of his milkshake. “We won all right. Ever played?”
I shook my head. “My brother played for a season back in grade school.”
Aiden stared at his drink for a moment. “He decided he was more interested in music?”
“Definitely, and soccer. Being in a band has been his dream since I can remember.” I paused, then sucked a long sip of vanilla heaven. “Sorry,” I said afterward. “I know the last thing you probably want to talk about is the band.”
“You’re wrong.” He squeezed my hip, fingers digging, and I giggled. “If it involves you, no matter how much it might grate, I want to know about it.”
I looked at him, studying those faint freckles over his nose and the hard set to his jaw. It loosened when he met my gaze, and he licked his lips. “You’re almost too good to be true, Prince.”
He leaned forward, ghosting his lips across mine. “I tried to fuck someone else when you broke me. I’m not perfect. In fact,” he said, sitting back, “if it weren’t for meeting you, I’d probably still be working my way through campus.”
I knew what he was doing. “You can’t make me hate you.”
“I never want you to hate me. I just don’t want to be compared to him. I’m not perfect, but what you’re seeing, how we might make each other feel… of course it’s going to seem that way compared to how things were with…” He stopped there, not needing or wanting to say his name.
“Everett,” I said, needing to. “And I don’t think you’re too good to be true because I’m comparing you to him.”
Aiden raised a brow, taking a drink.
I took it from him and set it down, talking low as he looked at me with humor dancing in his eyes. “I’m serious. I want you because you’re you. All of you. The smartass, the player, the flirt, the guy who doesn’t mince words ever, even when he’s angry… all the bad as well as the good. All or nothing.”
Our hands linked, and I leaned in to lick the froth from his bottom lip. His mouth stole mine, moving fast and hard, the taste of vanilla malt and second chances heady between our soft breaths.
“All or nothing,” he repeated, pecking me before pulling away. “So…” He cleared his throat, shifting in his seat. “Your mom. She teaches music, so she can sing, right?”
I smiled at his clear discomfort. “She sure can.”
“And your dad can sing, but you’re the odd duck who can’t do anything musically inclined.”
“Hey,” I said, laughing. “I play a mean triangle.”
“I bet you do,” he said, wrapping his lips around the straw and sucking.
I laughed again and finished my drink. “She’d love you, you know. They both would.”
“Yeah?” he asked, nudging my shoulder with his.
I nodded, nudging him back. “Yeah.”
My limbs were so tense, I could feel a knot forming as Aiden slid into home right before the tag was made to win the game.
The crowd, already standing, roared their applause. Their screams, clapping, and stomping feet rattled my skull.
Now that things had changed, I wasn’t sure what to do when the game had ended, but I figured I’d just follow the crowd’s lead. When they started dispersing, I trailed them out of the stadium and into the parking lot.
This was the first home game Raslow’s baseball team had played in the month we’d been officially dating, and although Aiden had invited me out of town with him to the other two they’d played, I couldn’t go due to work and studying for finals.
School would be out in less than a month, and I was a little shocked at how fast the time had flown. Especially when it used to drag—month to month spent waiting and pining for something that would never be. Since meeting Aiden, even when we were just friends, the days flashed by in a blur of smiles, laughter, flirtatious arguments, heated ones, nerve-tingling touches, jokes, and kisses.
We hadn’t slept together yet, and I knew he was trying to give me time. That he was waiting for me to make the first move. And I was ready. I’d been honest when I’d told him I was done and that I wanted him. All or nothing.
The air was still balmy as we filed outside. The team appeared fifteen minutes later, greeting fans, friends, and loved ones.
My smile bit into my cheeks when Aiden snuck up behind me and spun me around. When my feet met the ground, I immediately cupped