Her gaze lifts to Aidan with a smirk. “Did he now?”
Aidan shrugs, and there’s something boyish in the way he does it. “She negotiated better terms than I could offer.”
“Mmm,” she hums, clearly amused, and then her gaze slides to me.
“Hello there, Lucy.”
I tuck a piece of hair behind my ear, suddenly feeling like a teenager being sized up for intentions I haven’t even fully admitted to myself. Which is absurd. It’s not like that.
Except maybe it is. A little.
I’ve known Aidan’s mum for a while now. She comes into the café from time to time, but showing upwithAidan like this is…new.
I give her a wave from the truck before Isla starts chattering away about ice cream. Aidan ruffles her hair before she dashes inside, then heads back toward me. He gets in the truck but doesn’t move to drive just yet. He sits there, forearms balanced on the steering wheel, eyes fixed on something in the distance. His knuckles flex white then relax as he stares straight ahead.
“I’m sorry,” he says finally, voice rough like he had to drag the words up from somewhere deep. “For earlier. At the loch.”
I study his profile, the strong line of his jaw, the slight furrow between his brows.
“You don’t have to apologize.”
“I do.” He turns to face me then, and the rawness in his expression steals my breath. “You deserve that much.”
His hand slides off the steering wheel, hovering in the space between us before settling on mine, finally gifting me the contact I’ve been craving all day. His palm is warm, calloused in places that tell stories of hard work and long days.
“Seeing you with Isla… The way she looks at you,” he starts, then pauses, searching for words. “It’s a lot.”
My heart drops. “Too much?”
He shakes his head slowly. “No. That’s the problem.”
His thumb moves over my knuckles, an absentminded back and forth that seems to ground him, and somehow me along with him. Nothing has ever felt soright.
twenty
AIDAN
Her hand in mine is everything, and yet, it isn’t enough. Every inch of me wants to trace the line of her arm, to feel her pressed closer.
I tighten my grip just slightly, testing the boundary. She doesn’t pull away.
Every sense is keyed to her—the soft press of her hand, the faint scent of vanilla. I steal a glance, letting my eyes linger, memorizing the curve of her smile, the tilt of her jaw.
We’ve been silent since I started driving, but I haven’t felt the need to speak. It’s been…comfortable.
When Lucy finally speaks, her voice is careful. “So, um…where are we going?”
Oh, shit. That probably would’ve been good to mention before now.
“Sorry,” I say quickly, clearing my throat. “I really didn’t have a plan. I thought we could head to my place?”
As soon as the words are out, they sit there between us, too open-ended. What if she thinks that’s arrogant?
She turns to look at me, but I don’t dare look back. Myheart is doing that uneven, off-beat thing it does when I feel too much while trying to feel nothing at all.
Fuck, I’m making a mess of this.
“It’s nothing fancy,” I add quickly, trying to keep my tone even. “Just quieter than town. Easier to talk.”
