Page 37 of A Lifetime in 30 Days
He shook his head. His hands were pushed into the front pockets of his shorts now. “Right after I came back to town, one of our brothers mentioned Caleb was living back with his mother and that you had kept the house. That’s how I knew I could find you at the address he’d given me a while back. But Caleb also didn’t like to lose, at anything. Losing you, forever, would’ve definitely been a problem for him.”
She was out of breath now, but that didn’t stop her from asking, “So, that’s how you knew we weren’t together. That’s why you had no qualms about shooting your shot at the cemetery?”
Their gazes held for a few seconds while she waited for an answer and she supposed he contemplated which one he was going to give her.
“I already told you I wasn’t going to let another opportunity pass me by,” he said, then shrugged. “So I didn’t.”
“And now ...” She huffed. “Now you feel like you’ve ... accomplished something?”
He tilted his head. “Now I feel like we’re on our way to something.”
“Oh,” she said, because she didn’t know how to respond to that admission. And because she couldn’t say much else while her thighs burned and her heart felt like it was going to thump right out of her chest.
“I feel energized,” she said two hours later—after the gym and after they’d each had a plate of lasagna and water when they returned to her house. “Like, I’m still kinda tired. Definitely ready for bed since it’s almost eleven, but I’ve got energy. You know?”
He nodded. “I do know. And I’m not gonna say I told you so.”
When they’d returned from the gym, Aden had brought his duffel bag into the house with him. When he’d placed it at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the bedrooms, she hadn’t said a word. Was he planning to stay the night? Or was this just his take-a-shower-and-put-some-fresh-clothes-on bag? She didn’t ask, wasn’t sure what she would do with the answer if she did. But after dinner, when she declared it long past time she took a shower, he agreed on his own behalf and climbed those stairs with her. And joined her in the shower.
Vanna hadn’t taken a shower with a man since Caleb. Not one of the men she’d slept with since her separation had she showered with. Hell, she hadn’t even slept with any of them in this house because this washerhouse now. Her space, and hers alone. Except Aden had been in her bed, her shower, and he was sitting on the side of her bed again.
How was this her life?
“It’s about feeding your body the right things,” he said. “And no, I’m not just talking about food. Although we both know the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.”
She’d just finished putting on her lotion and had stood to return it to her dresser when this conversation began. “Are you insinuating that I don’t lead a healthy lifestyle?” she asked, and propped one hand on her hip.
“Woman, you love to argue, don’t you?” he asked, and tossed his head back to laugh.
“I’m not arguing, but trying to clarify what you’re saying,” she countered.
“Come here,” he said, and patted the space on the bed next to him.
After their shower he’d put on another pair of basketball shorts and a ribbed white tank top. Again, like he belonged here. Like this was his bedroom,theirbedroom. She shook that thought away as she walked over to the bed and sat where he’d told her to.
“I said, I don’t like to—”
He put a finger to her lips to halt her words. When she only glared at him, he smiled again. “Are you comfortable with your weight, Savannah? Are you fine with how you look?”
“Yes,” she said without any doubt or dishonesty.
“Okay. Are you happy with how you feel on a daily basis?”
She opened her mouth to respond, then closed it. Then she tried again. “Not all the time. I get stressed and tired, and that’s when I don’t feel like myself.”
“Good, that’s fair. So maybe you start doing some things to work on that.”
“Are you trying to fix me again?”
“You’re not broken,” he told her. “In fact, I think you’re perfect,” he said, and took her hands in his. “But we’re all a continuous work in progress, especially as we go through things and get older. So, if you want to, I can set you up with one of my reps at the shop, and we can maybe find some holistic supplements that might help you feel better physically.”
She pursed her lips. “And if I say no ...,” she replied.
He shrugged. “I’m cool with that.” He leaned in and kissed the shoulder left bare by her sleeveless nightshirt. “Just as long as you don’t tell me no when we’re here, like this.”
Those kisses continued to rain over her shoulder until they landed on her collarbone and then her neck. “You’re not slick,” she said. “Ever since you showed up at my door tonight, you’ve been getting your way. And I don’t like it.”
“Hmmmm,” he said, and kissed his way up to her ear, where he nipped her lobe and she moaned. “You sure you don’t like it?”
