“BB, that could be important.”
He was right, dang it.
“You’re right.You’re right,” Aspen gusted and sat upright.She crawled to the edge of the bed and leaned over to grab her phone as it rang again.“It’s Mia.”
Connor bolted up, concern bracketing his face.“Why is she calling this late?”
“I don’t know, but not a peep from you.Do you hear me?”Aspen leveled a stare at Connor while trying to control her breath from her intense foreplay session.She was also trying to keep the big guy from grabbing the phone before she could answer it.
She won, thank goodness, as she swatted his hand away from the phone to take the call.
“Hi, Aspen.I need a favor if you’re not busy,” Mia started without preamble.“But, um, it sounds like you’re busy.I can call you later.”
“No, no.It’s all good.It’s good,” Aspen said, trying to sound convincing to Mia while trying to keep Connor from nearly crawling into the phone as he strained to hear the conversation.Aspen worked to try to keep Mia from learning Connor and she laid naked together.“Whad’ya need?”
“I just had a fight with both Matt and Dante and wondered if I could crash on your couch tonight.”
“Oh, my gosh!A fight withbothMatt and Dante?”Aspen covered the phone to relay the news to Connor.
“Um, yeah.I just need somewhere to go until I figure things out, but it really sounds like you’re busy and I don’t want to bother you.I’ll be fine.”
“Give me a sec,” Aspen mouthed to Connor to stop it, then turned her body away from him before replying to Mia.“It’s no problem.And you’re okay, right?No one’s hurt?”
There was such a long pause, Aspen began playing all sorts of scenarios in her mind, all of them involving Dante beating poor Matt to a pulp because Mia’s brother must have found out about his little sister and Matt being together.
“No, just my heart,” Mia whispered before she began sobbing.
“Oh, sweetie,” Aspen said, her own heart aching for her friend.“Do you need me to pick you up?”
“No, I’m fine.I’ll be over in about thirty minutes.Let me get some clothes together.”
Aspen ended the call.“Poor, sweet Mia.”
Connor leaped off the bed as if molten lava covered the mattress.He stormed to his dresser to pull out fresh clothes.
“I’ll go get her,” Connor growled as he finished pulling on his t-shirt then ran his hands through his hair to brush it from his face.
“You most certainly will not,” Aspen said quickly, and she, too, began to dress.“It’s obvious something went down between Dante and Matt, and it most likely had to do with the fact they’ve been sneaking around behind her brother’s back.The last thing Mia needs is to see us together when she needs to focus on her own problems right now.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Connor spat out.“I’m her uncle for fuck’s sake.Who better to be there for her than me?”
“No, Connor.I’m not budging on this one,” Aspen moved toward Connor to push against his shoulders to try and move past him to leave his room.
Speaking of not budging, he was massive and nearly impossible to move.
“This is ridiculous, Aspen.I have every right to be here.”
Silence filled the room sharing space with the anger bubbling up inside Aspen.
“No, Connor, you don’t,” she threw her hands on her hips.“Are we dating?Is this a friends with benefits situation?We can’t even define what we are, so why would we add more confusion to poor Mia’s world when it’s obvious the bottom just fell out of it.”
“BB—”
“—Trust me.As soon as I find out what’s going on I’ll let you know.Let me figure this out with Mia, then I’ll call.”
Connor began grumbling about stubborn bakers and foolish rookies before leaning in and kissing Aspen on the lips.Hard.
“Don’t think we won’t address the ‘what are we’ comments,” Connor grumbled as he walked Aspen across the threshold of the front door and to her Rav4.
