Page 35 of The Fall Fix Up

It wasn’t planned. This close together, with only the drip of the shower faucet echoing in the space, Aiden was being ruled by impulse, and the throbbing need that had been flashing through him for weeks. Kissing Janae felt warm and startingly right, and he clenched the fist holding the paint swatches, not caring that he was crinkling them beyond repair.

For half a second, Janae froze and Aiden’s stomach twisted. Oh, shit. What am I doing? He was planning to move back, apologies ready on his tongue, when she made a low sound that scraped over his nerves, lighting them up from the inside. Her hands shot up, gripping the back of his neck and drawing Aiden in farther, her lips parting on a rough groan. She was kissing him back, the same tongue that had caught his attention now at the seam of his lips, asking for entry.

Aiden dropped the colors from his hand and touched her waist, steady and careful. He didn’t want to break whatever spell had been weaved around them leading to this moment. The world had gone bright behind his eyelids as he focused on how it felt to have Janae so perfectly settled in his arms. Her curves pressed against him, supple and warm. Her fingers gripped the back of his head, guiding him as they kissed with increasing intensity. He didn’t know how long they stood there, pressed together in the soft light of the bathroom, but Aiden never wanted it to end. Everything inside him screamed to kiss her harder, to hold her tighter. When they finally broke away, his eyelids felt heavy as he slowly blinked them open.

Janae’s lips were puffy and perfectly shiny, making him want to lean back in for another taste. If not for her hand on his chest, he would have.

“Aiden,” Janae said, her voice breathy. “I . . . We shouldn’t—”

“Don’t,” he cut in, shaking his head.

She blinked. “Don’t what?”

“Apologize. Or say you regret it.” He swallowed hard as he reached up and brushed a thumb over her cheek. “Why don’t we just . . . decide on the paint?”

Janae looked at him for a moment, and he wondered if she would tell him he was being ridiculous. But finally, she nodded, her lips quirking up in a tilted smile. “Okay. Let’s decide.” Her voice sounded steady as she stepped back. Her fingers brushed over Aiden’s neck as she moved, and he didn’t bother hiding his shiver this time. There was no pretending now. Whatever line they’d crossed, there was no going back.

Chapter 15

Janae stretched slowly as she switched from sleep to wakefulness. The morning slanted in over her face, making her squint against the gold light. It was a welcome warmth and she blinked slowly, letting herself drift leisurely. Her alarm had gone off with enough time for her to not need to rush, so she lay there, eyes open and trained on the window as she listened to the soft creaks of the house.

The morning was like any other except . . . it wasn’t. Her lips still tingled from last night. She brushed her fingers across them, hoping to feel the ghost of Aiden against her fingertips. The memory of their kiss hit her all over again—the way his breath had hitched, as if he were surprised by himself, and the soft groan he let out when she’d leaned into it. She had surprised herself with that too.

It wasn’t like she had been unaware of something between them simmering just below the surface of politeness and civility. No, that sounded too removed. They had slowly become friends. She was sure of it. But still, other than her own traitorous thoughts about how attractive Aiden was, with his dimpled good looks and a body that was more than a little eye-catching, she had resolved to ignore it. Aiden was here as a favor, if not to her, then to Vini, and Vini was not someone to piss off. Janae hadn’t ever seen Vini exact her revenge on anyone for crossing someone she loved, but she had heard stories of the youngest Williams sister and how she could get back at you when you least expected it. In some ways, she reminded Janae of her own sister, and that was enough to keep her in line.

She groaned softly and turned her head, burying her face in the pillow to muffle the noise. There was a bathroom between them, but she still didn’t want to run the risk of Aiden hearing her have her morning existential crisis. They hadn’t talked about the kiss after looking over the paint swatches. Janae had made her decision, and Aiden had given her another one of his pleased little smiles before they went their separate ways for the remainder of the evening, her to her sunroom to stare at the canvas and freak the fuck out, and him to do whatever he did in his bedroom at night. Her stomach clenched. Thinking about him and bedroom activities was not the right way to go.

“Damn it,” she breathed out into her pillow before turning and looking out the window again. She had been surprised by the kiss, but she hadn’t meant to kiss him back. One second, she was thinking, Holy hell this feels good, and the next, she had her fingers gripping the back of his neck to pull him closer to her. This definitely wasn’t what she’d signed up for, and yet part of her didn’t regret it. Not with how good it felt in those moments of having her lips pressed to his. Hell, Aiden had gone from someone she occasionally exchanged pleasantries with to someone she now didn’t know how to exist without in two short weeks.

The familiar scent of coffee floated down the hall, beckoning her out of bed. Of course he’s already up, she thought to herself. He probably had no problem falling asleep last night, getting up and going about his day easily. Not like Janae, who treated worrying like an Olympic sport she had to get gold in. With a resigned sigh, she threw back the covers and swung her legs out of bed. She quickly pulled on her thick socks and stood up.

It was just one kiss. It didn’t have to mean anything. They could be normal about this.

Those thoughts comforted her until she opened her bedroom door and stepped into the hallway, coming face to face with the source of her frustration . . . and arousal. If she had been paying more attention, she would have heard the water in the bathroom being shut off and recognized that Aiden was in there. As it was, she was treated to the delicious view of him once again shirtless, towel draped around his neck as the curls she now knew were as soft as they looked dripped water over him. He froze mid-step when he saw her, a ball of clothes still in his hand and one foot still planted in the bathroom doorway. He blinked slowly as if unsure he was truly seeing her.

“Morning,” he said finally, his voice rumbling and rough. Had it always been that low in the morning? Janae didn’t know. But she did know that the sound of it washed over her, setting her nerves alight. Thankfully, she could attribute her shiver to the coolness of the morning, and she mentally put up a reminder to turn the heat up in the evenings before bed.

“Good morning,” she returned with a small smile.

Silence stretched between them. It wasn’t uncomfortable, exactly, but there was something in it that pulled at her, leaving Janae unsure of what else to say. She went to step around him, but the hallway was narrow enough that when he moved at the same time, they brushed against one another. It was just her shoulder against his, and yet that moment of contact had her breath caught in her throat. Aiden paused before taking a step back and looking down at her with wide eyes.

“Sorry,” he murmured before taking another step back into the bathroom doorway.

“It’s fine. I should have let you get by first,” she said. In her pocket, her phone vibrated, pulling her attention. She grabbed onto the distraction like a lifeline, taking the phone from her pocket and holding it up like a flag. “I should . . .”

Aiden nodded sharply. “Right. Me too.”

Janae bit her lip for a moment before hurrying past Aiden and into the kitchen. Her hands trembled slightly as she poured herself a cup of coffee and made her way back to her room. When she passed Aiden’s room, the door was shut, though she could vaguely hear him moving around behind the closed door. She closed her own bedroom door and went through her motions of getting ready for the day. Thankfully, by the time she was done and leaving, Aiden had already left, his truck missing from the driveway. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see him, she did. Almost ridiculously so. But she needed a moment to get her head around the fact that they’d kissed and then had just continued on doing their usual nightly routines, as if kissing was something that happened every day and not something that lingered on her mind for hours.

The drive to school blurred past as her mind continued to turn over her thoughts. It wasn’t until Grace knocked on her classroom door and popped her head around asking about lunch that Janae’s brain came back online. She waved her in before grabbing her own lunch and plopping down at their usual table.

“So,” Grace started as she opened her container, “how’s home life going with your hot mechanic with a heart of gold?”

Janae rolled her eyes, though she smiled despite her conflicting thoughts. “He’s not my hot mechanic.”

“Oh please,” Grace replied with a wide smile. “You’ve got a glow about you that speaks to more than just his construction abilities. Don’t even try to lie to me that you don’t like having Aiden around.”

“Of course I like having him around. He’s a really nice guy.” With a fabulous ass I’d love to get my hands on. She kept that thought to herself. “He’s amazingly handy and the kitchen is absolutely incredible beyond even my own imagination.”