Page 46 of Forever Theirs

“Sweetheart, this is different. What we have with you is nowhere close to what we’ve done in the past.”

“You don’t have to lie to me,” I whispered, searching his face for any hint of deception. “I’m a big girl. I can take the truth.”

“Then listen to it when I give it to you,” he gritted out. “What we’ve done with other women was nothing, and I mean fuckingnothing, close to what we’ve shared with you. The others were just…” He tipped his face to the sky with a controlled breath. “I don’t want to say they were just convenient, because that’s disrespectful to those women, but that’s exactly what it was. We discussed up front that there was no relationship potential. They were no-strings-attached hookups, and they were on board with that.”

“But you didn’t have that conversation with me,” I stated. “You only talked about wanting to spend time with me and the sharing part.”

He nodded, focused over my shoulder, where I heard Miles still setting up the campsite. “We didn’t because, for me and Miles, we both knew this and you were different. We didn’t want to think about only having you once and then walking away. This is so much more than that. Don’t you feel it?”

The imploring expression lining his face had me forgetting my earlier reservation and nodding. “I do feel it, so much that it scares me.”

“What are you scared of?”

“Of this being more to me than to you two. Of getting my heart broken. Of considering a life change because of a few great days with two guys who might up and leave me the second someone better comes along or they get tired of me.”

“First, we won’t leave or get tired of you. If anything, it might be the other way around. And second, yes. Hell fucking yes, keep thinking about that life change, of not leaving.”

I froze. Not even my lungs worked as I stared up at him in disbelief. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying we want you, Aspen, all of you, for more than just this week. If that means figuring out a long-distance situation, then we’ll do it. Just, at the end of your time here in Anchor Bay, don’t say goodbye for good.”

“We just met,” I countered, not really sure why. Did I really want to talk him out of wanting me, of figuring things out after my vacation was over?

“It doesn’t feel that way, though, does it?” The tip of my ponytail swished along the back of my neck with a slow headshake. “It feels right. Fuck, everything feels right when you’re around. And…” He considered me for a few seconds before continuing. “I love my best friend.” The conviction and emotion that thickened his voice had tears burning behind my eyes. “When he’s with you—hell, even when you’re just on his mind—he’s different. Happy even. I want that for him. He deserves it more than any man I know.”

“What about you?” I asked, reaching up to cradle his jaw in a single palm.

Light lashes fluttered closed while his chest rose with a deep inhale.

“I don’t want you to leave because you make the silence quiet.” I blinked, not sure what he meant by that. “When I’m alone or even with others around, the lulls or quiet stir up every regret and all the guilt I’ve compiled through my life, terrible memories, everything I try to lock away. I couldn’t even appreciate this amazing state most of the time because of the silence that came with it. Until you.” A single tear leaked out of the corner of my eye. “From that first drive to the resort, you quieted my demons with just your presence. You soothe the broken and jagged parts of me that are left.” Reaching out, he grabbed my hand and brought it to his chest. “I can finally fucking breathe without nearly drowning in my guilt.”

I slid my hand up his chest, around his neck, and cupped the back of his head to urge his mouth down to my own. He came willingly, soft lips pressing against mine in an emotional kiss that I felt deep in my soul.

And the apex of my thighs.

After earlier, it seemed the floodgates on my hormones had burst open, and even this simple, beautiful kiss had heat racing through my veins and my core pulsing.

As if sensing the shift, Aiden grabbed my ass and lifted until my legs wrapped around his waist. A quick gasp escaped, swallowed quickly by his urgent kisses, when my back once again pressed to the rough tree bark.

I pulled away to catch my breath, allowing Aiden access to kiss along my throat. My gaze slid toward the makeshift campsite where I zeroed in on Miles, who was now just a few steps away, perched on a massive rock with his intense stare locked on us and a daring smirk on his lips.

My heart racing a thousand beats a second, I held his hooded gaze. Despite the chill in the air from our high elevation, sweat slicked my skin from the radiating heat pouring off Aiden, adding to the inferno scorching my veins.

“No one out here but us, baby girl.” Miles’s deep, rumbling voice sent a bolt of desire racing down my spine. “Well, us and that moose down there.”

My head snapped around so fast it hit the tree while trying to see past Aiden to the valley. His humor-filled chuckle vibrated against my skin as he placed a soft kiss beneath my ear.

“Never thought my best friend, with the assist of a damn moose, would be the ultimate cockblock.” With one more soft kiss to my lips, he eased his firm hold on my ass, slowly lowering my feet back to the ground. “Yet here we are.”

“Damnit,” I grumbled. “My camera is?—”

Miles stood and held out my camera case. “Right here. With the sun setting and the angle, I assumed you’d want to grab some shots.”

“Thank you.” Carefully taking the most expensive item I owned from his hands, I quickly worked it free from the protective case and powered it on. Standing on the edge of a cliff that offered the best overlook of the valley below, I raised the camera and snapped a test picture before checking the viewing screen to see what I needed to adjust.

Needing a better angle, I moved, the loose dirt beneath my boots shifting, throwing me slightly unbalanced. My heart dropped, breath caught in that half a second as I tilted forward. Before a terrified sound could escape, two large hands gripped my waist and tightened, pulling me against a firm chest.

Looking up and over my shoulder, I smiled at Aiden. “Thanks for the save.” But when I pulled out of his arms, he only allowed a single step. I shot him a look, to which he responded with an exaggerated shrug.

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