Eve’s lips twitched with a tentative smile against Aspen’s throat. “I don’t want to go to dinner.”
“Okay.” Aspen squeezed Eve tightly, trying to convey without words just how fucking proud she was of her for choosing to put herself and what she wanted above her parents’ expectations, before pulling back to capture her lips in an achingly tender kiss.
The low hum that tickled Eve’s throat when she pulled away was the sweetest symphony Aspen had ever heard, and Eve’s smile was positively radiant as she ran a gentle thumb over Aspen’s lips. “Thank you.”
Aspen smiled and kissed the pad of Eve’s thumb. “My pleasure.”
“Should…” Eve’s brow furrowed, and her gaze turned thoughtful and a little distant. “Should I let them know? Or just blow it off?”
“I mean…” Honestly, Aspen wouldn’t deign to give them the grace of a head’s up, but she understood that this was a big step for Eve, whose only other foray into disobedience had been when she’d chosen to pursue her passion over their expectations. “Both are certainly viable options,” she hedged, not wanting to influence Eve’s decision either way.
“I think I should probably let them know…” Eve caught her lower lip between her teeth and worried it. “Maybe send them a text.”
Oh, sweetheart. They don’t deserve you,Aspen thought as she carefully plied Eve’s lip from her teeth. “Okay. Do you want to tell them that we’re skipping dinner to play naked twister?”
Eve snorted. “Oh my god, no.”
“Okay. Fine.” Aspen hummed thoughtfully as she caressed Eve’s cheek, delighting in the color that came back to Eve’s skin. “What about… We’re going to spend the evening making love in front of the fireplace instead of suffering through another boring, stuffy dinner?”
“Oh…” Eve licked her lips as her gaze dipped to Aspen’s mouth. “Um… While I’m not at all opposed to that idea, I’m not sending that.”
Aspen’s pulse jumped at the heat that’d crept into Eve’s voice. “Guess that leaves a simple ‘something’s come up and we’re not going to be able to make it to dinner tonight’ then?”
“And that we’ll see them tomorrow,” Eve agreed.
“Sounds good to me.”
Eve nodded. “Can I kiss you now? Because I’d really like to kiss you.”
“Oh, Eve,” Aspen exhaled as she inclined her head toward Eve’s mouth, “you don’t ever have to ask. You can trust that I willalwayswant to kiss you.”
Eve distractedly chewed at her thumb nail as she stood in front of the window next to the crackling fireplace in Aspen’s bedroom, watching the snow that had begun during dinner dance through the beam of the patio light below. Two hours had passed since she’d texted her parents, and they had yet to respond. Honestly, she’d expected them to call and demand she get her ass to the venue the moment they got the text, but her phone had been increasingly, uncomfortably silent as it didn’t ring or buzz with an alert of any kind.
It was so wildly out of character for them that she didn’t know if she should be terrified or relieved by their radio silence.
The feeling of Aspen’s arms wrapping around her waist jolted her from her thoughts, and she sighed as she melted back into her, all concerns about the diatribe she’d eventually suffer banished by the comforting strength of Aspen’s embrace.
Aspen squeezed her lightly and dropped a kiss to her cheek. “Still nothing from them?”
Eve shook her head and stroked the backs of Aspen’s forearms. “Not a peep,” she confirmed.
Aspen hummed in a way that somehow conveyed the same annoyance and relief that Eve was feeling. Her voice was carefully neutral when she asked, “Is that a good thing?”
“I don’t know.” Eve slid her hands over Aspen’s, and herrampaging anxiety calmed just enough when Aspen’s arms flexed around her middle to hold her a little bit tighter for her to admit, “Probably not.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
Eve shook her head. What’s done was done. All that was left was to manage the fallout whenever it hit, but for as much as she dreaded the oncoming storm, she didn’t want to think about it. Didn’t want to waste a single moment of happiness with Aspen by worrying aboutthem. She curled her fingers to stroke the backs of Aspen’s hands and leaned her head back onto Aspen’s shoulder. “What you’re doing now is perfect.”
“It’s pretty perfect for me, too.”
The tenderness in Aspen’s voice wrapped around Eve’s heart like a gentle hug, and she closed her eyes as she let herself fully relax in Aspen’s arms, knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that she would keep her safe. Aspen had seen the messiest parts of her and hadn’t run. In fact, she had done the complete opposite—throwing herself headlong into that mess with her metaphorical fists raised, ready to fight on her behalf.
Eve bit her lip against the tears that stung at the backs of her eyes. She’d always sworn that she didn’t need a champion, that she could handle things on her own because she’d never had anyone she let in enough to help carry the load, but Aspen had assumed the position so naturally that it was only now, in this quiet moment and the safety of her embrace, that she realized just how much she’d come to rely on her strength. Her poise. Her unwavering support and sense of calm.
Eve hadn’t realized the tears she’d been fighting had broken free until Aspen kissed them tenderly away, one after the other without comment, and then there was no holding them back.
“Oh, baby,” Aspen whispered, her voice thick with emotion. “What’s wrong?”
