Page 105 of Hard Knock Hero

His eyes flashed, and a growl rumbled out of his chest.

I dug my fingers into his hair as his bare cock pushed inside of me. My legs wrapped around him. Aiden made love to me with all the passion we’d been keeping in reserve. Wild, vigorous strokes. Nothing held back. He pressed my hands over my head against the mattress and stared down at me with intense, fiery need, just the way I liked. I was pinned in place, delirious. Completely at his mercy.

Aiden’s fingers sought out my clit and massaged it right above where we were joined. But it was the look of ecstasy on his masculine face and the tight clench of his muscles, the knowledge that my body was giving him that much pleasure, that sent me right over the edge. We came at the same moment. Together. Sharing kisses and gasping each other’s breath.

Then Aiden settled on top of me, warm and solid. My shield against anything that might hurt me. I had never felt so satisfied or safe. Our need for each other was sated, at least for the moment, and we cuddled and talked about what would happen next.

And I still had those dreams swirling around in my head.Should I tell him?I wondered.No. Not yet.

“Do you want to move in with me here?” he asked, twirling a lock of my hair around his finger.

I smoothed my hand over the dark hair on his chest. “What if we do some renovations on the apartment over the diner?” That wasn’t my big dream, but I had been thinking of it a lot. Planning out where some new walls could go. A small kitchenette. The apartment was a studio, but it had enough space to be more, if we planned it right. Sawyer Rigsby hadn’t bothered to invest in fixing it up. But now, the building was mine. I wanted to make it into a home for us.

He smiled softly. My heart still skipped whenever he did that. Aiden’s smiles were rare, but so expressive. “I like that idea. But what about your brother?”

“I don’t know what to do about Trace. I think he’s ready to move out, though.” Trace was still technically living with me, though he often disappeared. Now that it was summer, he’d been camping in the woods off and on, sometimes for days at a time. He wanted space of his own, and he also wanted freedom. What my brotherneeded, I had no clue. “I’ve tried talking to him, but you know how he is. He still won’t tell me what happened to him before he abandoned his old life and came to Hartley.”

“I doubt he ever will.”

I huffed, not liking that answer.

“Trace will figure it out,” Aiden said. “If he wants to take over this apartment for a while, he can. I can keep covering the lease.”

“I’ll talk to him.” I inched up higher to kiss Aiden on the lips. “You’re very sweet.”

“That’s not true. I’m far more salty than sweet.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Trust me, I know desserts. And you’re my favorite one.”

“You’re my favorite everything.” He rolled us both over, kissing me in earnest.

We spent the rest of that night making love, drawing out each moment like we could create our own world, just us, and make it last forever. It was the best dream I’d ever had, and even when dawn light turned Aiden’s bedroom hazy at the edges, I was still wide awake.

* * *

In June, just over five months after we’d first met, we set out on a hike to Refuge Mountain.

It was sunny, with a morning chill in the air. It wouldn’t get above sixty-five degrees today, which I considered perfect. By the time we hiked up to the old ruined cabin, I’d stripped off my top layer and tied it around my waist. Aiden looked ridiculously sexy in hiking shorts and a skintight T-shirt, all his muscles on display. He had an Anaheim Angels baseball cap that he liked to wear, which was the only signal to most people that he was from Southern California. Except the ocean tattoo. That tended to be a giveaway.

We stopped at the cabin to take a water break. A panoramic view of the valley lay before us. Green trees and red canyon walls. Distant purple mountains like something out of a painting. Wildflowers grew in abundance all around the clearing that surrounded the cabin.

Aiden picked a columbine and tucked it behind my ear. “I have a surprise,” he said.

“Is that why you were so determined to go on a hike today?” Not like I’d been hard to convince, given the ideal weather.

“Yep, I’ve got an ulterior motive. I want to ask you a question.”

My breath caught. The last couple months of living together and renovating the studio had been everything I could’ve wanted. I was so in love that it shocked me sometimes. But if he was going to ask a certain big question, I didn’t think I was ready.

One of his thick eyebrows lifted slightly. “Don’t worry. It’s not that. I wanted to ask if you still think about building a business here on Refuge Mountain. Like you told me about before.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t mentioned that idea in months. We’d had enough to deal with. Not just helping Hartley recover from the Rigsbys’ schemes, but starting our life together. Getting Aiden settled. Plus dealing with my brother, who continued to be an enigma to me. I was so happy that it seemed greedy to want even more.

But I did want it. “I still think about it. Yeah.” A restaurant, a cozy hotel. Not as fancy as a resort, but special… And over the months, that dream had morphed and grown into something even more far-fetched, and I hadn’t shared that with a single soul. Not even Aiden.

It was my big dream. Mybig idea.

Maybe this was the moment to finally share it.

---