“Bathroom and the walk-in closet are through there,” Eve said, gesturing to an open door on the far side of the room. “And…” Her voice trailed off as she turned to Aspen with a fragile half-smile that broke Aspen’s heart. “I don’t know. I mean, this is just kind of it.”
“It’s fine,” Aspen assured her. And it was. It was a perfectly fine guest room. But even though Richard had said it was Eve’s usual room, there was nothing even remotely personal about the space. It was an unimaginative copy of a suite that would have been perfectly acceptable in a hotel but was, in her opinion, completely out of place in a private residence. “Should I put our bags in the closet, or would you prefer I set them somewhere else to unpack?”
“The closet’s fine.” Eve sucked her lower lip between her teeth and, with obvious reluctance, extracted her hand from Aspen’s. “There’s an upholstered ottoman in there that I usually put the bag on to make it easier.”
Aspen felt the loss acutely, but resisted the urge to reach out and retake Eve’s hand. After everything she’d already done, the last thing she wanted was to misread anything and make Eve uncomfortable. Besides, they just didn’t have time for the conversation that would go along with something like that right now.
She fisted her hand and shoved it into her pocket with a bright “Sounds good,” as she left her bag where it was and pushed Eve’s toward the attached en suite. She’d purposefully packed her clothes for the night at the top of her suitcase, so she could just get to the rest of it in the morning. The ottoman Eve mentioned was pushed against the back wall of the closet, so she used the toe of her boot to drag it out far enough for her to lay the suitcase on it, and then she turned the luggage so the ottoman would support both halves once it’d been opened.
Her heart ached when she turned to see Eve watching her from the doorway with her arms wrapped around her middle. She held out her hands to Eve as she made her way over to where she stood, and was relieved when Eve immediately took them. She rubbed her thumbs over Eve’s soothingly and asked in a gentle voice, “What else can I do to help?”
Eve blinked slowly and shook her head. “Are you okay?”
I’m fine. But I’m worried about you,Aspen thought, even as she assured Eve, “Totally. Are you?”
Eve answered flatly, “Yeah.”
Aspen squeezed Eve’s hands. Eve’s tone wasn’t at all reassuring, but she was clearly determined to do this, so it was up to Aspen to make the ordeal as easy as possible. “Okay. Well, then we should probably get ready for dinner.” She hiked her chin toward the bedroom. “I’ll change out there while you’re getting ready to stun in here.”
“Stun,” Eve echoed with a droll chuckle. “Hardly.”
Oh, that just won’t do,Aspen thought. She lifted Eve’s hands to her lips and held her gaze as she vowed, “You, Eve Morrison, are the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever met.” She punctuated that truth with a gentle kiss to Eve’s fingers, and her heart fluttered as she watched a delicate smile spread across Eve’s lips.God, she’s so beautiful.
“Aspen…” Eve murmured.
She didn’t sound displeased, so Aspen brushed another smile of a kiss over her fingers before letting their hands drop as she asked, “What do you need?”
Aspen’s pulse stuttered as Eve’s gaze dipped to her mouth and lingered there for what felt like an eternity. The air seemed to thicken around them as blue eyes lifted to meet her own, and her breath caught as Eve pulled one hand away to caress her cheek.
“Thank you,” Eve breathed.
“I didn’t do anything,” Aspen deflected, her voice husky as the words scraped their way past the lump in her throat.
“You have,” Eve argued, a small, soft smile lit Eve’s face as she trailed her thumb over the corner of Aspen’s lips. “You are,” she amended in a warm rustle of a whisper that was lush with promise.
Aspen’s heart skipped a beat as Eve’s thumb drifted to tug ever so lightly at her lower lip, and her eyes fluttered as she swayed after the touch when it fell away. When she blinked them back open, it was to find Eve watching her with an expression of such open longing that it stole the breath from her lungs. “Eve…” she exhaled.
Eve hummed low in the back of her throat as those enchanting eyes of hers dipped back to Aspen’s lips. For a long moment Aspen was convinced Eve was going to kiss her, but then Eve pulled away with an apologetic shake of her head. “Dinner.”
Aspen swallowed back the‘fuck dinner’that was on the tip of her tongue as she nodded and forced herself to take a step backward. And then another. And another. It spoke to both of their restraint that neither succumbed to the tension that pulled taut between them as she left the closet, and she blew out a rough breath when she was alone in the bedroom.
Eve Morrison just might be the death of her.
Eve blew out a rough breath once she was sure Aspen was out of earshot and scrubbed a hand over her face. “What were you thinking?” she chastised herself under her breath as she turned to her suitcase. “God, I almost kissed her,” she continued hersotto voceself-flagellation as she unzipped the bag and flipped it open. She sighed and admitted, “I wanted to.”
And she looked like she wanted me to,the little voice in the back of her head chimed in.
Which was just…well, confusing, honestly. Not just because Aspen was out of her league, but they’d literallyjustmet a few hours ago. She wasn’t sure about Aspen, but she didn’t go around kissing people she’d only just met.
Except you did, back in the car, the little voice unhelpfully pointed out.
Eve shook her head. Yeah, at first Aspen had kissed her because she’d been out of her mind with a panic attack, but then…
Fuck, she didn’t even know how to explain it.
Didn’t know if she wanted to explain it beyond the simple fact that it’d felt more right than any other kiss she’d had in her life.
She cleared her throat and pushed the thought aside. She didn’t have time to sit around and reminisce about how perfectAspen’s lips had felt against her own or the thrill that’d zipped through her chest when their tongues slid so easily together. They were expected in the dining room, and she’d be damned if she left Aspen open to her parents’ criticism by arriving late.
