Hotter Than Ever (Out of Uniform) (36 page)

“You sound so certain of that.”

“I am certain. He loves you, same way I love you. He just needs a little time before he mans up and tells you.”

Claire laughed softly. “He better not take
too
long.” She hesitated. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“How do
you
feel about him? Do you…do you love him?”

It was a long time before Dylan answered, and when he did, his voice was laced with pain. “Yes. I love him.”

“Have you told him?”

“Of course not.”

She frowned. “Why ‘of course not’?”

“Because…well, because I haven’t.”

“Why not?” she pushed. “Why was it easy for you to tell me you love me, but you can’t tell him how you feel about him?”

“Because when I said it to you, I knew you’d say it back. I knew you loved me back.”

Her heart cracked in two. Sliding closer, she pressed her lips to his in a soft kiss, then murmured, “Of course he loves you back.” She couldn’t help an impish grin. “He just needs a little time before he mans up and tells you.”

“Touché.”

They both laughed, but their good humor faded when Claire’s iPhone buzzed. She’d left it on the end table, and now she lunged for it, relief crashing into her when she saw Aidan’s number. She picked up immediately.

“Thank God!” she said instead of a greeting. “I’ve been so worried about you! Why haven’t you answered any of my messages?”

After a long pause, Aidan’s ravaged voice filled her ear. “Claire…I need you.”

Icy fear clogged her throat. “What’s wrong?”

Beside her, Dylan sat up in concern.

“I need you,” Aidan mumbled. “Can you come to Chicago?”

A terrible thought struck her. “Is your dad…did he…?”

“My father is fine.” His tone was flat, lacking all emotion. “Will you come?”

She glanced over at Dylan with a worried look, then tightened her grip on the phone and said, “I’ll be there as soon as humanly possible.”

Chapter Eighteen

It took Claire ten hours before she was finally standing in front of Aidan’s hotel room door. By that point, she was so tired and impatient and worried that she rapped her knuckles on the door in an unceasing series of knocks that didn’t stop until the door swung open and her hand met nothing but air.

“Hey.” Aidan appeared in the doorway wearing the same sweatpants and hoodie he’d donned three nights ago when he’d left San Diego.

“Hey,” she said softly.

She stepped inside and looked around, noted the room’s plain furnishings and drawn curtains, then walked into Aidan’s waiting embrace.

His arms held on so tight her lungs were burning by the time he released her. Wary, she watched as he headed for the queen-sized bed and flopped down as if his legs could no longer support his weight.

Sighing, Claire sat beside him and reached for his hand. “What happened? Is your dad all right?”

His skin was cold to the touch, his voice even colder. “He made it out of surgery and is resting comfortably.”

“That’s good to hear.” She hesitated. “You said he has an apartment downtown. Why are you staying in a hotel?”

“Because if I see a single goddamn item that belongs to him, I’ll be tempted to march back to the hospital and beat him senseless.”

Claire’s jaw fell open.

“The only reason I’m still in this city,” Aidan went on, “is because his girlfriend begged me to stay until the doctors tell us he’s completely out of the woods. Once I know he’s not going to die, I’m outta here.”

Claire ran her fingers over his knuckles. “Tell me what happened.”

“He lied to me.”

“What did he lie about?” she asked carefully.

His hand tensed beneath her palm. He stayed quiet.

“Aidan, what did he lie about?”

A ragged breath flew out of his mouth. “Do you remember when I told you how my mother died?”

She nodded.

“Well, turns out that was nothing but a fucking lie.”

Confusion washed over her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean my dad
lied
to me. My mother didn’t push me out of the way that day, she didn’t save me from a reckless driver and then get run down herself.” Aidan’s bitterness was like a thick layer of smog hanging over the room. “She walked right into traffic. She took my hand and
led
me into the path of a speeding car.”

Claire was struck speechless. It took her almost a minute to find her voice. “
What
?” she finally demanded.

“My mom didn’t push me out of the way, I
jumped
out of the way, or at least that’s what the witnesses on the scene told the cops. Apparently I was in shock afterwards. I blocked it all out, and the shrink told my dad not to push me into remembering, to let it come back to me gradually.” Aidan angrily shook his head. “But he pulled me out of therapy because eventually he didn’t
want
me to remember. He claims he wanted me to remember my mother as a hero.”

Unable to believe what she was hearing, Claire squeezed his hand tighter and searched his tormented eyes. “I don’t understand. Why would your mother do that?”

“Because she was schizophrenic.” He sounded devastated. “Before she was declared unfit to stand trial, she told the doctors that the voices told her to kill herself and her son. So she listened to the voices.”

“Oh my God.” Horror spiraled through her, then transformed into another rush of confusion as she realized what he’d said. “Wait, so she wasn’t killed by that car?”

“Nope, that’s just what my dad told me. She was committed to an institution for the criminally insane, about an hour north of here. She was a patient there for fifteen years before she hung herself by turning her bed sheet into a noose.”

Claire’s eyes widened.

“Fifteen years,” he spat out. “She was alive that entire time and he let me believe she was dead. I spent my whole fucking life feeling guilty that my mother had died saving me, feeling sorry for my dad because he was so fucking sad all the time, and she wasn’t even dead! Jesus!”

Claire had no idea what to say. Absolutely no idea. Every word that came out of Aidan’s mouth added to that initial shock, until all she could do was let him talk and hope her presence was enough.

“Fifteen years.” His breathing grew shallow. “She was alive for fifteen more years after the accident. She was alive when I entered middle school, when I was a freshman in high school, when I went to the prom, when I graduated, when I attended college. Fifteen years that I could have visited her, or sent her cards and flowers or…” Another harsh breath. “All that lost time…”

Tears pricked Claire’s eyes when she saw the moisture in Aidan’s. Without a word, she tugged his hand and pulled him into her arms.

He stiffened for a moment, and then his body went limp and he sagged against her. His dark hair tickled her chin, his hot tears soaking the front of her sweater.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I’m so sorry, Aidan.”

She didn’t know how long they sat there, how long she held him, how long he cried, and when he lifted his head and urgently sought out her lips, she didn’t deny him the kiss he craved. She kissed him back with the same desperation she saw in his dark eyes, their tongues meeting and tangling, their hands entering the fray by grabbing at each other’s clothes.

Yanking on the waistband of her yoga pants, Aidan pushed her onto her back and crushed her with his strong body. His hands fumbled to shove his own pants down, his erection sprang free, and then he pushed it inside her without warning. But she was ready for him, slick with desire that had erupted out of nowhere and overcome with the need to soothe him, to please him, to bring him any comfort she could, even if it was of the carnal variety.

Aidan’s cock plunged into her again and again. His mouth hungrily devoured hers. The intensity of his passion scared her, thrilled her, liberated her. She met him thrust for thrust, her inner muscles squeezing his thick shaft as shockwaves of pleasure rocked her body.

“Oh God, I’m coming.” Even as she choked out the words, she was still stunned by the sudden orgasm that exploded inside her. It started between her legs, then detonated, shards of pleasure flying to every part of her body, making her gasp in surprised delight.

The spasms of her pussy set Aidan off. He came with a loud cry, moaning her name as his cock twitched inside her. She could feel his heart hammering against her breasts, a fast, reckless rhythm that matched her own erratic pulse.

Letting out a deep breath, Aidan cupped her cheeks with his palms and stared at her with heavy-lidded eyes. “I should have said this three days ago, but…I love you too.”

Her chest squeezed with emotion. “I know.”

He kissed her tenderly, then slid his cock out of her still-throbbing pussy and rolled over.

And it was at that moment they both realized he hadn’t worn a condom.

“Shit,” he mumbled. “Are you…fuck, are you on the pill?”

She shook her head in regret. They’d been using condoms this whole time, and she hadn’t gotten around yet to finding a doctor in San Diego and getting a birth control prescription.

When Aidan swore again, she gently touched his cheek. “It’s not the right time in my cycle, so I think we’re okay. But if I…if I get pregnant…gosh, what would we do?”

Suddenly she was the one in need of reassurance, and Aidan didn’t hesitate to give it to her. “We’d do whatever you wanted to do. Just know that if you chose to keep it, I think the three of us would make pretty kickass parents.”

She bit the inside of her cheek. “I still don’t know how any of this is going to work.”

“Same way it’s been working so far. We live together, we love each other.”

“And you want to have kids with me? With me and Dylan?”

“Yes,” he said simply.

“What about marriage?”

“If you really want that wedding you didn’t get to have with Chris, then one of us will give it to you. No matter whose name is on that marriage license, you’ll always belong to us both, baby. And we’ll belong to you.”

She watched him unhappily. “You don’t just belong to me, though. You belong to each other.”

Aidan looked startled. “I know that.”

“Do you? You know Dylan loves you, right? He loves you, but he’s too scared to tell you because he thinks you don’t feel the same way, or that you won’t say it back.”

Distress flickered in his dark eyes. “He really thinks that?”

She nodded.

“I…” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I love him, Claire.”

“I know you do.” She slid closer and placed her hand directly over his heart, which was beating even faster than before. “But I’m not the person you need to be saying it to.”

Dylan had never felt more relieved in his life than when Claire and Aidan finally returned to San Diego four days later.
Four
fucking days. Sure, he’d spoken to both of them on the phone several times, had listened in wide-eyed horror as Claire told him about the secret Aidan’s dad had kept from his son all these years, but he hadn’t felt an ounce of comfort until now. Until he saw the two people he loved most in the world walk through that door.

He soaked in the sight of them—Claire, with her shiny auburn hair and big brown eyes. Aidan, with those intense dark eyes and powerful body.

“Welcome back,” Dylan said quietly.

Claire came to him first, hugging him tightly before standing on her tiptoes and kissing him senseless.

He’d barely had time to breathe when Aidan stepped in and greeted him with a kiss that packed an equal amount of heat and passion.

Dylan raised his eyebrows when they broke apart. “What was that for?”

Aidan shrugged. “Just missed you, is all.”

Pleasure floated through him. “I missed you, too, man.”

“Ditto,” Claire spoke up. She grinned. “With that said, you’re going to have to miss me again, because I have some groceries to pick up.”

“Now?” Dylan said. “You literally
just
walked in.”

“And when I left four days ago, the fridge was completely empty.” She raised her eyebrows. “Did you replenish our supplies during that time?”

He gave her a guilty look. “Um…”

“That’s what I thought. Ergo, I’m going grocery shopping. Someone has to make sure my big, manly men are well fed.” She glanced at Aidan and held out her hand. “Keys?”

With an indulgent smile, he dropped the car keys into her waiting palm. “Don’t take too long.”

Dylan observed that the other man was strangely upbeat for someone who’d just discovered his mother had tried to kill him, but he bit his tongue to stop from asking why. If Aidan had managed to find some peace about the whole fucked-up situation, who was he to dredge it all up again?

However, Aidan ended up surprising him—the moment Claire left the condo, the other man fixed him with a sad look and said, “So my mom was alive for half my life and I never knew it.”

“I know. I’m so sorry, man.”