Page 72 of Veiled

I scoff.

Maybe my acting isn’t too terrible if he thinks all the aftermath of Lucas and his stunts hasn’t affected me. And soft is not a word that has ever been used to describe me, even by Matt, who sees the weakest parts of me.

“You are, not in a bad way, but I can’t tell which side is the real you and which is the act.”

I feel too exposed. The truth is, I know which version of me I want to be real, but I’m not the girl a guy picks for forever, and if I become a Ghost Walker, forever won’t exist anyway.

I shouldn’t care what he thinks. I shouldn’t want to explain myself, but I still do. “I’m not really sure either,” I finally admit.

The silence that follows makes my chest feel tight, so I do what I do best: avoid.

“Hey, when we get home, I mean, back to the house, I need to change into my dress and heels, and probably fix my makeup. I promise it won’t take long, though.”

Reaching over, he smiles at me and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear that’s blowing in the wind, and I lean into it until he opens his mouth. “No offense, but you might want to check your hair, too. The wind messed it up a bit.” He’s gentle, but funny.

He greatly downplayed the disaster that was my hair. Once I’m changed and my makeup and hair don’t look like I’ve survived a small tornado, I walk out into the bedroom to find Aiden sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting patiently.

“Ready to go?" I ask, like he hasn’t been waiting on me the whole time.

“Yeah,” he says, a ghost of a smile curving his mouth, “but I think you’re forgetting something, Mrs. Carter.”

“And what’s that?”

“Come here.”

He spreads his legs slightly, motioning me closer. When I step between them, he takes my hand, rubbing his thumb across the top before sliding my wedding ring back onto my finger.

“You look perfect,” he murmurs, as he unabashedly checks me out.

I glance down at his casual button-up shirt and golf shorts, paired with a watch that probably costs more than I’ve made in my busiest month of work.

“You look pretty good yourself,” I reply.

“I was thinking about a few things for today…” His expression shifts to something more serious. “We know there’s a chance other people from Scion could be there to try to sabotage us, so I think it’s fair to assume they’ll do something to throw us off our game. We’ve already gone over basic stuff, but I need to know, are there any hard boundaries you don’t want me to cross?”

My mind jumps to all of the actual hard boundaries I have that could send me into a dark place.

“Obviously, we’re not having sex at brunch or anything, but are you ok with more PDA? I need to know if there’s a line for you.”

I laugh, shaking my head. “We’re newlyweds, Ace. I think PDA is basically part of the deal.”

He raises an eyebrow, a playful glint in his eyes. “Right. Maybe we should practice?”

I smirk, crossing my arms. “Practice kissing? We’re a little past that, don’t you think?”

“Ha. Ha. Very funny, but no. We’ve kissed in the moment, and in private, but we need to be able to casually kiss in public like it’s as normal as breathing, like we’ve been doing it for years. And preferably without you flinching when I reach for you like you sometimes do.”

My breath catches. I flinch?

Fuck, I hadn’t even realized I did that.

“Oh,” I mutter, feeling heat rise to my cheeks. “That’s a good idea. Maybe we should record it, so we can see if it looks natural? And you should get off the bed.”

He chuckles, “Worried you’ll be too tempted, Sweetheart?”

“Shut up and start recording. We have a house to search.”

Chapter twenty-seven