Page 42 of Pillowtalk

Aaron

“Tell me something happy,” Kennedy mused, tracing circles on his chest as they lay together in the dark. “What makes you happy?”

Aaron gave her a suggestive look as he squeezed her body, making it very clear that in that moment,shewas making him happy—damn, she’d made him happier than any other woman alive.

She grinned and shook her head. “Really,” she said. “Tell me something that makes you happy.”

He sighed, his brain still trying to turn back on after having been in another body part for so long. “Web design.”

She smiled gently and giggled. A wrinkle appeared at the bridge of his nose, and he narrowed his eyes and turned his lazy caress on her back into tickle-torture on her ribs. “Is that funny to you?” he teased as she pushed at his hand.

“Yes,” she said through her giggles. “It’s so adorably nerdy.”

He gave her a face, his hand settling back into comforting caresses. “What about you? What makes you happy?”

She curled into him and pressed a kiss to his chin. His grin widened at the fact that she could so easily cause such strong reactions with such simple touches. “Editing,” she said, and his body shook against hers with his laughter.

“Equally adorable and nerdy answer, I’d say. Maybe more so.”

“Thank you,” she answered, taking the comment proudly. Then she tilted her head up to look at him, his heart skipping under her palm. Her eyes were soft, playful, pleased right then, but he could see something deep inside her, hardening and slowly clawing its way out.

He cradled her cheek and kissed her, afraid of that emotion she wasn’t letting out yet, hoping it was just his imagination or his paranoia. His fears quieted when she kissed him back, and he didn’t let them resurface.

—

Aaron had never really liked waking up in another bed. His back or neck was almost always sore, his arm asleep, and he’d normally have to maneuver out from under a wholly naked—or sometimes partly naked—woman while trying not to wake her. The air was always tense, Aaron hoping he didn’t have to tell whoever the conquest was that it wasn’t anything but a casual lay. Yet as he stretched out in the soft sheets underneath his naked body, he’d almost forgotten he wasn’t in his own house.

It wasn’t just that his body was completely satisfied and relaxed; his very soul feltrejuvenated.Kennedy had weaved her way not only into his mind, but into the deepest parts of his heart. A smile teased the corner of his sleepy lips as he relished the memory of their lovemaking just hours before.

Yes…lovemaking.There was no other word to describe that connection, the way his heart beat straight from his chest at every touch, every caress, every press of her lips against his.

He tiptoed his fingers across the comforter, hoping to land on the soft bare skin of Kennedy’s back, but he was met with cold nothingness. His head lifted, one eye popping open to the now-empty side where she’d fallen straight asleep after he curled her into him. He shook himself awake and looked around the room.

“Ken?” he said, but was met with only the sound of the clock ticking on the nightstand. He rolled to his back, the thumping of his heart spiraling into a panic-laced beat.

“Shit.” He ran his fingers through his bedhead, pulling at the ends of his hair as he grumbled under his breath. He slammed his eyes shut, waiting for the guilt to sink in, the regret. It apparently had already hit Kennedy, since she was nowhere to be found. He clutched his head and tried to calm his breathing.

When it happened with Lissa, he’d felt it immediately. She had, too. They’d lain side by side staring at the ceiling completely consumed, suffering in silence until Aaron sat up and said, “We shouldn’t have done that.”

He’d felt dirty, dark…evil.He couldn’t touch Lissa afterward without the feeling coming back, and from the way she’d kept her distance, he figured she’d felt the same.

His breath locked in his throat, and he counted the ticks from the clock absentmindedly as he waited. But the guilt never came. In the ticking silence, all Aaron felt was an all-consuming warmth, starting in his chest and branching through his veins. His fingers loosened in his hair, and he let them settle into the pillows. No, it wasn’t guilt that was overtaking him. He felt absolutelywhole—something he hadn’t felt…ever.

He pushed up, nudging the sheets off his body as he moved to the edge of the bed. He plucked his glasses from the nightstand and slid them on, the world coming into focus just as much as his thoughts. Kennedy was the only face he wanted to see before he fell asleep every night for as long as he lived.

“Kennedy?” he called out again, hoping that she’d only gone to take a shower or grab something to eat. He stood, the wind from the open window breezing across his back and ass. A shiver ran up his spine, and he chuckled as he turned to shut that son of a bitch, when he caught the beautiful woman standing out on the dock, her sundress blowing around her like she was sent straight out of heaven.

Aaron frowned and grabbed for his jeans. His blood ran cold with the thought that she was feeling the opposite of what he was feeling this morning. Though he had no right to, he prayed that he was wrong.

—

The third storm in the three-storm cycle was threatening the skies in the distance as Aaron padded across the dock. The breeze was warmer, though, and he tossed Kennedy’s pink hoodie over his shoulder because he wasn’t sure anymore if she would need it. The sun seemed to have come out as soon as he left the B&B.

Her shoulders jolted when he came up behind her, but soon her back fell easily against his chest. A sigh of relief dropped from his lips, and he pressed a kiss to her temple, wrapping his arms around her thin waist.

“Morning,” he whispered, the beat of his heart calming.

She turned her head slightly, resting just under his chin. “Mmm,” she moaned in what seemed like contentment, but Aaron wasn’t one hundred percent sure. In the short time that he’d known her, he had been the quieter of the two; he thought for sure she’d be chatting away by now, but so far the small and pleasant sound was all he’d gotten.

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