Page 87

Aiden hummed, fingers tracing a slow line down her arm before he bracketed her hands. She put her pressure on the foot pedal again, only half-focused on it as his body became hers. He guided her and the clay, letting it slope just so before, together, they made a start on the rim.

‘I’ve been thinking,’ he said.

‘Oh, no.’

He laughed. ‘We’ve been together for over a year, now.’

‘And what a long, terrible year it’s been,’ she deadpanned.

‘You know I love it when you’re mean to me, sweetheart, but I am trying to have a serious conversation here.’

She raised her brow and let her foot off the pedal, turning to face him. He pulled her closer by the base of her back so that there was finally nothing between them.

‘You’re not sick of me, are you?’ she questioned, and she was only half-joking. As much as her confidence had grown, and as much as she trusted in him, it still felt surreal to be this in love. She supposed that was why she’d spent so long shying away from it… or, more accurately, flying headfirst into combat with it. Good things hadn’t always come easy for her, love especially. While her parents sometimes told her they were proud of her now, they still didn’t really get it, or her, and choosing someone was a far different type of connection. One that she’d seen break a few times with Coco and Tilly, though they always made their way back to each other – with very loud makeup sex that Juniper didn’t necessarily wish to listen to.

Aiden tutted. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. I could never be sick of you.’

‘Okay. Then what?’

He cocked his head, playing absently with her hair. ‘Well, I know your flat is starting to feel crowded with Coco visiting more often. And you spend at least half the week at my flat anyway. I was just wondering if maybe you’d think about moving in permanently.’

‘You want me to move in with you?’ she repeated, stunned. They’d both decided when they’d made things official that they’d take it slow while Juniper started her business and Aiden focused on his exams and coursework. As easy as it would be to rush into everything at once with him, she’d wanted to make sure she was standing on her own two feet first. Besides, she wasn’t easy to live with, what with her attachment to any object she’d ever owned and her inability to find a place for it that wasn’t the floor.

‘I do. Only if you want to. No pressure. I know you’re happy where you are right now, and I wouldn’t ask you to change that if you didn’t want to.’ His hands lifted to her rib cage, tender and loving. ‘It’s just that I love you, and I know this is it for me. You’re my favourite person, and I couldn’t think of anything better than coming home to you – and Cerberus, loud as he is – every night.’

Juniper didn’t know what to say. Emotion stuck in her throat, still surprised even now at just how honest he could be with her. That was something she was still working on, always deflecting with humour because being vulnerable was so scary.

‘Are you sure?’ she questioned. ‘I’m very messy.’

‘Well, this is news to me. Why didn’t you say so earlier?’

‘I take extra-long showers.’

‘I know. My water bill reflects that.’

‘I leave my shoes out for people to trip over.’

‘Yep. My toe is permanently bruised from your Docs.’ He took her face in his hands. ‘And yet I love you anyway. See how it works?’

She did see, but that didn’t mean she understood. Then again, there were things about Aiden that would annoy anybody else, but that she accepted as part of him. The fact he always managed to smudge paint around, from the corner of his sleeve hitting paper to it somehow ended up in her hair. The way he sometimes burped in time to the music they were listening to. The sound of his teeth grinding in his sleep, a symptom of his anxiety that never seemed to go away even when he was feeling well.

She could sit there and find another five hundred reasons why this was a bad idea, but for once, she didn’t want to.

So she braced her arms around his neck and said, ‘Yes, Aiden. I want to move in with you.’

His toothy grin dazzled her, and then he was kissing her, palms pressing into her breasts. He pulled her onto his lap, where his erection already strained. Unable to wait any longer, she sought friction against his denim-clad thigh. The plate-in-progress was left abandoned as she unzipped his jeans and let him feel the same pleasure while he whispered all of the things he loved about her, all of the things he couldn’t wait to do with her.

‘I love you, Aiden,’ she breathed, climax just a little out of reach. As sturdy as his thigh was, it wasn’t enough. Too many layers between them.

He kissed her neck, teasing her nipples, and her hips bucked harder, faster. He knew her body like it was his own, knew when she needed more, so he picked her up and laid her out on the nearest table with his hands pinning her wrists above her head. Outside, anybody might have seen him guide her legs over his shoulders and thrust into her until she unravelled, but she didn’t care.

In her world, it was only him and the life they were sculpting together. The life that finally felt like hers, even on the difficult days – and it was their most beautiful piece yet.