“Seems like a great idea to me, too.” Aaliyah looked from Aiden to Summer. “My niece already sleeps with me most nights, so I don’t even have my own bed or couch space.”
Summer slowly looked from each of her friends to Aiden. She didn’t know why, but living with Aiden seemed like a very very bad idea.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” She studied his eyes and was sure he noticed the hesitation in hers.
“Absolutely positive.” His response was direct and the confidence in his voice could not be denied.
“Okay,” she said, completely aware that her voice sounded extremely low. Aiden didn’t seem to mind that she was nervous. In fact, he seemed to enjoy her discomfort.
* * *
Aiden tried his best not to laugh at the way Summer was squirming in the passenger seat of his car. They’d spent the past five hours at a Laundromat with her friends so that she and Danni could wash all their clothes. At times, he’d catch a glimpse of something of Summer’s made of lace or satin, and he’d try his best not to salivate.
They were almost back at the shop so that she could pick up her car and trail him to his beach home. She’d barely spoken two words to him since they’d said their goodbyes to her friends. Although sometimes he liked to see her fidget around, he didn’t want her feeling so uncomfortable.
“The boutique is coming along wonderfully,” he said, in an effort to break the silence.
“Thanks.” She didn’t glance at him, but at least she’d responded. “I’m glad you liked the idea of turning the loft into a boudoir studio.”
“It’s a great idea, and you have the perfect team of women to really promote something like that. The four of you are truly talented. I think the public will react to the boutique really well and I’ve seen all the media buzz you’ve got circulating already. Pretty impressive, Dupree.”
“Thanks Aiden. It means a lot to hear you say that.”
He smiled and continued to focus on the road. When they arrived at her boutique, he decided to address the elephant in the car.
“Summer, I hope you know that I’d never do anything to make you uncomfortable.”
She glanced at him before unlocking her door and hopping out of his SUV. “I know you wouldn’t. It’s just...you and I haven’t even been in the same state together for five weeks in a row, let alone the same living space. That’s a lot of time together.”
He chuckled. “We used to spend every day together.”
“Yeah, from, like, age five to fourteen. High school and college were different.” At the mention of college, Aiden noticed her face slightly tense. God, we have so much to talk about.
“In high school it may have changed to every other day and, yes, we went to different colleges, but we still saw each other on breaks and some weekends.”
Her face tensed even more. He really wasn’t trying to bring up bad memories before they even got to his temporary home. There weren’t many things that Aiden regretted in life, but not being there for Summer at a time when she truly needed him was something he’d never forgive himself for.
“Tell you what. I may have to travel to New York and LA for work, so I’ll talk to my business manager and solidify those dates. That way, you’ll know what days you’ll have the place to yourself.”
He noticed that she finally began to relax. “That’s not necessary,” she said with a laugh. “I’m just overreacting when I should be thanking you for opening up your home to me. We’ve known each other for years, so I’m sure it won’t be that difficult living together for the next few weeks.”
“Exactly. It’ll be fine. We’ve been meaning to catch up for years, so what better way for two friends to catch up than sharing the same living space for a while?”
“That’s very true. We do have a lot to catch up on.”
“So, does that mean you won’t regret your decision to stay with me?”
She squinted her eyes as she studied his face. He tried not to glance at her perfectly shaped lips, but he couldn’t help it. Her mouth parted slightly when she caught his blatant stare.
“Just remember, I know you better than most, Aiden.” She leaned a little closer in the cab of the car. “Working on our friendship means things stay platonic between us, right? Because based on that look in your eyes, it seems like you’re up to no good.”
Up to no good, indeed. No, he didn’t want things to stay platonic. Yes, he wanted to work on their friendship. No, his thoughts weren’t as innocent as they should be. Nonetheless, he wanted Summer to trust him.
“Trust me, Summer. We’ve already missed out on years of being in each other’s lives. While you stay with me, we’ll just be two friends catching up on old times.”
She nodded her head in agreement and seemed to believe him. Now all he had to do was believe himself.
Chapter 7
“You’re an idiot,” he said aloud to himself as he jogged along the beach. Unlike usual, he wasn’t even listening to music as he jogged. The thoughts in his mind were ricocheting all over the place, creating enough annoying sounds to last a lifetime.
It was Tuesday night and Summer had been living with him for eight days, fourteen hours, and twenty-two minutes. In that time, Aiden had taken more cold showers than he ever thought possible. On day three, Summer had commented that she never knew he enjoyed taking so many showers. He’d made up some story about showers contributing to a photographer’s success. Little did she know, he took two showers a day only so that he wouldn’t embarrass himself by being hard in front of her all the time.
On day four—the one day he thought he’d finally gotten his male urges under control—she came walking through the door wearing some tight pink spandex leggings and a black tank top, having just come from a Pilates class with her friends. Aiden took an hour-long cold shower that day.
On day five she’d gone out with the girls to some natural hair event, so she’d pulled her curls into a pineapple style on top of her head and worn a deep purple lace dress that had pissed him off the minute he saw her wearing it. He wasn’t the type of man who cared if the woman he was interested in looked good going out. In fact, he was definitely more the type that would look at other men and say, “Yeah, she belongs to me. See it and weep.”
Yet on this particular night—when his desire for her had reached an entirely new level—she had come walking out of her bedroom wearing a dress made of all lace and all he could imagine was her in lace panties, instead. No bra.
She’d looked good. Even better than good. She’d been mouthwatering. He’d barely been able to keep his eyes off her as she walked out of the house. When Dax had called to ask him if he could fly to LA the next morning, Aiden had happily agreed. His body needed a break from Summer.
Aiden didn’t date a lot, but when he used his charm on a woman he found attractive, it seemed natural that she’d end up in his bed before the night was over. Traveling all over the world meant women knew he couldn’t commit to them. Yet living with Summer was proving to be much more difficult than he’d originally thought. They hadn’t really hung out, since she’d been busy at the shop and he’d been taking photos for his exhibit. And when he did help her at the shop, her friends were usually there, too.
He’d just arrived back in Miami a few hours ago and, luckily, Summer had been at the boutique.
“What the hell was I thinking making that promise?” He’d never experienced this much angst over a woman he’d promised not to touch...embrace...kiss. As a matter of fact, he’d never even wanted a woman as much as he wanted Summer. It almost felt like he was in some strange twenty-year twilight zone. Fighting off the attraction was finally coming to a head. Literally and figuratively.
As the sun set, he made his way back to his town house noting that Summer’s car wasn’t parked in its normal spot. Great. She’s still not home yet.
He shouldn’t have been so happy about that fact, but he was. He needed to regain his composure before seeing her.
The moment he opened the back door, he could hear the light humming of Summer’s sweet voice traveling through the house. So, she is home. He’d almost forgotten how gifted she was vocally. She’d always been able to sing better than anyone in middle and high school. He followed the sound of her voice and spotted her in the hallway lying on her back and looking through the skylight window.
Her flowy white shirt had fallen off one shoulder and she was wearing a pair of green cotton shorts that accentuated her amazingly beautiful calves and legs. It wasn’t just her simple, yet cute, outfit that caught Aiden’s attention. It was the way she was lying on the hallway floor. Her butt was almost pushed all the way to the wall with her legs at a seventy-five degree angle. For runners, it was a great way to stretch the lower body. However, Aiden had known Summer too long to know that she didn’t just lie in that position when she wanted to stretch. For whatever reason, she always lay that way when she was thinking hard about something.
She stretched an arm across her face and tapped her feet on the wall as she continued to sing. He knew he should make his presence known, but he wasn’t quite done observing her yet. Hmm, I wonder what she’s thinking about. He ignored the part of his consciousness that hoped she was thinking about him just as much as he’d been thinking about her.
Fifteen years ago...
Aiden counted to ten in his head before he opened the door to the walk-in closet. His heart was beating extremely fast, and he didn’t think he could slow it down even if he tried.
The lights were off, but one of those circular battery operated lights sat in the corner of the closet. That’s where he found Summer.
“What are you doing? Stretching your legs?” he asked as he sat beside her. She was lying on the floor with her butt pressed against the wall and her legs in the air.
“No. When I lie like this, I do some of my best thinking.”
“Okay,” he said with a laugh. “And what could you possibly be thinking about in a closet?”
She dropped her legs to the side and leaned up to sit beside him. “I was thinking about how odd it is that out of almost sixteen sophomore boys at this party, I pulled your name out of a hat.”
Aiden nodded his head in understanding. He’d wondered the same thing. “We don’t have to do anything, Summer. It isn’t some rite of passage that says at we have to actually play seven minutes of heaven. We can just pretend to participate in the kissing game.”
He didn’t want to tell her that he was actually glad she’d chosen his name. It wasn’t that he expected a kiss or anything. After all, they were best friends and kissing your best friend could be weird. He was just glad whenever he got to spend time with her alone.
“Yeah, we can pretend. And you can tell Rochelle that nothing happened.”
“Rochelle isn’t my girlfriend. I told you that.” He’d been dealing with Rochelle’s crush on him since middle school.
“I know what you said, but I also know that she still likes you.”
“Well, Sam still likes you, too. Does that mean you won’t kiss me because of Sam?” Summer’s eyes grew wide and he immediately realized his mistake. “What I meant is, if hypothetically we did kiss, should I feel bad because Sam likes you? Justin likes you, too. Should I feel bad about him?”
“I guess not,” she said after a few seconds of silence. “I mean, hypothetically it wouldn’t matter.”
A minute passed without either of them saying anything. He had no idea how long they’d been in the closet or how much time they had left.
“So, what if we did kiss?” Summer asked as she fidgeted with the edge of her shirt. “Would it be weird, since we’re best friends?”
He studied her face as he contemplated his response. “I don’t think it would be weird. Do you?”
She looked in his eyes before dropping her gaze to his lips. You know you want to kiss her, the voice inside his head taunted. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard that voice and he doubted it would be the last. He’d never tell Summer how much he wanted to kiss her, but judging by the way she was looking at him, he had a feeling she wanted to kiss him just as badly.
“No, I don’t think it would be weird.”
His heart started beating even faster than it had when he’d walked into the closet. “We probably have three or four minutes left. Do you want to kiss and just get it over with?”
She nodded her head. “Yes, I say we try it. We’ve both kissed people before. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Right, what’s the worst that could happen?” he agreed, as he started leaning in toward Summer. She began leaning toward him, too, and soon they were so close he could feel her breath teasing his lips.
“You sure?” He lightly touched her chin with his hand.
“Yes,” she whispered.
His lips touched hers gently, with just enough pressure. They hadn’t discussed if it would be a closed-lips kiss or a lips-and-tongue kiss, so Aiden wasn’t sure what he should do next. Up until this point, he’d really only had PG-13 kisses with other girls, and knowing Summer, she’d had the same experience with the boys she’d kissed. Already, this kiss with Summer wasn’t feeling like anything he’d ever experienced.
Mustering up everything he’d ever thought about doing if he got a chance to kiss Summer, he let his tongue brush against her lips. At her gasp, he slipped his tongue inside her mouth, encouraged by her appreciative moan. She was getting into the kiss just as much as he was, and before he knew what was happening, her tongue was stroking his right back.
What in the world are we doing and why have we never done this before? Aiden felt the kiss in every part of his body, and Summer was clinging to his shirt and making sounds that he’d never heard before when making out with a girl. He could definitely tell that their kiss was exploratory, but they’d found a good rhythm pretty fast.
At the sound of the knock on the door, they jumped away from each other. Their seven minutes were up and it was time for another couple to enter the closet. Aiden stood and helped Summer stand up, as well. They always got teased about secretly liking each other and Aiden knew it would only be worse now. Summer was flushed and blushing like crazy. He knew he probably looked just as disconcerted. There was no way they could hide it from all their classmates on the other side of the door.
“See, nothing bad happened,” Summer said with an uncertain smile. Aiden didn’t say anything. He couldn’t say anything. She may have convinced herself that nothing bad had happened, but in his mind, the worst possible thing had happened. He’d kissed his best friend and he’d liked it. A lot. Even worse, Summer wanted him to act like nothing had changed. Yeah, right.
He knew better. After a kiss like that, things were bound to be different. At this age, his body was already changing and he was feeling emotions that he’d never felt before. Summer may be able to brush off the kiss, but Aiden was sure the kiss they’d just shared would be branded in his mind forever.
Present day...
“Um, Aiden? Is everything okay?”
He could hear Summer’s voice, but he was still lost in thought. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
She rolled to the side and stood up from the floor. “You were just standing there staring at me with a dorky smile on your face,” she laughed. “So I asked if everything was...” Her voice trailed off as something else took her interest. He followed her gaze and looked down at his jogging pants.
“Oh, shit.” He grabbed a book off his mahogany hallway table and put it in front of his pants. “Sorry. I was just lost in thought. I should have announced that I was home since you had on your headphones. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
She looked from his face, back down to the book, then up to his face again. “What were
you thinking about?”
“Come again?”
“You said you were lost in thought. What were you thinking about?”
Baby, you definitely do NOT want to know. “Um, I was thinking about this really nice photo I took at the airport when my plane landed earlier today.”
She looked unconvinced. “So, thinking about an airport photo made you...” She glanced at the book again. “Excited?”
“Yeah, didn’t you hear?” he said with a forced laugh. “Planes are the new porn. I just can’t get enough of looking at them.”
“Well, that’s funny, because I thought maybe seeing me lying against the wall like that made you think about the first time we kissed in that closet for seven minutes of heaven.” She smiled as she stepped closer to him. “So it’s good to know that you don’t get hard when thinking about me, but rather about big planes. Who knew?”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Your sarcasm is not appreciated right now.”
“I thought it was pretty funny,” she said with a shrug. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re here because I was just about to watch The Godfather. Care to join me?”
The Godfather was one of his favorite movies and he didn’t doubt that it would break the sexual tension. “Yeah, I’m down for watching a movie.” He glanced down at the book. “I just need to take a cold shower first.”
“Take all the time you need, lover boy,” she said with a smile as she patted him on the shoulder.
“You can’t touch me right now.”
She laughed as she moved her hand away. He hadn’t been called “lover boy” since high school. He still didn’t care for the nickname, but it was nice to know that they could joke about their attraction without it being too awkward.
Chapter 8
This is so awkward, Summer thought as she adjusted herself on the couch for the fourth time in thirty seconds. It was hard enough ignoring her attraction to him without the added third party in the room, who’d decided to pay them a visit an hour ago.
Waiting for Summer Page 7
