Time After Time (Sweetbriar Cove #14) - Melody Grace Page 0,42

a way to pass the time.”

Aidan’s smile turned downright wicked, and suddenly, Stella could think of a hundred interesting, tempting, sexy ways to spend her evening.

Alone.

With him.

The situation suddenly sank in. Stella panicked. “I’ll, umm, be right back!” she blurted, leaping out of her seat and making a beeline for the restroom. Inside the cluttered stall covered with graffiti, she pulled out her phone and called Jenny in a fluster.

“Matty’s sleeping over with his friends tonight!” she hissed, the minute her friend picked up the phone.

“So?” Jenny sounded confused.

“So, I’m coming back from the city with Aidan. Alone. What do I do?”

Jenny giggled. “Do you want me to draw you a diagram?”

Stella made a strangled noise, half laughter and half despair. “I wasn’t expecting this!” she wailed. “I’m not wearing sexy underwear, and I didn’t shave, and there’s dirty laundry all over my bedroom floor.”

“Who said anything about the bedroom?” Jenny asked. “Or do you think he’s going to toss you over his shoulder, caveman style, the minute you step through the door?”

Stella felt a shiver at the thought. “No,” she admitted. “I just like to be prepared. I thought this was just going to be a coffee date, not, you know…”

Dinner. Drinks. More.

“Relax,” Jenny told her gently. “You’ve been traipsing around the city all day. Aidan won’t think anything of it if you tell him to wait while you go freshen up and change before dinner.”

“Oh, right.” Stella said, taking a deep breath. “I can do that.”

“And it’s only your first real date,” Jenny pointed out. “You don’t even have to invite him in if you’re not ready.”

But she was.

God, she’d been ready all week, counting down to seeing him with her mind racing each night. Wicked, sexy images that left her gasping, biting her lip to keep from moaning aloud.

Boy was she ready.

10

The drive back to Sweetbriar Cove seemed to take forever. The miles slid by outside the window, with the BMW’s engine purring low. Stella managed to make idle conversation about Halloween plans and town events, but inside, her stomach was tied up in knots.

She wanted him.

She’d wanted him ever since that summer day on the back road, watching him argue with a stubborn alpaca. But now, after a month of attraction and anticipation, it felt different to that first, reckless kiss.

Now, they had the night alone, and there was no distraction or excuse standing in her way.

“So… Do you want to come in?” she ventured, as they finally pulled up outside her house.

Aidan’s reply was simple. “Yes.”

“Then just wait here for… five minutes.” Stella said, scrambling out of the car. He looked confused. “I need to straighten up,” she explained, and he smiled.

He chuckled. “No you don’t. Not for me.”

“Oh, believe me, I do. Five minutes,” she repeated.

Stella dashed up the path, and unlocked the door, frantically looking around. There was no time to clean, not really; damage control was the best she could hope for. Dirty dishes in the sink? She shoved them in the dishwasher in a heap and shut the door. Clutter on the table? She swept it into a box, jamming it under the desk. She plucked stray sweaters and sneakers from the living room floor, and spritzed air freshener around, shooing the dogs into their beds in the corner before hurtling upstairs.

Bedroom, OK. She threw laundry into the closet and slammed the door, plumping up her pillows, before she caught a glimpse of her own reflection in the mirror. Argh. The house wasn’t the only thing that needed sprucing. Stella leapt into the shower, and managed to lather up and shave in thirty seconds flat.

Four minutes and thirty-two seconds after she’d left him, Stella reemerged, dressed in casual jeans and a button-down, a fresh layer of strawberry lip balm on her mouth. “Come on in,” she called.

Aidan got out of the car, smiling. “I’m not some perfectionist,” he said, teasing. “I won’t turn and run at the sight of a dirty dish.”

“Well, good,” she said, leading him inside. “Because this house usually exists on the knife-edge of chaos.”

“I think it looks great,” he said, looking around the kitchen. “Homey. Like somebody actually lives here.”

“As opposed to your place?” Stella couldn’t help but tease. “Every time I walk in there, I expect to find a magazine shoot underway.”

“I travel light,” he said with a shrug.

“And I… don’t.” Stella said, gesturing around. The dogs were dozing by the fireplace, and the ancient ginger cat strolled over to rub up against Aidan’s shins –