Time After Time (Sweetbriar Cove #14) - Melody Grace Page 0,34

it’s Halloween this weekend…”

“The museum?” Aidan said, looking interested. “I loved that place when I was his age. Do they still have the dinosaurs?”

She nodded. “And a whole new section on electricity. Matty can’t wait.”

“Well, if you need any more chaperones...” Aidan offered, with a friendly smile.

Stella blinked. “You’re volunteering? Of your own free will?”

He grinned. “Why not?”

Stella could think of a hundred reasons. She spent her life trying to get out of school activities. “Really, that’s very kind of you to offer, but you don’t have to,” she reassured him. “Seriously, save yourself.”

Aidan chuckled. “Come on, it could be fun. Besides, the kids will get some free time, right?” She nodded. “So, you and I can get lunch or something. Take a walk.”

His eyes met hers, and she felt her stomach flip over. A daytime date, in a well-lit public space. That sounded manageable. Safe.

“OK…” Stella wasn’t going to talk him out of it, if he really wanted to come. Besides, this should earn her some credit with Mindy, dragging another warm body along. “I’ll text you the details,” she said, still not believing he was willing to schlep all the way up to Boston just to grab a coffee with her during a chaperoning lull.

But Aidan seemed happy about it as he gave her his number. “I can’t wait,” he said. “It’s… almost a date.”

“Almost.” Stella repeated. “Just us, and forty rowdy kids. I can’t wait.”

8

Aidan spent the rest of the week wondering what the hell he’d gotten himself into, signing up for the museum trip. The school administrator had been thrilled when he’d called to clear it with them. Apparently, they usually had to beg, borrow, and blackmail people into helping out.

“Well, what can I say?” Aidan replied, covering with a chuckle. “It’s a favor for a friend.”

He wasn’t about to admit, he would have travelled a lot farther for the chance of a date with Stella – even one that came with a few dozen extra bodies along for the ride. Hell, he’d already made a fool of himself on the dance floor just to see her again; a museum tour would be a walk in the park compared to Madame Polkoff and her fancy footwork. He didn’t think he’d ever worked so hard to get a few moments alone with a woman, but there was just something about Stella he couldn’t shake.

He couldn’t get her off his mind.

Her smile… her laugh… her lips. Aidan found himself replaying their kisses a hundred times over, embellishing them with his own hot, lustful thoughts until he wasn’t sure where reality ended and his fantasies began. He wasn’t the impulsive type, he hadn’t planned on kissing her on the street that night. But when he’d been dancing with her during that class, their bodies pressed against each other, it had been torturous to keep his composure and chat casually, like his pulse wasn’t thundering in his chest, his body alert to her every breath.

It was enough to make a man forget himself, even when he should have plenty else to be dealing with. All week long, the rest of the Kinsella’s had been bombarding him with text and calls; they’d clearly taken a vote and decided that he was in dire need of family time, because the invitations were nonstop: drinks at the pub with his brothers, pumpkin carving at Earl’s, pizza nights and more. He knew that the more they hung out, the more pressing questions he’d get about the state of his life and future plans, so he tactfully declined most of them.

‘Sorry, busy with work’, he replied. He just didn’t tell them what kind of work.

Because by the end of the week, Aidan was deep in those old shipbuilding books, reading up on what, exactly, it would take to restore his grandpa’s old boat to its former glory. He’d paid a visit to that Maritime Museum that Matty had mentioned, and found a treasure trove of information and helpful boat enthusiasts, all happy to help him figure out his gaff rigs from his transoms.

“Sure, I know a few folks who would restore something like this,” the museum docent said, looking at the photos Aidan had snapped on his phone. “But it could be a fun project, if you wanted to tackle it yourself. It’s a Robert Culler design, I’d say. We have the plans right here.”

So somehow, Aidan had wound up with a full set of the original blueprints, and another stack of books to read.