Time After Time (Sweetbriar Cove #14) - Melody Grace Page 0,22
know it, Franny and Debra will have roped you into hosting the steering committee, and drawing up a list of candidates.”
Aidan laughed. “It would be something to do with my time, at least.”
Stella paused. She wanted to ask exactly what he was doing with his time out here. Had he moved? Quit his big city job? As far as she could tell, his days involved watching people from the sidelines and glowering at her from over their fence. But the last time she’d come close to asking, Aidan’s easy smile had snapped shut, and she didn’t want to ruin the relaxed mood, so instead she just took another bite of pie.
He was entitled to his secrets. After all, she had plenty of her own.
One drink, three dances, and two slices of pie later, Stella was feeling the day catch up with her. “I should get going.” She let out a reluctant yawn. “I’m not made for these late nights. Not since I was younger, anyway.”
“You were a party girl, huh?” Aidan asked, teasing.
Stella gave a wry laugh. “Sure, that was me. Up until three every morning.” She didn’t mention that she was awake all night dealing with a fussy infant. “Anyway, I should be heading back before it gets too dark to see the path.”
“You’re walking?” Aidan asked with a frown. “Let me give you a ride.”
“No, it’s fine,” Stella said automatically.
But Aidan just gave her a look. “It’s not exactly out of my way,” he pointed out, amused. “I’m right next door.”
Stella paused. He was right. What would she be proving by taking the two-mile stroll alone? “Well, then thanks,” she said slowly. “I’d love a ride.”
And so would her feet after all that dancing. The moment Stella slid into the passenger seat of Aidan’s sporty BMW, she eased off her sandals and gave her aching arches a rub. “I haven’t danced like that in forever. Not since I was younger, at least.”
“Why is that, do you think?” Aidan asked from behind the wheel as they drove away. His profile was lit up by the passing streetlights, jaw strong and sharp, and Stella realized all over again just how handsome this man was.
She felt a reckless impulse stirring behind her ribcage; that quicksilver pulse of temptation. The one she’d felt in the moment before she’d kissed him. The one she’d felt on the beach all those years ago, with the bottle spinning between them, full of possibilities.
Dangerous.
“I don’t know,” she said, struggling to remember the question. “I guess I got too busy. My friends say I’ve forgotten to be a person,” she added ruefully. “Apparently, I’m so focused on the boring, practical things in life that it’s made me a boring, practical person.”
Aidan chuckled warmly. “You? You’re the least boring woman I’ve ever met.”
Stella blinked. “Thank you?” she said, hesitantly.
Aidan’s smile grew. “You’re welcome. So, what are we going to do about it?” he asked, turning down the bumpy dirt lane towards her house.
“About what?” she asked, confused.
He brought the car to a stop outside her house and turned to her, his smile as sweet and dark as molasses in the moonlight. “About you feeling so boring.”
Stella’s heart skittered in her chest. She could think of one thing. Taking hold of Aidan’s crumpled collar, pulling him across the stick shift, and kissing him senseless certainly wouldn’t be boring, or the last bit practical.
She cleared her throat, hoping he wouldn’t see her blushing in the dark. “Umm…” she mumbled, her mind blank – aside from extremely inappropriate fantasies, that was.
“Think about it like this,” Aidan said. “What’s the one thing you always wanted to try, but never got around to?”
Stella blinked. “Dance lessons,” she blurted suddenly.
“Really?” Aidan looked interested.
She nodded. That much was true, at least. “I always loved dance movies,” she confided. “Singin’ in the Rain, Step Up, Strictly Ballroom…” she remembered the hours she’d spent watching them, nursing Matty through a bad bout of colic. “I always wanted to be able to dance like that. It looked so much fun.”
“Well then,” Aidan said. “Why don’t you learn now?”
Stella paused. “I don’t know, isn’t it kind of late for that? Where would I even start?” she began to say, as Aidan whipped out his phone.
“Easy,” he said, tapping the screen. “It says here, there’s a class in Provincetown. Monday nights. Broadway, that’s what you want to do, right?”
“Ummm…” Stella fumbled for an excuse.
“Too late, you’re signed up.” Aidan said, tapping again. “Done. Now there’s no getting out of it.”