Stay With Me (She's With Me #2) - Jessica Cunsolo Page 0,6
glances at his broad frame as we walk, my stomach squeezes. Will my stomach always do somersaults when I’m around him? Will my heart ever beat normally when I look at him?
Before I can open the driver’s side door, Aiden’s behind me. Suddenly, we’re chest to chest, and he’s looking down at me, a lightness in his eyes and a tension in the air.
His deep voice is low and even. “We were interrupted.”
His closeness makes it hard for me to think. “We were?”
“Mmm-hmm.” His hands tug my hips to his. “I have no problem refreshing your memory if you forgot.”
He leans down and kisses me, roughly and fiercely, like it’s been ages since we’ve seen each other and all he needs to feel whole is his lips on mine. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him closer to me, needing to feel him against me. All the worry and tension I didn’t even know I was holding vanishes as we come together. He’s here. He doesn’t hate me. I didn’t lose him. The kiss ends way too fast, but I’m still left breathless when he pulls away.
I’m all in, Thea Kennedy. His words play in my mind, making me shiver. His grip tightens. “Come on, let’s get out of here,” he says, his warm hands vanishing from my waist as he walks around the car to the passenger side.
As I pull out of the parking lot, Aiden calls Julian to see about picking up the twins, but Julian says they stayed up all night asking questions about Aiden and playing video games, and only now fell asleep.
Aiden rubs his temples. “Okay, let them sleep. I’ll pick them up in the morning and explain what’s going on. Thanks again, Julian.” He pauses, listening. “Yeah, I’m okay. See you tomorrow.”
We don’t talk, and the soft hum of the radio acts as background noise. The road has that late-at-night quality in which the lights are hazy, and Aiden leans back against the headrest, his eyes closed and body relaxed.
His presence fills up my small car, and he almost looks ridiculous with his long legs barely sitting comfortably under the dash. He’s sitting right there, and he’s not pressing me for answers. Not pushing me about Tony. Not asking me about the three people Tony killed. It’s equally hard for me to not ask him how he’s feeling. I tap the steering wheel and force my vision to stay on the road, not to drift over at Aiden, too nervous to ask him any questions despite the fact that he just kissed me.
“Thea,” he says, breaking the silence, his head still relaxed against the seat.
“Yes?” I answer, my heart skipping a beat at hearing my real name in his deep voice.
“The tapping is driving me crazy,” he says, eyes still closed.
I stop immediately. “Sorry, I’m just …”
“Anxious?” He lifts his head. “I know. How are you holding up? We didn’t have enough time to talk about your secret. You know I’d never tell anyone—you don’t even have to ask. But I was worried about you being in a police station.” He shifts in his seat and runs his hand through his short but messy dark-blond hair. “If those articles are a snapshot of what you went through, then being there must not have been the easiest thing for you.”
How much time did he have to go through the news articles of my past lives that I keep hidden in a shoe box? He’s either really good at puzzles or he got a really good look, because he’s spot on about my hatred of police stations.
“Normally, it would’ve brought up some bad memories, and I definitely wouldn’t want to be there for as long as I was. The smell. The phone ringing. God, even the stupid chairs are all the same. I’ve been let down so many times … but I was only worried about you.”
My voice erupts awkwardly, and Aiden asks, “Why are you laughing?”
“You literally spent hours in jail being questioned about a murder. You went through that whole traumatic experience of being arrested and interrogated and potentially going to jail. Your stepfather is dead and your house is a crime scene, and the first thing you do is worry about me?”
“I knew I didn’t do it, and I knew my alibi would check out. I didn’t have anything to hide so I wasn’t worried about being charged. But since I had nothing to do but wait, my mind wandered,