Stay

by B. A. Wolfe

  I hope this gets to you. It kills me when I check my mailbox and there’s nothing in there from you. I was going to put this letter in your room—the only place that was yours, but I couldn’t. Don’t hate me, but I haven’t been back in your room since I stayed in there before your funeral. Part of me knows I’ll just break down again and never get back up if I go in there. I still can’t believe you’re gone. I don’t think that part will ever get easier.

  I miss you so damn much, brother.

  Dan

  I wiped the tears from my eyes and stuffed the letter back into the envelope.

  “I don’t want you to stay away, Aidan,” I whispered out loud as I replaced the envelope behind the stone where I found it.

  He was here the night we all went to the bar. He was having as much trouble as I was. That’s what took him so long to get there.

  Then I think about you and Cassie and I hate myself for thinking of her that way.

  I placed my hand on my chest. He was having as hard of a time as I was, but at least he had the guts to admit his feelings. To tell me he wanted me and to put the ball in my court as he waited for me to make my move.

  With a weighted heart, I passed through the grass and got in my car. I rested my hands on the wheel and released a breath so deep it felt as if a thousand bricks lifted off my shoulders. My heart ached for the man I just said goodbye to, but I knew, more than anything, it was the right thing to do. It was time . . . I couldn’t hang onto the past any longer, or I might as well have been buried next to him, not living the rest of my life.

  Cassandra

  I STRODE INTO THE Bradley’s house feeling different. I couldn’t deny the gloomy cloud that hung over my head for what I just did. A part of me was ready to throw my arms around Aidan and tell him he didn’t have to wait any longer. The other part still needed to digest.

  My cell phone vibrated from my back pocket. I pulled it out and my heart sank when I read the screen. Mother. I panicked and clicked ignore. What did she want? I willed my breath to return to normal. With a deep inhale, I shoved my phone back in my pocket, forcing my mother out of my mind. I’d figure it out later. I continued through the house. It was quiet. Too quiet.

  “Trish?” I called out.

  “She left with Jase to take a walk and get some fresh air. She told me to tell you she’d be back later.” Aidan’s voice startled me. I turned to see him in a pair of jeans and a simple black tee as he held a football. Don’t forget the saucy smile that spread across his face. All the panic that surged through my body because of a phone call completely vanished.

  I cleared my throat. “When did they leave?”

  “About ten minutes ago. You just missed them. Do you want to go for a walk and catch up with them?”

  As much as I wanted to go, my legs had done enough walking for today. Plus, I was content with standing right where I was—in front of Aidan. “What are you doing?”

  His head gestured toward the door. “Moose just left.”

  “Were you guys playing football?”

  “Throwing it, talking, catching up. He said he’d be by later. Come outside with me?”

  I nodded and followed him to the front like a trained dog.

  He stood in the yard, watching me while spinning the football in his hands.

  “What?” I smiled as I continued to watch him.

  He nudged his head to the open spot beside him. “Get over here. Catch the ball with me. Enjoy the fresh air.”

  “I don’t play football,” I told him, raising my hands in surrender before I even had the chance to fail.

  Laughing, he sauntered to the porch where I stood and brought me by my hand to the yard. “I’ll teach you.”

  My eyes roamed the yard and then back to Aidan. “I’m a lost cause. Seriously. Sports are not my thing.”

  He shrugged. “Humor me.”

  I lowered my gaze on him and shook my head. “No.”

  He skillfully sent the ball spiraling up in the air and then caught it. “I’ll make you a deal. You get the ball past me and make a touchdown, you don’t have to play anymore.”

  I shifted my weight as I thought about his offer. “Where’s the but?”

  His lips spread into an evil grin. “If you don’t, you have to keep playing.”

  I sighed. “Fine.”

  He wiggled his brows as he led me to the other side of the yard, standing inches in front of me. “Stay here. I’m going to throw the ball. Do your best to catch it and then try and get past me.”

  My shoulders slouched and I dropped my head. “Good lord. What am I in for?”

  He lifted my chin with his finger. “You got this. Have some fun.” His smile was so reassuring.

  I nodded as he released my chin. He flashed a quick, almost intoxicating wink.

  “Let’s start with the basics. This is a football,” he said, showcasing the ball. “You want this badly, and you want to take it over to the bushes on the opposite side. Keep it tucked by your side and stop at nothing until you get it past me.”

  “And your job?”

  “To tackle you.” His words were slow as his smile widened.

  Great. My stomach muscles tightened.

  Amusement flashed in his eyes as he marched to the other side. “Are you ready?”

  “I’m ready,” I shouted.

  With one swift movement, the ball spiraled through the air and aimed right for my chest. I veered back, closed my eyes, and opened my arms. The ball landed against my chest and I snuggled it to me.

  “Nice, Sweet Tea!”

  Holy shit! I caught the ball! I stood there cradling it as if it were a child, then remembered to tuck it to my side. A shuddered breath escaped as I made eye contact with Aidan, his stance ready and waiting for me.

  “Are you prepared to lose?”

  My heart accelerated as I shook my head. “No way.”

  “I’m waiting,” he said, his eyes doing funny things to my insides as I kept mine on his.

  It was now or never. I widened my eyes and lifted my arm in the air, pointing to the sky. “Oh my god! What is that?” I yelled.

  As soon as Aidan’s eyes followed my finger, I booked it and ran as fast as I could. I only had a distance of five more feet to put behind me before I made the touchdown and won his little bet.

  I was only inches from him when his head turned toward me and he realized my sneaky tactics. As if in slow motion, his arms opened and he shouted, “No!” His arms snaked around my waist and pulled my back to his chest. I wiggled out and veered to his left, but his quick feet matched mine move for move.

  “You’re stuck now. Try and pull a fast one on me, that’s dirty,” he said with a primal glare in his eyes that had my heart racing.

  “I’m not done yet,” I told him. A sly grin splashed across my face as I crouched and held a hand to my side. “Ouch!”

  “You okay?” he asked, a panicked tone lacing his words.

  I shook my head and yelped again. The minute his guard was down I high-tailed it straight into him, tackling him to the ground. His eyes searched around as we both caught our breaths. “You’re a dirty player, you know that?” His eyes glowed with amusement.

  I grinned as I dropped the football on the ground beside him. “Touchdown. I win.”

  “Looks like you’re free to go.”

  I should’ve lifted up. I should’ve hurried and scooted off him, but I didn’t. Instead, I noticed the mud that puddled beneath the bushes, completely within reach.

  Aidan licked his lips and I grinned, knowing exactly what I was about to do. I pressed into his chest; his eyes closed as he sucked in a breath. I scooped a handful of wet, goopy mud. His lids opened and he caught me.

  “You wouldn’t,” he said with a warning tone.

  “Oh, I would,” I whispered.

  “You’re asking for it, Sweet Tea.” Was I asking for it?

  The moment my hand smothered the mud through his hair and down the side of his face, then ended it all by c
overing his perfect jaw told me I definitely asked for it. He was eerily calm as his mud-caked face remained expressionless and his hands rested behind his head. Two last swipes of mud—one line striped under each eye—had me laughing. “You’re all set, Coach.”

  “It’s on.” His voice was seductive and hushed and I realized my ass needed to get a move on. His face was stoic, but his eyes were anything but. They were full of hunger.

  I squealed and shoved up from his lap. His catlike reflexes had his hands out from behind his head in a matter of nanoseconds. “Oh, no you don’t,” he said, grabbing my hips and pulling me down to the grass.

  Aidan hovered over me, keeping his knees pinned to either side of my body. His biceps strained against his short sleeves as he brought his face a few inches from mine. Our chests rose and fell in perfect rhythm—I exhaled, he inhaled.

  I fingered the grass next to me, plucking blade after blade as I contemplated my next move. My hands wanted to slither up his arms that caged my body in. They wanted to touch the muscles that bulged against his tee and then take their time as they discovered each contour of his chest both over and under his shirt. They didn’t want to stop there, either. They had plans all their own as I took in every inch of his body that suddenly had me on fire beneath him. It began at my toes and fingertips and slowly sizzled each part of my flesh as the flames met in my abdomen. Heat radiated between my legs.

  He adjusted himself over me, as if begging my hands to grip his hair and pull his mud covered face to mine and claim his lips. Those lips that could only feel like heaven on earth by the way they appeared, so delectable and perfect.

  “I’d feel awful covering you with mud. But you did start it,” he said, his sexy voice making me clench my legs tighter.

  “You wouldn’t,” I warned him as he had me.

  I gulped back the butterflies that ascended into my throat as I watched him. I almost didn’t know if I could handle his hand touching and rubbing over me. I was a time bomb waiting to explode and his hand just might be the trigger.

  His head lowered, dipping to the left, his lips dangerously close to my ear. “But I think I have to.” He leaned back, his lips curled into a sexy, devilish grin. He shifted and the sound of mud scooping in his hand wafted into my left ear.

  Each inhale I took, my chest touched his and I could’ve sworn a whimper escaped me. If it didn’t, then it surely did as his hand went to my thigh. It traveled south as the slimy mud stuck to my skin, making one with my leg as his hand glided up, smearing it around for good measure. “Game on.”

  And it was. More than he’d probably ever realize. The beats in my chest were erratic as I stared at his cocky expression. I wanted to grab his face, hold it between my hands, and drag his lips to mine, where my heart told me they belonged. But a bright red line still lurked between us, warning me to wait.

  He inhaled a deep breath and released me from his caged hold. My heart dipped in my chest. He held out a hand to help me up. My chest still pounded as we stood in the yard, covered in mud like two ten-year-old boys.

  “We need to hose off,” I told him, peering down at my mud-bathed legs and then to his mud-soaked arms.

  “I think you’re right,” he agreed. He grabbed the hose and turned on a steady stream of water.

  I pinched my eyes shut as he took the hose to my legs and then my arms. Damn, it was cold. I took the hose and did the same to him. The air around us was different now. Anxious.

  With wet skin and even wetter clothes, I stood shivering in the yard. “I think I need a real shower now.”

  He smiled and before I knew it, had me in his arms.

  My body grew giddy. “What are you doing?”

  “Helping the situation. One set of wet prints is better than two.”

  I went with it and let him carry me inside, hooking my arms around his neck. His eyes dropped and met mine with a look that melted me to his chest.

  Each thud against my rib cage was my heart’s signal to my brain, telling me to let my lips touch his. To let every atom that resided in my body have what it wanted, what it desired, what it craved.

  My body remained a frozen shell in his arms as my heart pounded hard enough for the both of us. Suddenly, we were in front of the bathroom by his room. But like driving and not remembering how you even got to your destination was how I felt seeing the bathroom. I was so fixated on the percussion in my chest and the man who’d carried me that I shut everything out.

  His grip loosened and my body was slowly lowered to the floor. I stretched out and stood on my two near-numb legs. They tingled from my toes straight up my thighs, leaving an ache that desperately pulsated between my legs.

  Something about his hold, the way it felt so natural, effortless, yet so dominant had me ready to climb him like a little monkey and never let go.

  The lids to his eyes shut tight as though he was fighting himself on the exact same feelings that raged through me. Every reason I’d given myself to stay away from him didn’t matter anymore. My heart wanted this, it needed to be mended, and it seemed Aidan was the only one to stitch it back together.

  His hand moved to my neck, brushing aside wet strands of hair. My eyes closed as his body scooted closer and his fingers lingered on my skin.

  “Aidan,” I whispered, my lids opening as I searched his eyes.

  “Cassie,” he said, his voice out of breath.

  I inched back from his soaked body. With my foot, I drew a line in the carpet parallel with my body. I couldn’t believe what I was doing. Tingles coursed throughout my body as I stared at the floor. There was the line. I lifted my head, met his gaze, and opened my mouth. “Cross it.”

  Strain tightened his jawline as his fingers ran through his hair. “Are you sure? I can’t uncross it once I do.”

  “Cross it,” I told him one last time with certainty behind my voice.

  His unleashed hunger turned him primitive and I was up against the wall faster than I could blink. My arms and legs coiled around him as he lifted me up by my ass. I couldn’t get close enough. I pressed myself onto him harder. A growl rumbled in his chest as I did.

  My heart sped so fast that in a few short seconds I knew it would flat line. But as long as I was with Aidan, it didn’t matter. His lips were about to revive me.

  His dark pupils stared into mine as if to ensure one last time that I was okay with the line being crossed. I nodded, answering the question in his eyes. A seductive panty-dropping grin swept across his face.

  I slid my hands into his wet hair.

  With a soft exhale, I closed my eyes.

  Boom-boom. Boom-boom. Boom-boom.

  Three erratic heartbeats, and then his lips seized mine.

  They were warm to the touch as they seared against mine. The kiss was rough, but his lips were anything but. They were soft and smooth as they collided with mine. Touch for touch. Kiss for kiss. A slight slip of his tongue was just enough to tease my desire. My fingers threaded through his wet locks as if they were the only things to hold onto.

  Impatient longing drove my lips harder against his as I desperately kissed him. It was insatiable, needy, and God help me, I couldn’t get enough. I needed more. So much more.

  I parted my lips to let him inside. His tongue slipped in and caressed mine.

  A soft whimper escaped my throat as I locked my legs around his waist like a vise. The kiss, his lips, his tongue, it was . . . earthmoving. The weight of the world had shifted to the very spot we stood as his mouth continued to claim mine. I gripped his hair tighter, pulling him as close as possible as his skillful tongue flicked against mine. His mouth was going to be my undoing. His tongue caressed mine once more before his lips left mine and his teeth nibbled my bottom lip. Smiling against my mouth, we both exhaled and tried to catch our breaths.

  “I’ve wanted to kiss those lips since the moment you sat across from me at the bar. Your eyes were almost golden and your cheeks glowed. All I wanted was to cup your face and pull your mouth to mine.”
r />   “When you whispered in my ear, I thought I was going to lose it.”

  “You mean like this,” he spoke softly against my ear. Shivers ran through my body.

  “Just like that,” I replied, out of breath.

  His hand moved from underneath me and brushed wet strands of hair from my neck. Aidan dipped his head into the curve of my shoulder. His breath tickled, sending goose bumps to break out across my arms. A small whimper escaped me as his lips pressed against my skin, and when I felt his tongue, I knew I was done for.

  As he trailed his way down my neck, I coiled around him tighter; I couldn’t get close enough. I traced my fingers from his hair and grabbed onto his shoulders, moaning out loud as his erection pressed into the very spot that ached for him the most. My back was pressed relentlessly to the wall, creating a heated friction that seared. Mix that fierce warmth with the burning blaze of Aidan’s lips that marked my neck, and all of me was on fire. I was ready to combust.

  A rustling at the front door froze us in our compromising position. I bit my lip and pinched my eyes shut, willing the noise to be nothing. But it continued, and Trish’s voice echoed through the silence.

  A heavy breath expelled through Aidan’s pursed lips. His body relaxed as his forehead fell to mine. My back still one with the wall, I sighed in frustration.

  Our moment was over.

  I slowly slid down through his arms with one last touch of his hard-on against my body to end it all. I peered up at him. Disappointment crossed his features. He grazed his hand down the side of my face and seconds later we parted ways. I snuck to the bathroom downstairs, avoiding an awkward conversation with Trish.

  My heart grew with intensity as I shut the bathroom door behind me and slid down it, tucking my knees to my chest, my head leaning against the door. A wide smile spread across my lips. There’s no undoing it now.

  Dan

  SHE HAD ME IN A complete frenzy during and after dinner. Her quiet, almost confused behavior, had my mind spinning. Was she upset? I’d feel like the biggest piece of shit if I knew she regretted it. Not to mention, my damn heart would never be the same.