The Wall of Winnipeg and Me - Mariana Zapata Page 0,141
season was already more than halfway over.
With a loose one-armed hug, she left me standing there alone for the first time since I’d walked into the room. I watched as the players approached their families in varying moods. Some of them had acceptant smiles, some of them had reluctant ones, and others wore sad smiles. A few looked pissed and didn’t bother trying to hide it; it was obvious they would have rather been anywhere else than where they were.
Where was Aiden?
Had he forgotten about me or—
That familiar, big head suddenly appeared in a group of men just slightly smaller than him. Those brown eyes set deep into that broadly painted bone structure scanned the room quickly before they landed on me.
I waved.
His features weren’t molded into any kind of particular emotion as he tipped his chin down. Those fine, full lips mouthed, ‘Ready?’
I smiled and nodded. Making my way through the crowded room, I kept my gaze on Aiden’s face for the most part. I passed by two of the guys I’d done some work for in the past and stopped briefly when one of them shook my hand; the other player, the super sexy one every female Three Hundreds’ fan was in love with, gave me a hug.
I was going to have to tell Diana about it. She’d lost it when I’d told her I was doing some work for him.
Apparently, I must have had a look on my face that said exactly how attractive I found his teammate because Aiden was frowning when I reached him. I could feel the eerie sensation of multiple eyes on me, on us, looking and judging, and I knew what we needed to do. I made my eyes go wide and I flashed him a fake, toothy smile he would definitely realize was a sign to mentally prepare himself.
In hindsight, I should have kissed him.
Instead, I hugged him, my arms going around his waist for the first time ever.
The fact that we’d—literally—slept together but hadn’t even officially hugged was beyond me. This had been two and a half years in the making.
If I had ever taken the time to imagine what it would be like to hug Aiden, the reality of it wouldn’t have been disappointing in the least. Despite the fact that his broad shoulders tapered down to a trim waist, it wasn’t that small. It was an illusion based on how muscular and oversized his upper body was.
My hands found each other around the small of his back. My chest met with his abs, and they were just as hard and unyielding as they looked. I pressed the side of my face to the spot right between his pecs, cheek first. His body was warm from the shower he’d taken and he smelled like the clean, gentle scent of his soap.
In the middle of me taking in the soft fragrance coming off of him, he put his arms around me. Gently, gently, gently. One arm went around the top of my shoulders and the other one directly below it. He tightened his embrace and brought me in an inch closer into the cocoon of his massive body.
I tried not to freeze. He was hugging me. He was hugging me.
Something settled at the top of my head and I knew, I just freaking knew, it was his chin.
It was probably the second best hug I’d ever gotten in my life; only beat by the one my foster dad had given me when he visited me in the hospital right after Susie had hit me with her car. He’d been the first person to show up, the first person to come into my room after I’d woken up, and I’d lost it. And he’d given me a hug and let me grieve for the death of the rocky relationship I’d had with her.
But this was a completely different kind of hug.
While Zac wasn’t a small man by any means and my little brother was six foot four, I’d never been hugged by someone as large as Aiden. I liked it. I liked it a whole lot. His bicep, pressed over my ear, seemed to muffle the noise of the people talking in the background. It was like being swallowed up by a tornado. A big, muscular, warm tornado with an amazing body that was going to watch out for you for the next few years of your life, even when you weren’t on the best terms.