“Thanks, Liv.” I laughed and I could see Aiden shaking his head at his sister.
“Yes, Alice, you do look beautiful tonight.” He reached his hand forward. “Very, very beautiful.”
“That’s more like it,” Liv said, and he groaned.
“Alice, are you ready to go?” Aiden muttered. “I’m afraid if I have to listen to my sister anymore tonight, I might go crazy.”
“I don’t have time to drive you crazy tonight, dear brother. Xander is taking me out to dinner as well.” Liv smiled at her brother and then continued. “And I know he’s taking me to a nice restaurant, not a Burger King.”
“More the fool him, then,” Aiden joked, and Liv glared at him.
“Let’s go,” I said and turned around to give Liv a quick hug. “See you later.”
“Bye, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she said, and I quickly opened my handbag and let her see the contents. “Or maybe not.” She giggled as she saw the handcuffs.
“What are you two giggling about now?” Aiden said with an interested expression, but I quickly closed my handbag again and turned back towards him.
“Nothing,” I said innocently and hurried out of the front door. “Let’s go and eat. I’m starving.”
“I’m feeling pretty hungry too,” he said, and I felt his hand slip around my waist as we made our way out of the building. “I’m just not sure what I’ll get to eat yet.”
We made our way to his car, and Aiden hurried forward so that he could open the passenger door to his what appeared to be a new black Mercedes C300. “Not driving your Lincoln Navigator anymore?” I asked in surprise.
“No, it’s at home.”
“Oh, so this is a second car?” I raised an eyebrow at him. He had a Lincoln and a Mercedes now?
“Yeah.” He nodded and then closed the door after I slid into the luxurious tan leather seat. It felt plush and warm against my bare legs, and I sank back into the seat with a happy smile on my face.
“Why did you get another car?” I asked him as he got behind the driver’s seat.
“Because I wanted to.” He shrugged. “Why? Don’t you like Mercedes?”
“They seem fine. I’ve never been in one before.”
“Oh. They’re very smooth.” He turned on the engine and looked over at me. “Hear how it purrs for me?”
“No, not really.” I shook my head, and he put his hand to his ear and growled.
“You don’t hear that?”
“No, and thank God. If I heard that sound coming from your engine, I wouldn’t still be in your car.”
“Touché.” He laughed. “Okay, are you ready to eat?”
“I’ve been ready.”
“How is your knee?” His right hand reached down and touched my leg. My skin tingled as his fingertips gently brushed across my skin and to my kneecap.
“It’s okay. It tingles a bit, but it will be okay.”
“Good.” His fingers moved back up my leg and up my thigh, and my breath caught as they worked their way towards the middle of my leg. “I love your dress, by the way,” he said and moved his fingers back to the steering wheel.
“Thank you,” I said and looked over at him. “You look very dapper in your shirt and tie.”
“I’m glad you appreciate the tie.”
“I always appreciate a tie,” I said, and he looked at me with a smile.
“In all circumstances.”
“Yes,” I said, barely breathing as he gazed at me.
“Good.” He changed the gears suddenly and pulled out into the street.
“Where are we going?” I asked him as we zipped along the road with the other cars.
“I figured I’d take you out for a nice steak dinner,” he said as I adjusted in the seat and fiddled with the radio. “Anything but Top 40, please.”
“What’s wrong with Top 40? I love Top 40.”
“I don’t need to hear Katy Perry or Beyoncé screeching in my ear about how they love being single.”
“They don’t screech. And they aren’t single.” I rolled my eyes at him. I stopped on a country music station and looked at him. “Is this better?”
“Nope. I don’t want to hear about anyone taking their dog and their pickup truck to the lake to get over their ex.”
“That’s horrible.” I laughed. “Not every country music song is about pickup trucks.”
“There’s enough for me to veto this station.”
“What about this one?” I stopped it on a Spanish station and we listened to a man singing his heart out.
“I have no idea what he’s saying.” Aiden frowned. “Something about balancing?”
“No, he’s talking about dancing.” I laughed. “Bailamos is what he’s saying, not balancing. Bailamos doesn’t even sound like balancing.”
“Hmm, I don’t mind listening to this station if you’re going to continue talking to me in Spanish.”
“Oh?” I asked him curiously. “All I said was bailamos.”
“And you sounded sexy saying it. I have a thing for Spanish accents.”
“My accent isn’t even that good.”
“It’s good enough, my sexy señorita.”
“Oh, Aiden.” I rolled my eyes.
“Say Aiiiden.” He drawled out his name as he said it with an accent.
“Or maybe I’ll call you Juan.”
“You can call me whatever you want, señorita.”
“You’re an idiot,” I said, and we both laughed.
“Seriously, though. I’m glad you came to dinner with me tonight.
“It’s not like you really gave me a choice,” I said. “It was more of an order.”
“Well, thanks for obeying orders.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, and he reached over and squeezed my hand.
“So I wanted to talk about the—” he said at the same time that I said “What’s going on with you and Elizabeth?”
“So I guess we’re both ready to talk, then?” He looked at me with a smile. “What did you want to talk about first?”
“What were you going to say?”
“I wanted to talk to you about that night you came to my room.”
“Oh, again.”
“I wanted you to know that I don’t want to be your best friend’s creepy older brother.”
“You’re not creepy at all.”
“Sometimes I think I am.” His voice sounded frustrated. “You and Liv have been best friends for so long, and I don’t want you to think that I’m trying to horn in on that relationship.”
“Aiden, I don’t know if you remember, but I was the one who snuck into your bed. Not the other way around,” I said with a small laugh. “I was the one who wanted you.”
“I wasn’t sure if I’d led you on.”
“How had you led me on?” I asked curiously.
“You know, when I used to tutor you,” he said and glanced at me before switching lanes.
“You mean when you tutored me for math?” I thought back to when I was in ninth grade and he’d spent a summer helping me figure out pre-calc and algebra.
“Yeah. And helped you figure out how to kiss.” His voice dropped. “I still feel guilty about that.”
“Why?” I looked at him in shock; I was surprised that he’d even remembered those days.
“I was your first kiss.” He sighed. “And the first guy you slept with. I kinda felt like an asshole.”
“Aiden, you were my first kiss, and you were amazing.” I laughed. “If anything, I was the asshole. I was the one who practically forced you to teach me how to kiss.”
“You didn’t force me.”
“I begged you for two weeks.” I laughed. “And practically grabbed your face that one time.”
“You were a bit aggressive, yes.”
“And you were so sweet,” I said to him. “You led me to Liv’s bed, laid me back, told me to close my eyes, and then kissed me softly.”
“And then you shoved your tongue down my throat.” He laughed. “And Liv came in and screamed.”
“That was hilarious.” I giggled. “I can still remember the look of horror on Liv’s face when I told her that I’d kissed you and that you were my first kiss. She looked like she wanted to throw up.”
“She never let me forget about it.” He grinned and then pulled into a parking spot. “I think that was part of the reason I didn’t bring up us having slept together with you. I didn’t know how you felt, and I didn’t want there to be any awkwardness in your relationship with Liv.”