“Yep,” Aiden said, laughter in his voice. “And yeah, it hurt, I couldn’t put it in anyone for twelve weeks, and I definitely haven’t had any complaints about it. What else do people usually ask? Oh, no, it’s not hard to clean around, yes I take it out, no it doesn’t get in the way of peeing, women especially love it because they know I have to keep my dick clean so I don’t get an infection, and do you have any idea how bad straight men are about that? It’s like they don’t like blowjobs.”
My face was on fire and I was starting to wonder if you could die from blushing so hard all the blood drained from where it needed to be.
“I…”
What was I supposed to say in this situation?
“Haven’t seen a lot of straight men’s dicks, to be honest.”
That probably wasn’t it, but Aiden laughed again. Maybe that meant he wasn’t about to bail on me for the wedding.
“Neither have I,” he said. “I’m just reporting what I’ve been told.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, which was closer to what Ishouldhave been saying. “Sleepy. Didn’t hear the shower. Won’t happen again.”
“Shame,” Aiden said. “The look on your face was priceless.”
He had every right to tease me. Not only had I walked in on him—bad enough, but excusable—I hadn’t looked away. Not quick enough, anyway.
“You know, you’re not like I expected,” I said as the thought hit me, turning to look at him again. “I mean… not in a bad way. You’re a lot more upbeat than I remember.”
“In high school I was a dyslexic closeted bisexual with authority issues and my brother was the football captain and a straight-A student. Now I run my own business and people like and respect me exactly as I am.”
That… that was an excellent point.
“Didn’t know you were dyslexic,” I said.
Aiden shrugged. “Neither did I until later. Sure does explain a lot.”
“Must be tough.”
Was that the right thing to say? Maybe he would’ve preferred if I didn’t say anything, maybe that sounded like pity.
I had no idea how to be around him anymore. We were both grownups now. He wasn’t a kid two grades below me at school.
“Still can’t spell for shit, but no one yells at me for it anymore. Well, except a few assholes on the internet, who I guess think they look like geniuses next to me when they point it out. I block ‘em. And I get Devin or Morgan to proofread the important stuff for me.”
As if it hadn’t changed enough already, my whole view of what Aiden was really like shifted monumentally again.
On the surface he was a troublemaker covered in tattoos—and with acockpiercing, which I still wasn’t over. But when you looked at him for more than a few seconds, there was so much more. Hard-working business owner, for one. Genuinely talented artist, for another.
Cheerful and upbeat and not mad at me for walking in on him. Happy to talk about himself and his struggles. Confident enough not to listen to anyone who didn’t take him as he was.
Completelyout of my league, if I’d been interested at all.
He even had Kieran’s classic good looks and the same incredible eyes. They weren’t identical by any means, but they were both dark-haired and handsome-featured. Aiden must’ve turned heads all the time, and not just because of the eyeliner he’d been wearing yesterday.
“Well, you’re probably in here for a reason,” Aiden said, adjusting his towel around his waist. “I’ll leave you in peace. Scrambled eggs, right?”
“Right, but… you really don’t have to, you’re doing more than enough for me.”
“It’s good practice.” He grinned at me. “You’ll feel more like you’re actually my boyfriend if you let me look after you.”
I didn’t understand why Aiden was taking this so well, but I was starting to realize how grateful I was for it. He was making my life easy.
Kieran had been right. He was the perfect solution.
Maybe this wedding wouldn’t be so bad after all.
