My heart drops into my stomach, waiting to see where he’s going with this.
“Because right now, when I saw you staring at my mouth—” Aiden begins before I cut him off.
“I—I’m sor—” I don’t get much out before Aiden interrupts me in return.
“No, don’t be sorry. Because I was staring at yours, too. And wondering what it would be like to kiss you.”
Now my heart thunders against my rib cage. A gasp escapes my lips.
Aiden rakes a hand through his hair. “I know that’s a line we can’t cross,” he says, his fingers pushing his hair back repeatedly. “So it was stupid on my part to invite you to come hang out. A mistake.”
His words hit me hard. I bite my lip. I hate hearing that, but I know he’s speaking the truth.
It hurts. More than it should for someone I barely know.
“Do … do you want me to go?” I ask in a near whisper.
“No.”
I gulp. He takes a breath of air and exhales loudly. “I’m going to lay this out here, Scarlett, and I want you to be sure.”
I swallow nervously, grateful that the barrier of the breakfast bar is between the two of us right now because I really want to touch him.
“I know there are two choices. We can be friends. Friends who see each other, but never cross that line. Or we decide it’s for the best that we never see each other outside of team stuff.”
I know which decision is the right one.
And it’s the one I continually reject whenever I think of Aiden.
“I don’t like either of those options,” he says.
I blink. “But there’s nothing else we can do.”
“Yes, there is.” Aiden moves around from his side of the counter. I begin to tremble as he stops mere inches from me. Iache to reach out and touch him, but I keep my hands clamped at my sides so I don’t.
I look down at his hands, and one of them flexes, his fingers closing into a tight grip. Goose bumps sweep over my skin as I realize he wants to touch me, too.
Aiden unfurls his hand, letting it fall by his side. Then I see his Adam’s apple move as he swallows hard. It seems like an eternity passes before he speaks, and the air between us is sparking with electricity.
All I’m aware of is him. Of how tall and athletic his body is, how Aiden’s chest is rising and falling rapidly, how his scent is practically my own, he’s standing so close to me.
“Scarlett, what if we just say screw it? Screw the rules and expectations and everything else. What if we say screw it and do what we want?” Aiden says, his voice rough, his eyes desperately searching mine. “And what if you let me kiss you?”
Chapter Nine
Aiden gazes down at me. I see nothing but heat and desperation in his unique gray eyes.
A desperation to kiss me.
Sheer panic seizes me. I want him to kiss me. I’ve never wanted anyone to kiss me in the way I want Aiden to kiss me.
But I can’t let him do this. I can’t put him in that position with the team.
Or with my dad.
No, no, no! I can’t let him do this. I can’t let him risk everything for me.
“I—this is wrong,” I blurt out. “We—we can’t do this, Aiden. We can’t.”
