The Hardest Hit

by Teague, AS

  Chapter Thirty

  Aiden

  Mel had most definitely been a good girl this year, and if it were up to me, she would get everything she ever wanted and more.

  Her weight on my leg felt good, and I wrapped an arm around her waist, stifling a laugh when I realized that thick padding separated me from any sort of actual contact with her body.

  I couldn’t believe that I’d convinced her to wear this ridiculous costume and was even more shocked that she’d put it on and actually walked out of the bedroom into a crowded room of our friends while dressed as an old Mrs. Claus.

  I pulled the fake beard I’d donned as part of my Santa costume down and puckered my lips for a kiss. Her eyes widened, and she slapped at my chest.

  “You’re going to break the kids’ hearts if they see you right now!”

  I let my beard spring back into place. “Better?”

  She answered by pressing her lips to mine for a second and then pulling away, her eyes twinkling. “You really pulled it off with this party.”

  I looked around the room at all of my teammates and friends, their spouses, and kids running around and ruining my furniture and grinned. “It feels good to carry on the tradition.”

  I’d always decked the house out for Christmas, the traditions from my childhood carried on for my boys. The holidays were the only times I remember as a kid when I didn’t feel inferior to my brother, and I held on to those happy memories as best I could.

  This year I’d decided would be no different, and even though I wasn’t physically able to do as much of the decorating as I usually did, I had Mel to pick up my slack.

  I looked across the expansive living room to where the ten-foot tree that she and the kids had picked out a week ago stood in front of my wall of windows, colorful strands of lights wrapped around the Frasier Fir, the boys’ handmade ornaments covering the lower half where they could reach, the purchased ornaments on the top where Mel and I had taken turns hanging them.

  There were a few gifts under the tree already, with more to be added by the big guy on Christmas Eve. I’d smiled as I remembered Mel and Landon playfully arguing over whether or not the tree would fit in the living room, Mel insistent that it would, while Landon was more skeptical. Finally, Hunter had convinced his brother that if it didn’t fit, we could just cut the top off and make it fit.

  Mel rested her head on my shoulder. “It feels good to be here with you.”

  It felt damn good to have her with me too. “The boys haven’t gotten here yet, have they?”

  She frowned and glanced over my shoulder toward the kitchen. “No, I haven’t seen them. And it’s already nine.”

  Shay was supposed to have them here no later than eight, but I’d talked to her earlier in the day and asked if she could drop them off sooner. I’d gotten a noncommittal “I’ll try,” but nothing more, and it was apparent that she had decided not to try after all.

  I patted Mel’s leg, and she pushed out of my lap. I followed her up and fished my phone from the depths of my Santa jacket and checked for any missed calls or messages. There were none, so I pulled up Shay’s contact and pressed the phone to my ear, slipping through the crowd with a slight limp and into the downstairs bathroom, where it was quieter. I’d finally been able to get the brace off just the day before, but it would be a long time still before I was able to walk normally again.

  After almost four rings, Shay finally picked up. “Hey, shug.”

  I stifled a groan. I was so sick of her calling me that, but it seemed like the more I reminded her that I was not and had not been her “shug” in a very long time, the more insistent she was to call me by the pet name she’d come up with in high school.

  “Shay, where are the boys?” I skipped any pleasantries. I didn’t have anything nice to say to her at the moment, so I figured that it would be better to just get right down to it.

  She sighed, the sound full of irritation, and said, “Yeah, they aren’t gonna make it tonight.”

  My pulse began to thunder in my ears, and I silently counted to five before I asked through clenched teeth, “And why not?”

  “Well…” The phone rustled, and she covered the mouthpiece to murmur something to someone. I strained to hear what was being said, but I couldn’t make out any words, so I waited impatiently for her to decide to come back to our conversation. “We’ve just made other plans.”

  I couldn’t believe what was coming out of her mouth. The tiny thread of patience that I’d been hanging on to vanished and I dropped my voice to a low growl. “Making other plans for my kids was not an option tonight, Shay.”

  “Excuse me, but they are my kids too, and they decided that they would rather skip your stupid party,” she hissed.

  I knew my boys well enough to know that she was lying, not to mention, Landon had sent me a message earlier in the day telling me how excited he was for the festivities tonight.

  I swallowed hard and tried to force my blood pressure back down, but then she finished with, “Besides, I’m sure there are plenty of other people there you’d rather see anyway.”

  That was the final straw.

  “Listen to me. I let Thanksgiving slide this year even though it was my year to have them because I just didn’t have the fight in me. But I will not let you use my boys to jerk me around because you’re pissed that I’m seeing someone. They are fucking children, not pawns in a game of chess that you can use to get your way when something doesn’t go how you want it to.”

  “How dare you accuse me of that! I would never use those boys to my advantage.” Her voice cracked, and I had to give her credit; it was a damn shame that she had never hit it big, because she was a fantastic actress when she needed to be. But that was all this was. A fucking show she was putting on, probably for some boyfriend who she had at her house, all while my kids were in their rooms playing video games so she could have a little bit of privacy. The irony that she refused to bring them to me for that alone time because I had a woman here was not lost on me, and the more I thought about it, the more worked up I became.

  “You’ve been using them their whole damn lives. I’ve let you get away with it for too fucking long, and that’s on me. But this shit stops now. You were late dropping them off last weekend, and I swear to God, if you’re late again for Christmas, I’ll––”

  “You’ll what, Aiden?” she snapped. “What exactly are you going to do with a bum knee and a failed career? Not a goddamn thing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, we were right in the middle of something.”

  The line went dead without giving me a chance to reply, not that I could have said a word either way. My mouth had gone dry at her vile insults. I gripped the phone in my hand and rested my forehead against the door, breathing slowly in an effort to slow my racing pulse and get it together before I went back out there and had to continue on as Santa.

  “Aiden?” Mel’s voice floated through the door at the same time as she knocked, and I swallowed hard before pulling the door open just enough for her to slip inside. She took one look at me, and the smile that she’d been sporting faded. “What is it?”

  I shook my head. I didn’t want to bring her down; it was obvious that tonight meant almost as much to her as it did to me. I didn’t want to ruin her evening because of my ridiculous drama.

  She gripped my face in her hands, the only part of her entire body that wasn’t covered in deep red velvet and polyester, and her gaze collided with mine. “What is it?”

  “I don’t want to ruin your night with my crap,” I told her as I brushed a synthetic white curl from her forehead.

  She sucked her teeth and arched a brow. “So, we’re back to problems being yours or mine and not ours, are we?”

  I knew that look in her eyes. She was ramping up to tell me exactly where I could shove “my” problems, so I shook my head. “Shay’s not bringing the boys.”

  She dropped her hands, and her features darkened. “Why the hell not? This is supposed to be your night with the
m!”

  I lifted a shoulder. “Something came up.”

  “Something came up, my ass. She’s playing you.” She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. “I hope you told her to fuck off.”

  My lips twitched. Mel was fiery and stubborn, and if there was ever a person who I would put money on winning a fight or argument, it was Melanie Holstein when you messed with someone she cared about.

  Despite how incredibly pissed off I was that my boys would not be here tonight, I found a bit of comfort seeing her reaction to the news and knowing that she was probably almost as equally as disappointed as I was.

  I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her to my chest. “You really hate her, huh?”

  She shook her head. “No, I really like your boys. I wanted to see them tonight.”

  Emotion clogged my throat, and I had to swallow twice before I could speak again. “Me too, Mel. Me fucking too.”

  We stood in the guest bathroom for a long time, the Christmas music blaring on the other side of the door, the chatter of guests nearly deafening, with our arms wrapped around each other in silence.

  It was there that I realized I finally knew what it felt like to have someone who was completely on my side. I squeezed her even tighter, determined that I wasn’t letting her go ever again.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Mel

  The rest of the party went off without a hitch, and it was nearly one a.m. by the time everyone had left to head home, Griff and Brooke staying in a guest suite on the opposite end of Aiden’s house. Quinn had slipped out not long after Hampton and his sister, Georgia, left, claiming that he had an early flight, but I’d known that the only thing he had was a date with that gorgeous redhead he’d spent the rest of the evening with.

  I’d planned to go home, but with Aiden’s kids not being there, he’d convinced me to stay the night and selfishly, I was happy to spend another night in his arms.

  “Help me get this off,” I said to him as we finally made it to his bedroom after doing a quick cleanup of the party.

  Aiden had finally managed to maneuver the stairs and had wasted no time moving back into his master suite. I couldn’t say I blamed him; the room was nothing short of spectacular.

  A California King bed was in the middle of the large space, the soaring vaulted ceiling making the room seem twice as big as it actually was. There was a sitting area on one end of the room, the couch and oversized armchairs perfect for cozying up with a good book and a glass of wine on a dreary Wisconsin day. The other end of the room opened up into a bathroom that should have been in a day spa, not a bedroom, and I was not ashamed to say that I’d taken full advantage of the deep soaker tub every chance I’d gotten. The floors were walnut, their color a rich brown that complemented the white oak furniture, and the flooring in the bathroom was a marble with so much depth it was almost three-dimensional.

  Aiden sauntered up behind me and slid the scratchy wig aside to kiss the back of my neck. “I dunno, Mrs. Claus, I kind of like it.”

  I shook my head. “Well, you should probably un-like it, because the only reason I’m wearing this itchy thing is because I love you.”

  The confession tumbled out before I had a chance to stop it, and Aiden froze in place, his lips still pressed against my skin.

  My mind whirled as I tried to think of what I could say to recover from my blunder, but the only thoughts that bounced around my skull were that I did love him, that I was in love with him, and that I had always felt that way.

  I spun to face him, and my movement shook him out of whatever stupor he’d fallen into. There was no taking it back now, and I didn’t really want to anyway, so I pushed to my toes and pulled the fake beard from his face before I brushed my lips across his and whispered, “I’m in love with you, Aiden.”

  I tipped my head back and studied his eyes, hoping that I would see something in them that would tell me he felt the same way about me. What I saw shining back at me nearly took my breath away.

  Not only did his eyes tell me everything I hoped they would, but his perfect lips, lips that I couldn’t get enough of, parted and his voice was full of so much devotion that it nearly made my heart stop when he said, “God, I love you, Melanie.”

  Like trying ten different keys in a lock and finally finding the one that fit, everything clicked into place. I threw myself into his arms, abandoning any reservations I’d ever had about us, and kissed him as though his mouth were the only thing that would keep me alive.

  We’d waited eight long years to get here, ninety-six months had passed between the first time we’d met in that casino and now when we’d finally admitted to each other that what we’d always known deep down was the truth.

  I was in love with Aiden Shaw.

  And he was in love with me.

  He pulled his lips away and rested his forehead against mine. “I’ve waited so fucking long to hear you say that.”

  My lips curved up as my stomach fluttered. “You could have said it first, you know?”

  His lips brushed mine as he slowly lowered the zipper on the costume, the fabric falling away, leaving me standing before him in my bra. He tugged at the wig on my head and he tossed it aside, combing out my curls with his fingers.

  Carefully, he moved us through the room until the backs of my legs hit the edge of his bed and then he lowered me down, pulling the ridiculous stockings down my legs as he peppered my neck and breasts with kisses. “You’re right. I suppose I’ll have to find a way to make that up to you. Any ideas?”

  His grin was deliciously wicked as he continued to move down my body, his mouth pressing in to the tender flesh where my thigh met my hip. I moaned, the sound echoing off the walls of the large room.

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I had in mind.”

  He stood, stripping out of his Santa costume and then covered my body with his, the head of his cock nudging my entrance. When I raked my teeth over his neck he drove into me hard, planting himself fully inside me.

  We kissed.

  We made love.

  We became lost in each other, heart and soul.

  Aiden was the man for me. He always had been.

  And when my name tumbled from his lips as we came together, I knew that I had always been his too.

  He held his weight off of me, his lips pressing against my temple as we both floated back down to earth.

  “I never thought I’d be in love with Saint Nick. Or that he’d be so good in bed,” I murmured.

  He chuckled. “If you stay on the nice list, I’ll give you that gift every night and not just once a year.”

  I laughed as he rolled to his side and gathered me close to him. This was who we were, who we had always been.

  Aiden and Mel.

  Mel and Aiden.

  Our names had always belonged together.

  My head rested against his chest and as I listened to his strong heartbeat, I knew that loving each other was what we were always meant to do.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Aiden

  I’d decided that I was going to tell Mel how I felt about her after the party. That I was wholly in love with her and pretty much had been for the entire time I’d known her. I had this entire speech in my head, had even gone so far as rehearsing how it would go.

  I would profess that being with her set my soul on fire, something I hadn’t felt in a long time. That the only thing that had ever made me feel that way was football, and even the game that I loved so much didn’t make me feel as complete as she did. I’d tell her that I knew that our history may not have been the easiest, but that I would do whatever it took to make sure that our future was together.

  But then she’d beaten me to the punch, and her words, simple as they were, had rendered me speechless. That grand speech that I’d had planned flew right out of my head, and all I could do was tell her that I loved her too.

  I couldn’t formulate the words to tell her how I felt, so I’d shown her. We’d spent hours wrappe
d up in each other, our emotions spilling out in moans of pleasure and quiet declarations of love. I worshipped her body with mine, my mouth hungry for her skin, never getting enough until the sun was beginning to rise and the light began to trickle in through my windows.

  It was reminiscent of our very first night together, except we’d done what we hadn’t all those years ago. We’d spent the night lost in each other.

  The three days that followed were spent in my bed, binge-watching Game of Thrones and only leaving our private little bubble to venture to the kitchen for something to eat.

  But our mini staycation had come to an end, and now we were eagerly awaiting the boys’ arrival for Christmas.

  Shay was supposed to have the boys here by two p.m. this year, but at nearly four thirty, we were still waiting for them to show up. I’d called and texted multiple times, and Shay had insisted that they were headed our way, but I’d long since lost faith in what she said. I was on the verge of going to her house when I heard her car pull up in the driveway.

  A few seconds later, the boys bounded into the house, all three grinning like loons.

  “Dad! Mel! Merry Christmas!” Landon shouted as he shrugged out of his jacket.

  Hunter shoved past him and ran straight toward the tree. “Did Santa come?”

  I chuckled as I pushed to my feet. “You know he did! How about a hug for your old man though?”

  The boys rushed me, and Mel shouted, “Careful of his knee!”

  They slowed down a bit but still wrapped their arms around me and squeezed tight. “Your mama coming in?” I asked.

  “No, she said she had stuff to do to get ready to take us to the chocolate factory,” Owen answered, his face still pressed against my stomach. I couldn’t say that I was surprised, but I figured she’d at least want to give me some lame excuse as to why she was late and check to see if Mel was here. I bit the inside of my mouth. Shay had been promising to take them to the Hershey factory for years, but had never followed through. I figured this was just another one of her excuses to get rid of them, and quick.