His to Cherish

by Stacey Lynn

“You’re beautiful and delicious, you know. Every time I’m around you I want you.”

  I groaned. My hands went to the back of his head and my knees trembled. “Aidan.”

  “Say you’ll go on a trip with me. I like you, Chelsea, and you know that. But I also haven’t shared the parts of me yet that were Derrick’s. I think for us to move on together, I need you to see that side of me, too, even if…”

  He trailed off and I pushed to my toes, silencing him with a kiss.

  He didn’t need to finish the thought. I could imagine it just fine on my own without his words. Even if it’s without Derrick. Or some variation of it.

  “Okay,” I whispered, our lips brushing against each other’s when I pulled back from the kiss. “I’ll go to Chicago with you.”

  Aidan’s response was to return to kissing me until my stomach was jelly, my legs were rubber, and my cheeks were flushed with want and need until he had to end it and return to work, promising to make it up to me later.

  Chapter 24

  “Are you nervous?” Kate asked me as we wiped down the display case for her sugary treats.

  I pulled back, brushing my long bangs off my forehead and frowning.

  Was I?

  My speeding pulse gave me my answer.

  “Yeah.” I fidgeted with the rag in my hands, folding and refolding it while she gave me a sly grin. Her blue eyes sparkled happily for me, but I couldn’t help but hesitate in sharing my excitement. “I think it will be fun. I haven’t been to Chicago for a few years, but this time it’s different.”

  “I’m sure. When I started dating Tanner, he had just gotten out of an ugly divorce, and even though I knew he liked me and that we probably had a future, it took him a while to open up. I know it’s different with Aidan and I can’t imagine what he deals with every day, but it’s a good sign he wants to take you to Chicago.”

  I knew this. I did. My voice lowered so the few customers in her shop couldn’t hear our conversation. Over the last couple of weeks, I’d become well aware of the looks I got from women, single and married alike. Apparently, Aidan and me “coming out” at the carnival had started the gossip wheel spinning.

  “I’m more afraid of what it will do to him,” I said, chewing my lip nervously. “It’s only been a few months, and sometimes I still think he’s not ready. I mean, he lost his son; can he really be ready for a relationship?”

  “My advice?” she asked, and laid a hand over mine, stilling my fidgeting.

  “Please.”

  “Let him decide that. He wouldn’t do this if this wasn’t important to him and if you weren’t important to him.”

  “Okay.” I inhaled a deep, relaxing breath. “I can do this.”

  Kate grinned and fixed her ponytail. “Good girl. Why don’t you serve this last customer coming in and then get ready to head out. Is Aidan still picking you up?”

  I checked the clock on the wall behind the counter. “Yeah, he should be here in a few minutes.”

  “Good. Have fun and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” She flashed me a wink and headed to the back, leaving me alone at the front counter. I turned to face the customer, a smile on my face, which evaporated as soon as I saw him.

  Nerves tingled through my body as he approached slowly, checking the tables and the display case as if he wondered if he’d come to the right place.

  At his side and holding his hand was a beautiful little girl with Cory’s dark brown hair and someone else’s hazel-colored eyes. She was staring at the dessert case and her little tongue was licking her lips.

  My knees wobbled and I grabbed the counter to steady myself.

  “Chelsea…” Cory’s eyes went as wide as mine when he turned toward the counter. “Um. Hi.”

  I swallowed, hoping like hell my voice was strong. “Hey…Cory.”

  His eyebrows pulled together and he looked everywhere but at me, as if he still wasn’t sure whether he’d entered an alternate universe.

  “I didn’t know you worked here.”

  My hands twisted the towel until my knuckles hurt. My skin felt clammy. I was saved from answering when his daughter said, “Daddy, pink one.”

  I looked down and couldn’t help but smile at her wide eyes lusting over the chocolate cupcake with a mountain of hot pink frosting and purple star-shaped sprinkles.

  “Um.” He looked at me.

  Something happened when he did and I jerked back, completely aware that he saw my surprise, but I realized, as my gaze traveled over Cory’s preppy and short dark hair, his deep black eyes, and his tall, lean frame—

  I felt nothing other than the shock of seeing him.

  There was no anger. No pain. No regret.

  I felt none of the same emotions coursing through me like I had the first time I’d seen him with his pregnant girlfriend.

  Shaking my head free of those thoughts, my hands were tingling when I bent down and pulled out the cupcake his daughter wanted.

  “These are my favorite,” I whispered, placing it on a plate and sliding it across the counter. My gaze flickered to Cory, who was still watching me with an odd look in his eyes. “What else can I get for you?”

  “Um…coffee and a blueberry bagel, please.”

  His eyes didn’t leave mine, and as I turned my back to him, I still felt him watching me, even though his daughter was happily chattering about the cupcake and wanting a glass of juice.

  As I poured the coffee, I looked at him over my shoulder. “Still like it black?”

  His head jerked in surprise. “Yeah…thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  I slid the rest of his order to him, making sure to put the juice in a kids’ cup with a lid and straw, and rang up his total.

  “This is weird,” he said as he handed me his credit card. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  I slid the card through the reader. “I’m helping Kate this summer, something to do.”

  When I looked up, his head was tilted to the side. In reality, Latham Hills was such a small town it was amazing we didn’t run into each other more often.

  “You look good,” he finally said in his quiet but not super deep voice. It didn’t affect me at all, although I used to love his voice.

  Now, between him and Aidan, there was absolutely no comparison.

  “Thanks,” I murmured, handing him his card. “Your daughter is beautiful.”

  His eyes flickered down to the pudgy little toddler next to him and then back to me. When he did, his shoulders dropped.

  In the distance, I heard the chime of the door but didn’t turn my head to see who was coming in.

  He hesitated before blurting, “Thank you. And for the record, Chelsea, I’m really sorry. You didn’t deserve the shit I put you through.”

  My lips rolled together, my emotions and the memories flashing through my mind.

  I could thank him for an apology that came years too late, but even as he said the words, I knew I didn’t need them. Not anymore.

  I gestured toward the items I’d plated for them and smiled. “Enjoy your treat,” I said instead. “And take care.”

  Without giving him the opportunity to continue a conversation I didn’t want to have, I shifted my attention to the customer who had come in and had undoubtedly heard our awkward conversation.

  When I did, my cheeks flushed and my voice went breathy. “Aidan.”

  His hands were shoved into his pockets, and based on his cool expression, by the way he watched Cory walk away before turning his attention back to me, he’d heard everything.

  “You okay?” he asked, nodding his head in the direction where Cory had taken a seat with his daughter.

  “I’m good.”

  He frowned and stepped toward me.

  “I promise, I’m okay.”

  His lips pressed together like he wanted to say something else, but I was already untying my white apron, wrapping it in my hands. “I’m also ready for our weekend, unless you’d like to get something to go?�
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  Aidan’s eyes flashed in humor and his lips twitched. “Can you make the four-hour car ride without sugar in you?”

  I grinned. “Probably not.”

  Kate’s perpetually happy voice rang through the small bakery, interrupting us. “Aidan! You’re here! Come to whisk Chelsea away from me, huh?”

  I turned toward her and smiled, and as I did, from my peripheral vision I noticed the announcement had grabbed Cory’s attention. He looked from Aidan to me before going back to his daughter.

  “That’s the plan,” Aidan said. “But I think I need to stock up on treats first.”

  “I’ll help you.” Kate bumped my hip with hers and flashed me a wink. “You go get ready.”

  I turn back to Aidan, rolling my eyes with a smile. “I’ll be just a few minutes.”

  While I was freshening up and reapplying a little bit of makeup in the small break room at the back, my mind spun with everything that had just happened and the concerned look on Aidan’s face when he’d first seen me.

  He did care. And I was important to him.

  Not that I’d doubted it, but it was still easy sometimes to worry about how important I truly was to someone. As much as I claimed to be over Cory and didn’t need his apology, old wounds easily surfaced.

  I exhaled and tossed the strap of my purse over my shoulder. Someday, I was really going to start believing the words everyone told me instead of living in fear that I wasn’t enough.

  Who knew? Perhaps today was that day.

  With that thought, and a slight smile on my face, I headed back out to the front, where Aidan was holding a large white grocery sack. When I looked inside, I saw three large Styrofoam containers.

  My grin spread wider and I burst out with a laugh. “Think that’s enough?”

  He shrugged a shoulder and returned my smile. “With you? I thought it’d be safer to buy Kate out.”

  Still laughing, I looked at Kate, who said, “Looks like the man knows you pretty well.”

  “Yeah,” I sighed, flashing her a wink, and grinned back at Aidan. “I think he does.”

  I swallowed, hoping Aidan knew I meant so much more by that statement than just my love of sugar and chocolate.

  I caught Cory’s eyes as Aidan and I reached the door and I gave him a small wave goodbye.

  He nodded once and I saw remorse flash in his eyes before he looked away. It was a simple look that said he knew how much he’d hurt me and was sorry. I returned his expression, accepting it, and let Aidan hold the door open for me as he guided me outside.

  Once we were on the sidewalk, Aidan grabbed my hand and he tugged me flush against his firm chest.

  “Are you really okay? That couldn’t have been easy.”

  I rolled up to my toes and pressed my lips to his cheek. “I’m good, I promise. It was a surprise, but good to see him, I think. I don’t know, I didn’t really feel anything after I got over the initial shock.”

  Aidan looked doubtful, but he still released me, sliding his hand up to the side of my neck and pressing his lips against mine. “All right, then.”

  “Can we go now?” I nodded toward the bag. “I’m getting hungry.”

  His easy laugh rumbled through the air, warming my stomach and making it flip as he helped me into the truck.

  —

  We’d been on the road for an hour, chatting while I ate the cupcakes and bagels he’d bought for me. I made him stop once to get me more coffee, and between the conversation and bursting Aidan’s eardrums with my horrible singing to the country music he played, it was the best road trip I’d ever taken.

  “Tell me about Cory.”

  His voice was quiet when the song “Burn It Down” ended. My bottom lip slipped between my teeth and I looked at him, wondering if he was upset or jealous or whatever.

  But he wasn’t. He looked curious as he tossed me a quick look before refocusing on the road.

  “We were high school sweethearts,” I said. “Started dating our sophomore year of high school and just…stayed together, I suppose. We both went to the University of Michigan and I lived in the dorms for the first couple of years with Suzanne, Camden, and Paige. Our junior year, Cory and I got an apartment together.” I trailed off, thinking about those years. How even then, Cory and I had said we’d always be together. I had believed him, too. Yet looking back, I could see how what we’d had wasn’t a real, deep love. Just a first love of young kids, wanting to hold on and not knowing how to let go when the time was right. “Anyway, we got married after graduation, and bought the house. I had always known it’d be difficult to have kids so we didn’t wait too long to start trying. And then…”

  I stopped. There wasn’t much to say when Aidan knew the rest. Plus, it still felt humiliating to talk about the fertility treatments. There was something about being a woman and having your body not do the one thing that a woman’s body was supposed to do that always caused a lump in my throat. Then there was the continual stress, the financial cost to all of it even though Cory made great money computer programming and my old job at a museum in Detroit paid decently, as well. We had started fighting constantly. A lot of it was the hormones making me seem crazy. In the end, Cory and I weren’t in love and were too young and too immature to have a relationship that would withstand the hard times, regardless of the vows we’d made.

  Granted, he’d taken the cowardly way out, but looking back, it was a blessing in disguise.

  “I’m sorry you went through all of that, Chelsea.”

  I reached over, placed my hand on Aidan’s thigh, and squeezed tight. “I am, too. I think it was a good thing, though. Cory and I weren’t meant to be forever and it had to end somehow. At least it ended before I got pregnant, I guess.”

  His warm hand, strong and callused from hard work, gently covered my hand and made a ripple of awareness and desire slide through me.

  We were silent for moments before he brought my hand to his lips. “I would never do that to you.”

  “I know you wouldn’t.”

  Aidan wasn’t the type of guy to have an affair. I truly knew that in both my head and my heart.

  —

  Our hotel was absolutely beautiful. Glamorous was probably a better word for it, and as I let Aidan lead me down the hallway, the bellboy behind us carrying our luggage, my body began to respond to the lush and romantic hotel that Aidan chose for our weekend getaway.

  I chewed my lip, trying to fight the smile that wanted to plaster itself across my face, and tamped down the beginning twinges of arousal.

  I waited silently, taking in the suite that Aidan had reserved for us. There was a plush king-size bed, a bathroom where the shower’s glass wall separated it from the bedroom, and a huge corner spa tub sat in the bedroom area. There was essentially no privacy allowed in the room with the glass wall.

  “I have a feeling you haven’t stayed in a place like this before,” I finally said, my voice thick with anticipation as I continued taking in the cream bed coverings and the dark woodwork. The hotel was grand—the room a romantic getaway for lovers.

  Aidan cleared his throat. “No, can’t say I’ve stayed here.”

  “I like it.” I crossed the space from where I was standing by the hot tub to where he was by the bed. “I like it a lot.”

  “Good.”

  He leaned down, wrapped his arms around my waist, and pulled me against his chest. “What would you like to do first?”

  My hands went to his shoulders, up to the back of his neck, and I tugged him down closer to me, brushing my lips over his.

  “I can think of a few things,” I whispered.

  Aidan’s quiet laugh vibrated in his chest and against mine. His arms tightened. “Later, I promise. I want to see the city with you.”

  I feigned a pout before letting go. “Fine,” I huffed. “If you insist.”

  “Come on. Let’s go to Michigan Avenue and then we’ll head to Gino’s.”

  Shopping and then pizza? The man definitely knew me.


  Chapter 25

  “Aidan,” I whispered against his neck. I could barely speak.

  The feel of him inside of me, hitting me in that perfect spot as he thrusted into me over and over again, had my body tightening.

  Water splashed over the edges of the tub as I rocked into him again. Our angle, me straddling Aidan as he leaned against the back of the tub, was perfect. Heavenly.

  “Come on, Chelsea,” he groaned, grabbing my hips and pressing me to him.

  It was all I needed. My teeth clamped down on his neck as my orgasm shattered me from the inside out.

  His grip on my hips tightened as his hips rocked toward me, against me, pulling every remaining wave of my orgasm from me before he released his own groaned pleasure, finishing inside of me.

  We were panting, and the room was hot and humid from the steam of the tub and the heat seeping from us.

  He clung to me, holding me tight against him as if I would disappear if he let me go.

  Droplets of water fell down my forehead and into my eyes, but I was trembling so much as I came down from my own intense orgasm that I couldn’t bother to wipe them away.

  “Amazing,” he whispered, turning his head and pressing his lips to my temple. “You’re always amazing and feel so damn good.”

  As if his dick agreed, I felt it twitch inside of me. My hips shifted, loving the feel of him. He was so large and thick he filled me completely.

  I loved Aidan, period. I just couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud, but after the day we’d had in Chicago, I had no doubt both of us would be expressing it soon.

  At least with words.

  We’d done it with our bodies for the last hour, and every time Aidan took me, it got better and better. More intense.

  “We should dry off.”

  His fingers digging into my hips belied his words.

  He was hardening inside of me and I laughed, loving the way I tightened around him inside of me when I did.

  “Damn, Chelsea, what are you doing to me?” He moaned and dropped his head to the back of the tub.

  I leaned forward, smiling, and brushed his hair away from his eyes and off his forehead. He rolled my hips into him and groaned.