Page 65

“And you?” she asked. “What about you, Aiden? Do you want me to stay?”

“More than my next breath.” Threading my fingers through her hair, I tugged her closer and pressed our foreheads together. “I didn’t realize that Miles wasn’t the only one not living, just going through the motions. You’ve changed that, changed me, and I never want to live in black-and-white now that you’ve introduced the color that I thought was gone forever.”

“Aiden,” she rasped and held my face between her soft palms. “This is so much, and I feel like at any moment, reality is going to come crashing in and pop this perfect bubble I’ve lived in the past few days.”

“But what if it doesn’t? What if there isn’t a bubble, and we three together really are that perfect? What if all we were missing in life was each other?”

“This is crazy. I don’t even know you. You don’t know me, and?—”

“You know both me and Miles better than any person here, who we have spent years living alongside. And I do know you—the important things, at least. I might not know all the details of your past or even your birthday, but I know who you are. I see you, Aspen Carter, and you are just as beautiful inside as you are out.”

Tears leaked down her face, and I pulled back, horrified that I said something wrong.

“Fuck, I’m moving too fast, and now you’re scared I’m going to lock you in the nonexistent basement if you don’t agree to stay, and?—”

A finger pressed to my mouth, cutting me off. “Um, that was not the direction of my thoughts, but now that you mention it, maybe it should have been?” A smirk tugged at her lips. “These are happy tears, Aiden.”

I slumped backward, pulling her with me. “Thank fuck I didn’t just ruin the best thing that’s ever happened to us.”

“You really think that?”

“I do. Just give it some thought, yeah? Every day could be like this. It doesn’t have to end.”

Her hair slid along my cotton T-shirt with her slow nod. I released a relieved breath at the slight movement. Heels pressed to the porch, I shifted the swing back to restart the slow, rocking cadence.

After a few minutes, voices interrupted the comfortable quiet as two people strolled down the street, heading our way. I lifted the hand not wrapped around Aspen in greeting.

“Who is that?” Aspen sat up straight and smoothed out the sides of her T-shirt.

“Finley and Dax, our pilots for the helicopter and seaplane tours. They also make emergency supply runs when needed, which they don’t mind since both would prefer to be up in the air than anywhere else.” Standing, I stretched both arms high overhead before moving toward the steps and leaning against a post, watching as the two drew closer. “They’re best friends, have been since serving in the Air Force together.”

“And now they’re here working together.” Aspen stopped beside me and wrapped an arm around my waist. “Are they… do they have a third?” The grimace that scrunched her face was adorable.

“No, and they aren’t even together that way.” Not yet anyway. They were blind idiots. Neither realized the other was head over heels in love with them. “But that doesn’t mean they’ll even think twice about us.”

“Hey, Aiden,” Finley called out with a wide smile on her face. Dax pushed at her shoulder, making her stumble to the side, and she retaliated by shoving Dax across the street. “You’re such a pest,” Finley said with a laugh. “I’m dumping you out of the plane tomorrow without a parachute.”

Dax draped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a friendly shake. “Don’t tease me with a good time, love.”

“Um, are you sure they’re just friends?” Aspen asked under her breath.

“They seem to think so.”

“Besides, I might jump out on my own,” Dax said, voice having lost all humor. “I’m not looking forward to a few hours stuck with that rich asshole fucker.”

When they paused in front of the porch, I said, “Aspen, these two are the best pilots ever to step foot in Anchor Bay. Finley and Dax.” I pointed to each before gesturing to Aspen. “And this is Aspen. She’s staying here for…” I looked down and laughed at her panicked expression. “A bit.”

“It’s nice to meet you both,” Aspen said, reaching out to shake their hands.

“Hi. Do you like books and wine by chance?” Finley blurted, cheeks going pink.

“Do not try to wrangle her into your book club,” Dax joked before turning to Aspen. “They don’t discuss books, just drink wine and talk about…” He raised a brow at Finley. “What do you guys talk about?”

“Oh, I know that answer. The first rule of book club,” Aspen said with a shy smile to Finley.

“You don’t talk about book club,” Finley finished. They broke out into a fit of giggles while Dax and I just stared at them, confused as hell.

“It just so happens that I love wine and reading books we might never talk about,” Aspen said, smiling so wide her eyes crinkled at the edges. And fuck if that didn’t make my heart swell in my chest. She looked so damn happy, and instead of being jealous that it wasn’t me or Miles putting that smile on her face, all I felt was ecstatic.