Page 23 of Aiden & Lily

She’d told him the other night about her inability to offer second chances and her black-and-white view on respect. If that confession hadn’t scared him off then, and this conversation wasn’t scaring him off now, then perhaps he was willing to see the real her.

Christopher pulled his hand back and returned it to the steering wheel. “Well? Are you going to tell me more things about you?”

She laughed, offering him a shy smile. “Would it make you mad to know that my ex is sort of one of my best friends?”

He cut her a look, but there wasn’t an ounce of surprise in it. Not exactly.

“That’s… not common.”

Lily sighed, leaning back in her seat. “No, it really isn’t. But honestly? I think we were always meant to be friends. We connect in a way that is just…” She blew out a breath, and a smile returned to her lips. “It’s comfortable, you know? Reese is my rock in a way I didn’t realize I needed. But I don’t think we would have ever been able to make it work otherwise.”

“Why’s that?” This time, Christopher’s voice sounded almost strained.

She glanced at him again, hoping he heard the sincerity in her voice. “Because he doesn’t give me butterflies. His smile doesn’t make the world seem brighter. And his laugh doesn’t chase away the clouds.”

Lily blushed.

She wasn’t great at prose. Thankfully, Christopher didn’t seem to mind as he cut her one of his boyish smiles.

“Yeah?” he asked. “And who does that for you?”

Smirking, she crossed her arms. “I’m not going to answer that.”

His smile deepened, and she had to look away before she forgot what she’d been saying.

“But I will say I don’t think I’ll be capable of cutting Reese out of my life. I know that makes me sound like a hypocrite after everything I just said, but?—”

Christopher’s hand moved toward hers again, more slowly this time. He waited until she looked at him before giving her fingers a brief, reassuring squeeze.

“I wouldn’t dream of asking you to change your life for me,” he said. “Especially not when I like the way you are already.”

Her relief was the sweetest thing she’d ever tasted. He wasn’t making demands. He was offering trust, and it made her want to do the same. Maybe someone else would have reacted differently. Maybe another man would have been threatened by Reese or annoyed that she still cared about her ex as a friend.

But Christopher gave her room to be honest.

And for now, that felt like a gift.

7

AIDEN

Aiden was in trouble.

So, so much trouble.

The worst part was that he couldn’t even go to Mathew about his issues. When he’d first realized he was interested in Reese’s ex-girlfriend, it hadn’t seemed terrible.

Well, no. That wasn’t exactly true. It had seemed terrible. He’d just found a way to excuse it.

The years Aiden hadn’t been close with Reese could have given him an easy out. He could claim he hadn’t known who Lily was, and then he’d gotten attached before he understood the full mess of it.

But now?

Now, he couldn’t talk to Mathew because the guy could read people better than anyone Aiden knew. Mathew would take one look at him and know he was hiding something. Then he’d inevitably get to the bottom of whatever Aiden was keeping from him.

And Mathew wouldn’t be so nice about discovering the truth. He’d made it perfectly clear that family was off-limits.

Aiden paced the break room. Today, at least, he didn’t have to deal with Mathew’s scrutiny. Jason’s wedding was this evening, which meant Mathew was occupied, and Aiden had a little time to figure out how to explain that what he felt for Lily wasn’t temporary.