He had her there. If it weren’t for Janet, she really wouldn’t be here. And Callie had only come home on the rare weekend when no one else was likely to be around. “So, Spence, why are you up here instead of down there socializing? Who are you hiding from?”
“Not hiding so much as keeping the peace. But since hiding is on your mind, who are you hiding from?”
“She’s hiding from me.”
Callie froze. She figured Aiden and Zia would be here; no one turned down an invitation to Sherman parties, and the social climbers came in hordes. Zia definitely fell into that category ever since her family had lost everything when the market crashed. Callie braced herself to see the happy couple. She plastered an artificial smile onto her face, and relaxed only when she found Aiden alone.
Her breath caught on a greeting; he looked so ruggedly handsome standing before her. Though a few inches shorter than Spencer, Aiden was no less spectacular. He looked like she remembered: dark, full hair and strong, broad shoulders.
“Aiden, isn’t it?” Spencer reached out his hand to the other man.
“It is. And you’re Spencer. It’s good to see you again.”
“Wow, what has it been eight years? You played a good game of tackle Frisbee, I seem to remember. Not many can hold their own against this family, speaking of…”
Callie smacked Spencer’s shoulder. “Mom said no Sherman Games today.”
“Yes, well, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”
“Spencer, Mom’s had every sporting item removed from the property—Spencer.”
“What?”
“Don’t ‘what’ me.”
“Oh, now you sound like JC. On that note, I’ll leave you two to catch up. Aiden, see if you can talk this one into coming home more. She doesn’t seem to realize how much she’s missed.” Spencer kissed Callie on the forehead and headed down the granite staircase.
“He is right you know. You are missed.”
“Aiden, stop. I can’t do this.”
“Do you hate me that much?”
She looked up into his deep green eyes so full of pain. “I don’t hate you.”
“That’s not how you’ve acted.”
She bit her lip and turned away again. “I don’t hate you, Aiden.”
“We need to talk about that night.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“I know I shouldn’t have pushed for more that night. You were just being friendly, but I couldn’t help it. Nothing has been right since we kissed.”
“Don’t.”
“Damn it, Callie. I can’t stand this wall between us.” He gripped her shoulders turning her and forcing her to look at him. “I miss you.”
“Please don’t. What about Zia?”
“Zia?” He shook his head and took a deep breath. “What does she have to do with us?”
“Um, let’s see…to start with she’s your wife.” Callie tried to turn but his hands gripped tighter forcing her to stay put.
“Didn’t anyone tell you? Zia and I aren’t married anymore. Our divorce was final two months ago.”
“Divorced?” The word came out as a whisper as the world rocked around her.
Aiden grabbed her hand, threaded his fingers into hers, and pulled her down the stairs. “Come on, you look like you could use a drink.”
“Divorced? But why?”
“Honestly, the reasons to get divorced far outnumbered the reasons to stay together. We separated a year ago and we do our best to keep away from one another. But I’m sure she’s here somewhere—one of the many reasons I wanted to come today.”
“I don’t understand.”
Aiden put up a finger telling her to hold that thought as he ordered from the open bar. “One Long Island Iced Tea and a Sam Adams, please.”
She took the mixed drink when it was ready. A part of her leaped for joy that he still remembered her favorite drink. Sipping the cold beverage, she let him lead her to one of the standing-only tables under the white tent. He looked around, but didn’t say anything for a long while.
“So, recovered from the shock?”
“I think so.”
“Sorry, I really thought you knew.”
“No. I didn’t.”
“I’m surprised your family didn’t tell you.”
Heat engulfed her cheeks as Callie looked away, embarrassed. “You and Zia are sort of non-topics for me. I don’t ask. They don’t tell.”
“I see.” Placing his drink on the table he grabbed her hand again rubbing circles over her knuckles. “I never ever meant to hurt you.”
“Why are you here?” She couldn’t think about what he’d just said. Her head was still spinning. Aiden was no longer married.
“Zia’s hostility toward you hasn’t ebbed any. I think she has always been jealous. I just didn’t see it until it was way too late. I hoped that being here today I could somehow protect you and maybe get you to agree to have dinner with me tonight.”
Callie opened her mouth to say something, but nothing happened. Her brain and her lips didn’t appear to be communicating. But fate intervened, and Aiden cursed under his breath as he looked to somewhere just over Callie’s shoulder. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know who was coming their way. “Zia?”
He nodded, squeezing her hand tight.
“Well, well, well, Aiden. It didn’t take you long to hunt down Callie, now did it?” The venom in Zia’s voice shocked her.
Turning, Callie couldn’t believe her eyes. Zia, the queen of fashion, looked disheveled and drunk. “Hello, Zia.”
“Don’t you ‘hello’ me. You.” Zia aimed an unsteady finger at Callie. “Still trying to steal my man?”
“Zia, enough,” Aiden muttered in a low undertone.
“You just couldn’t stand it, Callie, that he was marrying me, that he loved me and not you. You had to go and try to steal him the night before my wedding.” Zia’s voice raised another octave as people around them stopped talking and looked at them. Great, the Sherman cousins were starting to gather to save the day. Not what Callie wanted or needed.
Grabbing Zia’s elbow, Callie tried to lead her out of the tent. “Come on, Zia. Let’s go into the house and get some coffee. We can talk in private.”
“Don’t touch me, you fat cow,” Zia spat. She pulled away, bumping into a waiter walking by. “Watch where you’re going.”
This time, Aiden stepped up. “You’re making a scene. Now knock it off.”
“You can’t tell me what to do Aiden.” Zia drew out the A like a child stubbing their toe. “We aren’t married anymore because of her.” But there seemed to be less fight in her now as she looked up at Aiden.
In a hushed voice, so no one but Callie and Zia could hear, he said, “No, we aren’t married anymore because the night before our wedding I shared one kiss with Callie, a kiss that I would like to remind you I confessed to. For two years you made our lives a living hell, Zia, every argument coming down to a single kiss. Yet at the same time that simple kiss was taking place, you were fucking my best man and continued to until I filed for divorce.”
Callie blinked. All this time she had felt guilty about a single kiss, and Zia had been screwing around. She glanced at Aiden. He looked furious. If he had been a cartoon character, he would have steam coming out his ears. His hand searched for Callie’s and, when he found it, gripped tight. She gave him a weak smile before casting a glance back at Zia.
“Why you bastard. If, if…damn you both.” And with that, Zia raised her hand and went to strike Aiden; she missed and in her drunken stupor, stumbled, and landed the slap directly on Callie’s left cheek before stumbling again and falling to her knees.
“What the hell is going on here?” Callie’s cousin, Tony, demanded, taking control of the situation in the way only Tony Sherman could. With his gaze locked on Callie, she could see him tense in anger before moving on to Aiden, and finally resting on Zia. “Someone get that woman out of here. Trent, take her home, please
.”
Callie placed a hand to her stinging face, moving her jaw to work out the pain, thankful for Tony’s presence. With him here, this little event wouldn’t turn her sister’s graduation into fodder for the scandal rags.
“So sorry, Callie!” Zia managed to get to her feet and threw her arms around Callie, tears streaming down her face. “I didn’t mean that. Please don’t hate me anymore!”
“Trenton. Now,” Tony demanded, pulling Zia off Callie and pushing her at his younger brother.
Trenton, struggling with Zia, nearly growled at Tony while yanking the drunken woman behind him as he left the tent. “I’m trying, Tony—No, Zia. This way.”
“Let’s get some ice on that.” Putting his hand around her waist, Aiden walked Callie out of the tent.
They followed Tony as he cleaved a path through the forming crowd. Tony didn’t stop until they reached the guest house located just to the side of the main house. Tony walked in ahead of them and shut the blinds before handing Aiden the bucket of ice he had grabbed off the bar on their way through the party.
“Aiden, there should be some dishcloths in the kitchen. You okay, Cal?” Tony asked, removing her hand. “A slight scratch and a pretty good hand print, but I don’t think you’ll bruise. Okay, let me go see about keeping everyone out so you can rest and regroup for a minute.”
“Thanks, Tony.”
“My pleasure.” He kissed her head, just like Spence, before heading to the door. “Put ice on that now. Just text Haven or me if you need something.”
Aiden went into the kitchen and found a dishtowel, filled it with the ice and placed it gently on her cheek. “Jeez, I should have waited to approach you until later. This is all my fault.”
“How is this your fault? You can’t control Zia.”
“Oh believe me, I know that.” He pressed her hand over the ice so she could hold it in place, then he walked to the blinds and peeked through at the party still going strong.
“Can you lock the door? I really don’t need everyone coming to check on me.”
He nodded, flipping the deadbolt before sitting on the arm of the sofa. “You know that was meant for me. I hate that you got in between something that doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
“It seemed to have a great deal to do with me.”
“I think you have been the whip to beat me with, that’s all. I often wonder how different things would have been if I had gone away to college, too. But with Mom’s health so poor…anyway. Our relationship seemed good at first. Zia was everything a man would want. I didn’t see it was a big sham until later, and by then it was too late to get out.”
“You don’t have to tell me this.”
“Keep that ice on. And I do. You deserve to know and I need to say this. When we got engaged, I genuinely thought I was in love with her. She had convinced me that you weren’t coming back and had never really had any true feelings for me.”
“What?”
“Looking back, she did a lot to undermine our friendship. Ever since high school, I think. She hated that everyone liked you and tolerated her.”
“No, that’s not true. She was the popular one.”
“Callie. What are you talking about? No one wanted to be around Zia, but you two came as a pair. Even I knew that. And I guess I thought if I couldn’t have you, Zia was the next best thing.”
Callie dropped the ice and stared at Aiden. He wanted her? “Aiden?”
Getting up, he picked up the ice and put it back in the dishrag and pressed it against her cheek again. “You have to keep the ice on, hun.”
She placed her hand over his and stared into his eyes—eyes so sad she couldn’t take it. This was a man she had loved for two decades, and he might have felt the same for her. Eaten by jealousy for two years then guilt for three, she had kept her distance from the one man who made her happy. Not anymore.
“Callie, I…”
“Shhh.” She placed a finger to his lips. “No more guilt. No more what if-ing the past. We’re here now. What do you plan to do about it?”
He searched her eyes, then moved the ice pack to the side table. Aiden’s warm hands cupped her face and his roughened thumbs caressed her lips. Butterflies churned in her stomach, and her nerves tightened as the desire to have him kiss her grew. When Callie didn’t think she could wait a second longer, he put her out of her misery. Lowering his lips to hers, Aiden grazed his mouth ever so gently over hers.
Long fingers laced into her hair, keeping Callie locked in a kiss she had no intention of breaking. Finally, she was kissing him and there was no reason not to. He wasn’t engaged. He wasn’t married. Her stupid pact with Zia was null and void, if ever it meant anything to begin with. But what made this special was that she had a clean conscience about what they were doing. No jealousy, no self-recriminations. Just this moment. Just a man kissing a woman whose broken heart was beginning to beat for the first time in years.
She ran her fingers under the fine cloth of his suit coat, pushing the wool over his chiseled shoulders and arms until it puddled on the floor. His hands only left her head long enough to shake off the sleeves.
“You have to stop me if this is going too fast,” Aiden said.
“Fast? I’ve wanted this since I was sixteen. No one would call thirteen years too fast.”
“I wish you had told me,” Aiden mumbled against Callie’s lips before kissing her again. One arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer against his muscular front. Her fingers worked his tie free, throwing it on the sofa next to him. She fumbled with the top button for a minute before he pulled away and undid it himself. He got to the fourth button down and stopped. “Wait. This isn’t just now; you aren’t going to disappear again, are you?”
“Are you kidding me?” Exasperated, she shook her head. They were finally together, what else mattered?
“I don’t want just a quick screw.”
“What are you talking about?” She started working to undo the buttons he’d paused at.
His hands engulfed hers. “This wasn’t my plan. I came hoping to woo you. Hoped you would let me take you to dinner.”
“Dinner is a definite possibility.” She moved in to kiss him again.
“I’m serious, Callie. If all you want is to get laid and then go back to your life, then I can’t do this. I have waited too long for you. I think watching you walk away would destroy me. If you slept with me just to get me out of your system, I might not make it.”
Her breath caught in her lungs. For a second she couldn’t think. It was like her wildest dreams were coming true, but sliced with reality. Biting her lip, she sighed then smiled. “I have a job I have to return to, but I’m not going to walk away from you again. Not if we finally have a chance at something.”
His lips brushed hers. “I want everything you can give me, Callie.”
“We’ll find a way to make it work.” She laced her fingers through his hair. It seemed so out of character for tough, strong Aiden to be so much putty in her hands. This time he didn’t pull away when her lips reached his. He encouraged the kiss, pushing her back until she bumped into the kitchen breakfast bar dividing the kitchenette and seating areas of the small guest house. Aiden lifted her up the few inches so she sat on the granite counter top, bringing her eye to eye with him. He kissed her cheeks, her eyes, before moving back to her lips. He made Callie feel beautiful, wanted, and, above all, cherished. His hand dropped to her knee, and then moved up her silk stockinged leg. He played with the lace band of her thigh highs before moving over her hips to hold her ass. Groaning, he worked the skirt under her until Callie’s ass touched the cold stone.
“Lean back.” His voice, husky and deep, made her shiver with excitement. She did as he requested, and brought one booted foot up to steady herself on the narrow counter.
His hand ran up her leather boot, moving her foot over his shoulder. “Whoever decided to bring the knee high boots back in style, I have to personally thank.” His lips brushed fro
m her knee, up along her inner thigh, until he met with her silk French-cut panties. “Lift up.”
Callie obeyed, shivering as his skilled fingers worked the fabric over her hips, thighs, and finally off completely. Leaning back in, Aiden pushed her knees wider apart with his shoulders forcing her open to him. She lay bare before him in ways she had only dreamed about.
Aiden ran his thumb down the narrow patch of hair at the apex of her thighs, coming to rest on her aching clit. A hiss escaped Callie through clenched teeth. All she wanted was to yell out, make him understand what she needed, what she wanted. But she could hear people outside chatting through the closed windows and if she could hear them, they could hear her as well. And the last thing she wanted was to broadcast what she was doing in here.
“Relax,” he whispered against her thighs. As Aiden’s mouth clasped onto her clit, sucking and stroking her pleasure, she bucked off the counter. His palm, fingers splayed open, rested on her belly and pressed her back down, forcing her to take her pleasure from him.
A moan escaped her, she couldn’t help it. It just felt so good to have him licking her pussy. And then his hand moved up her soft hips and sides to under her bra; the sensation of his fingers pinching her erect nipples was too much, and she exploded. Her orgasm took over, starting at her belly like a starburst and sending tendrils of electric pleasure through her until she was helpless to do anything but let the ripples shake through her.
Seconds, minutes, perhaps hours passed, and she finally became aware of her surroundings when she opened her eyes to see him leaning against her knee still resting on his shoulder. His smile nearly brought her to tears. Such awe in his face.
“Wow.” Wow? Really that’s all she could think of to say? It seemed so minimal compared to what had just happened. What he had just brought her to.
“You are so beautiful. I’ve dreamed of doing that for so damned long.” Aiden lowered her leg, grabbed her hand and pulled her back into his arms. His lips caught Callie’s and her head swirled as she tasted herself on his tongue. Tasted what he had just savored. As his tongue played with hers, Callie touched him as she had always wanted to. Moving quickly, she released the rest of his buttons, letting the shirt fall to the floor on top of his discarded jacket. She broke the kiss only long enough to help him remove his undershirt. Then, finally, glorious fine toned skin lay under her fingertips. His skin burned to the touch, his muscles tense as she moved down over chiseled pecks to muscular abs. She wanted to look at him, to really see what he looked like, but not yet. She could look later. She would just feel now.
Kissing the Bridesmaid (A Finally Ever After Story & A Sherman Cousins Short Story) Page 2
