“No, I’m not saying that. Aiden and I haven’t really talked about it.”
“Well, you both may have some time to talk about it this weekend,” Autumn said. “I don’t know if Malik emailed you the room assignments, but you and Aiden are in the same cabin.”
“No biggie. You both already know we’ve been living with each other for the past few weeks. We’ve just been catching up.”
“We know, but is that your way of saying you’ve been prolonging the conversation?” Autumn asked.
“Maybe.” Summer shuffled from one foot to the other. “Okay, yes.”
Winter looked over her shoulder at Aiden. “I’m sure your conversations have been good, but I think time is running out for you to discuss the kiss with Aiden. He may be talking to the guys, but his eyes have been trained on you since you walked through the door.”
Summer didn’t have to look at Aiden to know Winter was right. “Yeah, they may be. But you know Aiden. He’s always kept an eye on me when we’re in the same room.”
“Not like that, sis,” Autumn said with a laugh. “That’s the look of a man on a mission.”
That’s what I’m afraid of. It always seemed that at one time or another, Summer and Aiden had disagreed about where they should take their relationship. Should they remain friends? Should they take it one step further? Should they date or did they know too much about each other to keep the relationship casual? Or was the fact that they knew so much about each other actually the reason they should date? Questions had been stampeding through her mind since he’d walked back into her life. Then there was the scariest question of all. Can we overcome what happened in the past or will history always linger around us?
Summer didn’t have the answers, but after weeks of spending time with Aiden, she was finally realizing that she wouldn’t get any answers by avoiding the issue. She had to address the situation head-on. She stole a quick peek at him and took a deep breath. She knew what she was really afraid of, even if it was hard to admit it to herself. After all these years, maybe—just maybe—they were both at the right place at the right time.
Chapter 11
Aiden looked at the clock again before rolling onto his back. It was already 3 a.m. and he hadn’t slept a wink since he got into bed at midnight. It could be the fact that Summer was in the room right down the hall and he hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to her all night. She’d been acting strange around him, and he was pretty sure she’d been avoiding him.
When he initially saw the room arrangements, he’d been pleased to see that he and Summer were both placed on the first floor in one of the cabins. Much to his disappointment, Summer was sharing a bedroom with Danni. Jaleen and Malakai had the only remaining separate bedrooms on the second floor.
He hadn’t lived with anyone since college, but he’d gotten used to Summer being in a bedroom right next to him. Alone. It wasn’t that he’d actually acted on their attraction by knocking on her bedroom door, but he’d known she was there and that had been enough. Until recently...
Aiden had always prided himself on the level of self-control he portrayed in high-stress situations. A part of being a great photographer meant that you always had to control the photo shoot to make sure that you got a great shot. The perfect shot. He’d been suspended off the side of a South African mountain for three hours to capture a few pieces from a Johannesburg designer. He’d had a black bear interrupt a photo shoot in the Smoky Mountains and he’d still had to continue to take the shots and hope that the park rangers and the rest of the crew could handle the situation.
He’d even had to stand on the outside railing of a tall skyscraper to get the perfect shot of a suspended model wearing a chic ballroom gown. Guaranteed the model was in a more dangerous situation than he was for most of the shoot, but going over that railing and maintaining his footing required extreme confidence and willpower. Those present for the shoot warned him that he shouldn’t step over the railing, but he disregarded their warnings because capturing the angle was more important to him. One wrong step could have sent him falling more than three hundred feet to his death.
All of those situations could have made him nervous, made him lose his self-control and strength of will. Yet it was the brown-haired beauty with the sultry round eyes and smooth butterscotch skin tone that was slowly breaking his resolve. It seemed the more they talked about the past and what the other had been up to the past few years, the more he couldn’t get her out his mind. The more he dreamed about her. From the way she moved her mouth when she talked to the way she lightly touched his arm when she laughed at something funny he said. Even the way she’d glance at him and smile when she knew he was watching her.
Summer was his weak spot and always had been, but now it seemed she was even more of a weak spot than he’d realized. Maybe I should see if she’s up. She probably wasn’t, since everyone had gone to bed hours ago. He grabbed his phone from the charger and unlocked it to send her a text. Instead, he saw that he had several Instagram notifications that he assumed were from the photos he’d put up of the group earlier in the night.
He laughed at a few of the comments Malik and Micah had written on the photo he had posted of all the men. He laughed even harder at Jaleen’s response. Although he’d just met Jaleen tonight, he was hilarious and Aiden had immediately felt like he’d known him for years.
Aiden clicked to check his notifications of pictures he was tagged in and saw a candid one that Winter had posted of everyone sometime during the night’s festivities. Summer was in the photo talking to Autumn and everyone else was involved in conversation, as well, except for him. He was standing around with the guys, who were listening to something Micah was saying. But he knew he hadn’t been listening. Mainly because his eyes were on Summer. No shock there. If he remembered correctly, this was around the time he realized she was going to avoid him all night. She sure did a damn good job.
He was clicking on another photo when there was a light knock on his door. He doubted Malakai, Jaleen or Danni would be knocking, so that only left one person. Since he often slept in the nude, he grabbed the cotton shirt and basketball shorts he’d placed on an armchair so that he could throw them on in the morning before breakfast.
He opened the door, but no one was there. Hoping he wasn’t imagining things, Aiden stepped out the door and looked down the hall toward the stairs. He spotted Summer on the first step.
“Pssst.”
He couldn’t tell, since it was dark, but when she glanced at him he felt like he could sense her hesitation. “Where are you going?” he whispered.
“Back to my room.”
“Why?”
She didn’t say anything for a couple of seconds. “I thought you’d be sleep.”
“Nope. Haven’t slept at all yet.”
“Why?”
Now he was silent. Luckily, he didn’t have to explain and she started walking back toward his bedroom.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, shutting his door.
“Yeah, everything is fine. I just couldn’t sleep and I figured if you were up, too, we could talk.”
Talking wasn’t exactly what he wanted to do, but he’d never turn down a moment with her.
“Sure. What do you want to talk about?” He sat on the bed and she followed.
“I don’t know.” She fidgeted with the cover on his bed and sat cross-legged. Aiden glanced down at her shorts before setting his eyes on her tank top. She’s trying to kill me. When did she start only wearing tank tops and shorts? If he really thought about it, he knew that whether it be day clothes or pajamas, she’d always enjoyed wearing a simple top and shorts. Emphasis on the shorts. He just couldn’t remember it getting to him like it was now.
“Did you bring any pants and long-sleeved shirts to sleep in?” he asked.
She looked down at her pajamas. �
�No. Why? What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”
“It’s cold in this cabin.”
She ran her hands over her tank and shrugged. “Danni and I have the heater on in our room, so I’m fine.”
I’m not. He grabbed a pillow and placed it over his lap. Summer’s eyes followed his movements, but she didn’t comment on it.
“Why couldn’t you sleep?” they both asked at the same time.
“You go first,” she said with a laugh.
He stuck with a simple answer. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind.” Meaning I have you on my mind. All the time. Even when I sleep. “What about you?”
“I’m not sure, but I think it’s something I ate. I was sleeping well, but my stomach feels a little upset, so it woke me up.”
“I don’t think it’s the rice and chicken we had for dinner. Or that delicious 7UP cake we had for dessert.”
“Oh, man, wasn’t it good?” Summer rubbed her stomach. “Micah’s wife, Lex, makes the best desserts. You need to try her red velvet cake she’s making tomorrow.”
“You mean today,” he said, looking at his phone again.
“That’s right,” she said with a laugh.
Even her half-sleepy, half-awake laugh is cute. “Your stomach is probably upset because everyone was waiting on us to eat dinner when we arrived. Then we all got to talking and didn’t eat until almost 11 p.m.”
“That could be it, but I’ve eaten late before.”
“And I bet you have a restless night every time you do.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Do you remember that summer right after you turned sixteen when we went to visit my grandpa Charley in Alabama and spent the entire day picking pecans from the trees in his backyard?”
“How could I forget?” Summer asked with a smile. “After that, we made all kinds of foods with pecans. Pecan pie. Pecan cake. Pecan muffins. Pecan pancakes. Even pecan-infused chicken, which I had never heard of. It was amazing. I really miss Grandpa Charley.”
“Me, too,” he said, smiling at the memory of his grandfather. “Your stomach hurt the first two nights we were there, and we thought it was all the pecans. Then the next two nights, it didn’t hurt at all. Since we were eating so late those first days, and around 7 p.m. those next two days, I figured I would do an experiment to see if it had to do with your eating patterns.”
Summer laughed so loud, she covered her mouth. “You did an experiment on me?”
“Oh, come on,” he said, joining in the laughter. “What about all those experiments you did on me growing up?”
“Point taken,” she said, putting up her hands in defeat. “So, what was your experiment?”
“Well, over the next month that summer, when we were hanging out I’d take notes on the different times you ate in the evening. Then compare that to when you would tell me your stomach hurt the following morning. Just to be on the safe side, I did the experiment again that winter. I probably should have told you this years ago, but when you eat late, you should probably take something to help you digest your food. Like a probiotic or something.”
Summer grew quiet and stared at him for a while before smiling. “You’re pretty damn amazing, Aiden Chase. Do you know that?”
“Of course I know that,” he said with a laugh.
“I never made the connection between eating at night and sleeping, and I hadn’t even told my doctor about my stomach cramping at night. But I began taking probiotics to boost my immune system a couple of months ago. I usually never eat late, but I’ve been eating a lot later since I started preparing the shop for the grand opening. I just realized that I left my probiotics at your place in Miami. I’ve been so busy, I didn’t even notice they were helping until tonight.”
“Glad I could help,” Aiden said, forcing himself to keep his eyes on hers and not her lips. Or chest. Or any other body part that would make him have to grab another pillow for his lap.
A minute later, he realized her eyes were just as bad. He could read them too well. At times, she could read his eyes even better than he could hers. It took a clever type of man to be able to hide the truth in his eyes, and although Aiden was talented, he wasn’t talented enough. Either he didn’t know how to hide the truth, or he didn’t care if Summer saw the desire present in his eyes. Regardless, he saw the longing in hers, too. The yearning to release emotions that he had a feeling hadn’t been released in a very long time.
“I changed my mind. I don’t want to talk anymore,” she said, breaking the silence.
He swallowed and tugged at the cotton neck of his T-shirt. “If you don’t want to talk, what do you want to do?” His question was suggestive. Her response left no room for misinterpretation.
Summer lifted herself onto her knees and brought her face close to his.
“Summer,” he said as a warning when she dropped her eyes to his lips. Instead of hesitating, the way he’d expected, she leaned even closer and placed each of her hands on his thighs at the edge of his basketball shorts. Her eyes danced with a challenge.
“Two lies and a truth,” she said with a sly smile.
“I haven’t played this since we were kids.”
“Trust me,” she said, as she slid her hands slightly higher under his shorts. “This won’t be like when we were kids.” Aiden didn’t move. He couldn’t move.
“I’ve been dreaming about your hands on my body, so that’s what woke me up tonight. Sharing another passionate kiss with you seems to be the only thing on my mind lately. And I’ve been thinking about slipping my hands under your basketball shorts every time you wear them.”
His mouth instantly watered at his options. Why can’t they all be true? He would be curious about her sudden burst of boldness after she’d been avoiding him all night, if he wasn’t familiar with the way Summer processed things. Once she made up her mind or came to terms with something, she didn’t look back or second-guess herself. Aiden was praying this was one of those times her decisiveness was to his benefit, too.
“Um, truth. You were dreaming about my hands on your body tonight and that’s what woke you up. Truth. Sharing another passionate kiss has been on your mind a lot lately.” He glanced down at her hands on his thighs and contemplated changing his answer, but it was too late. “Lie. You’ve been thinking about slipping your hands under my basketball shorts every time I wear them.”
She quirked her lips in a side smile. If she moved her hands one more inch, he’d grow even harder. Hell, just the thought was making him want to toss the pillow to the side.
“Wrong.” Her hands stopped moving.
“Which one was wrong?”
“Well, yes, I’ve constantly been thinking about kissing you. And believe it or not, every time you go for a run and come home all hot and sweaty, I can’t stop staring at your basketball shorts and imagining how they’d look off you.”
“So you weren’t dreaming about me tonight?”
“Oh, I was.” She finally slid that last inch. “But my dream didn’t wake me up. My stomach really did wake me up.”
She cupped him in her hand and gasped. “You’re already rock solid.” Her voice was laced with desire.
“I stay rock solid around you,” he said as he pulled her to him and kissed her passionately. The moment their lips touched, he moaned into her mouth. He’d been waiting for this kiss from the minute their last kiss ended.
He switched their positions so that she was securely under him, never breaking their mouths apart. With every tongue stroke, their kiss grew deeper, bolder. The sweet whimpers escaping from Summer’s mouth sent chills down his spine. Her hands roamed under his shirt and he leaned up so she could take it off.
You both still need to talk first...
That little voice inside his head was a reminder that he and Summer had some unfinished bu
siness. But damned if he could even remember what that business was at the moment. The only thing that mattered was living in the moment and relishing the erotic way their tongues danced together.
Unable to resist tasting her sweet skin, Aiden began placing kisses along her neck and collarbone. It almost seemed unreal that just two months ago he’d awaken from a dream of her in the exact position that she was in now. His hands journeyed down to her backside and cupped both cheeks in his hands.
Definitely not dreaming right now. Summer was all woman, and right now he was ready to show her just how much he appreciated every part of her.
Breaking the kiss, he studied her eyes for any sign of regret. Seeing none, he gave her one more once-over to be sure.
“Its fine,” she said, licking her lips. “I’m good.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for another kiss. I’ll take it slow, just in case, he thought when he realized they were venturing into uncharted territory. They’d made out before. They’d seen each other naked before. They’d even done some pretty naughty things before that they’d both admitted they hadn’t regretted.
Even though they’d moved to a dance similar to the one they were about to have, they’d never tangoed quite like this. Everything was different. Life itself was different. Which meant that this particular moment was different.
Aiden dragged down one of the straps of her tank top until a nipple was exposed. He readily popped the nipple into his mouth and was rewarded by her upper body lifting off the bed to meet him eagerly. Minutes later, he moved to the other nipple before completely discarding her shirt and tossing it to the floor with his.
He took his time exploring her body slowly. He was in no rush for this moment to end. When he reached her stomach, he glanced up at her and caught the wicked smirk on her lips. She wore the look of a woman who knew what was next, but if Summer thought intercourse was the next step, she was sadly mistaken. Aiden could think of so many things he wanted to do to her body before they shared that moment.
Waiting for Summer Page 11