Page 14 of Fighting With Light
“Oh?” she says, lifting her eyebrow. “Please, enlighten me.”
The waiter brings me my drink and she orders a Cosmo before he leaves. I take a sip and relax back into my chair.
I picked up on this game between us the first night we had dinner. She likes a challenge and she’s a man-eater. Most men would hesitate with a woman like her. But I don’t just see a sassy woman with a keen ability to avoid her life as much as possible. I see a woman who wants someone to challenge her back. She wants someone who can take the weight from her, not because she can’t carry it on her own, but simply because she doesn’t have to.
Aelia Costa is someone who had to be strong from day one. I know a little something about that. But she is also someone that wants to be loved, as she is, after everything is stripped away.
Her way of testing the waters is seeing if the man she chose will stay and pursue her as recklessly as she wants to be loved. Well, I am a man that is up to the task, but the difference is I can’t be what she needs, even if I wanted to.
“I’m waiting, Liam,” she sighs, clearly getting irritated with me because I didn’t answer immediately.
I grin and take another sip. “I know how I appear, but I am not that easy and you deserve to be treated well. You are much more than a one-night stand.” She drops her arms and the waiter delivers her Cosmo. I ordered an appetizer, and I didn’t even read it. I just pointed so he would go away.
“What game are you trying to play?” she asks, pursing those pretty lips.
I chuckle. “Why is it a game if I don’t want to have a one-night stand with you and leave before you wake up? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my fair share of those, but —”
“Pleasedon’t tell me you’re about to say,but you changed all of that, Aelia,“ she says in a mocking tone.
I smile, running my tongue over the edge of my teeth. “No, princess, I wasn’t going to say that. I was going to say you deserve to keep me at least until morning.”
She laughs, and it’s sarcastic, but I can see the…wheels turning in her head. “What if I don’t want you until morning?” she asks.
I shrug, taking another drink. “Your loss. I’ve been told I’m great at wake-up calls.”
She narrows her eyes at me and takes a sip of her Cosmo.
“If you’re a one-night stand, why can’t I be?”
I tilt my head, considering her odd question.
“I mean, you can, but…” I trail off. Ever since I got here from California after everything that happened with Kai, Cordelia, and Mom, I went right back into my normal routine. I didn’t think twice about it. I had to in order to cope. Some girls only wanted one night, others wanted to date casually, and both were fine with me because I’m down for a good time. I’m a one-woman-at-a-time kind of man, or a playboy, as my brothers like to call me. But I treat everyone with respect and I always take care of them. Mama raised me to be a gentleman.
But all of that changed when I saw Aelia show up for the rock climbing excursion. So she’s not entirelywrongabout her changing everything for me because she did, just not how she thinks. “Is it so bad that I just wanted to get to know you first?”
Her tongue dips out over her lips and I think she’s a little speechless. I know I am part of the problem that subscribes to modern-day hookups and relationships, but that doesn’t mean that change can’t happen. And honestly, if she wasn’t Marco Costa’s daughter, I would still be doing this. She challenges me, and I like that. No woman, other than my mother, has done that before. Aelia appeals to the other part of me, the darker part that no woman sees.She will be the first and hopefully the last.
“I guess you can,” she says. She looks at me curiously. “You are certainly more interesting than any man I’ve come into contact with.”
The waiter brings our appetizer of small bao buns. “I like to keep an air of mystery, princess. I’m surprised you haven’t picked up on that,” I tell her and wink as I take a bite of the bun.
She grabs her own and levels me with a stare. “And I have a feeling the mystery is about to be revealed tonight?”
“If you want it to.”
She takes a bite while staring at me. “I believe I do,” she says. Her smoky voice sends an unwanted shiver down my back and I toss her a wink.
We order dinner and eat while we make small talk, and the tension at the table keeps increasing. For me, it feels like I’m ripping in two. Truth be told, I like Aelia, and would have tried to give her and me a real shot, which is saying something because I’ve never felt like this for a woman. On the other side, I’m ready to get this over with. I want to figure out what she knows and then leave. The moment her father finds out about me, there is no question in my mind he will come after us with or without my father’s permission. I am playing with fire right now, but there is a price for everything, and I am okay with getting burned, especially if it protects my family.
I charge our dinner to my villa and follow Aelia out of the restaurant. Instead of walking back the same way, she walks towards the ocean. I groan silently because I don’t want to drag out this torture any more than necessary. I chuckle to myself at the thought. It’s funny because I do much worse to others when I’m trying to get something from them.
The breeze dances with Aelia’s dress and she looks at me with sultry eyes over her shoulder. Then she continues walking to the shore. I kick my shoes off and follow her through the sand. My chest gets tighter the further I veer off my mission, and I have to remind myself that she is a long game kind of woman. But I know a way I can speed up the process.
“You sure know how to make a slow burn simmer,” I say into her ear and slide my hands around her hips.
She looks up with a mischievous smile and leans back into my chest. “I thought I was worth the wait,” she whispers.
I lean down and kiss her temple. “You are,” I tell her because she is, regardless of the circumstances.
