The room went silent, and I snuggled my face into Gabriel’s downy soft hair. I wasn’t sure how I felt, but I couldn’t help but think about what I’d said to Aiden after hearing Brooke’s words. It’s not about deserving, about who’s perfect or worthy. It’s about finding the right person and choosing them.
I looked around at my family and smiled.
“How do we feel about this?” Paige asked carefully.
“We?” Claire said with a smile.
“Yeah.” Paige gestured vaguely. “You know, the collective we. You. Whatever.”
Molly took the ring back from Noah and studied it. “It’s pretty. I think I’m just finding it a little funny that we kept holding our breath to see if she’d come, but her answer was sitting right here in a pile of presents for probably the last two weeks.”
Lia sighed. “Spain, huh? With a husband?”
“I guess.” Molly studied the note again, then handed it across the table to her.
Claire held her hand out, and Gabriel grabbed it. “I think it’s a good sign that she’s aware enough to know that her presence, even if it was invited, might not be the healthiest thing for all of us. Maybe she’s growing up,” she said with a rueful smile.
I handed Gabriel back to Claire when he reached for her, and then blinked up when I realized everyone in the room was staring at me.
“What?”
“Feel like punching something?” Paige asked.
I took a deep breath, brows lowered. “No, not really.”
Molly smiled.
My fingers picked at the hem of my shirt. “Just seeing the big picture, I guess. We’re all on the paths we were supposed to be on.” I shrugged. “It’s hard to stay angry with her if that’s the case.”
Molly traded a look with Lia, and Lia traded a look with Claire. Paige’s smile curled up slowly.
“Oh my gosh, what?” I asked.
“There’s only one reason you’d be so chill right now,” Lia said. “You totally got laid last night.”
Noah threw up his hands and walked outside.
I met her gaze with a lifted eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
My sisters dissolved into laughter.
Paige held my eyes. “How many pieces of cake did you have last night, Iz?”
Slowly, I held up three fingers.
Paige grinned, and I hid my smile behind my coffee again. Maybe someday I’d share details, but for now, they were all mine.
Chapter Thirty
Isabel
“Mine is still crooked.”
Aiden tilted his head to the side. “It’s not …”
I gave him a look.
“Okay, yes, your cake is crooked.” He knocked a kiss on my cheek as he moved his perfectly level cake next to it. “It’s a little impressive how bad at this you are.”
“Thanks,” I answered dryly.
He swatted my butt. “You still successfully baked a cake.”
I eyed the baked good in question. “I don’t have to decorate it, do I?”
Aiden came up behind me, big hands curling around my hips. “Yes.”
He couldn’t see my face, but I was glaring.
“We could make it double duty,” he suggested.
“In what way?”
His head dropped, and he spoke against the back of my neck. “First time licking frosting off someone’s body.”
“Sold.” I whirled, gripping his T-shirt in my hands so I could tug his head down for a kiss.
And that was the way of it, the way of us, for a couple of weeks after Molly’s wedding. Because of Anya, we had short windows of time planned in advance so that we could achieve a few firsts together. Only one of those, she’d joined us, not realizing that he and I were considering it a date because he only touched me when she was in another room.
Logan invited us to a Wolves game, and we watched from the front row, just behind the Wolve’s bench. Anya spent most of it, staring wide-eyed at the players and staff. Twice, he’d snuck a kiss, but that was it.
Roller skating had ended in him falling three times because he couldn’t keep up with me.
Also, I’d worn short shorts that he said were “categorically unfair” when he was supposed to be keeping his balance.
His family knew we were dating, but I hadn’t talked to any of them since we started, mainly because we wanted Anya to be involved whenever I went to his parent’s house the first time.
That changed just beyond the two-week mark.
I sat behind the front desk the day after we baked our cakes at my apartment, updating some new member files. Someone opened the door, which was unlocked because I was teaching a class in about an hour's time.
Glancing up with a polite smile, I froze when I recognized her from Aiden’s picture.
Her hair was pulled up high on her head, and she had a gym bag slung over her shoulder. “You must be Isabel.”
She set her hands on the front desk and studied me unabashedly.
I held out my hand. “You must be Eloise. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“I’m taking your class today,” she informed me. “Decided it was worth skipping a day of school and driving back into town.”
With a grin, I handed her a form. “You here to form your own opinion?”
“Aiden assures me you are a glorious human being, so I’m inclined to believe him.” But she smiled. “But yes, I’m here to make up my own mind about you.”
I stood, started wrapping my hands. “Well, Eloise, by the time you finish here, you will either hate me or love me. There’s not usually much middle ground with me.” I tilted my head toward his office. “He know you’re here?”
“Nope. My brothers bet me ten bucks I couldn’t get him to take class at the same time as me, especially if you’re teaching.”
“I’ll throw in twenty that I can get him to join.”
She laughed. “I don’t think I’d take a bet against you, Isabel Ward.”
“I’ll go talk to him while you fill that out.” I walked into Aiden’s office and knocked softly before I walked in. He was reading some articles about weight training, and on his face were those sexy as hell glasses. “I think you should take my class today.”
He spun in his chair with a thoughtful expression on his face. “Yeah? Why’s that.”
I approached slowly, finishing up the second wrap with a tight yank to the velcro strap at the end. “Maybe I want to torture you a little.”
Aiden widened his legs so I could step between them, sliding his hands up my thighs until he bracketed my hips with his fingers. “You torture me just by walking around here.”
Bracing a hand on the top of his chair, I leaned down to give him a kiss. He cupped the back of my neck and slicked his tongue against mine with a contented hum.
“Okay,” he said against my lips. “I’ll take your class.”
I smiled.
“On one condition,” he added.
“What’s that?”
His eyes held mine steadily. “I want you to come over tonight after Anya goes to bed.”
My eyebrows popped up. “Really?”
Aiden stood from the chair and held my face in his hands. “I miss holding you while I sleep. As fun as office sex is, or in your cramped-ass bed in your apartment, I want to know what it feels like to climb into my bed with you right where I’ve imagined you.”
I let out a deep breath. He kissed my forehead, but let me think.
“You’re not worried Anya will wake up?”
He shook his head. “She hasn’t woken up in the middle of the night in weeks, and the last few times, she always calls for me. As long as we set an alarm, she won’t have any idea.”
I nodded, excitement building as I imagined it. “Deal.”
“You gonna go easy on me in class?”
Up on my tiptoes, I tugged on his earlobe with my teeth, relished in how he tightened his grip when I did. Into his ear, I whispered, “You fucking wish.”
&
nbsp; His eyes promised retribution a million times over the next hour and a half. When he saw his sister, when I unleashed all my inner dominatrix on him and had his chest heaving and soaked in sweat by the time I brought the class to cool-down. I probably brought it a touch too far when I got down in front of him and told him to lower his ass another inch in the plank he was holding.
And because Anya was dropped off just before we finished, there would be no desk sex for him to give me payback.
But he held onto it. All evening.
With the skies dark, and my backpack hooked onto my shoulders, I knocked gently. He ripped the door open, and without a word in greeting, he dipped, scooping me up over his shoulder.
“Aiden,” I laughed breathlessly. “Put me down.”
“Trust me, you don’t want that.” He strode to his bedroom.
“I don’t?”
“Nope, because once your feet hit the ground, you are going to pay for that.”
I grinned, hair hanging down toward the ground as he shut the door behind us. He tossed me, and I bounced off the mattress with a laugh.
And oh, did he get payback.
My clothes, practically torn from my body, ended in a heap on the floor next to his. And he proceeded to torture me, bringing me to the edge but never quite letting me go all the way, over and over, until I was shaking.
Aiden kept me on my stomach, forced me to hold onto the comforter.
By the time he put us out of our misery, I was mindless, arching my hips to seek the explosive end to an entire day of white-knuckled anticipation. He covered me with his big body, holding me into place, moving so slowly that I almost wept.
He held still, dragging his lips over my cheek, only stopping when his mouth was over my ear.
“I love you,” he whispered.
Slow was over.
Gentle was gone.
In its place was fierce and brutal. It took no more than five seconds, the bruising strength of his hands holding mine down, and I was flung helplessly to a place I didn’t actually know existed. He came there with me.
My spine practically cracked from the heat he pulled from inside me, and I managed to hold my sounds into the pillow by my face.
We laid boneless and limp for about ten minutes, just trying to catch our breath.
I wasn’t sure how I ever felt complete before this man, before this love.
He watched me pull on my sleep tank and shorts with heavy-lidded eyes, opening his arms for me to climb into bed next to him.
“This is what I needed,” he said into the top of my head. “Thank you.”
I sighed. “Thank you.”
His chest shook with laughter.
We talked for a while, and as I started drifting off, his finger traced the bottom edge of my lip.
I hummed. “That’s nice.”
“You said that,” he added quietly. “The night you were here.”
Opening my eyes, I studied him in the dark room. “Did I?”
Aiden nodded.
“I’m glad I got a chance to say it again.” I yawned.
“Isabel,” he said, nudging me back awake.
“Hmmm?”
“You know you’re going to have to marry me, right?”
Eyes still closed, my mouth curled into a smile. “As proposals go, I give that a four.”
He laughed quietly. “Just making a general statement. You’ve ruined me from sleeping alone.”
“Good.” I turned to my side, and he folded his body around mine, burying his nose in the back of my neck. “Because yeah, I’m going to have to marry you, Aiden Hennessy.”
We slept like that, soundly and deeply, until I felt a light stroke on my arm.
When I blinked, I saw a small body standing on my side of the bed. My stomach seized instantly at how she might react.
Anya grinned down at me. “I knew it was you,” she whispered.
I sat up, glanced over at a still-sleeping Aiden, sprawled on his back with a hand laying on his chest.
My heart raced as I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and she climbed up into my lap.
“You knew it, huh?” I asked her quietly.
Anya nodded, playing with the end of my braid where it hung over my shoulder.
“Want me to bring you back to bed, sweetheart?”
She nodded again, and without waking Aiden, we walked upstairs, and once in her room, I held back the covers on her bed. She pulled the blankets up to her chin and looked over at the picture of Beth. “It’s behind there,” she said. “You can take it out.”
Carefully, I picked up the frame and studied her face. She was pretty. A big smile and laugh lines that told me she’d done both things often.
“Behind the picture?”
Anya nodded.
I pulled the back of the frame off, and a folded-up piece of paper was wedged behind the image of her mom.
When I opened it, it was hard to make sense of what I was seeing. Anya pointed at the side, letters I couldn’t really make sense of.
“She told me I’d know,” Anya said. “Even if you didn’t match the list, I’d know.”
My throat thickened, and I smoothed her hair back from her forehead. “Yeah?”
Anya blinked slowly, sleep pulling at her. “I wrote it on the side of the paper, but I don’t think Daddy could read that part. Mommy said I’d know because she’d make us all happier. And that’s you.”
A tear slid down my cheek as I leaned down to place a featherlight kiss on her forehead. Her arms snaked around my neck in a tight squeeze.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you, too.”
I stood from the bed and turned, stopping short when I saw Aiden watching us from the doorway. He’d tugged on some cotton sleep pants, arms crossed over his chest, and a small smile playing over his mouth. His eyes were red.
“We’re busted,” I whispered.
He held out a hand, and I took it.
“Ready to go back to bed?” he asked.
I nodded.
I was ready for all of it with him. With her. Most of all, I was just ready for our life together to start, and as I fell asleep in his arms, I had a feeling it just had.
Epilogue
Isabel
Six months later
* * *
“It’s not very pretty.”
Under my breath, I laughed at Anya’s dubious expression. We sat on the bed in my bedroom with Aiden, and in front of her was the pink enamel lockbox I’d found online.
“It’s pink, though, so that’s something.”
She gave me a look. “I might have a new favorite color next year. What am I going to do with all my secret stuff then?”
I hummed. “Well, maybe we can spray-paint it if that happens.”
She eyed mine. “You never changed yours?”
With a shake of my head, I fished the key out of the small bag and jiggled the lock until I could finagle the box open. “It was a gift from my nan—Logan’s mom. She knew I needed a place that was just mine to keep all my special things that should be kept safe.”
“What’s in it?” Anya leaned forward.
I showed her each item, explaining where they came from, why I felt they were important. When I got to the letter I’d written to her dad, I paused before pulling it out.
“Now this is something I’ve never shown anyone,” I told her.
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
Next to me was another envelope I hadn’t shown anyone, but we’d get to that eventually.
Very carefully, I picked up the folded paper and shook my head at the sight of my neat penmanship, the doodles of purple ink along the side.
“I wrote this letter when I was a teenager.”
She shifted to her knees, teeth tugging on her bottom lip in her interest. “You never sent it?”
Pulling open the paper, I shook my head. “I decided it should just stay a secret.”
It was a risk to show her. But over
the last year, this young lady had become my built-in sidekick, my ride or die, outside of her dad.
When I handed her the paper, the diamond on my engagement ring caught the light.
Anya took the letter, her eyes widening on the first line.
“It’s for my dad,” she whispered.
I nodded.
“And you kept it all this time?” Her finger followed along with the words on the lined paper as she read it.
“Pretty crazy, huh?”
Anya’s eyes were bright with excitement. “How’d you know you were going to meet him?”
“I didn’t,” I answered simply.
When she finished reading, she carefully folded the paper and set it back inside the black metal box.
I knew her well enough now to know she was processing, so I gently twirled my ring while I waited for her to speak.
He’d given it to me a month earlier, tied onto a ribbon, around the stem of a giant bouquet of daisies.
It was the same day I moved in with him and Anya, after five months of trying very hard to pretend we weren’t basically living together.
Anya looked at her metal box again and up at me.
“I’m glad you didn’t send it to him.”
My eyebrows rose. “Yeah?”
“I think maybe he would’ve remembered when he met you at the gym. And he needed you to be someone new.”
A smile spread over my face at how carefully she chose her words.
“I think you might be right,” I said quietly.
She scooted forward on the bed and gave me a tight hug. I kissed the side of her head.
Forbidden: A Ward Sisters Sisters Novel Page 27