Текст книги "Falling For My Best Friend's Brother"

Автор книги: J. S. Cooper

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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 12 страниц)

Chapter Eight

Football Is a Dance of Seduction

The best feeling in the world is when a guy you like likes you. The second best feeling in the world is when another guy likes you and makes that guy jealous. The only part that can make these best feelings the worst feelings in the world is if you also like the second guy. There is nothing worse than being attracted to two guys and having them both like you. Trust me, I know. Well, I guess I’m stretching that a bit. I don’t know if they both like me, like me. And I don’t really like like both of them. I really like one of them and the other one just makes me feel good; and that might not even be because he likes me. I don’t really know, if I’m honest. What I do know is that they both act like they kinda like me when I see them on the football field. And yeah, what does that really mean? There are so many men who like to flirt just for flirting’s sake. It doesn’t mean they actually like you.

***

“How do you ask a man to dominate you?” I whispered to Liv as we made our way onto the field. “How do you bring that up casually?”

“It seems like he might already know that you want that,” Liv said as she gazed at me with a huge grin.

“Well, I don’t think he does.”

“I wish you would let me tell Xander that I know about Aiden.” She made a face and I squeezed her arm hard.

“No, you can’t tell him that I told you. He’ll never trust me again.”

“Trust you with what?”

“Anything.” I moaned. “I don’t want him to think I have a big mouth.”

“He has to know you’d tell me.” Liv frowned. “I can’t even believe that he wants to keep this a secret from me.”

“He doesn’t want to scar you.”

“I am a big girl. It will take more than finding out my brother is a freak in the bedroom to scar me.”

“He’s not a freak.”

“I don’t mean freak freak.” She laughed. “I meant freaky freak.”

“Haha, so are you going to call me freaky as well?” I questioned her with a smile.

“Why would I call you freaky?”

“If I became Aiden’s sub?”

“Number one, I can’t see you as a sub, but whatever floats your boat. Just don’t wear a choker, please.” She groaned. “No chokers with studs, they look so tacky.”

“What looks tacky?” Henry ran over to us with a big smile and lifted his hand up so I could high-five him.

“Choker necklaces,” Liv said and made a face.

“Oh, I haven’t seen a woman in one of those since …” His voice trailed off and he winked at us. “Well, since a fun night I had a few years ago.”

“What sort of fun night?” I asked curiously and I watched as Henry licked his lips and laughed.

“Trust me, girls, you don’t want to know.”

“Everyone gather around, please.” Aiden’s voice was loud and booming, and I noticed that he didn’t even glance in my direction as he spoke.

“Someone’s upset the bear,” Henry said with a laugh and looked at me.

“Not me,” I said and made a face.

“It’s always you, Alice,” Liv said with a grin. “It’s always you.”

***

“Run Alice, run!” Liv screamed as I ran down the field with the ball in my hands. I was in shock as I held it close to my body and continued dashing down the field. I could see the marking lines that Aiden had spray painted in the grass, even though I was pretty sure that they were against the rules of the park. That had shocked me because Aiden was someone who never broke the rules.

“Keep going, Alice!” Liv screamed, and I made the mistake of looking back. Scott was a few feet away from me, and Henry was close behind him. I was praying that Henry got to Scott before Scott got to me. I could also see Aiden coming up fast behind Henry, and Elizabeth was farther back on the field near Xander and Liv. I gasped for air as I turned back around. I could see one of the guys on my team signaling to me to throw him the ball, but I didn’t want to pass the game-winning touchdown to some guy whose name I didn’t even know. I wanted to be the MVP of the game. I didn’t want the guys to just look at Liv and me as two silly girls with no business being on the field. We weren’t like Elizabeth: we didn’t run marathons; we didn’t play pickup basketball at the Y; and we weren’t hiking up mountains or surfing in the Pacific Ocean along the coast of one of the Hawaiian Islands. We were just average, regular girls who liked to have fun and played sports for some excitement in our lives. I knew the guys thought we were pretty worthless on the field, especially me. I mean, I couldn’t blame them. I wasn’t in the best shape, but I knew if I scored this touchdown and scored the winning points, I’d be looked at with new eyes. This was about the game. In this moment, I didn’t care about Aiden or Scott or Henry or whatever other guy might be interested in me. I didn’t care about looking pretty or sexy. I didn’t care about being witty. I didn’t care about making Aiden jealous. All I cared about was winning. And I knew that in this moment, for the first time in my life, I was a sportswoman. A true, dedicated and fearless sportswoman. I kept my head down and ignored the pain in my stomach and the cramps in my legs. I was not going to slow down. I was not going to let the pain win. I was nearly there.

“You’ve nearly got it, Alice!” Liv screamed, and I charged forward. I felt a hand grazing my back and I knew that Scott nearly had me.

“Oh no you don’t!” I screamed and threw my body forward as I saw the line Aiden had made right in front of me. “Touchdown!” I screamed as I fell to the ground and hit the ball against the grass. “Touchdown!” I screamed again in excitement, tears and sweat pouring down my face.

“Move over, Alice!” Scott groaned as he came charging towards me.

“What?” My body was frozen in shock as he came crashing down on me, his body feeling like a ton of bricks as he fell forward. “Ow!” I cried out, as my already aching bones screamed out in pain. His knees nudged my stomach painfully, and I cried out again. “Ooww!” I moaned as he looked over at me.

“Nice touchdown.” He grinned down at me, his blue eyes sparkling as he wiped mud off of his face.

“Thank you,” I said lightly and tried to push him off of me.

“Oh, sorry.” He laughed and jumped up. “I guess you can say you’re a seasoned player now.”

“I guess so.” I groaned as I tried to stand up. “Ugh.” I moaned and grabbed my knee. “I think I cut myself.”

“We won! We won!” Liv screamed and grinned as she came running towards me. “We’re the champions, Alice!”

“Yay.” I smiled and groaned again, as the pain in my knee got worse and worse.

“What’s wrong?” Suddenly Aiden was in front of me, his face looking grim.

“I hurt my knee,” I said in a low voice. “And no need to be pissed, because we won.”

“I’m not pissed,” he said with a frown and kneeled down to the ground. “I’m going to pull your pants leg up so I can check your knee, okay?”

I nodded mutely and watched as he pulled the right leg of my exercise pants up. We both stared at my bloody knee, and I groaned.

“Oh my God, I’m injured.” I frowned and Aiden looked at me with a concerned face.

“Are you okay?”

“She’s fine,” Scott said and rolled his eyes. “Just scraped her knee.”

“Have some compassion, Scott!” Liv snapped and walked over to me. “You okay, Alice?”

“I’m fine. I guess I just need to clean it.”

“See, she’s fine.” Scott laughed and then looked at me. “I promise that our next rumble and tumble in the grass won’t leave you with any injuries.”

“There won’t be another rumble and tumble,” Aiden growled and put my arm around his shoulder. “Lean on me and I’m going to help you stand up.”

“Okay,” I said softly.

“I have a first-aid kit in my car, so I’ll clean it for you.”

“Okay. Thank you.” I smiled at him sweetly, and I could see Liv grinning. I looked towards Scott, and he winked at me and then wiggled his eyebrows towards Aiden. I realized then that Scott was no longer interested in me. Instead, he was helping to make Aiden jealous. I giggled to myself as I realized that he was just as bad as I was, but I knew he was doing it for me, so I couldn’t be mad at him.

“Are you okay, Alice?” Elizabeth walked up to us with a look of concern on her face.

“Yes, thanks.” I nodded, feeling a bit bad. I was stealing her man from right under her nose. Not that he was really her beau or anything.

“Good. Excellent touchdown, by the way. Best move of the day!” Elizabeth grinned at me. “You sure showed the guys what’s what.”

“I try.” I grinned back at her and for a second I felt guilty. Guilty that I was swooping Aiden out from under her when she really was a nice girl.

“Hey, hey, hey, what about my touchdown?” Scott looked at Elizabeth. “I think that my catch was pretty impressive.”

“Impressive to whom?” She laughed and shook her head.

“Everyone on the field.”

“Hmm, if you say so,” she said and flipped her hair. I stared at her face and I was pretty sure she was blushing. Curious, I looked at Scott a bit closer. His face was positively beaming as he stared at her.

“I do say so.” He moved closer to her. “Didn’t you see me?”

“I saw you, and I saw Alice too, and Alice definitely had the move of the day.”

“Hmmm.” Scott looked back at me. “Maybe I’ll concede this once.”

“Wow, how grand of you.” She laughed and patted the front of her T-shirt down. I was about to look away when I noticed something on her wrists. My eyes narrowed as I stared at the lines on her wrists.

“Are you ready, Alice?” Aiden’s voice was close to my ear and I nodded.

“Yes.” I glanced up at him, and he put his left arm around me and pulled me up easily. I loved the fact that he was acting as if I were some hundred-pound lightweight and not the considerable amount more that I really was.

“Can you walk or do you need me to carry you?” he asked me as I leaned into him. I looked at his face to see if he was teasing me, but he looked quite serious. For a split second, I wanted to tell him that I needed him to carry me. I wanted to start limping and moaning and making out like I was really hurt, but I didn’t. And not because I’m above faking an injury to get close to a guy, but because I knew it wouldn’t be believable. He’d seen my injury. I had scraped the skin off of my knee and it was bleeding. It wasn’t a serious injury. Yes, it stung a bit, and yes, I was feeling slightly woozy, but I wasn’t in need of him carrying me. At least, not because of the injury I’d sustained. If he were offering to carry me into his bedroom, I would have had a completely different answer.

“I’m fine. I don’t need you to carry me.”

“Pity,” he said softly and I looked over at him in surprise. His face still looked serious and I wondered if I had imagined him saying those words. We walked towards his car in companionable silence, and I enjoyed the feeling of his warm body next to me as he led me across the field. “I know I told you I wanted to talk to you, but you didn’t have to injure yourself to get my attention,” he said as we reached his car.

“I didn’t,” I said smugly. “I don’t need to injure myself to get attention.”

“True, you don’t.” He laughed.

“What’s so funny?” My eyes narrowed as I gazed at him laughing down at me.

“I was just thinking about all the other ways that you draw attention to yourself.”

“Oh?”

“Like saying you want to be a lingerie model at Victoria’s Secret.”

“I never said that!” I shook my head. “Henry said that.”

“But you sure seemed happy when he brought it up.”

“What are you talking about?” I shook my head and got into the backseat of his car.

“It seems to me you want men to think about you parading about in lingerie.”

“No, I don’t.” I shook my head and watched as he slid into the backseat next to me. “Why would you even think that?”

“Maybe because that’s all I’ve been able to think about for the last week?”

“What? My conversation with Henry?”

“No, you goof.” He opened his center console and took out his first-aid kit. “You in lingerie.”

“Me in lingerie?” I breathed out and watched as he pulled up the leg of my pants again so that he could clean my wound.

“Yes, that’s all I’ve been thinking about for the last week.”

“That’s very bold of you to say.” I gasped as he placed the antiseptic lotion on my knee.

“Why?” He looked up into my eyes as his fingers rubbed against my skin.

“Because.”

“Because what?”

“Just because.” I moaned as his lips came dangerously close to mine. “What are you doing?”

“What do you want me to be doing?”

“Aiden,” I groaned, and he chuckled and moved back.

“I thought you liked kissing me. You liked kissing me last week.”

“I don’t understand you, Aiden,” I groaned and watched as he put a Band-Aid on my knee and leaned down to kiss it.

“All better,” he said and looked at me. “What do you want to understand?”

“What were the marks on Elizabeth’s wrists?” I asked quickly, the words darting out of my mouth before I could stop them.

“The marks on Elizabeth’s wrists?” He raised an eyebrow at me. “What marks?”

“She had red indents on her wrists,” I said. “I saw them. They looked like …” My voice trailed off before I could say the words ‘handcuff marks’.

“They looked like what?” He grinned and leaned towards me, his lashes looking longer then I remembered.

“You know.” I swallowed hard. How could I ask him what sort of relationship they had together?

“No, I don’t.”

“They looked like handcuff marks,” I said finally.

“Oh, really?” He smiled and licked his lips deliberately.

“Yes.”

“You’re asking me if Elizabeth had handcuff marks on her wrists?”

“I’m asking you if you’re seeing her, like, properly,” I said, no longer able to hold it in. “I don’t think it’s cool if you are seeing her and seeing me at the same time.”

“I’m seeing you?” he asked with a smirk and his eyes fell to my lips.

“Well, you know,” I said, feeling like a fool. Why had I said he was seeing me? He wasn’t seeing me. All we’d done was kiss.

“No, I didn’t know.” He laughed and pulled away suddenly and slid out of the car. “Come on.” He grabbed my hands and pulled me out to join him.

“I didn’t mean to say you were seeing both of us,” I mumbled as I stood next to him. The sunlight was blinding me, and I stared at his shoulder, instead of into his eyes.

“That’s good.”

“I mean, I guess you are dating her, but you aren’t dating me.”

“I am?” he asked.

“Well, aren’t you?” I asked and shifted my eyes to look into his. Aiden put his arms around my waist and pulled me into him.

“Do you want to be dating me, Alice?” he asked softly and my breath caught.

“I, uh, I …” I stammered, my face red and not just from the direct rays of sun on my skin.

“I liked kissing you the other night,” he said softly with a small smile and leaned down. “Did you like kissing me?”

“Yes,” I squeaked out.

“Good.” He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. “You and me are having dinner tonight and we’re going to talk.”

“We are?” I squeaked out again, this time in a more indignant manner.

“Yes, we are.” He kissed me again, this time harder and for longer.

“You didn’t even ask.”

“I learned my lesson yesterday,” he said with his lips against mine. “I asked you if I could call you, and you gave me the run around. Today, I figure there’s no point in me just asking you. I need to tell you.”

“Well, I don’t know what to say,” I said breathlessly, my lips brushing against his.

“Just tell me what time to pick you up.” He sucked on my lower lip and tugged gently. “Actually, I’ll pick you up at eight.”

“Oh.” My stomach was doing flips and I put my hands around his waist to stop myself from reaching down to grab his ass.

“Be ready.” He laughed and pulled my face towards him and gave me one deep, hard kiss before pulling back.

“Or what?”

“Or you’ll see.” He winked.

“You going to punish me?” I asked lightly, and he just laughed. I saw the others waiting for us in the field and so I started walking towards them. I wondered if they had seen us kissing and if they had, what were they thinking? I sure hoped Elizabeth didn’t think that she had anything serious with Aiden. I sure hoped that they didn’t have anything that would prevent me from working my magic. I also hoped that they hadn’t kissed or had sex. Though I didn’t want to ask. I didn’t want to know if they had, only if they hadn’t. And how did you ask that question knowing that one of the answers had the potential to break your heart?

“I can’t wait for tonight,” Aiden said from behind me and I jumped as I felt his hand lightly tapping my ass.

“Hey!” I turned around and glared at him. “What was that for?”

“I was just answering your question,” He said and ran ahead of me. My heart thudded as I realized that tonight might involve a lot more than just talking.

***

Seduction is like a dance. You have to move in time, at the right moment, and just let yourself go. I stared at my reflection in the mirror. I looked sexy. Or as sexy as I could look without having a professional stylist and makeup artist at my beck and call. No one can ever say I’m a quitter. Nope, not me. When Aiden asked me if I wanted to get dinner, I thought I was going to faint. And I mean that quite literally. My body felt weak and my heart was racing. I could hear the humming of birds in my ear and everything in my world was bright and wonderful. All because Aiden asked me to dinner. I know, I’m a bit of a sad case, but that’s what it’s like when a guy you like asks you out. It’s magical. Absolutely magical.

I grabbed my handbag as the clock on the wall turned to eight and then I stopped for a few seconds to make sure I was ready.

Red heels. Check.

Sexy underwear. Check.

Handcuffs. Check.

Aiden waiting for me naked in his large king-sized bed with nothing but a sexy smile on his face. I hoped that would be a check real soon. Like tonight soon. I was so excited I could barely contain myself. I checked my handbag to make sure I had my box of condoms (I wasn’t going to let protection be the one thing that prevented me from getting down and dirty tonight). I had my red lipstick that matched my heels perfectly. I had some strawberry lipgloss. I had a small bottle of Vera Wang’s Princess perfume because it made me smell divine. I was going to spray myself with it again once I got to the restaurant because the scent never seemed to last long. I had a pack of Altoids mints because I wanted to make sure I had fresh breath and I knew a good blowjob trick with Altoids in your mouth. I also had my cellphone. Forty dollars in cash. My driver’s license, in case I got carded when ordering my cocktails. And I also had a small teddy bear that I always carried around with me. It was a bear that Aiden had given me when I was a little kid and he had won it at a fair. He probably didn’t even remember that he’d given me that prize, so many years ago, but I made sure to carry it with me everywhere. It was one of my prized possessions. Sometimes when I was in bed, late at night and feeling lonely, I would grab that teddy bear and squeeze it and kiss it and hold it close and imagine that somehow it was making me close to Aiden. It was a juvenile thing to do, but it was something that always comforted me.

“He’s here, Alice!” Liv screamed down the corridor. “I saw his car pull up.”

“How do I look?” I hurried out of my room in my short black dress and Liv whistled.

“Uhm, hotter than the Sahara Desert.”

“Hotter, huh?” I grinned and twirled around in my dress. “I feel pretty hot.”

“You’re more than pretty hot, you’re super-hot.” She laughed and came over to me. She poked her finger into my arm and screeched.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her with a confused frown.

“You’re so hot you just burned me.” She grinned and we both burst out laughing.

“You’re a goof,” I said. “It’s a good thing you’re not a man. You’d never get laid with pickup lines like that.”

“I think I’d make a good man,” she said with a smile. “I’d know exactly what to say to get the girls.”

“Uh huh.” I grinned, and she looked me up and down slowly and licked her lips.

“Man, girl, you look good enough to eat.” She paused and licked her lips again. “And I’m hungry, you wanna show me some sugar?”

“Oh my God, no, just no!” I started laughing again. “You will never get a woman with words like that. No to the no, to the hell, to the no.”

“Haha, that bad?” She grinned at me and then laughed. “Yeah, that was pretty bad. Thank God, I’m a woman and have Xander.”

“Yeah, you lucked out with Mr. Miracle Tongue.” I smiled. “Smooth with his words and his tongue.”

“Well, not always smooth with either.” She winked and I groaned.

“Liv!”

“What?” She laughed. “I’m being honest. He’s not always smooth. Sometimes he’s rough and bumpy.”

“Liv, TMI.” I groaned again and then froze as the doorbell rang. He was here. Aiden was finally here and I was going on what I thought was my first official date with him. I wanted to scream. “Liv, I think I’m going to faint,” I said, my throat suddenly dry.

“Why?” She looked concerned. “Do you need some water?”

“I’m going on a date with Aiden,” I groaned yet again as the doorbell rang another time. “Why is he so impatient?”

“Because he’s Aiden.” She rolled her eyes. “He has the patience of a dog.”

“I guess I’d better go and let him in.”

“Yeah, do that before he bangs the door down.” She made a face and then gave me a sweet smile. “You really do look gorgeous though, Alice. Aiden is lucky to be able to take you out.”

“Thanks, Liv,” I said and hurried to the front door. I opened it quickly to find Aiden standing there with his hand in the air. “You weren’t about to ring the doorbell again, were you?”

“I was.” He smiled and looked me up and down, his eyes widening as his gaze fell to my tall red heels. “You look nice tonight, Alice.”

“That’s it?” Liv walked over to the front door. “She looks nice?”

“Yes, she looks nice.” Aiden looked at Liv with an annoyed expression. “Don’t you think so?”

“Alice looks bloody gorgeous,” Liv said and shook her head. “Like a million bucks.”

“Thanks, Liv.” I laughed and I could see Aiden shaking his head at his sister.

“Yes, Alice, you do look beautiful tonight.” He reached his hand forward. “Very, very beautiful.”

“That’s more like it,” Liv said, and he groaned.

“Alice, are you ready to go?” Aiden muttered. “I’m afraid if I have to listen to my sister anymore tonight, I might go crazy.”

“I don’t have time to drive you crazy tonight, dear brother. Xander is taking me out to dinner as well.” Liv smiled at her brother and then continued. “And I know he’s taking me to a nice restaurant, not a Burger King.”

“More the fool him, then,” Aiden joked, and Liv glared at him.

“Let’s go,” I said and turned around to give Liv a quick hug. “See you later.”

“Bye, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she said, and I quickly opened my handbag and let her see the contents. “Or maybe not.” She giggled as she saw the handcuffs.

“What are you two giggling about now?” Aiden said with an interested expression, but I quickly closed my handbag again and turned back towards him.

“Nothing,” I said innocently and hurried out of the front door. “Let’s go and eat. I’m starving.”

“I’m feeling pretty hungry too,” he said, and I felt his hand slip around my waist as we made our way out of the building. “I’m just not sure what I’ll get to eat yet.”

We made our way to his car, and Aiden hurried forward so that he could open the passenger door to his what appeared to be a new black Mercedes C300. “Not driving your Lincoln Navigator anymore?” I asked in surprise.

“No, it’s at home.”

“Oh, so this is a second car?” I raised an eyebrow at him. He had a Lincoln and a Mercedes now?

“Yeah.” He nodded and then closed the door after I slid into the luxurious tan leather seat. It felt plush and warm against my bare legs, and I sank back into the seat with a happy smile on my face.

“Why did you get another car?” I asked him as he got behind the driver’s seat.

“Because I wanted to.” He shrugged. “Why? Don’t you like Mercedes?”

“They seem fine. I’ve never been in one before.”

“Oh. They’re very smooth.” He turned on the engine and looked over at me. “Hear how it purrs for me?”

“No, not really.” I shook my head, and he put his hand to his ear and growled.

“You don’t hear that?”

“No, and thank God. If I heard that sound coming from your engine, I wouldn’t still be in your car.”

“Touché.” He laughed. “Okay, are you ready to eat?”

“I’ve been ready.”

“How is your knee?” His right hand reached down and touched my leg. My skin tingled as his fingertips gently brushed across my skin and to my kneecap.

“It’s okay. It tingles a bit, but it will be okay.”

“Good.” His fingers moved back up my leg and up my thigh, and my breath caught as they worked their way towards the middle of my leg. “I love your dress, by the way,” he said and moved his fingers back to the steering wheel.

“Thank you,” I said and looked over at him. “You look very dapper in your shirt and tie.”

“I’m glad you appreciate the tie.”

“I always appreciate a tie,” I said, and he looked at me with a smile.

“In all circumstances.”

“Yes,” I said, barely breathing as he gazed at me.

“Good.” He changed the gears suddenly and pulled out into the street.

“Where are we going?” I asked him as we zipped along the road with the other cars.

“I figured I’d take you out for a nice steak dinner,” he said as I adjusted in the seat and fiddled with the radio. “Anything but Top 40, please.”

“What’s wrong with Top 40? I love Top 40.”

“I don’t need to hear Katy Perry or Beyoncé screeching in my ear about how they love being single.”

“They don’t screech. And they aren’t single.” I rolled my eyes at him. I stopped on a country music station and looked at him. “Is this better?”

“Nope. I don’t want to hear about anyone taking their dog and their pickup truck to the lake to get over their ex.”

“That’s horrible.” I laughed. “Not every country music song is about pickup trucks.”

“There’s enough for me to veto this station.”

“What about this one?” I stopped it on a Spanish station and we listened to a man singing his heart out.

“I have no idea what he’s saying.” Aiden frowned. “Something about balancing?”

“No, he’s talking about dancing.” I laughed. “Bailamos is what he’s saying, not balancing. Bailamos doesn’t even sound like balancing.”

“Hmm, I don’t mind listening to this station if you’re going to continue talking to me in Spanish.”

“Oh?” I asked him curiously. “All I said was bailamos.”

“And you sounded sexy saying it. I have a thing for Spanish accents.”

“My accent isn’t even that good.”

“It’s good enough, my sexy señorita.”

“Oh, Aiden.” I rolled my eyes.

“Say Aiiiden.” He drawled out his name as he said it with an accent.

“Or maybe I’ll call you Juan.”

“You can call me whatever you want, señorita.”

“You’re an idiot,” I said, and we both laughed.

“Seriously, though. I’m glad you came to dinner with me tonight.

“It’s not like you really gave me a choice,” I said. “It was more of an order.”

“Well, thanks for obeying orders.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, and he reached over and squeezed my hand.

“So I wanted to talk about the—” he said at the same time that I said “What’s going on with you and Elizabeth?”

“So I guess we’re both ready to talk, then?” He looked at me with a smile. “What did you want to talk about first?”

“What were you going to say?”

“I wanted to talk to you about that night you came to my room.”

“Oh, again.”

“I wanted you to know that I don’t want to be your best friend’s creepy older brother.”

“You’re not creepy at all.”

“Sometimes I think I am.” His voice sounded frustrated. “You and Liv have been best friends for so long, and I don’t want you to think that I’m trying to horn in on that relationship.”

“Aiden, I don’t know if you remember, but I was the one who snuck into your bed. Not the other way around,” I said with a small laugh. “I was the one who wanted you.”

“I wasn’t sure if I’d led you on.”

“How had you led me on?” I asked curiously.

“You know, when I used to tutor you,” he said and glanced at me before switching lanes.

“You mean when you tutored me for math?” I thought back to when I was in ninth grade and he’d spent a summer helping me figure out pre-calc and algebra.

“Yeah. And helped you figure out how to kiss.” His voice dropped. “I still feel guilty about that.”

“Why?” I looked at him in shock; I was surprised that he’d even remembered those days.

“I was your first kiss.” He sighed. “And the first guy you slept with. I kinda felt like an asshole.”

“Aiden, you were my first kiss, and you were amazing.” I laughed. “If anything, I was the asshole. I was the one who practically forced you to teach me how to kiss.”

“You didn’t force me.”

“I begged you for two weeks.” I laughed. “And practically grabbed your face that one time.”

“You were a bit aggressive, yes.”

“And you were so sweet,” I said to him. “You led me to Liv’s bed, laid me back, told me to close my eyes, and then kissed me softly.”

“And then you shoved your tongue down my throat.” He laughed. “And Liv came in and screamed.”

“That was hilarious.” I giggled. “I can still remember the look of horror on Liv’s face when I told her that I’d kissed you and that you were my first kiss. She looked like she wanted to throw up.”

“She never let me forget about it.” He grinned and then pulled into a parking spot. “I think that was part of the reason I didn’t bring up us having slept together with you. I didn’t know how you felt, and I didn’t want there to be any awkwardness in your relationship with Liv.”

“Oh, Aiden.” I sighed. “I thought you hated me. I thought you thought I was some sort of crazy slut or something and you were embarrassed.”

“Never.” He shook his head and turned off the engine and faced me. “You know I’ve always been attracted to you.”

“You have?” I asked, my eyes wide.

“Hasn’t that been obvious the last couple of months?” He grinned. “I can’t keep my eyes off of you.”

“Well, you have kept your hands off of me,” I said and realized he’d said eyes and not hands. “Oops, I mean eyes.”

“I’ve had a hard time keeping both off of you.” He looked directly into my eyes. “I think us all getting together for Gabby’s fake engagement, and then with Xander and Liv has really made me see what I’ve been missing.”

“Yeah, we have been around each other a lot recently,” I said with a small smile. “I’ve had a hard time keeping my eyes off of you as well.”

“Well, I am super handsome.” He gave me a smug smile, and I hit him in the shoulder.