Page 69 of Not As Advertised

“Me too, Aiden. I’ve wanted this with you for longer than I would admit to myself. That’s why I was afraid that I was dreaming.”

He looked back at me like I had told him he’d won the lottery. It was nearly impossible for me to imagine how I could give him anything near what he was giving me, but I was desperately going to try.

Grabbing his phone off his bedside table, he pulled up a food delivery app and ordered us the longest list of breakfast items I could imagine. Perhaps he was ordering the whole menu.

“Are there more people coming to breakfast that I don’t know about?” I giggled a little at his stern face and poked him in the stomach. Ouch. Those abs were lethal. Totally jealous.

“I know my sweetheart likes her sweets, so I don’t want you to have to choose. I want to spoil you. We have a couple of hours before we need to get to work. With enough sweetness, you won’t protest when I insist we spend the coming weekend naked.”

A devious grin took over his expression, and I sucked in a breath, knowing he was dead serious.

Letting so many inhibitions go last night felt safe in the shadows and darkness. But with the morning sun determined to blaze in around the edges of his blackout curtains, I wasn’t sure how I felt about even getting out of this bed to pee (which was becoming more urgent by the second), let alone parade around his very expensive house bare for two days.

Biting my lip with hesitation, I tried to think of the best way to say, “Um, I need to slow down a little here,” without ruining any of the desire swimming in his eyes.

The churn in my stomach came back with force.

I tried to reason with myself that Aiden wouldn’t care if I said I wanted to put some comfy clothes on. This fledgling relationship was not going to be knocked off course by a T-shirt. I reminded myself that he got a kick out of my collection of anime T-shirts. And did I really want to start this relationship, now that we had finally gotten here, by pretending to be someone I wasn’t?

Ever attuned to the emotions I tried to keep off my face, Aiden gave me an out.

“Abbie, that was just teasing. Not a demand. I want you here in my arms more than anything. But I want you to let yourself fully be here with me as much as you can this weekend.”

Scrutinizing his beautiful face to make sure he really meant those words, I blew out a breath (not anywhere in his direction, though, because hello, morning breath).

“I feel childish saying that I’m not ready for that after last night,” I whispered. “I’m just not ready to be that free in the light of day. Especially when you are all that.”

I gestured to all of him, as I seemed to do. There wasn’t a place on his body that wasn’t perfect. It was a pain point that I was going to have to work. He’d shown me how much he enjoyed my body just as it was last night. I’d need to work on believing him.

Choosing not to push me, he gathered me into his arms tightly and pressed my face into his neck. He just seemed to know when things got too intense for me, and I couldn’t express how much relief I felt about not having to make eye contact and discuss my insecurities at the same time.

“Hey, it’s not all or nothing here. Whatever rule book you think you need to follow in your head, throw it away. I’m thirty-six fucking years old, and this is the first relationship I’ve ever had that has meant anything to me. We’re going to make choices that work best for us. Okay?”

I pressed a kiss to his jaw, liking the scratchy stubble that had grown there overnight. I wondered if I could convince him not to shave all weekend. He’d look so sexy…Girl! Focus!

“Okay,” I forced out, wishing I could bring back the inner siren that I’d channeled last night.

He took a deep breath and pressed his lips to my forehead. I felt how relaxed his body was next to mine. It was almost as if we were sinking into our own personal cocoon. It was totally foreign to be able to have my feelings out there without falling into some sort of anxiety spiral.

Was he a magician?

He just held me until my breathing was slow and steady again.

“Just one sec,” he said.

Untangling our limbs, he briefly got out of bed and headed to his dresser. Coming back to the bed, he handed me one of his well-worn T-shirts to wear so I could sit up comfortably. This was a compromise I could get behind. I could absolutely forgo underwear while wearing one of his shirts. His kindness made me feeling a little like a lunatic with how hard I swooned.

“We’ll figure it out together, okay?”

“Together,” I said, my voice coming out stronger than before.

This was going to be so damn good.

After our first night together, I couldn’t get Abbie back to my house quickly enough. That first night gave way to our first weekend together.

Though our physical chemistry was unlike anything I had ever experienced, I found my favorite moments were the quieter ones.

Then, I’d finally gotten the movie night I’d had planned the following weekend at Abbie’s apartment. Wary of her place being so centrally located, I didn’t stay the entire weekend at the risk of being seen by someone from Appeal. We had both felt the tension and spent our weekends exclusively at my place, with Abbie’s cat, Mew, in tow.

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