Page 34 of Sweet Girl

She enters the kitchen, her bare feet padding across the old hardwood floor, and peeks over my shoulder. “It smells delicious in here.”

“I hope you like grilled cheese and tomato soup, beautiful.”

“We aren’t friends with people who don’t like those two things, Aidan. How do you know all my favorites?”

“Easy. I pay attention.”

She smiles brightly at that and leaves it alone, instead opening the fridge and pulling out a cran-raspberry sparkling water and taking up a spot at the dining room table. She’s so fucking beautiful, it’s hard to pay attention to not burning lunch when all I want to do is stare at her. Especially seeing her so at ease and comfortable in our space. We need to figure out a way to keep her here. She hates being at her goddamn parents’ house anyway.

Cutting our sandwiches in half, I drop Dom and Cruz’s onto plates and grab Emma and I’s, taking a seat next to her.

“Mmm. Thank you, Aidan. Do you do all the cooking around here?”

“Pretty much. Dom and Cruz can each make a dish or two, but it usually falls on me. I don’t mind it. They pick up the slack in other areas to make up for it. We’re a well-oiled machine at this point.”

“I mean, that’s obvious. The three of you are so in sync with each other. Lily and I are very much the same way, minus the sharing partners,” she adds with a laugh before taking a bite of her grilled cheese. “We grew up together and share the same kind of trauma from all the pressure to be perfect, courtesy of our parents.”

“I think everyone leaves home a little fucked-up because of their parents, nothing any of us can escape.”

“You’re probably right.”

“We just gotta be the adults we want to be and make changes where we can. Fuck the rest of it.”

“Cruz said something similar recently.”

“Sounds like Cruz finally said something smart for once.”

I watch as she finishes eating her lunch, a look of pure fulfillment and satisfaction settling deep within her features. Dom and Cruz barrel into the room, grabbing their plates and joining us to eat.

There’s one thing I’m dying to do, and it doesn’t include anyone but Emma and I. She sets her plate down on the coffee table and sits up tall, her arms rising above her head as she stretches like a cat after a long nap in the sunlight.

“Don’t get tired on me. The day isn’t over yet, beautiful. You got Dom’s date. Now you get mine.”

Her eyes light up as she looks around the table, Dom and Cruz nodding in agreement. She stops on Cruz with a look of wonder, and everyone in the room knows what she’s silently asking.

“You’ll get time with me alone, angel, don’t worry. But it’s going to come when you least expect it.”

She visibly bristles and I don’t blame her. Scary ass motherfucker is a goddamn sadist.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes!” she says, excited as hell, and it fills me with so much warmth. I stand and grab her hand, pulling her from the chair and guiding her toward my bedroom. I have the room transformed just for this occasion. My bed is made with white sheets, and bright red rose petals are spread out on top. I watch her face as she takes in the room, and then when she shifts to me as I pick up my camera.

Her eyebrows raise, her lips falling apart slightly as understanding settles over her. I’ve been wanting to take photos of Emma for years. The number of times I’ve imagined her spread out naked on my bed is in the millions. And now I finally get that. If she’s willing.

“Can I take your picture, beautiful?”

Her smile is so fucking huge, lighting up her entire face as she nods her head in agreement.

“Good. I’ve been thinking about doing just this for so long, feels like a damn dream to be here with you right now.”

Her eyes flutter closed before pulling her bottom lip between her teeth in a seductive, sexy-as-fuck move that wakes my cock right up. Moving in my direction, she takes several steps before she’s standing right in front of me, dragging her fingers down my bare chest.

“You know, when you talk like that it fills my head with all these thoughts that I don’t know what to do with.”

“Good,” is all I say in return. I want her head a jumbled mess, as long as it includes me. I don’t care what happens after this weekend, but Emma isn’t going anywhere and I’m not giving her up. I love Dom like a brother, I would die for him, but he has to understand where I’m coming from, too. I boop her little nose and turn to pick up the gift bag before handing it to her as confidently as I can.

“You got me a gift?”

---