Page 62 of Perfect Storm
“Maybe with you, sure. Not with anyone else. You see him the other night? He didn’t even try to flirt with that Ramsey guy, who was hot as hell. It’s just you.”
Aidan finally broke down and said the thing out loud that he’d been thinking for over two weeks now. “I just keep expecting him tosayit. Like bring it up. Even just refer to it. Like casually. But hedoesn’t.”
“Hmmmm. But hedidsay a year, andyouhaven’t brought it up, either, I’m assuming.”
Aidan huffed. “No. Of course not. When we agreed—he was still in Seattle. I didn’t expect him to come here. I don’t thinkheexpected to come here.”
“Okay, so he showed up in your vicinity early but . . .I don’t get it. Just say something.” Dawson grinned. “Or are you allergic to making the first move?”
“Hell no.Ikissedhimin Michigan,” Aidan retorted and then realized a moment after he’d said it that he hadn’t meant to divulge that much info.
“Oh,oh,now we’re getting to the good stuff,” Dawson said, rubbing his hands together.
“It was just . . .it didn’t mean anything.”
Dawson didn’t look convinced.Aidanwasn’t convinced.
“Sure it didn’t, Flynn.”
Aidan sighed. “I invited you to lunch to talk aboutyou,” he said. “Your whole situation. I thought you might want to unload, and instead we’re gossiping like teenage girls about the guy I kissed.”
“Uh,yeah. So much more fun to gossip like teenage girls than to break down my hellhole of a life,” Dawson said. “I’d rather talk about you, ten times out of ten.”
Except Aidan didn’t want to talk about Levi. It made everything a shade too real, and he couldn’t help but worry that Dawson might talk him into doing something drastic he wasn’t ready for.
“Well, that’s all there is to say. We kissed.”
“When?”
Aidan rolled his eyes. “You want me to break the whole thing down?”
“Well, now that you offer it so nicely,yes.” Dawson looked delighted. “Give me a whole timeline. Draw a fucking diagram.”
“It was the morning after we uh . . .agreed to the—”
“Sex pact. The morning after you agreed to the sex pact,” Dawson interrupted. When Aidan glared, he just shrugged. “You werenotgonna say it. Call it what it is, at least.”
“Okay, fine. Yes. The morning after the sex pact.”
“And what else?”
“Nothing. My brother and his boyfriend—you remember Landry, I assume—were there. And they didn’t interrupt but it was um . . .close. And after, I wanted to talk to him about it. I wasgoingto talk to him about it.”
“The kiss was so good you were gonna invite him to your bed early.” Aidan glared again. But Dawson was undeterred. “Dude, it’s obvious. It’s written all over your face. You totally were.”
“Maybe,” Aidan said. He’d thought about it, for sure. Hard not to.
“So what happened?”
“He left. He had to go, like all of a sudden, for his contract situation. One minute we’re texting about him waking me up in my bed and the next thing I know, he’s signing a contract with the Thunder and coming to Toronto.Living in my house.”
Dawson nodded sagely. “Now I get why you wanted me there when he showed up.”
“I . . .God, was itthatobvious?” Aidan winced.
“Only because I know you,” Dawson said reassuringly. “But the vibes that day were . . .notweird, not even close to that, but definitely off from what I expected, coming in.”
“I bet.” He’d been an unexpected nervous wreck. Still wondering how they’d gone from texting with definite sexual intent to not just becoming teammates, but roommates too.
