“Are you calling me a brat?” I asked, with my hand on my hip.
“What do you think?” he asked with a grin.
“I think you’re calling me a brat.” I wrinkled my nose at him and took a step forward.
“You got smarter in your old age.” He laughed and my eyes narrowed.
“I’m going to make you pay for that.” I took another step forward and raised my fists at him.
“Is this your way of trying to touch me, old lady?” He raised an eyebrow and I gasped. How had he known that I was hoping to cop a quick feel? Could he see from my expression that I was practically salivating at how sexy he looked?
“Haha, very funny. I’m not an old lady, and I don’t care about touching you.”
“Is that right?” He grabbed my arms and pulled me towards him. “That’s a pity.”
“What’s a pity?”
“That you don’t care about touching me,” he said lightly as his hands ran down my arm.
“Oh, why?” I breathed out, my heart about to jump out of my chest.
“Because I very much like being touched.” He winked and then stepped back. “Now go and change, and I’ll order the pizza. We don’t want to be up all night.”
“I don’t mind,” I whispered under my breath as I hurried out of the room. And I didn’t mind. Not at all. He could keep me up for twenty-four hours straight if he wanted to. Shit, thirty-six hours if he begged. I could picture him now, kissing my neck and pleading with me to stay awake so that he could have me one more time. How delicious would it feel to have his body against mine, on top of me, sliding himself inside of me? It would feel like heaven.
“Alice?”
“Uh, yes.” I looked around, my face bright red.
“You okay? You were walking and then just stopped.”
“Oh, I’m fine.” I nodded. “Thanks.” I gulped and hurried out of the room to my bedroom. I needed to stop fantasizing about being with Aiden. I needed for us to either get together or not. I was acting like a fool because all I could think about was the sexual tension between us. I opened my closet and pulled out some tank tops and T-shirts. I didn’t know what to wear. I didn’t want to wear my Mickey Mouse T-shirt as that was too childish and unsexy, but I also didn’t want to wear a tight tank top and make him think that I was trying to turn him on. I also wasn’t sure whether to go braless or not. If it was just Liv and me, I wouldn’t have thought about it twice. My bra would have been off in seconds, but then I also wouldn’t have thought twice about putting on a T-shirt with cartoon characters on it when I was with Liv. I finally settled on a black wife-beater with a pushup bra (your breasts can never look too high and luscious) and a pair of black boy-shorts. Hey—I have long legs; I have to show them off. I did have to make a quick trip to the bathroom to give myself a quick dry shave because I could see the beginnings of hair stubble on my legs and I didn’t want Aiden running his hands over my calves and thinking he was touching bristle or something.
“Hey,” I said casually as I sauntered back into the living room and frowned as he said “Hey” back without even looking up at me. I’d just spent fifteen minutes applying makeup in order to look subtly beautiful and he wasn’t even going to look at me? Grr!
“Did you order the pizza?” I asked, standing in front of him.
“Yup,” he said as he played with his phone. I could feel my face growing hot as I stood there, feeling like a fool.
“Cool,” I said, not knowing what else to say. It’s not like I could say, Hey, Aiden, look at me. I look pretty right now and I want you to take in my hot body as I stand in the pose that I know elongates my neck and makes my stomach look flat. Of course I didn’t say that. I just stood there for a few more seconds before plopping down on the couch next to him and sitting back.
“Ready for the movie?” Aiden finally glanced at me before turning the TV on. He didn’t even look at me for five seconds. I was positive he hadn’t even noticed how blue my eyes looked with my new Lancome mascara.
“Sure,” I said snappily.
“Uh oh?” he said and I felt his eyes on me again. “What is it, Alice?”
“What is what?” I looked up at him and there was a sparkle in his eyes as he looked at me.
“Why are you so grouchy?”
“Who said I’m grouchy?” I glared at him. Stupid Aiden with his stupid smirk and pink lips making me feel like a petulant child.
“Smile, Alice.” He leaned over and started to tickle me.
“Stop it.” I laughed and pushed him away.
“But I want to see the smile on your face.” He grinned and continued to tickle me under my arms and on my knees.
“Aiden,” I squeaked out. “Stop!” I laughed and tried to push him away.
“I see you’re still as ticklish as you were before.” He grinned as I laughed and I grabbed his hands.
“Aiden,” I breathed out, my face dangerously close to his.
“Yes, Alice?” he said lightly and moved even closer to me.
“Stop,” I said as I fell against him. “Please.”
“You didn’t say that the last time I tickled you,” he said with a devilish look in his eyes. “In fact, you quite liked it then.” He moved towards my ear. I felt his lips next to my earlobe and he blew into it lightly.
“Aiden!” I screamed and jumped off of the couch, my heart racing as memories came flashing back. The last time Aiden had tickled me had been the night we’d spent together. He had been inside of me, not moving, and I’d wondered what was going on. Then he’d moved his lips to my ear and he’d sucked on my earlobe and then I’d felt his tongue and breath in my ear. And I’d giggled because it had tickled me. I’d squirmed underneath him and then he’d started moving inside of me again, all the while continuing to breathe into my ear. It had been the most amazing and surreal experience of my life. Every nerve-ending in my body had been on edge, and when I’d exploded in orgasm every part of my body felt the pleasure. At the time, I’d known it had been a breathtaking experience, but it was only now that I’d been with other men that I knew that it was a one-of-a-kind experience. No man had ever pleasured me as much as Aiden had that night.
“Sorry.” He grinned. “I was just teasing you. I won’t tickle you again.”
“What were you talking about when you said that I didn’t say that the last time you tickled me?” I asked him as I sat back on the couch. I curled my legs up under me and looked at him curiously. Okay, so I was acting. I was pretty sure I knew what he was talking about. I mean, that was a moment I’d never forget. However, I wanted him to tell me what he thought about that night. I wanted him to tell me that he still remembered what it was like to be with me.
“You know what moment I’m talking about, Alice.” He stared at my lips and then back up to my eyes. “So is there a reason why you’re asking me?”
“No,” I said and looked down. Busted!
“Shall we start the movie and pause it when the pizza arrives?” he asked, and I was slightly annoyed that he was changing the subject. When was he going to just let us talk about that night and let us discuss everything without changing the subject?
“That’s fine,” I said because I didn’t want to start the night off trying to get all serious with him. I knew that there was some sort of attraction between us, but I wasn’t sure exactly what it was and what he really thought about me. Especially now that he was dating Elizabeth Jeffries.
***
The pizza arrived fifteen minutes after we’d started the movie and I was happy for the break. The movie was called Orphan, and it was already creeping me out. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel like Aiden and I were in the “let me jump into your lap and bury my face in your shoulder” stage yet, so I just had to sit through it and try to not close my eyes.
“Ready to start the movie again?” he asked me softly and I nodded, my mouth full of pizza. Aiden stood up and turned the lights off and then came back to the couch to press play.
“In the dark?” I mumbled, my mouth full of delicious greasy pizza.
“We can’t watch a scary movie and not be in the dark.” He grinned and pressed play. I stifled a groan and watched as the weird-looking kid with big eyes came back onto the screen. I knew she was evil. There was no way she wasn’t going to be evil. Why couldn’t her new parents see that? My heart thudded as I waited for something to happen. I became so engrossed in the movie that I didn’t even realize that Aiden was shifting closer and closer to me on the couch or that his arm was around my shoulders, or that I was leaning back into him. I didn’t realize until there was a really scary scene and I screamed and I found my head against his chest. His chest felt hard and warm and he smelled so good and musky, like sandalwood and sand on a balmy night by the ocean. I breathed him in and tried not to kiss his chest. I wanted to consume him and his scent.