by Amy Sparling
Aiden’s smile turns to confusion. “Huh?”
“Like… if a girl wants to have sex with you, do you just do it without even thinking?”
His brows narrow. “If that were the case, I would be having a lot of sex on race days.”
“So… are you saying you’re picky? Like, you’ll only choose which girls to sleep with?”
“Jenn, where did this come from?”
I shrug. “Jay said he only slept with Miranda because she threw herself at him. And that guys are just horny sex machines, and they can’t help it. He said it was like… I don’t know, entrapment.”
Aiden’s lips flatten. “Jenn, love, that is not true. Not at all.”
I shake my head. “I mean, it makes sense. Guys always want sex and they don’t care who it’s with. So like, I guess I’m asking can you love one girl but sleep with another because you can’t help it?”
“Hell no,” Aiden says. He straightens and I see a muscle twitch in his jaw. “Absolutely not. Guys like sex, but guys also know how to be in a committed relationship. Jenn, he’s a fucking asshole. He’s a liar and a cheater and don’t let him fool you into thinking anything else.”
I frown and gaze off at a group of teenagers in the distance. Aiden squeezes my hand. “Listen to me, Jenn. He’s completely wrong. Real men would never cheat on their girlfriend. Not ever. Not accidentally.”
I swallow down the lump in my throat. “I guess that’s good to know. It’s not that he couldn’t help it. I just wasn’t good enough.”
“Come here,” Aiden says. He leans over and wraps me in his arms. I let my head rest against his chest as a breeze carries the smell of greasy food through the air. I’m not exactly sad. I guess I’m just exhausted. “Why are guys so shitty?” I ask.
Aiden kisses the top of my hair again. “When you meet the right guy, he won’t be shitty at all.”
Chapter 13
Jenn is cute when she’s tipsy. She’s not as guarded, and a little more flirtatious. I like it. What I don’t like is the bullshit line her ex gave her about having sex. Does he really think he can lie like that and make her believe it? How many other girls has he told this do?
He's doing a huge disservice to the entire male species by making us look like a bunch of cavemen who are incapable of self-restraint. Not only that, but I certainly don’t want to hook up with every girl I come across. Men aren’t inherently hardwired like that. We can be loyal and faithful. I’ve had so many girls throw themselves at me at the races and I haven’t hooked up with a single one. Why? Because sex is more than just sex. It’s called making love for a reason.
I want to be with someone important to me. Not just some rando girl who wants to jump my bones. I take a calming breath and look out over the festival grounds, trying to stop feeling so pissed off. That moment is gone. I told Jenn that her ex was lying his ass off and I think she believed me. If not, I’ll have to keep finding ways to convince her that not all men are cheating assholes. I don’t want her to go falling for another asshat like that again. She deserves someone better. A real man. Me, if I wasn’t so unavailable because of my career.
We are still sitting on this bench, relaxing against each other while the world goes on, while couples hold hands and little kids scream on rides. A country music band plays under a pavilion to a hundred fans who are dancing along and singing every word. Everyone is having a good time here, but I’m probably having the best time.
Even though she’s my fake girlfriend.
I catch the sight of something in the corner of my eye and it gives me an idea. “Hey, Jenn?” I ask.
She lifts her head off my shoulder to look at me. “Yeah?”
“Remember how we said we would save the PDA for times when it would make a difference?”
She nods. I grin. “I’m going to kiss you now.”
Her eyes light up in confusion but I crush my lips to hers before she can say anything. Her hand presses hungrily to my chest, sliding up to my neck while her lips move against mine.
The kiss is hot and fruity from her peach margarita and I wish it could last forever. But I might be about to get punched, so I pull away slowly.
“How dare you,” she says playfully, her eyes dancing under the glow of the festival lights.
I lean forward and whisper in her ear, “We have an audience.”
She looks over her shoulder. Jay is standing not twenty feet away, holding a corndog and wearing the angriest look of contempt I’ve ever seen on a man. He shakes his head in disgust and stalks off.
Jenn giggles. “Okay, that was amazing.”
I brush some hair out of her eyes and grin down at her. I want to kiss her so badly, but I promised I’d only do that if we had a captive audience. No one is watching us right now. Kissing her would be against the rules.
I can feel my pants tightening in arousal from that kiss. I have to get away from this situation, stat. “Wanna go for a walk?” I ask.
“Sure,” she says, and I swear she sounds a little breathless, like maybe she was thinking the same thing.
That only makes my manhood even harder.
I reach over and take her hand. I know it’s not as serious as kissing, but it still counts as PDA. I’m afraid she’ll rebuke me at first, but she doesn’t. Her fingers lace into mine like it’s an old habit.
“He’s still here,” I say as an explanation. “He might run into us again, so I figured we should be holding hands.”
She smiles up at me. “I was thinking the same thing.”
We wander down the festival, hand in hand, looking exactly like every other happy couple here. I wonder if anyone else is here faking a relationship. Probably not.
“Aiden!” my sister calls out. We find her standing near a guy selling cotton candy. She waves us over. “Hey, Jenn!”
“Hey,” Jenn says. She glances up at me.
“She knows the truth,” I whisper. “But her friends don’t.”
Bella tells us we have to try the cotton candy because it’s really good, so I buy some for me and Jenn. Bella’s friends cluster around me, all taking turns talking about how much they love motocross while we wait for the guy to swirl up a fresh batch of pink cotton candy around the paper handle.
See, this is what happens every time I go anywhere with a motocross scene. Girls flock to me, bat their eyelashes and talk to me about their extensive love of the sport. It’s amazing how many of them find a way to casually (but not so casually) touch my arm while they talk. If men were like Jay says they are, then I’d be stripping down and having sex with each girl here.
Of course, I’m not. Which proves my point exactly.
I wish I could tell Jenn that, but I can’t exactly say that topic out loud in front of everyone. Still, I’m polite though, because they’re fans, and the fans have a lot of sway in professional motocross. Team Loco likes me to maintain a good rapport with them.
Jenn and I tag along with Bella and her friends for a while. I’m happy for the extra people because it’s helping me focus on not being attracted to Jenn. When it’s just the two of us, I find myself wanting to do all kinds of naughty things with her. We need this buffer of five extra people. Well, at least I need it. I’m sure Jenn is just fine.
The next couple of hours are a blast. Jenn and I ride a ton of rides. I especially love the scarier ones because she clutches onto me and buries her face in my shirt. I get to wrap my arm around her and hold her tightly. We don’t run into Jenn’s ex anymore, and I’m grateful that we don’t have to have the happy mood ruined by that prick. Still, it would have been nice to have an excuse to kiss her again. Regardless, I’m just really happy being here with her. It’s also nice spending time with my little sister.
Half an hour before the festival closes for the night, we all decide to ride the Ferris Wheel before going home. Luckily, it’s the kind that only has room for two people per seat, unlike those bigger ones that fit four people in each carriage. Jenn and I get to be alone.
She snugg
les against me, like she’s done all night. I might love it more than I love kissing her. She’s soft and warm and makes my heart all melty when she’s near me. I love the smell of her and the feel of her hair through my fingers.
I close my eyes and breathe in the moment while the ride takes off, swooping us to the top of the wheel and then back down again.
All of a sudden I hear the screech of fireworks. Jenn and I look up and see a burst of red sparkle through the sky.
“There’s fireworks?” I say.
“Every night during the festival,” she says.
“Sweet.”
We have the perfect vantage point to see the fireworks as they go off while we ride the Ferris Wheel. Soon, the ride is almost over, but the colorful sparkles are still lighting up the sky. We get stopped at the very top while they let off some passengers below.
“This was really fun,” Jenn says. Her eyes light up blue from a firework.
“Yeah it was. This is the first time I’ve done something that wasn’t work in a long time.”
Her eyes sparkle again. “Thanks for everything.”
“Trust me, the pleasure was mine.”
My phone goes off, halfway ruining the moment. Our ride jostles forward a few feet while the next person at the bottom of the wheel gets off. It’s Bella texting me.
“My sister wants to go to her friend’s house after this,” I tell Jenn. “But she forgot she has to drive me home.”
I’m about to type out a reply when Jenn puts a hand over mine. “I’ll take you home,” she says softly.
“No, I don’t want you to do that. It’s out of the way.”
She shrugs one shoulder. “Okay so maybe you should just come home with me?”
I swallow.
She watches me for so long I think I might explode from anticipation. “You want me to come over?” I say.
She grins. “We could hang out. You know… as friends.”
“Okay, sure,” I say with a nod. “That would be fun.”
A final blast of color fills the night sky. Jenn’s eyes crinkle at the corners. And then she grabs my shirt and pulls me toward her. Her eyes close, and mine do too.
And then we’re kissing once more, with no one around to see us.
It certainly doesn’t feel like we’re just friends.
Chapter 14
I push Aiden away, which is stupid because I was the one who pulled him to me in the first place. I slide backward in the small ride seat, feeling ten times more flustered than I am tipsy. I mean seriously, it was one margarita. I shouldn’t be this… swoony.
Aiden puts a hand on the back of his neck as he watches me with curious eyes. Shit. Why did I do that? Why did I kiss him? All night he’s been acting like the world’s greatest boyfriend and I just couldn’t help myself.
For a second, I think about lying and saying I saw Jay standing in line for the Ferris wheel and that’s why I kissed him. It was just Jay! It wasn’t me losing my mind over how handsome you are!
But I know I’m not that good of a liar, so I just shrug. “Sorry about that,” I say as the ride stops at the bottom and we get off.
Aiden laughs. “Give me your keys. You are way too drunk to drive.”
Ah, perfect. Drunk. Yes. That’s why he thinks I kissed him. I’ll just go along with that idea.
I nod and hand him my truck keys. I even sway a little as I walk out of the fairgrounds, just to keep up with the drunk girl act.
Am I pathetic? Yes.
But it’s not my fault. I’m being overloaded with the hotness that is Aiden Strauss and it’s making my brain short circuit. Ten minutes ago, I’d felt like inviting him to my apartment was the greatest idea in the world.
And well, I still feel like that, only now I’m embarrassed at how pathetic I can be. Aiden doesn’t hold my hand while we make our way through the parked cars toward my truck. At least half of the crowd has already left, so the parking lot—which is actually a field—is easier to navigate.
“This is me,” I say, pointing to my shiny new pickup truck.
“Nice wheels,” Aiden says, unlocking the door with my key fob. He pulls open the passenger door and holds it out for me. At first I think he’s being romantic but then he reaches out a hand to help me climb inside and I remember that he thinks I’m drunk. “I bet it was a big change going from the Camaro to this,” he says.
“Yeah, but it was worth it. I can take my bike to the track without asking someone else to load it for me.”
He nods, an approving smile tugging at his lips. I look away, pretending to fidget with my purse, because I don’t trust myself to meet his gaze right now. I’m too scared I’ll reveal my secrets—that I’m totally into him, and not in a fake way.
He jogs over to the driver’s side and starts my truck. He looks good in a truck. Sexy as hell, actually.
We don’t talk much on the drive, and I’m impressed that Aiden remembers how to get to my house on these old back roads. Lately I seem to be impressed by everything he does. Maybe that’s just the messed up part of my brain talking.
Once we’re back home, I know my alcohol has worn off. I’m thinking clearly now, and my heart is racing, because I know exactly what I want to do.
Luckily, my apartment is clean, even cleaner than usual after I went on my post-breakup cleaning spree. I let Aiden inside and I lock the door behind us. I’m pretty sure my parents are asleep now, but if my dad happened to see Aiden get here, he’d want to come say hi.
Nothing would kill the mood faster than that.
“Nice place,” Aiden says as his gaze lingers across my living room. The living room and kitchen are kind of one big space and then there’s a hallway off to the side that leads to my bedroom and bathroom. It’s small, only the size of a three car garage, but it’s home.
“My dad and I built the place,” I say, holding my arms open wide to gesture to my masterpiece.
“Yeah?” Aiden says, quirking an eyebrow. “Impressive.”
“We had to hire an electrician and plumber but we did everything else. Dad used to hang drywall in his younger years. I took so many trips to Home Depot that year that I now never want to go back again,” I say with a laugh.
Aiden smiles. “I’ve never moved out on my own.” He sits on the couch and I join him, keeping a few inches of space between us. “I know that sounds pathetic,” he goes on, “But I’ve been racing every weekend since I turned eighteen and there’s just never been time or reason to move out. I spend most of my time with Team Loco now, living in hotels. And when I come home it’s only for a few weeks so I just stay at my parent’s place. Luckily it’s big enough that I normally don’t have to see anyone.”
“That seems like a crazy life,” I say. I run my fingers up and down the groove in the couch cushion while I talk. “Always being on the road and stuff.”
He nods. “It’s fun and amazing and it pays well but there’s a downside.”
It seems like he’s going to keep talking, so when he doesn’t, I look up at him. He’s watching me with an intensity that sends a shiver down my spine. “The major downside is that I can’t have relationships.”
“You could…” I say, feeling my throat go dry. “It would just be different.”
He shrugs. “It’s hard on all relationships. I haven’t seen my sister in forever. I didn’t even know she had moved down here. I never see my mom. I haven’t had a girlfriend in so long I—” He stops. Shakes his head. “Never mind. Let’s only talk about fun stuff tonight.”
His hand is resting on the couch just inches from mine. I can almost feel the spark of electricity dancing between our fingers. Maybe it’s all in my mind?
But as I stare at our hands, Aiden slides his over, his fingertips covering mine. I look up and find him watching me.
“I had fun tonight,” he says, his voice deep and sexier than usual. “I’m starting to think that breaking my wrist wasn’t the worst thing ever.”
I can’t help but grin, and I bite down on
the inside of my lip to stop myself from grinning too much. “I’m glad you had fun,” I say, trying to keep it cool.
Why did I even invite him over? I know why—I didn’t want the night to end. And…maybe I wanted something else, too. Maybe my subconscious told me to invite him over so that we could—
My heart pounds. I know what I’m going to do, and it scares me, but it’s too late to back out now. I look up. “Wanna make out?”
Aiden’s fingers wrap around mine. He glances around. “But we’re not in public.”
I shrug one shoulder. “It can be practice.”
His grin widens. His tongue flicks across his bottom lip and the flutters in my stomach go into overdrive.
“Practice is important,” he says, inching closer to me. His good hand reaches up and slides behind my neck as he leans toward me.
I nod slowly. “Practice is good.”
He kisses me. For the third time tonight I feel the rush of warmth spreading through my body when his lips touch mine. This time, it’s different. It’s not just a quick kiss that ends a few seconds later, leaving me wanting more.
This time, I take more. I lean in, kissing him again, and again, my tongue clashing with his as our kisses become passionate. At some point, I realize I’m sitting in his lap and I don’t even know how I got here. I feel his cast pressed against my back while his good hand slides up my arm and tucks behind my hair.
When I lightly pull away to gasp for air, Aiden kisses my neck. I freeze, unaccustomed to how good that can feel. His lips dance across the sensitive skin, trailing kisses down to my collarbone. My breathing gets shallow.
“Should I stop?” Aiden whispers, his breath hot on my neck.
I shake my head. “No.”
He grins, then kisses my collar, neck, cheek, and lips.
I grab his face and draw him in, willing our ravenous kisses to fill the need inside of me. But it only does so much. I need way much more than this.
I stand up and take his hand. It doesn’t escape my notice that his jeans have gotten a lot tighter in the crotch, and the sight of it turns me on even more.