Page 43

EMORY

Aiden

Thank god, you’re finally paying attention to me

M y gaze flicks up from my phone to my husband, who is watching me from across the table.

We’re at a charity dinner at House Valdez, and we’ve been separated.

Sienna is next to me, and Tristan is next to Aiden.

He’s in a full tuxedo tonight, even though he groused about the tails being stupid.

I happen to like them. He looks distinguished.

A little steely around the edges, with that sharply handsome face and perfect body.

Emory

Bored?

Aiden

I thought you’d never ask

His eyes are gleaming, and something hot swirls in my stomach, just like it has each of the last two mornings across the breakfast table when he silently slides me the crossword and sets a timer. He doesn’t touch me, and somehow that makes it worse.

Emory

Stop flirting with me

His mouth lifts.

Aiden

I so enjoy flirting with you

I’m rusty

Let me practice

I’m smiling against my will, biting my lip as I tap at my phone.

Emory

You are an idiot

Aiden

Fuck, baby, you know how to talk to a man

I press a fist to my mouth to stop my laughter.

It would be very inappropriate. The charity we’re here to support is appropriately serious.

There are at least twenty tables full of elegantly dressed guests.

Champagne is flowing, and women keep coming up to Aiden to chat, ignoring me as they do.

He is serious and considerate to them, as he always is, but his eyes always find me.

Emory

There’s another one

A blond woman in a sleek ponytail rests her hand on his shoulder and tips her chin toward the dance floor. He shakes his head, not smiling, and she saunters off. There’s a rock in my stomach as I watch them before I jerk my gaze away.

Aiden

Do not laugh

Can’t you see I’m suffering?

Emory

You should start saying yes

Aiden

Why would I do that?

One wife is more than enough trouble

I bite my lip against my smile. Cold Aiden I can handle. Kind Aiden is fine too. But flirty Aiden? Warm Aiden? Smiling only with his eyes and only for me? I’m too weak for that.

Aiden

Play with me, wife

Incentivize me

Emory

Incentivize you?

Aiden

Don’t you want to keep your job?

I burst out laughing right as the event’s speaker taps the mic, and Sienna elbows me. “Just go find a dark room, for fuck’s sake,” she mutters. I wince. This charity is associated with a hospital I know she wants for her residency.

“Sorry, sorry,” I hiss back.

Emory

Game on

Find this and then meet me at the car. You have five minutes.

My life can be measured in hours. I serve by being devoured. Thin, I am quick. Fat, I am slow. Wind is my foe.

Our gazes lock over the table. His eyes narrow, but he rises from the table and swiftly makes his way toward the bathroom hallway. While I’m getting ready to follow, his next message comes in.

Aiden

What do I get if I win?

Emory

Nothing

Better hurry, or your car is mine

I laugh delightedly when Aiden stalks to the car with a candle in his hand. “You did it.”

His lips curve, that half smile that shows his real amusement. The one he seems to save just for me. “Of course I did it. I’m smarter than you give me credit for.”

“I never doubted you,” I say solemnly.

He tosses me a look. “I think I like you better when you’re being honest.”

I laugh and get in the car. “Top down?” I fiddle with the music, searching for something that isn’t the depressing rock he prefers.

He gives me a surprised look. “You want to hang out?”

There’s a little fizz of excitement inside me. Does he want to hang out? And why does this feel momentous? “I—yes?”

“Okay.” He smiles at me again, this one shy and slow. I want to memorize each time he smiles and savor it later. “What does hanging out look like for you?”

“Food and then beach,” I tell him. “My secret beach.”

The food we pick up is greasy and smells like oil as Aiden guides the car down the one-way road to the hidden beach. “Here?” The road ends abruptly, just a line of boulders and a dark drop-off to the ocean. “This doesn’t look safe,” he says.

“It’s safe.” I get out of the car and grab the bag of burgers.

“Shoes off,” he says.

“Aiden—”

But he’s already kneeling, his hands around my ankle. My breath catches as he looks up at me. There’s very little moon tonight, but it’s enough to see the expression on his face—determined, then softening as he runs a thumb up my calf.

“You look good on your knees,” I tease.

He chuckles, then slips my heel off, then the other, until I’m shifting from foot to foot on the pavement. He turns, grabs my legs, and hauls me onto his back before I can finish my yelp of surprise.

I push at his shoulders. “Going to ruin that tux.”

He starts for the beach. “Focus on holding the food.”

I point the way down the path to the beach. He holds me with ease, and I sink my fingers into his hair. He makes a little sound that tells me he likes it.

“You like being touched, don’t you?”

“Doesn’t everyone?” He turns for the water. There’s no one here. Just miles of uninterrupted sand and waves.

“Yeah, but you like it a lot.”

He swallows hard enough that I feel it in my legs. “I didn’t get a lot of that growing up.”

There’s a sharp pinch in my chest. “Touching?”

“Affection,” he grunts as he lets me down. “It’s soft enough here, but there are still rocks. I didn’t think to bring a blanket.” His smile is a flash of white in the dark. “Wait, I’ve got it.” His jacket flutters to the ground, and he spreads it out for me.

I sit, but his words run in my head. “You didn’t get much affection?”

He draws his knees up to his chest and loops his arms around them. “I was the Heir,” he says, like that explains everything.

“Aiden, that’s terrible.”

“It’s just—the way it was.”

“It’s not right.” It gnaws at me. It makes me want to protect him.

“It’s in the past,” he says.

I scoot over and lay my head on his shoulder. “I’ve heard how people talk about you,” I say. “I heard it when I was outside tonight.”

He tenses.

“I hated it,” I whisper. “They called you the Heir. Like you don’t have a name. Like you’re not even a person outside of your role in the family.”

“To the world, that’s who I am.”

“But you’re so much more than that.” My voice comes out fierce, and I want to take the words back, because I feel too much, and now he can see it.

But then Aiden tips my chin up with a finger on my jaw. “You’re mad for me,” he says wonderingly. I try to turn my face away, but he cups my jaw. “I like you mad for me.”

My eyes heat. “Someone needs to be.”

“Thank you,” he says, a slow smile spreading across his face. This one is surprised and sad. One I’ve never seen before but perhaps the most honest smile yet.

“I think I might have liked being a Hunter,” he says.

“He has one taste of being bad, and he wants to go to the dark side,” I tease, shaking my head.

“It seems like more fun over there.”

“Yeah?” I settle my head back on his shoulder, and he lets me.

“I didn’t have hobbies growing up. I had training. You know I speak four languages?”

“I’m not surprised,” I say gently.

“What was it like for you?”

“Fun.” I grin into the dark. “I was always trailing after my brothers, trying to do everything they did. They hated it. Especially Benedict, because he was older. I was convinced if I just tried hard enough, I’d be better than them.”

He chuckles. “I would have loved to see that. I bet you were cute as a kid.”

“Cute and terrible, if you ask my family.”

“So, basically, not much has changed,” he teases.

I bump him with my shoulder. “What about you?”

He shrugs. “I have two degrees I didn’t want and trophies for sports I didn’t particularly want to play. It was fine. My siblings were and always will be the bright spot.”

“And now?”

He looks down at me, blinking away the shadows until I can see him studying me. “And now what?”

“What do you want now ? Who would you be if you could be anyone?”

“I don’t know,” he says. “Everything feels blunter now, like the interesting pieces of me have been smoothed into nothingness. That’s the problem.”

My eyes heat. If seeing other people in pain hurts me, seeing Aiden like this cracks something open. This is a soul-deep wound, and not one I can solve.

“Aiden,” I whisper back, but I’m crawling into his lap before he can respond.

He makes a soft noise as our chests meet, and I’m not thinking about how we promised not to touch or how I’m supposed to hate him. After this week in the gym, all of that seems distant. I have to touch him. He needs this.

His hands run up my spine. I bury my face in his shoulder.

“You have a spark, Em.” His fingers skate up my neck. I like the way my nickname sounds in his voice. “I’m so jealous of you. Spending time with you makes me feel like I have a spark too.”

“A spark?” My voice is muffled by the crease of his neck.

“You’re so vibrant,” he muses. His voice is soft in my ear, raising goose bumps up my spine. His hand cups the back of my head. “So alive .”

I fight a shiver. I didn’t know Aiden saw me like that. I thought he merely tolerated me.

His thumb slides up my neck, kneading the muscles. I’m not sure he realizes he’s doing it, but the gesture makes me melt. “That spark you have that makes you crave things. That makes you burn with the need to get up every day and do something. It’s gone out for me.”

I pull back. Our noses are nearly touching. “I’ll help you get it back. If you let me.”

I feel his swallow in my chest. “I’d like that,” he says. His thumb runs over my neck, back and forth, warming me from the inside out.

“You going to eat that burger?” he asks.

I settle my head back on his shoulder. “In a minute.”

“You want me to hold you for a bit more?” His voice is a mere whisper in the dark, like he doesn’t want to admit we both like this.

He needs it.

That’s all this is.

“Please,” I tell him.

He makes a pleased sound before his lips hover over my ear. “I’d like that too.”