The Wall of Winnipeg and Me - Mariana Zapata Page 0,178

last second, he stopped in front of me. A foot taller than me, so much wider, Aiden was… he was huge. His presence was overpowering.

His body radiated heat and that wonderful clean scent of his skin; I swallowed as he stood in front of me. The swallow turned into a shaky, uncertain smile. “Hi, big guy. I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to come back or not, but—”

“Stop.” Aiden ducked his face at the same time those massive hands came up. One went to my cheek, the other went to cup the back of my neck. He kissed me.

Aiden kissed me.

His bottom lip went to my top one, his grip reassuring and unyielding as he dragged his mouth to kiss me fully. And I did what any sane person would have done: I let him, and I pressed my lips to his instinctively. Our mouths met in a peck that was followed by a big, guttural sigh fanning over my neck for a moment, his forehead pressing against mine.

Okay. All right.

Okay.

I didn’t know what the hell had just happened, but I wasn’t about to let myself overthink it.

My heart beating, I tipped my mouth up to kiss him the same way he had me, my hand reaching to touch the side of his neck. Dropping back to my heels, his forehead followed mine down. I drew my hand over to knead his thick trapezius muscles, copping a feel for what may or may not be the first and last time I would ever be able to.

I wanted to ask him if he was okay, but I knew the answer.

The deep sigh coming out of his chest told me what I needed to know. So I reached up with my other hand and began kneading the other side of his neck. Sure, he had trainers who did this, and he had enough money to pay a professional, but I massaged the tops of his traps anyway. The people surrounding us seemed so insignificant and small in that moment, in life in general, that I didn’t care they were around.

“That’s nice,” Aiden kind of whispered.

I only dug in harder with my thumbs, earning a small smile from the man who passed them out like they were golden tickets to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. I swore he was grumbling with pleasure like a big bear. “Better?” I asked once my fingers began to get tired, drawing my palms across his shoulders.

He nodded. “Much.”

“I’ll make you dinner when we get home. What do you say?”

“I’ll say okay.”

“Are you ready to go?”

He nodded once more, the small amount of pleasure on his face slowly draining.

Stepping back, I hesitated. Had I done too much? Was he already regretting kissing me? Which was stupid because if I gave myself the chance to think about it, I’d know Aiden didn’t do things he would regret…. Unless it was what he’d done to me before I quit. But I didn’t let myself think about it. “Do you mind giving me a ride, big guy? Zac took off.”

“He brought you?” he asked as he raised his chin, his gaze meeting my face.

I nodded.

“I’ll take you.” I smiled distractedly and let him lead me through the hallway, blatantly ignoring the teammates we passed, and nodding only at the venue’s employees who greeted him or wished him a good night.

Reaching his SUV, he unlocked the doors and opened the front passenger door, waving me in and closing the door behind me. By some miracle, I managed to keep my level of dumb-face to a minimum. Afterward, he threw his bag into the back and got inside. The silence wasn’t necessarily heavy on the drive home. I knew he must have had a hundred different things going on in his head, and I wanted to let him have his space.

Leaning my head against the window, I yawned and thought about all the things I needed to do when I got home, so that I wouldn’t think about the things I had no business putting too much thought into. Like that kiss in front of his teammates’ families and Three Hundreds’ staff.

“What are you thinking about?” Aiden asked out of the blue.

“I was just thinking about everything I need to pack for my trip to Toronto. Remember I told you I was going to that convention?” I explained. “What about you? What are you thinking of?” I asked before I could think twice about why I would ask him something I didn’t actually