“Your room or mine?”I point to our doors, flicking back and forth to emphasize my question.
Aiden turns his head toward me, eyebrow raised and a subtle smirk curling his lip. His eyes lack their usual warmth, and the stormy shade is dull. He hasn’t fully come out of it after I dragged him out of the party and to his motorcycle.
It’s been a while since he blacked out. I’ve seen worse, but this is the longest he's stayed in this state. Being removed from the situation that put him there and riding his bike are sure ways of snapping him out of it.
“Don’t look at me like that, pretty boy.” I sigh and tuck a lock of hair behind my ear. “We’re going to pop in a movie and hang out. So which room?”
“How am I looking at you?”
His smirk broadens into a lopsided grin. He inches closer to me, and with every step I take backward, he gets closer until my back is against the wall. He fingers the bow on my waist, then wiggles the digit under the strap. The whole time, his eyes fill with heat, and he refuses to end the eye contact.
“Oh no. We’re not doing this.” I sidestep and leap past him, keeping my back to the doors as he prowls toward me with the same predatory gleam in his eyes.
“We’re not doing anything.” Aiden’s chuckle comes out low and dark. “Yet.”
He advances toward me, closing the gap I desperately try to maintain.
“Yet?” I force a laugh and scramble backward, only to stop short when I bump into a solid surface against my back.
“Looks like it’ll be my room.” Aiden’s smile sharpens. “Good choice.”
He lunges forward and opens his door behind me. His chest flattens against mine, and he lowers his head in a way that suggests he’s about to kiss me while walking me backward into his dark bedroom. He stops right before his lips touch mine, his warm breath fanning against my mouth.
“Always so adorable,” he murmurs, then slams the door, bathing the room in darkness.
His fingers brush against my cheek, his other hand settling on my waist and squeezing.
My breath hitches. “Aiden, you’re not?—”
“You’re so beautiful, Nova,” he growls. He guides me deeper into his bedroom, walking me backward. “But you can be so fucking stubborn too.”
“Where is this coming from?” I tangle my fingers in his shirt over his chest, trusting that he knows where we’re going and that he won’t let me trip.
“I’ve always thought you were attractive. Even as a teen, when you had a smaller figure.”
Pink LED lights flicker on, bathing the room in their glow.
“But I especially love your body now,” he growls. He drags his hands up my sides, then settles them over my stomach. “You’re so soft everywhere. Every stretch mark, every dimple, is a fucking tease to me. You carry those marks on you, and I’ve been dying to leave behind my own. Maybe then, you’ll truly appreciate your body as much as I do.”
My heart pounds hard against my chest, but I barely hear it over my heavy breaths. “Why are you telling me this?”
Aiden stops and tightens his grip on my waist, a silent warning before he spins me around. I blink to clear my spotty vision from the sudden change. My gaze falls on the mirror before me, my eyebrows pinching together. Why is he making me stand in front of it?
Aiden stands behind me, with one hand on my waist and the other lowering to his side. His dark eyes meet mine in the reflection, and he bends until his lips rest beside my ear. He nuzzles the side of my neck, his eyes slipping shut as he breathes me in and holds me. “I may have fought the asshole who insulted you, but his words are still in your head.” He scowls at me in the mirror’s reflection. “I can’t fight them with my fists, pretty girl, but I can fight them in other ways. I’ll show you how perfect you are. Make you see how I view you.”
Longing tightens my chest. “You’re not yourself right now, Aiden. I don’t want you to regret anything you may say . . . or do.”
“Like I said, you’re stubborn,” he mutters.
My shoulders droop at the loss of his touch as he drops his arms and straightens. He clicks his tongue and reaches for the heart zipper, then yanks it down and shoves the top aside to free my breasts. I yelp and stumble backward, right into his chest.
Aiden’s chuckle fills the room, deep and warm. It’s not the same as earlier at the party, or even in the hallway outside our rooms. He cups both of my breasts and squeezes them.
“Eyes forward.” He rolls my hardening nipples between his fingers and smirks when my gaze snaps to his face in the reflection. “You’re so good at listening, pretty girl. Keep watching.”
Heat pools low in my belly. Pride swells from his praise, and I know I’m so screwed. He knows it too, because he hides his smile behind a chaste kiss against my neck.
“Aiden,” I whimper, and lay my hands over his. “We shouldn’t do this. You’re not?—”
