I smile sadly at Aiden. “The way I see it, love either ends like your parents, or my parents. And I have zero interest in either situation."
Aiden mulls over my words, his hands continuing to rub my thighs as he thinks. Eventually he asks, “Are you sure an ex has nothing to do with it?”
I give him a hard look. “Not in the way you’re thinking, no.”
Aiden’s look is equally knowing. Eventually, I sigh.
“Okay, so an ex was the one that kickstarted this whole theory. We were young and in high school and he was the first boy I ever loved.” I frown at the thought. “Or, that I thought I loved. Looking back at the things I did—and almost did—for him, there’s no way it was love.”
“So youarea scorned lover,” Aiden teases. But when I aim a glare at him, he winces and says, “Okay, not a joking matter. Got it.”
“He might be the one that first opened my eyes to it, but the proof comes from everything else I just told you. I’m not bitter because of an ex, I’m just… not interested because of the reality of relationships.”
He’s quiet for another moment. Then, “That's still a lonely, and probably depressing, way to live, Dani."
I let out a heavy breath, even though his reaction isn't any different from what I usually hear. Is my theory so crazy? I’ve never found anyone who agrees with me. Am I so content by myself or is everyone else just eager not to be alone?
"Do I seem depressed to you, pretty boy?” I ask instead.
The corner of his lip finally twitches into an amused smile. "Not exactly."
"So then why does it matter?" I scoot closer to the edge of the bar, draping my legs over his hips. “I would’ve thought a 22-year-old guy would be the last person I’d have to explain the benefits of being single to. I thought you’d be happy to find a girl that just wants to fuck.” I cock my head and raise a hand to his hair, running my fingers through it as I study him thoughtfully. “Is this going to be a problem? I can’t do this if it doesn’t stay casual, Aiden.”
He quirks an eyebrow and pauses his movements on my thighs. “Hardly,” he says dryly. I almost laugh at his tone. “I'm just trying to understand you. Is that so bad?"
A smile twitches at the corner of my lips, even as I mentally heave a relieved breath at the way this conversation ended. "The only thing you need to know about me is how to make me come. That's the foundation of this arrangement."
He leans away from my touch so he can stretch an arm across the back of the barstool next to him, his lips lifting into a grin and making him look every bit the self-assured pretty boy I know him as. "Do I need to remind you that I already know how to do that?"
And with a single word, I issue a challenge and safely move us back into comfortable territory.
"Yes."
His eyes immediately darken with a familiar hunger, and he reaches for my hips, already starting to tug me off the bar top and into his lap. But I stop him with a hand on his shoulder. Confusion flickers across his face, but when I grab his whiskey and take a big sip, then curl my hand behind his neck and pull him forward, that desire comes right back to life. And when I brush my thumb across his lower lip in a silent order, he opens without any hesitation.
I part my lips and let the whiskey slowly trickle into his mouth.
A second later his lips crash against mine.
"Why are you the hottest thing I've ever fucking seen," he growls, pulling me off the counter and settling me in his lap. I let him this time, because I'm equally desperate for his touch.
He leads the kiss, sinking one hand into my hair to angle my face the way he wants me. Even the way he nips my lower lip, the way his tongue licks into my mouth, everything tells me he's eager to take over. That he wants toownme like this.
I happily hand over that power. As much as I enjoy control, I'd much rather sit back and enjoy the pleasure he wants to dish out.
AndGod, does this boy know how to deliver.
That's very quickly proven when, after only a minute, Aiden's kiss has so thoroughly overwhelmed me that I start moaning into his mouth and shamelessly rocking against his cock.
"Dirty girl," he whispers against my lips. His hands guide my hips as I continue to writhe in his lap.Fuck,I can't seem to stop. "Are you going to come in my lap before I've even taken your clothes off? Just from my tongue in your mouth and my cock rubbing against that needy pussy?"
I'm too far gone to answer. All I manage to do is whimper and tighten my arms around his neck as I continue rolling my hips over his.
"Alright then," he drawls, pulling his hands away from my hips and letting them settle on the back of the barstools again. "Use me. Come all over yourself. Show me how desperate you are for my cock, Dani."
His words trigger an almost immediate explosion. All it takes is for me to grind down again once, twice, three times before I'm gasping at the force of the pleasure rolling through me.
Aiden snaps forward to capture the sound in my mouth. Feeling the hungry slide of his tongue against mine only prolongs my orgasm, and my hips continue to rock against him as I ride it out. Eventually I slump forward with a sigh.