Time After Time (Sweetbriar Cove #14) - Melody Grace Page 0,61

here?”

“Well, I thought it was peaceful, relaxing lunch, but clearly, that’s not on the cards now, is it?” Aidan quipped.

“You know what I mean. Are you planning on sticking around?” Earl asked. “Is she going to move to New York? Are you really ready to be a father to that kid—”

“We went on one date!” Aidan exploded, feeling a flicker of guilt. “One! Two, if you count a school trip chaperoned by three dozen teenagers. I don’t even know her birthday, let alone whether we’re going to be planning a life together.”

Earl just fixed him with a look, like he didn’t buy Aidan’s denials for a minute. “Don’t you think it’s about time you figured it out then?” he asked pleasantly.

Aidan screwed up his lunch wrapper, and got to his feet. “You’re right. Let me get straight to doing that now.”

Earl sighed. “Sit back down, no need to have a tantrum over it.”

“A tantrum?” Aidan echoed. “What am I, five years old?”

“Would be easier if you were.” Earl grumbled. “At least then you listened when I told you not to go putting yourself where you didn’t belong. And if you didn’t, I could spank you and send you to bed.”

Aidan had to laugh. He remembered what Stella had told him: The way Earl had showed up every winter to bring them wood, and looked out for her and Matty, when she needed help the most.

Earl was just being protective, the way he would about Aidan or his siblings. Because Stella was like family to him – and everyone else here in Sweetbriar Cove. Aidan should probably get used to everyone having an opinion about them seeing each other. Clearly, Earl wasn’t going to be the last nosy conversation he got about the subject.

Aidan sat down, and shoved his fries over towards Earl. A peace offering. “I know you care about her,” he said, softening. “I get it, I really do. She’s an incredible woman.”

“Glad you’re not too stupid to realize that.”

Aidan shook his head, smiling. “And when it comes to the future, or what my intentions are… Well, I don’t have any answers for you. To tell you the truth, I don’t have answers about much of anything these days,” he added, thinking about the conversation with Mason he’d just had. “But when I do… You won’t be the first to know,” he said. “She will.”

Earl allowed himself a smile. “I suppose I can live with that. Now, how’s that boat of mine coming along?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Yours?” Aidan shot back, relaxing. “Oh, I see how it is now. You expect me to break my back restoring her, before you swoop in and claim all the glory.”

“Psh.” Earl made a noise, as some of his bridge club friends arrived nearby. Earl went to go chat with them, leaving Aidan to sneak another look at his phone. He had a new message from Stella.

‘Finishing early. I’ll bring dessert.’

His pulse kicked, just thinking about what treats she might have in mind. Earl, and Luke, and the rest of his family were overthinking things, he told himself firmly. Whatever was happening with Stella, it was nobody’s business but theirs.

“Never say I’m not a fast learner.”

Stella arched an eyebrow, watching in admiration as Aidan pulled on a shirt. She was still laying on the kitchen floor, half-naked, buzzing with an afterglow hum from all the incredible things Aidan had just done with his hands… and his mouth… and his tongue.

“Really?” she teased, “Because I’m pretty sure you were teaching me a few things.”

He grinned. “I meant when it came to snacks.” He opened a cupboard and showed her the new stash of chips and convenience foods where there had previously only been water bottles and protein mix. “So, do I measure up?” he asked, tossing her a package of Oreos. “I know I’m on the right track, because I swear the grocery clerk looked at me with disappointment in her eyes.”

She beamed. “You mean, admiration for a man who knows the importance of good junk food.”

Aidan chuckled. “I know how to treat a lady.”

“Yes, you definitely do.” Stella bit into a cookie and let out a satisfied sigh.

Afternoon sex, and a sugar fix… Could she ask for anything more?

She watched Aidan pull on the rest of his clothes, admiring the planes of the body she was still learning by heart. The curve of his shoulder blades, the smattering of freckles across his back, the way he was ticklish, in that spot just