Falling For My Best Friend's Brother (7 page)

My heart felt heavy as I pulled into a parking space and turned the ignition off. I think that being in a situation where you think you love someone and they don’t love you is most probably one of the hardest things in life. While I still had hope (for what are we without hope?), I didn’t necessarily think I had a good shot, no matter how much Liv tried to convince us both otherwise. Part of me felt like a fool with all the plans and tricks. I didn’t think they would work on Aiden. Not given our history. I didn’t think they would work, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t still going to try. Aiden had been a part of my heart since I could remember. He most probably didn’t even know how much he meant to me. He most probably didn’t realize that he was the reason why my heart had healed after my father’s rejection.

***

“I’m back from my date,” I squealed as I opened the door to the apartment, with a wide fake smile on my face. “He got me roses,” I called out giddily. If I was going to lie, I might as well play it up. Silence met my lies, and I frowned as I hurried through the corridor to the living room. “Liv?” I said in a confused voice, surprised that she wasn’t responding as planned. “Liv,” I said again as I entered the living room.

“She’s gone out,” Aiden said smoothly with a short smile from the couch. He was sitting there stiffly with an amused look on his face. “She asked me to wait as she had tried to call and text you, but you weren’t picking up.”

“Oh?” I frowned and looked at my phone. “I don’t have any missed calls.” I made a face and checked the screen again.

“I was there as she called you.” He shrugged and I sighed.

“I bet my service went out again.” I shook my head. “I’m going to change carriers, I’m so fed up of this crap. I’m always missing calls.”

“I thought maybe you were just ignoring her because of your hot date,” he said as he glanced at me curiously. My face was red with shame as I looked away from him. “So where are they, then?”

“Where are what?” I frowned as I looked back at him.

“The roses?”

“The roses?” I repeated dumbly, but I knew exactly what he was talking about. Me and my big mouth had remembered to pretend my date had given me flowers, but I’d forgotten to buy them at the grocery store on the way home.

“That your date gave you. What was his name again?”

“His name?” I squeaked.

“Yes, his name.” Aiden frowned. “Or you don’t want to tell me?”

“I, uh …” I swallowed hard, my mind going blank.

“Were you out with Scott?”

“Scott?” I made a face. “No, of course not.”

“Henry?”

“Henry, Xander’s brother?” I asked in surprise.

“Yes, the one and only. The guy you were flirting with all day at flag football.”

“I was not flirting with him.” I rolled my eyes and made a face at him.

“Don’t tell me you plan to slip into his bed as well.”

“How rude!” My jaw dropped. “I can’t believe that you would say that.” I peered into his azure blue eyes, and I could see remorse in his gaze.

“That was a low blow,” he said finally. “Sorry.”

“Yeah.” I stood there awkwardly. This was not going as planned at all. “Why are you still here?” I said curiously. “Liv is gone.”

“She figured we could still watch the movie together when you got in.”

“But you didn’t know when I’d be back.”

“I was willing to wait,” he said simply, and my stomach started flittering.

“Oh?” My heart jumped.

“Yeah, I wanted to watch this movie, and Elizabeth doesn’t do horror movies.”

“Oh,” I said and this time my heart dropped.

“I thought Liv and I would watch it, but you’ll do as well.”

“Oh, wow, how flattering.” I rolled my eyes. “I’ll do, huh?”

“Yeah, you’ll do.” He laughed. “You going to sit or do you want to change first?”

“Change?” I raised an eyebrow at him as I caught him checking out my long expanse of leg.

“Yeah, change.” He raised an eyebrow back at me. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep my hands to myself otherwise.”

“Oh.” I blushed, but all I was thinking inside was,
You don’t need to keep your hands to yourself
.

“That’s an interesting outfit that you’re wearing to a first date.” He looked up to my heaving bosom. “A bit revealing, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” I said with a grin. “I had a guy ask me if I was a prostitute.”

“What?” He laughed.

“Well, he asked me what twenty dollars would get him.”

“Oh no!” He laughed again and then paused. “This wasn’t your date, was it?”

“Technically yes, it was the guy I met tonight,” I said and burst out laughing. It was true. The guy in the coffee shop was the only guy I had met tonight. He was as close to a date as I’d come.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” He bit his lower lip to stop from laughing even more. “So maybe it wasn’t really a perfect date?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t a perfect date.” I sighed. “And there were no roses. I was just saying that so Liv wouldn’t feel bad for me.” I felt bad about lying, but I didn’t want him to know that I knew Liv wasn’t going to be there.

“I kinda figured that part out.” He grinned. “Go and change and let’s watch this movie and maybe we can change this night around.”

“Can we order pizza as well?” I asked hopefully, as my stomach grumbled.

“I think that can be arranged.” He nodded.

“Yay!” I felt like I was soaring as I stared at Aiden. This was going better than planned, and I had kinda extricated myself from my lie about my date. I knew I hadn’t come completely clean, but I figured I had admitted enough. “Pepperoni and—”

“Pepperoni and ham with onions,” he said, interrupting me and giving me a wink. “I know, Alice, trust me, I know.”

“I wasn’t sure if you’d remember,” I said with a shrug, though of course I was deliriously happy inside.

“You and Liv ordered pizza almost every weekend.” He rolled his eyes. “And you were both brats about not letting me choose what went on half of the pizza, so of course I remember.”

“Are you calling me a brat?” I asked, with my hand on my hip.

“What do you think?” he asked with a grin.

“I think you’re calling me a brat.” I wrinkled my nose at him and took a step forward.

“You got smarter in your old age.” He laughed and my eyes narrowed.

“I’m going to make you pay for that.” I took another step forward and raised my fists at him.

“Is this your way of trying to touch me, old lady?” He raised an eyebrow and I gasped. How had he known that I was hoping to cop a quick feel? Could he see from my expression that I was practically salivating at how sexy he looked?

“Haha, very funny. I’m not an old lady, and I don’t care about touching you.”

“Is that right?” He grabbed my arms and pulled me towards him. “That’s a pity.”

“What’s a pity?”

“That you don’t care about touching me,” he said lightly as his hands ran down my arm.

“Oh, why?” I breathed out, my heart about to jump out of my chest.

“Because I very much like being touched.” He winked and then stepped back. “Now go and change, and I’ll order the pizza. We don’t want to be up all night.”

“I don’t mind,” I whispered under my breath as I hurried out of the room. And I didn’t mind. Not at all. He could keep me up for twenty-four hours straight if he wanted to. Shit, thirty-six hours if he begged. I could picture him now, kissing my neck and pleading with me to stay awake so that he could have me one more time. How delicious would it feel to have his body against mine, on top of me, sliding himself inside of me? It would feel like heaven.

“Alice?”

“Uh, yes.” I looked around, my face bright red.

“You okay? You were walking and then just stopped.”

“Oh, I’m fine.” I nodded. “Thanks.” I gulped and hurried out of the room to my bedroom. I needed to stop fantasizing about being with Aiden. I needed for us to either get together or not. I was acting like a fool because all I could think about was the sexual tension between us. I opened my closet and pulled out some tank tops and T-shirts. I didn’t know what to wear. I didn’t want to wear my Mickey Mouse T-shirt as that was too childish and unsexy, but I also didn’t want to wear a tight tank top and make him think that I was trying to turn him on. I also wasn’t sure whether to go braless or not. If it was just Liv and me, I wouldn’t have thought about it twice. My bra would have been off in seconds, but then I also wouldn’t have thought twice about putting on a T-shirt with cartoon characters on it when I was with Liv. I finally settled on a black wife-beater with a pushup bra (your breasts can never look too high and luscious) and a pair of black boy-shorts. Hey
—
I have long legs; I have to show them off. I did have to make a quick trip to the bathroom to give myself a quick dry shave because I could see the beginnings of hair stubble on my legs and I didn’t want Aiden running his hands over my calves and thinking he was touching bristle or something.

“Hey,” I said casually as I sauntered back into the living room and frowned as he said “Hey” back without even looking up at me. I’d just spent fifteen minutes applying makeup in order to look subtly beautiful and he wasn’t even going to look at me? Grr!

“Did you order the pizza?” I asked, standing in front of him.

“Yup,” he said as he played with his phone. I could feel my face growing hot as I stood there, feeling like a fool.

“Cool,” I said, not knowing what else to say. It’s not like I could say,
Hey, Aiden, look at me. I look pretty right now and I want you to take in my hot body as I stand in the pose that I know elongates my neck and makes my stomach look flat.
Of course I didn’t say that. I just stood there for a few more seconds before plopping down on the couch next to him and sitting back.

“Ready for the movie?” Aiden finally glanced at me before turning the TV on. He didn’t even look at me for five seconds. I was positive he hadn’t even noticed how blue my eyes looked with my new Lancome mascara.

“Sure,” I said snappily.

“Uh oh?” he said and I felt his eyes on me again. “What is it, Alice?”

“What is what?” I looked up at him and there was a sparkle in his eyes as he looked at me.

“Why are you so grouchy?”

“Who said I’m grouchy?” I glared at him. Stupid Aiden with his stupid smirk and pink lips making me feel like a petulant child.

“Smile, Alice.” He leaned over and started to tickle me.

“Stop it.” I laughed and pushed him away.

“But I want to see the smile on your face.” He grinned and continued to tickle me under my arms and on my knees.

“Aiden,” I squeaked out. “Stop!” I laughed and tried to push him away.

“I see you’re still as ticklish as you were before.” He grinned as I laughed and I grabbed his hands.

“Aiden,” I breathed out, my face dangerously close to his.

“Yes, Alice?” he said lightly and moved even closer to me.

“Stop,” I said as I fell against him. “Please.”

“You didn’t say that the last time I tickled you,” he said with a devilish look in his eyes. “In fact, you quite liked it then.” He moved towards my ear. I felt his lips next to my earlobe and he blew into it lightly.

“Aiden!” I screamed and jumped off of the couch, my heart racing as memories came flashing back. The last time Aiden had tickled me had been the night we’d spent together. He had been inside of me, not moving, and I’d wondered what was going on. Then he’d moved his lips to my ear and he’d sucked on my earlobe and then I’d felt his tongue and breath in my ear. And I’d giggled because it had tickled me. I’d squirmed underneath him and then he’d started moving inside of me again, all the while continuing to breathe into my ear. It had been the most amazing and surreal experience of my life. Every nerve-ending in my body had been on edge, and when I’d exploded in orgasm every part of my body felt the pleasure. At the time, I’d known it had been a breathtaking experience, but it was only now that I’d been with other men that I knew that it was a one-of-a-kind experience. No man had ever pleasured me as much as Aiden had that night.

“Sorry.” He grinned. “I was just teasing you. I won’t tickle you again.”

“What were you talking about when you said that I didn’t say that the last time you tickled me?” I asked him as I sat back on the couch. I curled my legs up under me and looked at him curiously. Okay, so I was acting. I was pretty sure I knew what he was talking about. I mean, that was a moment I’d never forget. However, I wanted him to tell me what he thought about that night. I wanted him to tell me that he still remembered what it was like to be with me.

“You know what moment I’m talking about, Alice.” He stared at my lips and then back up to my eyes. “So is there a reason why you’re asking me?”

“No,” I said and looked down.
Busted!

“Shall we start the movie and pause it when the pizza arrives?” he asked, and I was slightly annoyed that he was changing the subject. When was he going to just let us talk about that night and let us discuss everything without changing the subject?