“I, ah, I need to tell you something,” He began, licking his lower lip.
Raeve felt the rush of searing heat pooling in her cheeks as she briefly imagined those lips on hers, feverishly kissing her until all her senses reset themselves. She waited for him to speak again, anxious to hear his voice vibrate against the dark night, as he struggled for the right words.
“What’s up? Are you okay? You look like you have a fever or something.” The sheen of sweat that broke across his forehead glistened as the silvery moon rays embraced the chiseled lines of his face. The impish smile that shyly came out only made the hard set of his jaw seem more handsome.
“No, I’m not fine,” he blurted, as his hand caressed her cheek softly.
Raeve breathed against his hand as his knuckles brushed across her skin.
“I do have a fever, but it’s because of you. You’re like fire in my veins,” he admitted. “Raeve, I’ve wanted you for so long, but I didn’t know how to tell you.”
Her breath sawed in and out as she considered him with a wistful smile. “Really?” she finally managed to say after a few surreal moments. Her heart started to pound, nearly knocking the breath from her lungs.
“Yeah, and I’m a fool for not telling you sooner. Look, I know I’m heading back to base in a couple of days, but I’d like to see you again. Before I leave, I want to see you, Raeve…”
His eyes danced over hers, as she tried to catch her breath. Trying to focus on what he had said made the tilt-a-whirl look like child’s play.
“Raeve, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just shocked is all,” she confessed. Surprised when his eyes dropped and he stepped back. “What?”
“I guess you aren’t interested?”
The hurt in his eyes stunned her. How could she not be interested in him? He had plagued her dreams relentlessly for the past two years. “Aidan, I came here tonight to try and tell you how I felt about you. Surprised? Yes, but in a good way. God I’ve wished for this for so long. Every time I saw you here…” She could feel the heat burning in her cheeks as they flushed with a new shade of pink she hadn’t thought possible. “I wanted to walk up to you and say something, but I was afraid.”
“Afraid of what?” His smiled turned innocent as he absently brushed his fingers down the length of her arm. “Afraid of me?”
Her fingers twisted into each other as she tried to distract herself from the burn of him.
“Yes…no…shit….kind of.” Aidan made her fumbling for words worse as he stroked her cheek. Her body closed the gap between them, like a magnetic-pull attracted their bodies, fusing her to him. “I see how the other girls react around you. I hear the talk. So, I guess I’m wondering why me?”
Pulling her closer still, his soft laugh reached his eyes as he stared deep into hers. “I’ve wanted to ask you out for as long as I can remember and just didn’t know how to.” The moment stretched out in silence as he wrapped his arms around the small of her back. “So, is that a yes then?” he asked as an impish smile started to spread across his lips.
Raeve thought for sure the blush on her cheeks could be seen from the NASA space station. When she nodded, Aidan pulled her up into the embrace she had been craving. As he nestled his face into her neck, she felt him inhale deeply. The tip of his nose softly traced the curve of her neck, sending shivers down her spine once again.
“I’d love to,” she whispered.
The feel of his arm around her back as he tilted her chin up to meet his lips, caused her stomach to jump as if butterflies had decided to reside there permanently and flutter around like a hurricane. His lips felt like warm honey as he kissed her softly at first.
Slipping her hands around his neck, Raeve, crushed him down on her. Slicing her way into his hot mouth, she needed to taste him, even if it was just this once. She had no illusions about this first kiss and how it could very well be their last kiss. Her heart thundered in her ears as he sank deeper into her mouth, approving of her need to consume him.
His arms embraced her tighter, crushing her breasts against him. Her nipples peaked hard like little diamond cutters against his broad chest. This was the moment Raeve had dreamt of. Something she had hoped for, for too many nights. He wanted her― at least for the night.
***
Raeve nestled closer to Aidan, relishing the memories of that night. So much had happened since then. So much time had passed, and still this one thing hadn’t changed. She was still in love with him and dreamt of him every night he wasn’t in her bed.
Chapter Five
“Sweetheart, go back to sleep.” Brushing his knuckles down the length of her arm, Aidan savored the feel of her tiny body curled into him. It was a long awaited moment; one he wished he could wake up to every morning. His voice was barely a whisper in her ear as he nuzzled against the curve of her neck.
His warm breath skated over her skin, sending goosebumps down the length of her back, to his delight. “How’d you know I wasn’t sleeping?” As she tilted her face to his, Aidan cupped her cheek, laying a soft kiss on the corner of her smile.
“You wiggle when you wake up,” he teased, tickling her hip and pulling her tighter when she tried to squirm away. “So what were you thinking about?”
“You.”
The feel of her curves, against his body and her firm ass against his hard-on stirred his senses awake. His hands surrendered to the need to cup her breast as her fingers traipsed up and down his arm.
“Me, huh? Now why would you be thinking about me when I’m right beside you?” As he pressed a kiss into her hair, her approving mew as she wiggled her hips into him gave him all information he cared about.
Slipping from his arms, Raeve rolled over, propping herself on his chest. Her eyes glowed even in the dim light peeking through the curtains.
Licking his lips, Aidan missed kissing those lips that spread in a wide bow just for him. With her hair all mussed and skin stained with his bristle marks on her cheeks, she was the most spectacular thing he had ever seen.
“I was thinking of the night when you first kissed me. God, I was so nervous. I wanted to tell you how I felt so many times. I just thought you’d think I was some pathetic joke.” Her eyes shifted coyly as she ran her fingers through his hair.
His smile grew wide as he stared into the hazel green pools of her eyes. Her smile reached her eyes, crinkling in the corners. “I was too.” Biting back a small laugh, he could bring back the memory of that night with perfect clarity. “I swear as soon as you walked through the door, I couldn’t think. I just stopped talking completely. You looked so beautiful, and I was nervous as fuck.”
Raeve sat up, seemingly surprised by his admission. “No way, I saw you. You were playing pool with Jake, Caleb, and Marcus; didn’t seem like you were all that nervous to me.”
“I was. Trust me, I was. As soon as I saw you, you just took my breath away.
“Then why were they laughing at me?” Her fingers caressed the line of his jaw as he considered her for a moment.
He saw that little hurt and immediately felt like going back in time and back-handing his friends. He knew the truth as to why they were laughing. It wasn’t at her, but clearly she still felt the sting of believing she was the cause of it. Cupping the back of her head, he brought her lips within a breath’s reach, and stared deep into her worried eyes. “It wasn’t you they were laughing at, sweetheart. It was me, and what you did to me back then. You still have that effect on me you know.”
Her resplendent blush shadowed the bristle marks he’d left on her face as her smile perked up once again. “What do you mean, ‘that effect’? You always seemed to be so together. Solid. Am I wrong about that?”
“Usually I was, still am, just not when you’re around.” His body tensed as he gazed into those twin windows, as he searched her very soul, hoping he could replace the hurt she had felt over the years, with happiness. “Raeve, I’ve been in love with you since the first time I saw you. I knew at that mom
ent there was no one else for me. It was the first time you caught me staring at you. I just couldn’t look away, you were…are breathtaking.” Holding her close, he could feel the emotions of the past swell up like a dam ready to burst. “I’ve always known it’s you, the one that’s meant for me.”
“Seriously? We were just kids. Really how could you have known that? I mean, every chick wanted you, and you were with Kelsey when I first met you. You seemed happy enough.”
“Didn’t you ever wonder why I broke up with her a couple of weeks after I met you?” Cocking a dark slash of brow at her, his impish grin turned downright devilish. “I wanted you with every fiber of my being. It’s like I was being pulled to you. But you were so intimidating.”
Scoffing at him, Raeve pecked a tiny kiss on his lips before pulling back to consider what he was saying. “Me, little old moi, intimidating? How so? If anything, my love, you were the intimidating one. Like I said, every chick wanted you. They even took wagers on you. It was fucking disgusting.”
“Right,” he drawled looking at her in disbelief.
“And you were intimidating. Hell, you’re still this independent, free spirit. Not the flaky kind, but someone who actually goes after their dreams, Raeve. You amaze me, everyday. You never let anyone buy you drinks, or pay for anything, and I know you were struggling, yet you didn’t like handouts.”
“Still don’t,” she said while shaking her head.
“Sweetheart I wasn’t the only one who was desired. I can name a list of guys that wanted you. Even Jake wanted you. I honestly thought you’d go for him.”
“You did? Why?” she stared back at him in disbelief this time. “I didn’t even know he liked me. Honestly, I kinda always felt invisible. You know, that chick that’s like one of the guys, not really noticed as being a girl.”
“That’s why every guy wanted to be with you. You were real and didn’t like all the drama and catty bullshit. You were so laid back and easy to get along with. Do you even realize that I wasn’t the only one who wanted you?
“Babe, I know you want to flatter me, but come on….don’t blow smoke up my ass.”
“I wouldn’t, well not unless you asked me to, of course.” His smiled spread wide across his face as he continued to stroke her back. He felt there was never enough skin to touch, or quiet moments to just languish in her beauty. Crushing her to his broad chest, he knew there was no chance in hell he was going to get her to believe him. “And please, trust me when I tell you a lot of guys wanted you. I always found it funny when you were oblivious to them hitting on you. Why did you stay single? You could’ve had anyone?”
“Right, and I wasn’t about to date anyone from Red’s. Everyone had dated someone else who went there. The idea of sloppy seconds just kinda weirded me out.”
When he cocked his brow she burst out a little laugh. “I know that look and I don’t mean it the way it sounds. You were not sloppy seconds, babe. Just most of my friends back then had made the rounds of dating the same guys. I didn’t want to be just another notch on the bed post. Besides, I had secretly wished you would ask me out. I waited for two years for you, too. And P.S., I’ve never kissed a guy the second he asked me out.” Pecking another kiss on his lips, Raeve slipped from his hold as she pushed off the bed.
Aidan sank back into the pillows as he thought about that. All the high school rumors that flew around were about as solid as a fart in the wind. Every time he heard she was dating someone new, it was like another cut to his heart. Yet Raeve never seemed to show up with a male by her side when she went to Red’s, or anywhere else for that matter. It was always just her. Thinking back to those days, it occurred to him that only his female friends had fed him the bullshit. Why had he been so stupid to wait to ask her out? Biting back a curse of all the lost time he wasted wondering about her, he resigned himself to never letting her go from here on out.
So many years had passed since that night, and life had been a strange ride, but the clarity of that night came racing back to him without hesitation.
***
Aidan had been home from the army for nearly two weeks, and each night he passed the time with friends at the local haunt. Each night waiting to see her again, wondering if she would show up―the one who had caught his eye nearly two years prior. She alone, was the reason he waited for hours playing darts, shooting pool, and mingling among the crowd. Her long dark hair and the seductive sway of her hips as she walked by, took his breath everytime he saw her. However, he couldn’t leave until he saw her safely in her car as she drove off each night.
The urge to talk to her grew more ferocious every passing day. The way she smiled at him made him wonder if it was him that caused her to smile, or was it in her nature to smile that warm, kind smile. He stole wistful glances of her every chance he could and silently prayed that she didn’t catch him doing it. Her soft, hazel green eyes and contagious smile lured him in like bait. She didn’t go unnoticed by the crowd as she walked in, and said a round of hellos. She perplexed him with a unique mixture of a confident gait and shy personality, at least shy toward him.
The night was young as Aidan sat at his friend’s house, surrounded by the guys he’d grown up with. He’d seen her a few times over the past couple of weeks and hoped like hell tonight she would not disappoint in making an appearance. Surrounded by the guys he considered his confidants, his buddies, and his boys, they all knew his deal, saw the way he stared at her, and busted his balls in return for not talking to her. As the guys carried on, Aidan sat back and imagined the feel of Raeve’s petite body pressed against his. Embracing her tightly, Aidan stared down into her eyes. His hungry lips pecked kisses along the lush curve of her neck. He didn’t notice the room had fallen silent until Jake’s audible grunt snapped him out of his daydream which was followed by a kick to the shin.
“Hey guys wanna hit Red’s? Play some pool or something?” Asking no one in particular, Jake slapped him on the shoulder, slipping him a knowing glance.
Aidan’s fingers played across his legs as his eyes ate away the time slowly passing on his watch. It wasn’t pool he wanted to play, or darts he wanted to shoot. He could care less for the majority of the people that hung out there nightly. No, it was the possibility he’d get a chance to see her one more time. When he first returned home from the military basic camp, he had hardly heard a word about her, much less seen her. The last he’d known she was living in Florida. His heart tripped over the thought. Just the idea of never seeing her again twisted his gut into knots. Aidan imagined her lying on some white sandy beach, the sun kissing her supple skin, as beads of sweat trickled down her body. No sooner did the thought percolate in his mind, than Marcus brought him back to reality.
“No, man, she’s back, though I haven’t really seen her in a while. She works a shitload.” Jake supplied the day after Aidan had returned home. To his grateful surprise, she had shown up at Red’s that same night. The old feelings he had harbored for her came flooding back with all the subtlety of a tsunami.
“Shit yeah, I think you pussies need a lesson in pool, and I’m gonna be the teacher who cracks you for it.” He cocked his classic grin to the group, flashing his best, ‘I gotcha sucka’ smile, Aidan just nodded to Jake in thanks.
One by one they piled in to Aidan’s 1970 Dodge Charger, the sleek machine ate up the road, as they pulled free of the dirt drive. The usual talk of who was hot, who was not, life in the military, and his experiences trailed along. The drive wasn’t a particularly long one, but the closer they got to Red’s the more his thoughts shifted to something entirely different. Focusing on the conversations, much less the road became an obstacle. Raeve…his crew had known for years how he felt about her. They also knew he’d had bad luck with other women, and yet he didn’t have the courage to walk up to her and say more than three words. His thoughts drifted back to visions of her, the closer he got to their destination. Her warm genuine smile, her soft skin that always appeared like it was glowing softly under the billiar
ds lights, those hazel green eyes he wanted to swim in as they morphed into different shades. I have to talk to her. No chickening out this time. He chided himself, and half promising that he’d see this through.
As he pulled into the parking lot his nerves were completely rattled at the possibility of seeing her again. Taking a deep breath and setting his resolve in order, Aidan and his crew entered the building to take up residence at their usual table facing the glass wall overlooking the parking lot. If she was going to walk down the steep drive, he wanted the chance to gaze once more before she entered and he lost his nerve to speak to her once again. It was still early when they had arrived, and a much needed bottle of liquid courage was just what the doctor ordered. Taking a deep breath and sighing out in relief, he waited to see if she’d show. Coming in late was normal for her, if she came at all.
Hours passed, and he spent his time bouncing back and forth between pool tables and dartboards. Each glance around the oversized room brought back another memory of her. Standing off to the side talking with friends, she glanced over to him. Once again her shy smile touched the edges of her eyes. That walk that caught his eye with each sway of her luscious hips, twitched something deep inside as the groan of ‘Mine’ sank deeper inside him. Every once in a while, he would catch her staring back at him from across the room, throwing him off-guard and flaring up the heat in his cheeks.
Another game won, and the boys were talking their usual shit, sucking back more beers, and entering into that comfortably numb state of casual drunkenness―until that moment when the heavy wood doors swung open, and she strolled in. His jaw went rigid as his heart thundered out of his chest. She took his breath away, and he didn’t give a damn if he choked from the suffocation of it. Chiding himself for not watching her walk down the steep drive as she made her way into the building, the knot that had loosened earlier when it was just him and the guys, now doubled in size and tightened like a hangman’s noose. From numb to sober in a span of a forced breath, his mind focused solely on her, his jaw clenched tighter. Anything he had been conversing on with his buddies had ceased the moment he laid eyes on her.
The Last Kiss Page 4
