“And how long did it take your parents to figure out what it was really about?”
With a sad shake of her head, she flipped the menu over and said, “Thirty seconds. That was followed by ice cream and a lot of awkward mumbling as they tried to explain the birds and the bees to us.”
Chuckling, Aidan sat back against the booth and felt himself relax. “I’m sure that went over well.”
“It really didn’t,” Melanie admitted with a sigh. “I had a lot of questions.”
“You were a devious little thing, weren’t you?” he asked, unable to help but smile as he pictured her as a little girl with pigtails, terrorizing her family.
“I really was,” Melanie said, nodding.
“I can only imagine the type of hell that you and Rebecca put your parents through,” he said with a sympathetic wince.
“I’m not allowed to talk about that.”
“Why’s that?”
“The contract.”
“What contract?” Aidan found himself asking as he watched her, noting the way that her pale baby blue eyes lit up when she teased him.
“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that I’ve already said too much,” Melanie said with a sad shake of her head.
“That bad?” he asked, chuckling.
“It really depends on who you ask,” Melanie said as she looked over the dessert menu.
“So, I probably shouldn’t ask your parents?” Aidan said, watching as her lips twitched before she managed to pull it back so that she could say, “Oh no, you should definitely ask them,” with a straight face.
His eyes narrowed on her as he asked, “Trying to get me killed?”
“That depends,” she said, looking thoughtful.
“On what?”
“On whether or not you lied about that pie.”
*-*-*-*
“What’s this?” Aidan asked, shifting the bags in his arms so that he could pick up the white envelope off the hallway floor in front of his door.
“A very angry woman wearing a Black Jack’s tee-shirt, who was visibly struggling against the urge to kill your brother, taped it to the door earlier,” Melanie explained as she lovingly ran her fingertips over the bakery box in her arms.
“What did the asshole do now?” he asked, sighing heavily as he opened the envelope and-
His lips twitched right around the time that Melanie decided that she’d waited long enough. With a flick of her hand, she opened the cover and found herself staring down at four of the most beautiful cupcakes that she’d ever seen in her life. As she debated which delicious morsel to start with, she opened her apartment door and headed to the kitchen. By the time she placed the box on the counter, she’d narrowed her choices down to the yellow cupcake with buttercream frosting and the one with chocolate fudge frosting.
That was followed by her deciding that it just wasn’t fair to either cupcake to choose. By the time she grabbed a plate, Aidan was there, grabbing the chocolate milk out of the fridge for her.
“Rylie has offered to pay two hundred dollars more a month if I’m willing to help her bury the asshole in a shallow grave,” Aidan said, chuckling as he grabbed a glass for her.
“That’s a good offer,” Melanie said, taking a bite of her cupcake and nearly groaned.
“It really is,” he murmured in agreement as he opened the box of pastries that he’d picked out.
“What happened with Rebecca?” Melanie asked, unable to help but notice that the lemon and apple pastries that he’d picked out looked especially yummy tonight.
With a sad shake of his head, Aidan said, “She professed her undying love for me.”
“Is that why she’s been texting me since she left, letting me know that she has no other choice but to make your life a living hell?” Melanie asked, nibbling on her cupcake even as she continued to stare at that delicious looking pastry.
“She’s taking it hard,” Aidan said with a sad shake of his head as he picked up a lemon pastry and placed it on her plate. Without a word, she abandoned the rest of her cupcake and focused on the lemon pastry that was going to be the perfect way to end the night.
Well, almost perfect.
For the past three hours, all she could think about was that kiss, that sweet, simple, incredibly sexy kiss that he’d given her earlier and just how badly she wanted him to kiss her again.
If it was meant to happen, then she’d let it happen and if it wasn’t…
She wasn’t going to force it.
As she stood there, Melanie was surprised to realize just how badly she wanted this to happen. They were having a baby and the last thing they needed to do was to make this thing between them more complicated than it needed to be, but she couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss.
She never thought such a simple touch could feel so good. It had her wondering if he’d kissed her like that before and immediately understood how she’d ended up spending the night with him because there was no way that she would have been able to stop kissing him.
“It does seem that way,” Melanie absently murmured in agreement as she looked up to find him watching her. “What’s wrong?”
“We forgot something.”
“What’s that?” she asked, unable to help but frown as she-
“The awkward kiss goodnight,” Aidan said, already reaching for her.
“We could skip it and go for a confusing handshake and the promise that we’ll do this again sometime?” Melanie said, smiling as she went to him.
“We should definitely do that,” Aidan murmured in agreement as he wrapped his arms around her.
“We definitely should,” Melanie said as she reached up and cupped his face in her hands. He leaned down and brushed his lips softly against hers once with a murmured, “Give me ten minutes,” before walking away, leaving her standing there, realizing just how badly she wanted this to happen.
Chapter 27
“What’s going on?” the woman that he couldn’t stop thinking about asked as Aidan lit the last candle.
“My do-over,” Aidan said as he placed the small box of matches back on the bureau before he reached over and hit play so that Paula Abdul’s song Rush, Rush filled the small bedroom.
“Do-over?” Melanie asked as he turned around and found her standing in the doorway, taking in the candlelit room with the shyest fucking smile that he’d ever seen.
“Don’t tell me you forgot?” Aidan said as he walked over to her and took her hand in his.
“Refresh my memory,” she said, adjusting the large towel wrapped around her with her other hand as he
pulled her into the room.
“We danced that night,” Aidan said as he pulled her into his arms.
“I see,” Melanie said as she kept hold of the towel with one hand as she wrapped her other arm around his shoulders.
“I hate dancing,” he found himself admitting as he pulled her closer.
“Then why are we doing it?” Melanie asked as she absently ran her fingers through his hair.
“Because,” Aidan said as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers, “I love dancing with you.”
“You remember dancing with me?” Melanie asked as he pulled one of his arms back so that he could place his hand on the side of her belly as he moved her around the room.
“I remember that I never wanted to let you go,” he said, pressing a kiss against her forehead as he felt their baby boy push against his hand.
“You are a smooth talker, Aidan Bradford,” Melanie said as she pulled him down for a kiss.
“Yes, I am,” Aidan said, smiling as he met her for a kiss that had him struggling to remember that they needed to take this slowly.
It was the same reminder that he’d told himself when he heard the shower turn on and he had to stop himself from joining her, but god, did he want to fucking join her. For several minutes, he’d stood outside the bathroom door, debating walking into that bathroom so that he could run his hands over her as he kissed every inch of her body.
“That’s two,” Melanie said, brushing her lips teasingly against his as Aidan felt her pull his tie loose.
“Two, what?” Aidan asked as he felt her small fingers work his shirt open.
“Of the five completely random things that you owe me,” she said as he pulled his shirt out of his pants so that she could push it off him.
“Then, shouldn’t I get credit for three things?” Aidan asked as he reached up and pulled her towel loose when he felt her hand work his belt free.
“No,” Melanie said, smiling as he dropped her towel.
“Three more things, hmm?” Aidan murmured as he moved her closer to the bed.
“According to the rule book,” Melanie said, making his lips twitch as he sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled her closer so that he could press a kiss against the large swell of her belly.