Lowering my eyelashes and plastering a sensual smile on my face, I give him a look that clearly reads like sex. "Why don't you take me home and we can forget all about this? I believe I was promised a different kind of dessert."
He lets out a harsh bark of laughter, the sound ringing with anger and disbelief. "Right, because I'm good enough to fuck. But God forbid there be any affection in between rounds of it."
My eyes widen with shock. "No, that's not—"
"You know what, Dani, I don't think I feel like being the hired dick for tonight. I'm going home. Maybe you can find another guy to ride." He then turns to wave down a taxi coming down the street. When it pulls up in front of him, he opens the door and steps back, his posture rigid as he stuffs his hands in his pockets.
And when he finds me still standing there, frozen with my mouth agape, he waves a mocking hand at the car.
"Good night, Dani."
His words, and the tone they're spoken in, are enough to snap me out of my frozen state. I'm too stunned and hurt by his cold dismissal to recognize the hurt inhisvoice, which makes a bite appear in my own.
"You know what? You're right. We should definitely call it a night, you're being an ass. Call me when the Aiden I like makes an appearance again."
I'm too busy gathering my dress in my hands to notice my own blurted confession. And if I wasn't already sliding across the back seat, I may have seen the lookof surprise—followed by a flash of regret—on his face before I slammed the car door behind me.
15
AIDEN
Dani: Hey
Aiden: Hey
Dani: You busy?
Aiden: No, just cleaning my apartment
Dani: Can I come over?
Aiden: Sure
Dani: I’m sorry about last night. I didn’t react very well.
Aiden: It’s ok. I shouldn’t hold ex run-ins against anyone.
Aiden: I’m sorry too. I didn’t react very well either.
Dani: Truce?
Aiden: Truce. Come over.
Two hours later, I'm stress-cleaning my kitchen for the third time today, needing something to do with my hands while I wait for Dani. I'm seriously hoping I didn't fuck everything up last night, and that I'll somehow be able to convince her that I was just hurt and reacting without thinking—that I wasn't pushing for more. That I don'twantmore.
Even though I can't figure out if that's the truth or not. Because as much as I don't want to let a woman into my life or give her any power over me, there's still a part of me that's wondering what it would be like with her. If Dani would be worth taking a chance on.
If taking that chance would be harder than dealing with this new idea of being without her.
My stomach drops at the thought, but thankfully a knock sounds on the front door before I can dwell too much on it.
I open it and find a smiling Dani. And even though the smile is slightly more tentative than every other one I’ve seen on her face, a breath still stutters out of me at the sight.
Fuck, I’m so gone for her.
"Hey," I greet in as normal a voice as I can muster.
“Hey,” she responds in a relieved breath.