
Not wanting to frighten her further, I keep my voice muffled and low. “No problem. I’m sorry I scared you.”
I hear her small gasp at the sound of my voice, her head canting to the side with a flicker of recognition. I push my back against the wall of the house, hoping the pitch-black night keeps me disguised. Her green-eyed stare is unnerving as she tries to make out who I am.
“Do I know—” She abruptly cuts herself off with a shake of the head. “You must be the new neighbor,” she says instead and thumbs over her shoulder at her house. “This is me.”
I remain quiet. I have no clue what to say to her right now anyway. My tongue has turned to cement in my mouth.
Her hand drops to her lap. “Uh, yeah. Um… I’m Aria. If you noticed a guy pushing a lawnmower today, that’s my brother, Brandon.”
I’d never met Brandon, but Aria often spoke of him, so in a way, it feels like I already know him.
“We didn’t want to bother you on moving day and were going to drop by tomorrow to say hi and introduce ourselves, but I guess I can do that now. So, hi. I’m Aria, but I already told you that.” Even in the dark, her smile is blindingly beautiful.
I miss you.
Throat tight, I’m able to get out a lame, “Hi.”
“Hi,” she says again shyly, causing a warmth to spread through me.
Slowly pushing up with her arms to stand, she brushes off the backs of her form-fitting jeans. My gaze traces the outline of her curves as phantom memories of her writhing beneath me in bed overwhelm my senses. The sweet taste of her kisses. How her hair smelled like vanilla. The breathy way she would sigh my name when we made love. The sprinkle of freckles dotting her pale skin that I would connect with brushstrokes of my fingertip. How many countless hours would my hands and mouth spend exploring the wonderland that was Aria’s naked body?
Aria fidgets, looks down at her feet, and exhales a gust of breath. With an embarrassed, self-deprecating chuckle, she says, “I guess you heard everything I said when I came outside.”
“Pretty much,” I reply truthfully.
I can tell she’s nibbling on her bottom lip by the dip of her chin. It was a nervous tic of hers.
“So embarrassing,” she mutters, then, “I promise I don’t go around talking to myself. Okay, that’s not entirely true. I tend to do it when I’ve got a lot on my mind and need an outlet for my thoughts… and I don’t know why I’m telling a stranger this.”
I can’t stop the amused grin from forming. During the time we were together, she had a habit of mumbling her internal thoughts out loud and not realizing it. It was cute as hell.
“‘There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t met yet.’William—”
There’s a sharp inhalation of surprise. “Yeats. He’s my favorite poet.” Her head cants to the side again, and I can literally hear her brain processing things. “It’s so weird.”
She twists her long hair around her fist and drapes it over her left shoulder. The innocent sensuality of it has my jeans tightening uncomfortably behind my zipper. Aria was… still is the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on. A mass ofsilky black hair framing a heart-shaped face and a pink Cupid’s bow mouth. However, it was her eyes that I noticed first; the clover green so vibrant and clear from a distance, but up close you could see the gold streaks that swirled in her irises like a kaleidoscope.
