My God, he’s so cute when he blushes.
“Well, I’m picturing myself walking them across every intersection on campus with a stop sign and a safety vest on—that would have been funny.”
“I think chaperone was the word I meant,” Aiden counters.
“I was that.”
“I felt like I was that for Wyatt. Making sure he stayed out of trouble.” He pauses for a moment. “Nope. That’s a lie. I made sure his trouble was never uncovered.”
“Did that bother you? Being the serious one?”
“Nah. I didn’t mind having a few beers, but I was never one to get drunk or party hard. Not my DNA.”
“Well, that was good for Wyatt,” I tease.
“For sure.”
“And it would have been good for me.”
He looks at me, his brow furrowed. “How so?”
“If we would have met in college—and you weren’t dating Madison, I mean—we would have been perfect together.”
I wait to see how he takes this statement. I know he loved Madison. He didn’t want it to end. He might be with her today if she had been able to handle the distance between them.
To my surprise, Aiden slides his hand underneath my hair, to the nape of my neck, his fingers tangling sensually in it and sending shivers down my spine.
“You know what?”
I remind myself to breathe. “What?”
“You’re right.”
Goose bumps sweep over my skin.
“That’s why I can sit here and talk to you about anything. I don’t care if we aren’t hammering drinks or dancing at clubs.Because that’s not who I am. It’s not who you are. More to the point? I like who I am with you.”
Grateful. I feel so grateful right now that not only did fate bring us together, but we were both brave enough not to fight the attraction between us.
Because there’s no way this could be wrong.
“Even if I’m talking about potlucks?” I ask playfully.
“Especially if you’re talking about potlucks. There’s nothing hotter than a woman telling me her potluck phobias.”
I burst out laughing at that, and Aiden does, too.
“Scarlett?”
“Yeah?”
“Is it weird that we’re in the middle of dinner, but all I can think about is pinning you down on that sofa and kissing you?”
Heat sears through me. “Who says you can’t? Except that I probably taste like miso glaze.”
Nice, Scarlett. You’re really bringing your A game tonight by talking about potluck dinners and tasting like miso glaze when Aiden wants to ravish you.
Aiden draws my face closer to his. “Good thing I’m obsessed with miso.”
