“I mean that both physically and metaphorically,” Aiden clarified. He must’ve seen the look on my face.
I wanted to kiss him.
I always wanted to kiss him. I hadn’t thought about anything else all morning, but I hadn’tdoneit, either, because this was all so new and strange and exciting that I was too busy thinking about it to enjoy it.
Aiden, on the other hand, was focused on teaching me how to ice skate.
There were kids racing past us and I knew we were getting more than one odd look, but he obviously didn’t care. I was still in awe of that.
“You just need to trust yourself,” Aiden said, nodding to my feet. “See, you’re getting the hang of it.”
“Because I trustyou,” I said.
Aiden looked up to meet my eyes, and I realized that I’dmeantthat. I really did trust him. Maybe more than I’d ever trusted anyone.
He broke into a warm, sincere smile, and it wasn’t as though Aiden didn’t smile all the time, but this one seemed a little different. This one made the cold air warm up around me, the clouds part so the sun shined a little brighter, the aching muscles in my legs relax.
AndI was skating. Without thinking about it, I was doing it. I wasn’t gonna win any medals in the figure skating competition, but I wasdoingit.
I laughed as I let go of Aiden’s hand, gliding forward without support for maybe three feet…
… before I stumbled again, legs getting away from me on the ice, slipping further and further apart until I was right on the edge of falling, too unbalanced to stay upright.
This time, Aiden grabbed the front of my coat and hauled me up so I crashed into his chest, saving me from yet another fall.
My heart pounded in my ears, the adrenaline rush of the near-fall buzzing in my veins. I was panting for breath and suddenly clinging to Aiden like he was the only solid thing in the world.
“Dammit,” I huffed under my breath. I’d almost had it.
Aidenreallymust’ve thought I was an idiot. This wasn’t a hard thing to do. There weretoddlersmanaging it a handful of yards away.
“It’s okay,” Aiden murmured, easing his grip on my coat so it was just enough to keep me upright by. “You don’t have to do this alone,” he added.
Still panting for breath, I forced myself to pull back just far enough to look at him, putting two inches between us.
“You don’t have to doanyof this alone,” Aiden continued. “That’s why you brought me here in the first place.”
Something in the centre of my chest squeezed so hard it hurt, but on the next breath the pressure eased off and flooded me with warmth and relief and other, bigger feelings I didn’t have names for right now.
Like always, Aiden looked at me like I was incredible, and I couldn’t get over being looked at like that. Even though I knew now that it was just the look he gave everyone, because there was so much love and kindness and acceptance in his heart that it couldn’t do anything other than spill over.
I still liked it when it was directed at me.
“C’mere,” he murmured, tugging me a tiny bit closer, tilting his head.
My brain screamedin front of all these people!?
But Aiden was right there, and he was warm, and he’d taken so much care of me. Iwantedto kiss him. My heart wanted to kiss him, and my brain was broken and scarred and hurt and thought too much, anyway.
As soon as I leaned in and caught the last traces of his aftershave, I knew I was doing exactly the right thing. His lips were just as soft as ever, parting gently under mine, eager and excited as he always was.
I’d never kissed anyone who liked it as much as Aiden did before. Even a shy kiss like this where half my brain was still screaming at me that total strangers could see.
The world didn’t end as we broke off. Nothing was on fire, no one was yelling.
… right up until a chorus of cheers erupted from Dad and Trent.
Aiden, confident as ever, laughed. I was starting to think his story about being full of self-doubt was bullshit. I’d never seen him doubt anything.
