Girl Next Door: The Complete Series Page 9

  Aidan’s muscles were rock hard now. “She and Patrick made up?”

  I patted his back. “I know you don’t like her, but she seemed okay to me.”

  Aidan snorted. “Don’t let her fool you. She can go from sweetness and light to bitchiness and bitterness in five seconds flat.”

  I shook my head, smiling.

  “Are you sure you’re cool?” he asked.

  I nodded. “I’ll reserve judgement until I know her better. If I get to know her better, that is. She did give me one hell of a wake-up call, both literally and figuratively.”

  I felt Aidan’s chuckle through my cheek. “Okay, so now we’re clear on those things. Next up, what are we going to do now?”

  I felt a sudden need to see Aidan’s face, so I pulled back and blinked at him.

  “Huh?”

  There was that half-smile. Shit, I really liked that.

  “I think we’ve skipped the getting to know you part of the relationship process. I also think that we’re beyond taking it one day at a time.”

  Again, I just blinked up at him. “Huh?”

  His half-smile turned into a full-fledged grin.

  “I want to move in with you, and, after six months, if things are still good, we’ll see about getting you a ring.”

  I gaped at him. “A ring?” I squawked. “Move in?” I gulped again. “Why?”

  “Because I’m pretty sure you are in love with me, and I’m falling fast.”

  Oh, holy, holy crap. I tried to pull back a little more because my lungs suddenly seized and I felt like I needed space to breathe. Aidan’s hand tightened on my neck and he held me still.

  “But we’ve only known each other a week!” My voice cracked. “Don’t you think this is a little sudden?” I refused to respond to the part about love. We could discuss that later.

  Aidan’s face turned serious. “I know what I want, and I’ve never felt for another woman what I’m feeling for you. One week, one year, I know this is special and it’s headed somewhere important for both of us. Now, do you have something to add, or are you going to lay there and stare at me some more?”

  I took a deep breath. Then, I decided to dive in head first. “You’re right. I am in love with you but I don’t do the live-in thing.” When he scowled, I continued quickly. “It’s one of my rules for myself, to keep from jumping into something that might bite me on the ass later. I won’t live with a guy unless I’m married to him.”

  Aidan’s scowl turned a little scarier, so I continued on quickly. “That’s not an ultimatum or anything. I don’t expect a proposal, hell, I don’t want a proposal, tomorrow, or even next week. I just can’t live with you.”

  I stopped talking and waited, tense and worried. This was where I’d lost a few guys in the past. They wanted to something more, but they weren’t ready for a deeper commitment. I understood it and never held it against them. I just didn’t want that for me and they weren’t willing to wait until we were both ready for the next step.

  Aidan stared at me for a moment. “Okay, I can understand your point. I won’t move in here, but you will be seeing a lot of me, and we will be sleeping in the same bed every night, whether it’s yours or mine. In six months, if we both still feel the same, we will get engaged, and we will get married.” I opened my mouth, but Aidan put his thumb over my lips. “Before you start yapping about things moving too fast, answer one question for me. Have you ever felt about another man the way you feel about me?”

  I shook my head. His lips twitched like he was about to smile. “Okay, one more question. Do you love me enough to give us both some time and not freak out and pull away like you did yesterday?”

  My brows lowered, but I knew he had a point, so I just nodded.

  “Okay, then. We’ll keep doing what we’ve been doing this week for a while and move on from there. If you feel in danger of an overload, or you want to pull away, talk to me first. You do not hole up in your house, ignoring my calls, texts, and visits. Do you understand?”

  I nodded again. I felt in danger of an overload right now, but there was no way I could speak until I had processed all this.

  Aidan pulled my face back into his chest and wrapped both arms around me. “Good.”

  It finally hit me that he all but told me he was falling in love with me and that there was a strong likelihood he would ask me to marry him in six months. I wrapped an arm around his waist and snuggled closer. Then, I smiled.

  Five months later…

  I came home after a very long day at the office. Somehow I’d managed to crash my computer. The IT guy was not happy with me. He tried to show me what I’d done wrong, but I’d asked so many questions and gotten so confused by his answers, he’d finally kicked me out of my office.

  By the time I arrived home, I was hungry, tired, and had a nagging headache. I pulled my car into the garage and headed inside. I went through the mudroom, dropped my stuff on the kitchen counter, and kicked off my high heels. I stopped and listened, but the house seemed to be empty. That was weird, because Aidan had called earlier in the afternoon to let me know he would be cooking us dinner at my house. He didn’t cook as often as I did, but he was surprisingly good at it. After the day I had I was relieved Aidan was planning to make my evening easier.

  However, I looked around the kitchen, which was spotless. There were no dishes, no spilled food, not even a whiff of anything yummy. My shoulders slumped. Crap, Aidan must have had a problem at work. Sometimes that happened and he’d end up running pretty late. I decided tonight was a pizza night. I normally tried to eat healthily. I liked my ass the size it was, but tonight I was too worn out to give a shit. I wandered through the dark dining room and headed for the living room. Aidan had built me a gorgeous wine-slash-liquor cabinet, which held all my wine, hard liquors, and pretty wine, high ball, and rocks glasses. Before I called the pizza place, I was thinking I’d pour a humungous glass of red wine.

  I entered my living room and froze. Candles were on almost every flat surface, small vases of flowers scattered here and there, and a table for two, covered with a white table cloth sat in the middle of the room. My furniture had been moved around and some things removed to make room for the table. A bucket filled with ice held a bottle of champagne, waiting to be opened.

  I stared at all these trappings of romance and insanely wondered if I’d been transported to an alternate dimension. Then I wondered if maybe Jack had escaped from prison and broken into my house again, because Aidan was not great with the romantic stuff. He was considerate, generous, and could sometimes be sweet, but he was definitely not a romantic.

  “Hey.”

  My eyes cut to my left to see Aidan sitting in one of my comfy overstuffed chairs. He stood. I took in the nice dark wash jeans and his very nice button down shirt. I knew this was Aidan’s version of dressed up. In the last five months, I’d only seen Aidan in a suit and tie once when he had a very important business meeting. When he came home from said business meeting, I showed him how very much I liked his businessman look. He’d enjoyed it so much he mentioned pulling out that suit a few times a month.

  He had even worn it a couple times since then, but I knew it was for me. The suit and tie look really wasn’t Aidan. I was glad he wasn’t wearing one tonight. He looked exactly how I liked him to look, relaxed and sexy.

  “Hi, babe.” I gestured to the table and candles. “What’s all this?”

  Aidan walked towards me and leaned down to give me a soft kiss. “It was a surprise. I wanted to do something different and special.”

  I smiled. “It certainly is special. And it’s different.”

  He seemed amused. “Don’t worry, Cat helped me out and told me what I could do to make it pretty for you. Otherwise we would be drinking imported beer and grilling expensive steaks.”

  I laughed, putting my hands on his chest and leaning into him. “Is that what men think is different and special?” I teased.

  He gave me his half-smile. “You bet. Be glad
your friend helped me out.”

  I laid my lips on his. “I am.” I leaned back so I could look him in the eye. “Thank you.”

  He led me to the table. “Sit down. I have food from Maggiano’s on its way.”

  I gaped at him. Maggiano’s was my absolute favorite place to eat in Dallas. It was also a rare indulgence. If I ate there as often as I wanted to, my ass would be three feet wide. “But they don’t deliver.”

  He smiled bigger. “I called in a favor with the manager.”

  I was speechless. Wow. The doorbell rang and Aidan went to open the door. He came back with a black-vested waiter, and a stack of plates and cutlery from my kitchen. Two water goblets were caught upside down between his fingers. I watched as he set the table with dinner and salad plates, cutlery, and my cloth napkins that I kept for special occasions. The waiter set out actual platters that he emptied aluminum containers into. Aidan pressed a glass of red wine into my hand.

  I sat in awe as Aidan walked the waiter to the door. No man had ever gone to this much trouble for me before. Hell, no man had even gone through even half this much trouble for me. He came back and sat across from me, grabbing the champagne from the ice bucket. As he worked the cork loose from the bottle, I sipped my wine.

  “Babe, will you serve the salad while I take care of this?” he asked.

  I smiled and put a small pile of Caesar salad on his plate and mine.

  The cork gave a little pop as it came out of the bottle neck and Aidan poured champagne into our glasses.

  I took my glass. “Why did you do all this, Aidan?”

  He looked at me and set down his champagne. I kept my eyes on his as he stood up, came around to my chair and knelt down next to me. His face was so close it was all I could see, sharp bones, sexy lips, and beautiful hazel eyes.

  “I know I told you I would give you six months to be sure about this, about us, but I don’t think I can wait any more, Natalie. I’m tired of going back and forth between your house and mine. I’m sick of paying a mortgage when I’m almost never at a house that isn’t really home. Wherever you are, that’s where my home is. I love you, you love me, and we should be starting a life together.”

  I stared at Aidan, speechless. I knew he loved me, but the only time he’d ever said it before was when he was inside me, right after he came. He’d said it more than once, but never outside our bed. I felt something cold against my finger, and looked down to see him slide a gorgeous engagement ring on my left hand. The center stone was a colorless diamond that was at least a carat, and it was perfect. My eyes jerked back to Aidan.

  Aidan must have liked the look on my face because I got a full-fledged smile, but he asked anyway.

  “Will you marry me, Natalie York?”

  I bit my lip so I wouldn’t squeal like a giddy teenager. Once the urge passed, I cupped Aidan’s face with my hands.

  “I love you, Aidan Hart, and I would also love to marry you.” I ended my answer with a kiss.

  I planned to give him a light, gentle kiss, but it seemed Aidan had other ideas. He slanted his head, opened his mouth over mine, and I was lost. When my eyes rolled out of the back of my head and I could focus again, I saw that Aidan was grinning hugely.

  “I like that,” he whispered.

  “Me, too.” My voice cracked a little. When it did, he chuckled a little.

  He grabbed both my hands and yanked me to my feet. Snagging both our full champagne glasses and the bottle, he handed me my glass and started herding me towards the stairs with a hand on my waist.

  “Hey! Where are we going? I’m hungry.” I had a pretty good idea where we were going, but I was kinda hungry and wanted to make a token protest for Maggiano’s.

  Aidan all but put a hand on my ass and shoved me up the stairs. “I’ll come down and get you a plate later.” His hand caressed my behind. “Much later.”

  “But I’m hungry, Aidan.” Now, I was just trying to rile him up, because sex with Aidan when he was riled went straight to off the charts.

  We reached the top of the stairs and his hand slid down my arm to my hand that wasn’t holding a glass. He gripped it and pulled me toward the bedroom. “Don’t worry. You won’t be hungry for long.” His eyes were pure gold.

  I let him yank me to my bed. He put the bottle of champagne and his glass on my nightstand, then took my flute from me and set it down. I squealed and laughed when he grabbed my hips and threw me on the mattress. Then he got down to serious business and I did forget all about being hungry for food.

  Later, after he’d appeased both of my hungers, one for food, and one for him, he pulled me against his body in the dark, tangling his legs with mine.

  “I love you, Nat. You need to get used to hearing that.”

  I smiled. “I’ll do my best. I love you, too.”

  Happier than I ever remembered being in my life, I pressed my lips to his chest, put my hand over his heart, and went to sleep. All my dreams were of the future and they were entirely sweet.

  Frenemies

  Copyright © Crystal W. Wilson 2012

  All rights reserved

  I want to think all my girlies; Nikki, Tasha, and Amy, for their help and support. Also, thank you for all the crazy things you say and do because it provides both entertainment and inspiration!

  I looked around my friend Natalie’s home, amazed at the transformation. She and her fiancé, Aidan, were having an engagement party. Her already pretty house now contained gorgeous flower arrangements, candles, and copious amounts of food and alcohol. I never thought that my bestie, Natalie York, would be the type of girl to go so over the top, but I was wrong. Well, all this wasn’t just Nat’s doing, I guess. Her fiancé seemed to be determined that Nat’s entire engagement-slash-wedding experience be the best of everything. I’d overheard him tell her that she was only getting married once in her life, and he wanted her to enjoy the entire process and refused to let her miss out on anything.

  Nat, being the woman I’d known and loved for years, had to respond with a smart-assed remark. “I’ll only get married once, but after we’re divorced, I plan to live in sin with Dwayne Johnson.”

  Needless to say, Aidan had a great sense of humor and tolerated Nat’s sarcasm and insane wisecracks with a very sexy half smile. I loved that for her. She had horrible luck with men in her past and he seemed to adore her and spoiled her rotten. While I contemplated how lucky my BFF was, I looked around the crowded living area. Most of Nat’s family and Aidan’s family were here, and so were most of their friends. I wandered to the table in the corner filled with bottles of wine and buckets full of ice and champagne bottles. I snagged a champagne flute, filled it, and sipped. I was extremely happy for Nat, but I was also a little jealous. I was supposed to have a date for the evening, but Steve and I fizzled out the week before. We’d been together for a little over four months but it wasn’t going anywhere. I didn’t want it to go anywhere. So that was the end of Steve.

  All I really wanted to do was go home, slip into my comfiest PJ’s, and read a steamy novel on my e-reader. Instead, I took another sip of my wine and knew I would stay until the last guest left and then help with the cleanup.

  “You must be Cat.”

  I turned, glanced over my shoulder, and froze. Standing next to me was a very tall and extremely good-looking man who had to be Aidan’s brother. Unfortunately, he knew exactly how good looking he was and he was currently staring at my chest. I rolled my eyes. I was used to this. My mother had passed her curvy figure on to me, and Nat teased me that all I needed was some short bangs, red lipstick, and a retro swimsuit and I could pass for a 1950’s pin-up. I had long ago gotten used to men talking to my chest and not to the rest of me. I didn’t like it, but I had stopped getting angry about it. I had better things to do. I waited until his attention drifted back to my face, surprised when he had the good grace to blush and look embarrassed.

  “Sorry,” he said. He stuck out a hand. “I’m Patrick Hart, Aidan’s brother. Since we’ll be seein
g a lot of each other in the future, I thought I’d introduce myself.”

  I shook his hand quickly, ignoring the little spark that jumped to life. “You’re right, I’m Cat Johnson. I doubt we’ll see that much of each other, though. Usually, it’s the maid of honor, not the best man, who helps the bride with the wedding. Unless you’re volunteering to do grunt work, of course.”

  Patrick smiled widely. “Too late, Aidan already ordered me to help with any and all duties that Nat deems necessary for me.”

  Wow, he had a great smile. I refused to lose focus but gave him a small smile in return. “I’m sure she’ll have a list for you in the near future.”

  Patrick nodded and took a sip of his beer. “I’ve been told to expect a copy via e-mail within the week.”

  I giggled because this sounded just like Nat. “Good luck.”

  Patrick and I were smiling at each other, and I was beginning to think maybe both the Hart brothers were pretty good guys. Fortunately, Fate decided to show me exactly how wrong I was. I watched as a beautiful, tall, thin brunette with legs to her chin and hair to her ass walked up to Patrick and slid a hand across his chest to cup his neck. Her touch smacked of intimacy and I stared as she kissed the corner of his mouth. She turned clear blue eyes to me.

  “Hi, I’m Anya, Rick’s fiancé.” She put out a hand for me to shake and smiled brightly.

  I shook her hand and gave Patrick, who I now knew was called Rick by his fiancée, a hard stare. He should not have been openly ogling my cleavage if he was involved with someone. I get the desire to check out attractive people, but, when you’re in a relationship, you definitely don’t do it in front of the woman you are with. That’s rule one of dating women. Don’t stare, check out, ogle, or drool over other women in front of your girlfriend. Don’t even do it while you’re in the same room with your girlfriend. “It’s lovely to meet you, Anya. I’m Catherine Johnson, Nat’s best friend. Please call me Cat though.” I forced myself to smile, even though I wanted to snarl at Patrick.