Time After Time (Sweetbriar Cove #14) - Melody Grace Page 0,93
tears to her eyes. He understood. Everything she’d had to overcome these past fifteen years. Everything she’d carried alone. And still, he was asking her to take that leap – because he would be beside her, every step of the way.
It was a risk, but she had to take it. Her heart wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I love you too,” she said, choking up with pure emotion. “And I want to be with you.”
Aidan’s smile grew so bright, it warmed her from the inside out. “So, we’re doing this?” he asked, almost like he couldn’t believe it himself.
“We’re doing this,” she whispered happily. “Together.”
She leaned up and kissed him, as the music played on. A slow, deep kiss that made the world melt away, until there was nothing left but this incredible man, holding her close. It was a promise, and an invitation.
The first kiss of a lifetime together.
Then a noise came from behind them. Stella broke away, startled.
“Whoops! Don’t mind me!”
It was Madame Polkoff, beaming ear to ear. “I was just, umm, collecting… this,” she blurted, eyes darting around the room before they landed on a discarded pair of tap shoes. “Carry on!” she insisted, still watching them.
Stella turned back to Aidan, blushing self-consciously. “I guess we have an audience,” Aidan murmured, looking amused. He pulled her close again to dance, then Madame cleared her throat.
“Remember your form,” she said in a loud stage whisper. “And Stella, dear, keep those feet light!”
Stella tried not to laugh. “Anything else?” she asked.
“Well… Since I’m here.” Madame moved closer, nudging their arms and heads into the correct positions. “There, perfect. Have fun!”
She finally left them, and Stella sank her head against Aidan’s chest, laughing. “I can’t believe she just did that!”
“Oh, I can.” He grinned back. “But what do you say we put the lessons into practice?” He adopted an exaggerated pose, and launched them into a waltz, spinning her around so lightly, Stella felt like she was walking on air.
She had a partner now, and they could face anything together.
22
“Did you remember the cranberries?”
Aidan looked up at her. “What?” he asked, his breath coming fast.
“The cranberries,” Stella repeated. “I promised we’d bring them.” It was a few days after their reunion, and they were due at Earl’s for the big family Thanksgiving dinner any minute now. Alice and Jackson had picked up Matty early to help set up, leaving Stella and Aidan to enjoy the house alone.
And the staircase. And the bed…
He let out a strangled laugh. “You’re really thinking about Thanksgiving dinner at a time like this?”
Stella grinned. She was straddling him in bed, her hair tumbling over their faces in a wild curtain as their bodies moved together. “I can multitask,” she said, teasing, and rocked her hips against him.
Aidan groaned, and gripped her tighter, matching her pace in a sensual rhythm that made her moan in pleasure. “I know you can. But I have a couple more pressing matters on my mind…”
He rolled her in one swift motion, pinning her to the mattress beneath him. Stella arched up, already lost in the dizzying rush as Aidan’s lips teased at her ear. “The cranberries can wait,” he said firmly.
And so they stayed tangled up in bed and each other for another hour. Stella savored every moment, still not quite believing this was real for them now. He was hers, to kiss, and hold onto, and whisper all her secrets to in the night. A love she hadn’t let herself believe could be so true.
Finally, the alarm sounded on his phone. Aidan hit the snooze. “Five more minutes,” he whispered, kissing a blazing path down her neck. Stella smiled.
“They’ll know exactly what’s keeping us,” she pointed out.
He chuckled. “Not at all. We could be at the grocery store, bravely hunting down that last can of sauce…”
His phone buzzed again, this time with a text message. Aidan sighed, reluctantly checking it. “Cassie says they’ll start without us,” he reported back.
Stella sat up. “No!” she yelped. “It’s our first Thanksgiving all together. Come on,” she said, nudging Aidan out of bed. “I’m not missing out on pie.”
He kissed her again, until she was breathless. “You’ll fit right in.”
They got dressed and drove over to Earl’s, finding the house already full of laughter and activity when they arrived. The whole family was bustling to prepare the meal: Alice issuing instructions about roasting schedules and basting times, as Jackson set out an array of delicious-looking pies, and Chase stirred something at the stove.