Page 15 of Killing Me Softly

“Can’t I just be your dirty little secret forever?” The words left his mouth before he realised how vulnerable they were.

Forever. It hung between them like a live wire, crackling, dangerous. Kenny’s flinch was almost imperceptible, but Aaron caught it. Felt it like a knife to the gut. God, he was so inept at this. This messy tangle of want and fear. Of needing too much but never knowing how to ask for any of it.

Kenny’s lips eventually curved into a smile though. Not quite playful, but not quitesafe. “As long as it’s filthy in my bed and not the tornado you leave in every other room.”

Aaron swallowed down the ache rattling inside him, masking it with a crooked grin. “Both.” He winked, feigning a confidence he didn’t quite feel.

Kenny held his gaze with dark intent. “Then maybe we can negotiate terms for exactly what I want you doing in my bed.”

Aaron cocked his head. “This you asking me to climb on top again? Thought you preferred bending me in half.”

“Oh, I do.” Kenny’s voice dropped, rich with promise and the heat in his stare pulsed with want, a challenge laid bare between them. “I very much do. Just the way you like it, baby.”

Aaron held his gaze, pulse quickening, torn between sticking to the day’s plan or scrapping it entirely to be folded in half right here, right now.

But a voice sliced through the charged air, shattering the moment.

“Dr Lyons?”

Kenny jerked upright, shoving his chair back. In a heartbeat, he’d gone stiff and formal. So unlike how he’d been here, with him, that Aaron’s stomach lurched.

“Dr Pryce!” His tone was warm, but there was an edge of surprise. Almost discomfort. And he moved awkwardly, caught between formality and something else as he half-offered a handshake, then hesitated as if he wasn’t sure if this was someone he was supposed to hug.

The woman swept that indecision aside with a polished laugh. “Laura, please.” She clasped Kenny’s hand, then patted his arm in a way that felt practiced, a small, expert move to put him at ease.

Aaron folded his arms, scanning over her in one thorough sweep. Tall. Refined. A sort of commanding presence that didn’t appear intimidating so much as completely in control. She wore a cream-coloured linen dress, elegant without being loud, and her glossy chestnut hair coiled in a twist, revealing earrings probably worth more than Aaron’s entire student loan. But the clincher was how she looked at Kenny. As though he was someone she understood all too well.

A bitter spike of jealousy nipped Aaron’s gut.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Kenny said, rubbing the back of his neck. Aaron recognised that tell. He was on edge. And why wouldn’t he be? Bumping into a colleague in the middle of this…thing they were doing.

“I was at the conference.” Laura smiled, tilting her neck as if that should be obvious.

“You were?” Kenny shifted. “I didn’t see you.”

“I stayed in the back. Listened to your keynote—very insightful, by the way. I looked for you afterward, but you’d vanished. Then I heard you were here instead of at the Gran Calderon with everyone else. That surprised me.”

“Ah, well, Aaron and I…” Kenny shot Aaron a helpless glance, and Aaron wasn’t sure whether he was meant to smile, stand, shake the woman’s hand or introduce himself. As what, he also wasn’t sure. His student?Boyfriend? Fuck buddy? Dirty little secret?

So to play safe, he kept mute.

But Laura’s gaze swept him in. “Oh, my apologies, I’m intruding.” She gave Kenny’s arm a gentle squeeze. “I’d love to catch up, though.”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“How long are you here for?”

“Leaving tomorrow.”

“In that case, how about coffee this morning? I actually have something important to discuss.”

“Um…” Kenny hesitated.

Aaron rolled his eyes in a grand, unapologetic fashion.

“Can you give us one minute?” Kenny scraped a hand through his hair, the ocean breeze ruffling the few undone buttons on his shirt. Aaron hated how it only made Kenny look more appealing.

“Of course. Take all the time you need.” Laura rummaged in her handbag and pulled out a pristine business card. “Call me. I’ll be around.”

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