Chuckling, Aidan leaned down and whispered in her ear. “He held back because he wanted you. You have no idea what Bradfords are really capable of because everyone has held back, but I’m not going to. God, you and I are going to have so much fun together,” he whispered, before straightening up and sending her a wink that had her starting to look over her shoulder only to rethink it.
Wise decision, Aidan thought as he decided to do the one thing that would ensure that his brother kept the little pain in his ass out of his way for the rest of the day.
Chapter 33
“That was the meanest thing that I’ve ever seen,” Melanie said sometime later, nodding solemnly even as she had to admit that she was impressed, a little terrified, and definitely turned on.
“What was?” the man that had effectively ensured that Lucifer wouldn’t let Rebecca out of his sight for the rest of the night, absently asked as he parked the car.
“Umm, nothing?” she said, deciding that it was probably in her best interest never to mention it again.
“I hope you’re hungry,” Aidan said, drawing her attention to-
“We’re at a buffet?” Melanie asked, admittedly confused since the last she’d heard, every buffet restaurant within fifty miles had banned the Bradfords, more specifically, the men in the family.
“The owner’s son had an accident last year and I was able to help them out,” he said, shrugging it off.
“And he took the ban off you,” she guessed.
“Yes, he did,” Aidan said as he climbed out of the car and quickly made his way around to her side to help her.
“Thank you,” Melanie said as she leaned up and kissed his chin.
“You’re very welcome,” he said, taking her hand in his and-
“You didn’t really think that we wouldn’t find out about this, did you?” Jason, an incredibly handsome man and Aidan’s cousin, if she remembered correctly, asked when they turned around.
“You have some explaining to do, little brother,” Danny, who she had to admit was a pretty decent snuggler, said as Duncan joined him while Trevor, who had snuck into the Fire & Brimstone a total of fifteen times before the ban was lifted, stood there glaring.
“You really do,” Jason said, folding his arms over his chest.
“I think the real question is, did I really care if you found out?” Aidan asked, stepping past them.
“Watch your back, traitor,” Jason called after them as Aidan pulled his phone out of his back pocket and sent a quick text, which was followed a few seconds later by an, “Oh, shit…” from Jason that had her glancing over her shoulder to find him staring down at his phone, swallowing hard as he followed that up with another, “Oh, shit.”
“What did you do?” Melanie asked as Aidan opened the door for her.
“What makes you think I did something?” Aidan asked, blinking innocently as he walked into the restaurant behind her.
“You’re evil, aren’t you?” she asked, only half-kidding.
Chuckling, he leaned down and kissed her. “Yes, I am.”
Nodding, she said, “That’s good to know,” even as she felt that should have been mentioned in one of his five things. At least, she knew enough never to cross him, Melanie decided only to frown when she heard a little boy yell, “Uncle Aidan!” as an adorable little boy came running towards them and launched himself at Aidan. He caught the little boy and picked him up as the the little boy wrapped his arm around him.
“Look! I’ve got an Ironman arm now!” the little boy said excitedly as he raised his prosthetic arm.
“That is one cool looking arm, Cody,” Aidan said, smiling warmly as he placed Cody on the counter so that he could take a closer look at his arm.
“It has superpowers and everything!” Cody said with an excited smile only to frown when he added, “But the light doesn’t work and it’s starting to pinch a little.”
“Well, I know someone who can help with that if it’s okay with your dad,” Aidan said, throwing a questioning look at the man standing behind the counter, who was sending nervous glances towards the parking lot where Aidan’s brothers and cousins stood, glaring.
After a moment, he reluctantly nodded.
Aidan pulled out his phone and sent another text before placing his phone on the counter so that he could give Cody his undivided attention as he explained all the powers his special arm held. Smiling, Melanie shifted her attention to the wall covered in plaques and framed newspaper clippings and-
Couldn’t help but chuckle when she saw the sign bolted to the wall with “No Bradfords Allowed” etched in metal before she shifted her attention to the large newspaper article framed on the wall.
She felt her stomach drop when she read the heading. “Local Doctor Risks Life to Save Child from Fiery Crash.”
“They couldn’t get him out,” Cody’s father said, joining her.
“What happened?” Melanie asked, glancing over to find Aidan smiling at the little boy.
“My father-in-law was driving Cody home last year and he had a heart attack. The accident was pretty bad. They ended up pinned between a truck and a bus. My father-in-law passed away instantly. A few witnesses managed to get him out, but they couldn’t reach Cody. His arm was trapped, pinning him in the wreckage and then the fire started, and they couldn’t get close enough to help Cody,” he explained.
“And Aidan saved him?” Melanie asked, glancing back at his father.
“He more than saved him. He crawled into what was left of the car while it was one fire. He managed to get Cody’s arm free, but it was beyond saving. By the time he got Cody out, he’d stopped breathing. Somehow Aidan got him back. He stayed with Cody, working on him in the hospital, got him into the O.R., and kept going. He stayed with Cody in the ICU all night, took care of him, and made sure that he pulled through. He didn’t leave Cody’s side until he opened his eyes a couple of days later.”
“I didn’t know that,” Melanie said, glancing back at Aidan to find him carefully removing Cody’s prosthetic arm so that his brother and cousins could look at it while Duncan pulled a handful of gauze pads out of his medic bag.
Helped him with an accident, Melanie thought, biting back a sigh. Not only was he incredibly sweet, kind, funny, and devious, but he was also humble. He was such a good man.
“Who’s that?” Cody asked, gesturing towards her.
“This,” Aidan said, smiling as he reached over and took her hand in his, “is my fiancée, Melanie.”
Before she could react at being called his fiancée, Cody was asking, “You’re having a baby?”
“A little boy,” Aidan said, smiling hugely only to frown when Cody worried his bottom lip. “What’s wrong, little man?”
“Did…did you keep your promise?” Cody asked, glancing at her belly. “Did you name him after me like you said you would? You told me in the hospital that if you ever had a son that you would-”
“Name him after you,” Aidan finished, closing his eyes in resignation and slowly exhaled before he said, “Cody, I-”
“He did,” Melanie said with a warm smile for the little boy, “Cody Drew Bradford.”
“Really?” Cody asked, smiling.
“Really,” Aidan murmured absently as he looked at her with something in his expression that had her swallowing hard and looking away before she did something that would give away just how much she loved him.
Chapter 34
He’d fucked up again, Aidan thought as they stood there in the long line that didn’t seem to be moving, waiting to buy their tickets while he tried to figure out how to fix this. He wasn’t sure what she was more pissed about, the fact that he’d called her his fiancée or the fact that she’d been cornered into changing their son’s name, but he knew that she was pissed. She hadn’t said a word to him in over two hours never mind looked at him and he had no fucking idea how to make this right. The only thing that he knew was that it was killing him knowing that he’d hurt her.
He opened hi
s mouth to apologize only to find himself struggling not to smile when she suddenly said, “I switched out my brother’s bottle of lotion for glue because he pissed me off. I thought he would end up getting his hand stuck to his arm.”
“I see,” he murmured as they stepped up in line, “and I’m guessing that’s not what happened.”
“No, what happened was a lot of screaming at two in the morning and finding out that my brother knew how to get around the parental controls on his computer,” Melanie said with a sad shake of her head.
“Did he ever figure out that it was you?” Aidan asked, glancing at her.
There was a sad sigh and then, “For some reason, everyone thought that Caitlyn did it.”
“And why would they think that?” he asked, chuckling.
Blinking, she said, “Because I told them that it was her?”
“God, you were fucking devious,” Aidan said, unable to help but smile as she took his hand in hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze as she admitted, “Still am.”
“That’s good to know,” he said, glancing back at the line to find that it stopped again.
“I can see that it would be,” Melanie murmured in agreement before she asked, “Why didn’t you want children, Aidan?”
When he didn’t say anything because he had no idea what to say, she said, “Rebecca and I weren’t allowed to be in the same class, so I would just go to her class every morning and sit with her at her desk until the school got sick of trying to separate us and let us stay together.”
“My parents tried to enforce their rule of no sleepovers on a school night for a while, but then they met Rebecca’s parents and decided that those rules didn’t apply to us. They even put an extra bed in my room and pretty much adopted her by the time that she turned ten. She stayed mostly with us, spent holidays and vacations with us and her parents really didn’t care. I’m pretty sure that if my parents had asked to adopt her that they would have said yes, but Rebecca didn’t want that. I think she always thought that they’d come around one day.”
“Some people aren’t meant to be parents,” Aidan said quietly.
“No, they’re not,” she murmured in agreement before asking, “Is that why?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head.
“Then why?”
“Because I knew that I would never be as good as my parents and I couldn’t stomach the idea of giving my children anything less than what I had,” he explained only to frown when she said, “You’re an idiot.”
“What?” Aidan asked, glancing down at her.
Nodding, she said, “You’re definitely an idiot,” with a heavy sigh that had him narrowing his eyes.
“I’m just as surprised as you are,” Melanie said with a sad shake of her head before once again adding, “But you’re definitely an idiot.”
When he continued to glare, she said, “You’re going to be an incredible father,” shrugged, and then mumbled sadly, “I wish they had pie.”
That was followed by, “Or cake. God, I could really go for a slice of cake.”
When she worried her bottom lip and glanced at the line of stores on the other side of the street, no doubt looking for any signs that would indicate that they sold cake, he found himself saying something that he should have said a long time ago.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Melanie mumbled absently as she continued searching for that cake, looking really fucking hopeful.
“I never should have talked to you the way that I did. Even as I was saying it, I wished that I could stop and take it back. I have no fucking idea why I did it other than the fact that you scare me, Melanie. Have from the first moment that I met you and when I realized just how badly I’d fucked up, I panicked. There’s no excuse for it and if I could go back and take back every word that I said that morning, I would. I am so sor-” Aidan said, only to cut himself off with a groan when she grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him down for a kiss that had him struggling to remember where they were.
Without a word, Melanie tightened her hold on his shirt as she stepped back, taking them out of line and leaving him with no other choice but to go with her, terrified that if he stopped kissing her that-
“Oh, my god! Look who it is!” a painfully familiar voice said, reluctantly drawing their attention.
As they broke off the kiss, Aidan kept his eyes locked with Melanie’s, letting her know that this was far from over. After a slight hesitation, they broke apart, but he didn’t let her go far. He took her hand in his and ran his thumb over the back of her hand as they faced her sister.
“Oh, my god! It is you! What are you guys doing here?” Caitlyn asked as she grabbed onto Adam’s arm with an excited smile while Adam stood there, glaring at Melanie and looking seriously pissed off for a man that was engaged to another woman.
“We were going to see a movie,” Melanie said, moving closer to him with a wince as she placed her hand on her belly and-
“Oh, thank god,” she mumbled a few seconds later when he placed his hand on her belly, instantly calming their son, who apparently wasn’t fond of his aunt. Not that he could blame him, Aidan thought even as he couldn’t help but notice that Adam’s glare had followed the move.
“You really should be back on bed rest, Melanie,” Caitlyn said, nodding.
“I’m fine,” Melanie said, placing her hand over his right around the time that the muscle in Adam’s jaw began to tick.
“What are you looking for?” Caitlyn asked, drawing his attention back to find Melanie once again searching for the cake that he was going to have to get for her.
“Cake,” she mumbled absently only to end up pouting when she didn’t find anything that looked promising.
God, she was just so fucking cute, Aidan thought unable to help but smile as he leaned down and kissed her cheek. “If we leave right now, we might be able to make it to Dixon’s before they close,” he said, smiling when Melanie suddenly turned and began waddling towards his car, dragging him behind her with a murmured, “Goodbye,” and-
“I really enjoyed talking to you last night, Aidan. I hope you were able to enjoy the dinner I made for you,” came the announcement meant to fuck him over.
Chapter 35
“When I was six years old my brothers convinced me that I could get cooties by taking a bath,” Aidan said as he opened the door for her and helped her out of the car when all Melanie wanted to do was go home and curl up with her blankets and forget the last hour ever happened.
“Of course, I didn’t believe them,” Aidan said, leading her around the front of the car where his headlights were lighting up the empty back parking lot of Dixon’s bakery. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and placed it on the hood of his car as Brian McKnight’s “Anytime” began playing.
“So,” he said as he pulled her into his arms and began moving them slowly to the sounds of Brian McKnight singing one of her favorite songs, “they waited until I fell asleep before they proceeded to cover me in red paste that hardened overnight and left a rash. No matter what my parents said after that, they couldn’t convince me to take a bath. For about a month, I refused to go near water, which of course, my brothers found hilarious until my parents threatened to withhold dessert until I took a bath.”
“How long did it take for them to convince you to take a bath?” she found herself asking as he pulled her closer.
“I had about thirty seconds before they grabbed me and dragged me outside so that they could hose me down,” he said, making her lips twitch until he followed that up with, “I’m not interested in your sister’s bullshit or whatever fucked up game that she’s trying to play. I don’t want her, Melanie,” he said, making her chuckle without humor because that was eerily similar to what Adam used to say.
He used to say a lot of things, used to tell her that he loved her only…
He’d lied.
It made Melanie wonder if any of it had been real. It also made her wonder why she hadn’t care
d when Caitlyn started smiling when she saw Adam or why it never bothered her when Adam couldn’t seem to look away from her sister. But it bothered her when she saw the way that Caitlyn looked at Aidan tonight.
“And the little prick used to say all those things, didn’t he?” Aidan guessed correctly, sighing heavily as he-
“How about this? I want a woman who fucking adores carbs, hogs the bed, kicks me in her sleep, and has a generous ass that I can’t get enough of,” he said, making her smile until-
“Wait a minute,” Melanie said in gasped outrage when she realized what he said about her ass, but he wasn’t done.
“Is willing to violently attack me to get her hands on my food, hoards blankets, refuses to share food, is beyond fucking demanding in bed, and did I mention has a generous ass?”
Lips twitching, she said, “Yes, I believe it’s been mentioned.”
There was a heavy sigh and then, “It really should be mentioned. Now, where was I?”
“You were giving me reasons to kill you?” Melanie supplied dryly, which earned her a kiss on her forehead, somewhat appeasing her.
“Right,” Aidan said, nodding before adding, “she also needs to be too fucking stubborn to listen to reason, sneaky as hell, and she needs to drive me out of my fucking mind.”
“And that’s more important than having a generous ass?” Melanie found herself asking, loving the sound of his chuckle as he leaned down and kissed her only to glare when he mumbled, “No, the generous ass is definitely a deal-breaker.”
“You do realize that I’m probably going to lose weight after the baby is born, right?” Melanie felt the need to point out.
“Are you planning on giving up carbs?” Aidan asked, sounding thoughtful.
“No.”
“Then I’m not really worried about it,” he said, making her smile as she felt herself relax in his arms.
“I’m glad to see that you have your priorities straight,” Melanie said as he moved his hand to her belly as they continued dancing slowly.
Irresistible (Neighbor from Hell Book 11) Page 17
