“Good thing it’s cool out today. That heat was killing me. So how are you?” Shae crossed her thick thighs and turned toward him. She rested her chin in her hand and flashed him the sexiest smile.
“I’m sorry about this. I know you were trying to work—trying to run a business. We shouldn’t have shown up like that.”
“No! It’s totally fine. I was actually kind of having a weird day. I didn’t sleep well last night. I was up late thinking about this guy.”
That caught Aidan off guard. He didn’t remember Shae being such a bold flirt. It was pretty hot. Aidan managed not to trip over his tongue when he responded. “I see. Thinking good thoughts, I hope.”
“They were good thoughts, but like, nervous thoughts.”
“What kind of nervous thoughts?”
“Oh, just the usual. I wonder if he’ll like me. I wonder if I’ll like him.”
“I think at least one of those things you won’t have to worry about. I just left my office in the middle of the day to get cupcakes for lunch.”
“That’s true. So you were researching our date? Come to any decisions yet?”
“Along with every single tourist trap in LA and Orange County, the internet encouraged couples to check out the tree lighting at the Grove and Universal City walk.”
“Mhmm, go on.”
“We could also hit the Petersen Automotive Museum.”
“Are you into cars?”
“Not at all.”
“Okay,” Shae snorted, then covered her mouth to hide the sound. She didn’t need to though. It was anything but a turn off. “I need a Christmas tree. I’ve kinda dropped the ball on the holidays the last couple of years.”
“Seems pretty Christmasy inside your store. Didn’t I catch candy cane shaped cookies for sale?”
“Maybe?” Shae scrunched up her nose in this adorable sign of guilt and Aidan almost leaned over and kissed her. “I’m dropping the ball at home though. Do you want to get a tree with me? And then maybe we can wander around Target because I have no Christmas decorations to put on the tree? Or does that sound like a horrible date?”
“That sounds like a great date,” Aidan replied. And he meant it. “When do you want to go?”
“Do you have plans tonight? Or is that way too soon?”
“No. I’m free. I usually leave the office around five.”
“Oh, perfect. I usually leave around four. That’ll give me plenty of time to go home and change.”
They swapped cell numbers and decided that Aidan would swing by her house and pick her up at six-thirty. She assured him that Home Depot was actually the best place to get a tree and not a Christmas tree lot. After they hit Home Depot and Target, they’d find some place to get takeout.
“This sounds like a pretty solid plan,” Shae said with a smile. Aidan definitely wanted to kiss her. “Let me get back inside. I have some stuff to finish before my big date with this cute guy tonight.”
“I should go stop Matt from annoying the shit out of everyone in your store.” Aidan stood. “After you.”
“Thanks.”
They walked back into the shop and Aidan found Matt standing in the corner with two boxes big enough to carry a dozen cupcakes each.
“Oh you’re all set up, aren’t you?” Shae asked as she made her way back behind the counter.
“These should last me the ride home.”
“Anything for you?” Shae asked Aidan.
“Are these all for you?!” Aidan asked Matt.
“Uh, yeah. I told you. This is my spot. These should last me through the weekend. And I didn’t get all this on the house. I paid for them.”
“I told you. He’s that Matt,” Shae insisted. “Would you like anything, Aidan? It will be on the house since Matt just paid my rent.”
“Actually, I was hoping you would have that layered cake crunch thing you made for the office.”
“Oh, the caramel brown trifle! Yeah, I don’t make that here, for sale. I can make that...later.” There was a little bit of hopeful suggestion They were talking about desserts and Aidan was definitely getting a hard on.
“We can do that.”
“Okay. Well I'll see you tonight. Matt, share at least one cupcake with him.”
“Yeah, sure. Okay.”
“I'll talk to you later,” Aidan said as he held the door open for Matt. Their first date was still hours away, but Aidan was determined not to blow it. He wanted to get closer to Shae.
✶
Aidan was late picking up Shae. He had a real excuse. A call with one of their investors had run late. He thought he had enough time to go back to his place, shower and change, but construction on the way to Shae’s sent him on a nice detour that put him in the center of a shitload of rush hour traffic. Luckily she wasn’t finished getting dressed when he got to her place. Shae opened the door in a robe with her hair up in this silk shower cap. After she let him in, she tasked Aidan with finding a new place for them to grab takeout when they came back from their Christmas tree mission.
Shae’s apartment was small, but he was impressed by how put together it was. Her place looked like a showroom, fully furnished with real adult furniture. Pieces that Aidan had never really considered owning, like a wall clock. She had real plants that she managed to keep alive and pictures of her family hanging on the walls along with other pieces of real art. Aidan’s sister had helped him get his place somewhat in order, but Shae’s place felt like a home.
When Shae finally emerged from her bedroom Aidan was tempted to ask her if they could kick off their date in her bedroom. She was wearing a simple button down striped shirt that fell to her thighs, a pair of tight black pants and some boots, and it made her body look amazing. He managed to keep his sexual propositions to himself though and they headed out to Home Depot.
Shae was right. Aidan had been to some shitty Christmas tree lots, but Home Depot had some prime cuts of Douglas fir. Aidan got to show off a bit, hoisting a large tree up and strapping it to the roof of his car on his own. When he finished his exhibition of full body strength, they headed over to Target, which was oddly packed.
He followed Shae as she weaved through the aisles with the cart. She apologized for grabbing more than Christmas decorations.
“I’ve been so busy, I figured I should grab a few things while we’re here. You don’t mind, do you?”
“Don’t mind at all. Here.” Aidan grabbed the closest item as they made their way toward the back of the store and tossed it into the cart. “I was running low on Centrum Silver.”
“That two pack should last you at least a few days.”
“Two max,” Aidan joked. “I like my vitamins.
They were in Target for over an hour, and Aidan realized as they finally reached the Christmas section that he was having a great time. In the back of his mind, he knew there was a chance his memories of Shae had been clouded by his intense physical attraction to her and her baking skills.
Shae was still as sweet as he remembered, but he hadn’t seen this funny as fuck or flirty side of her before. Probably because they’d only known each other at work. And she’d been married. As she schooled him in cheat codes for finding her way around any Target, no matter the lay out, he realized he definitely wanted this date to go on.
They bought a small fortune’s worth of ornaments and decorations, including two different holiday wreaths. “I just like to have options,” Shae said with this cute smile. “I like to switch it up.” Before they headed back to her place, stopping to pick up Indian food on the way. After they secured the tree in its brand new stand, Shae led Aidan over to her couch.
“We’ll eat and then we can decorate, if you want to.” Shae said as she passed the naan over to him. “You’ve already put in a lot of manual labor tonight.”
“Nah, I can help. Especially with getting the lights up to the top. That’s always a two-person job. Also I don’t think tapping out this early in the night will bode well for my chances at a date number two.�
��
“Oh, are the kids fucking after two dates now?” she said, laughing. Aidan choked more than laughed, but managed to clear the rice he’d just swallowed from his wind pipe before he really started coughing.
“You know us Millennials. Always coming up with their own rules. You’re a Millennial too right?” Aidan had heard the phrase “Black Don’t Crack” and he suddenly realized he had no clue how old Shae was. She didn’t look much older than twenty-four, but she carried herself with a certain maturity. He had no clue.
“Yeah, we’re the same age. I’m thirty-two.”
“How’d you—”
“I had to process your payroll, remember? Not in a creepy way, but I just noticed that we were the same age. Once. A long time ago.”
“It’s okay to say you were stalking me, Shae. I won’t hold it against you.”
“Yeah, thanks.” God, her smile was infectious. Aidan could still feel his own smile lingering as Shae cleared her throat and sobered her expression. “Okay. I want to know. Why are you single? You had a girlfriend when we were working together right?”
“Part of the time. We broke up about a year ago.”
“What happened there? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“Classic ‘we just grew apart’ thing,” Aidan replied with a shrug. “How about you?”
“Okay. I’m going to overshare, ’cause why the hell not. Better to get it all out there, right? And then you can run for the hills when you see my baggage usually arrives via cargo plane.”
“Nah, I’m not running anywhere. Unless your ex-husband is obsessed with you and well armed. Then I might power walk in the other direction.”
“I wouldn’t blame you if that was the case. No. Um…” Shae paused and started moving her rice around her plate. “It was kid stuff actually—fertility stuff. Are you sure you want to hear all this? It’s not pretty, first date chatter.”
“Not if you don’t want to talk about it. I’m not trying to make you upset.”
She waved him off. “No, I’m fine. Okay, so he has this huge family. He’s one of six, both his parents have a ton of brothers and sisters and all his siblings are working on their, like, third and fourth kids now. We started trying and trying and trying and trying, but of course I wasn’t getting pregnant. I asked him if he wanted to go get checked out together and then we could check out our options.”
“There’s always adoption too.”
“Exactly. I suggested that too, but he wasn’t having it. I went to go get checked out on my own and my doctors told me I was completely fine.”
“It was him.”
Shae nodded, pursing her lips. “Pretty sure. We got into an argument about it and he said something I don’t want to repeat because that will make me upset. Things kinda fell apart after that and I knew I would be happier on my own.”
“That sucks. I’m sorry that, you know...”
“Thank you. It was for the best. I’m—things aren’t perfect, but I’m definitely happier now. Also, I quit Allight. That place fucking sucked.”
Aidan let out a burst of laughter. “It was a pretty shitty place to work. And now you just need to find the right guy.”
“Uh huh. Scouring the world of dating apps to find Mr. Right.”
“And what does Mr. Right look like to you?” Aidan didn’t know what made him ask, but the second the words left his mouth he realized he really wanted to know if he had a chance.
“He’s about six-two, with red hair and glasses, pretty buff.”
“So you’re saying we don’t even have to wait until the second date.”
Shae laughed some more and reached for her glass of water. “Okay, I’ll give you the real wish list that’s in my head.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“I want someone I can have fun with. I want someone who wants to go on adventures with me. Like midnight runs to In-N-Out adventures and spur of the moment road trip adventures to Vegas.”
“Seems reasonable.”
“I want someone I can send nudes to,” she said, scrunching up her nose like she’d confessed her darkest secret. “I’ve never sent a nude before.”
“Hmm. Neither have I, now that I think of it.”
“What about you? What does Mrs. Right look like to you?”
“She can bake her ass off, for starters,” Aidan said, his chest warming at the sound of Shae’s laugh. He couldn’t get enough of it.
“Fine baked goods are a must. What else?”
“Someone who wants to send me nudes,” Aidan heard himself say. He immediately wanted to tell Shae he was joking, but he wasn’t.
3
Dear Santa, What was I thinking...?
Shae watched Aidan watching her as she tried to process the words he’d just said. Was he sweating as bad as she was? Was his stomach turning over too? She was flirting too much. She knew it and she was being too honest. Another trait of Kenney women. Light, hilarious, yet blunt honesty. Shae could always rely on her own honesty, but it was truly a crapshoot when it came to how others responded to it. Harvin had loved that part of her personality at first, until it came time for him to deal with his own truth. Shae mentally shook off the unpleasant thoughts of her unpleasant ex-husband and turned her focus back to the issue at hand. Aidan wanted nudes. Her nudes.
“I’m sorry,” he said a second later. “I didn’t mean it—”
“No, don’t apologize. I have a question about the nudes though.”
“How can you have a question for me? The nudes were your idea,” Aidan laughed.
“I know! But say I wanted to send you nudes. Like if I wanted to send them to you specifically.”
“Right. Okay. You’re sending me nudes. What’s the question?”
“Would you send nudes back?”
Aidan tilted his chin up a bit and let out a “Hmmmm...”
“See! This is why I have follow-up questions. I’d be out here sending nudes and getting ‘Hmmmms’ in return,” Shae joked. Kinda. She was definitely sweating, not on her forehead or anything. She was just hot all over from nerves. She took another swig of her drink. In over her head didn’t even describe it. Agreeing to this date was a bad idea. She was not ready to be out in the playing field or whatever you call it.
“I was just thinking of how to frame my response so I didn’t come off like a complete dirtbag,” Aidan replied. “If you were sending me nudes, I would be happy to send you nudes in return, if you wanted nudes from me. I know women don’t like unsolicited dick pics.”
“That is true. So if we decided, like mutually, to send each other nudes—”
“Mhmm. Go on.” His eyes narrowed behind his thick framed glasses. Shae didn’t know what to make of it, so she just kept talking.
“Right. So we’re adults and shit, right? And we can decide to send each other nudes. Is that something that you could possibly be interested in doing?”
“Yes,” he replied calmly.
“Okay.”
“If that’s something you’re interested in doing.”
“Can I be honest? If I had known it was this easy to get naked pictures of you, I would have asked years ago.” Shae smiled as a burst of laughter erupted from Aidan.
“Well, I think timing is an important factor here. I think your marriage would have ended for completely different reasons if I was sending you nudes years ago. Can I ask you one thing? Before we get back to the nudes, I mean.”
“Please.” I need to stop talking anyway, she almost added.
“Would you like to go out on a second date with me?”
“Yes. I would and this time you can actually plan it. And I’ll make sure I run my errands beforehand.”
“Fair enough. But I don’t mind if you need to stop into CVS for something.”
“I’ll make a list before you pick me up.”
“Deal. Before we get back to the nudes, there’s one more thing I have been wanting to do for a few years.”
“What’s that?” Shae asked. A seco
nd later it clicked. Shae froze as Aidan moved the plates between them and slid to the middle of the couch. His green eyes scanned over her features before settling on her lips. She regretted picking out a long-wear matte lipstick. It made her lips look amazing, but she wasn’t sure if it made them kissably soft. Would matte cosmetics ruin this kiss for them both?
Shae’s eyes slid closed as Aidan’s lips pressed against hers. The matte was definitely not a problem. It all started off pretty tame. Just lips on lips, Aidan’s hand sliding around the curve of her neck. Her own fingers went to the front of his shirt, toying with the hem of the soft cotton as their tongues entered the equation. Just when Shae thought to take things a little further, Aidan pulled away. Shae’s eyes blinked open. If her skin wasn’t a dark brown, she knew she’s be sporting the same red blush that now covered Aidan’s face. She cleared her throat, then bit the inside of her cheek.
“You’ve wanted to kiss me for a few years?”
“Yeah, I have.”
Shae wanted to press him for details, see if he was really telling the truth about this hidden desire, but she knew she’d ruin the moment. Instead she said, “That was a very good kiss.”
“I have to agree with you.”
They finished the meal and Shae was so relieved by how easily the conversation flowed. They talked more about their old co-workers. It seemed like they both had only kept in touch with a few people. He told her more about his start-up, which helped buyers find houses that specifically needed renovations. In this real estate climate in this part of California, the whole concept of PrimedRealty seemed like a great idea. After they got the tree about seventy-five percent perfect, Shae had to send Aidan on his way.
“I have to get to work early. Otherwise I’d ask you to stay. Not like the whole night, but longer. Or the whole night. Whatever.”
“I get it. I’ll call you and we can figure out date number two.”
“I’d like that.” Shae walked him to the door and was not at all disappointed when he kissed her again. This time it was just as good, but different. There was some real heat behind this kiss, not just a sense of curiosity asking to be fulfilled. This second kiss was a promise of naked things to come, if Shae let them.
WRAPPED: A FIT Adjacent Christmas Novella (The Fit Trilogy Book 4) Page 3