Page 8 of Pillowtalk

She quietly observed him for so long that Aaron cleared his throat to remind her where she was, though it pained him to take her out of whatever thoughts were running wild through her head.

She laughed at herself. “I think Lyra Valley has more distractions than I bargained for.” The pink in her cheeks deepened a shade, and her dark chocolate eyes suddenly found the floor much more interesting. The corner of Aaron’s mouth pulled upward, and he turned to his computer, begging his mind not to enter into dangerous territory.

“So what does bring you here if not the peace and quiet of an underpopulated town?”

The smile that had been teasing on her lips faded, and her gaze drifted up the stairwell. After a thoughtful moment, she answered in a barely audible voice. “Jared.”

An iron fist wrapped around Aaron’s gut at the mention of his former best friend. An all-too-familiar sensation prickled at the back of his eyes, and he forced it away, unable to deal with the way things had transpired between him and Jared before his untimely death; he’d deal with that later, in the privacy of his own room. Not here in front of Jared’s love.

Jared’slove.

He swallowed hard and hoped his voice escaped him in a normal fashion. “You know, if he were here, he’d give me endless commentary on how I graduated with stellar grades from MIT, yet I can’t get this damn Wi-Fi to work.”

Kennedy’s sorrowful eyes brightened. “You knew him well, then.”

Aaron nodded. “Very.”

She leaned against the railing on the stairway. “It’s times like these that make me wish I’d prodded more about his past friends.”

“I probably wouldn’t have made the cut,” Aaron said, sheepishly running a hand over the scruff speckling his chin. The guilt in his gut did not relent in the slightest, even with finally talking about it with someone. “Jared and I didn’t part on the best of terms.”

Kennedy frowned. “I’m sorry.” And when Aaron’s eyes met hers over the screen of his laptop, he could see that she truly meant it.

He let out a long sigh and attempted a grin. “Me, too.”

Feeling a need to change the subject, even though he’d finally gotten through a conversation about Jared without breaking something or crumpling to a guilt-ridden heap, he let out an amused laugh that had Kennedy’s brows crinkling in a very adorable fashion.

“So…you hit on my brother?”

She let out a growl and buried her face in her hands. “It was not like that.”

“Sure made it sound that way,” he teased, liking the way the conversation could easily float in and out of light and heavy.

Her hands fell again to her pockets. “He was nice. My hair was all tangled up in a clip and he saved me from losing half of the strands.”

“A classic damsel-in-distress meeting.” He grinned at the wrinkle that appeared above her nose. “Continue.”

“I only asked him if he’d like to show me around town sometime. It was perfectly innocent.”

“And he mentioned he was gay because it was perfectly innocent? Hmm…” Aaron’s eyebrow rose in an arrogant tilt. Perhaps if he teased her she’d be so put off by him that she’d keep her distance and he wouldn’t have to push away at his ever-returning wicked thoughts. But from the smile in her eyes, maybe she was enjoying the conversation more than she was embarrassed by it.

“I might have attempted to flirt,” she said with a small laugh. “Obviously I won’t be doingthatagain.”

He thought of the way she’d sworn him off before they’d even spoken and gave her a pointed look. “Obviously.”

She mimicked his gaze. “It was an honest mistake. You can’t tell me that’s the first time it’s happened.”

Aaron thought back on the multiple occasions when he was mistaken for his brother; he had to give her credit on that one. It had been a while, though; Austin was bulkier than he was, his job at the garage requiring more heavy lifting than his as a tech guru.

He chuckled at a memory that sprang to the surface. “Did you know that Chelsea and Austin used to date?”

Kennedy’s eyes widened. “When was this?”

“Sophomore year of high school for Austin, junior for Chels. She was his last girlfriend before he came out.”

Kennedy adjusted, settling her weight on her other leg. Aaron wanted to offer her a place to sit, but there wasn’t one readily available. Maybe if he got this Internet loading they could move to one of the sitting rooms downstairs. However, in the back of his mind he knew he shouldn’t look for ways to spend more time talking with her.

He focused his attention back on his job while relaying the rest of the story. “Chelsea had asked Austin if he wanted to spend spring break with her and her family out at a condo they had in—”

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