Episode 3

Aiden swallowed back the torrid of questions hovering on the edge of his tongue, begging for answers. How was she? Did she need anything? Did she miss him?

Damn. He was such a girl, he inwardly snorted at his weakness. Ignoring the nagging impulse to reach across the table and clasp her hand, Aiden concentrated on not noticing how good she looked. Her long chocolaty brown hair was pulled back in her customary ponytail and her eyes were painted up to look all smoky. As though her dark grey eyes weren’t expressive enough.

He easily recalled marveling as he’d watch her brush the stuff on every morning and how all those pots and tubes and pencils would transform her from a fresh faced girl into a smokin’ hot little number. He could never decide which he liked best since he’d loved everything about her so thoroughly.

But for as much as he focused on ignoring those sexy as hell eyes, he absolutely could not allow himself to look directly at those glossy pink lips. Those lips, he tried to forget, could do things to him that nothing and no one else ever had or ever could.

Thank God she was wearing an oversize t-shirt over her second skin Levi’s. The very last thing he needed in his weakened state was to catch a glimpse of any of those lush curves he knew with precise detail were hidden beneath all that cotton.

“See something you like?” she taunted, bringing his focus back to her face. Her left eyebrow was lifted in that sexy little way she had and those wickedly full lips were tipped into a sexy smirk.

He miserably regretted his impulsive need to protect her earlier. He should have just forced her to face her fears and get on with her life. Instead, he’d had to go and play the hero. Again.

Shrugging carelessly, Aiden lifted his water glass to his lips only to realize that it was empty. Damn.

“Want a sip of mine?” she tilted her root beer bottle toward him, her smoky grey eyes shimmering with laughter.

Damn, but she looked good. Hell.

Calling her bluff, he took her up on the offer and wrapped his hand around the cold bottle, unable to resist brushing her fingers with his as he did so.

Stupidest move he’d ever made, he realized too late as sparks of that same old electricity shot up his arm and straight to his groin. The only benefit to his stupidity was the almost imperceptible blush that rose to the surface of her skin.

She’d felt it, too.

“Dessert?”

It took him a moment to realize the invitation was coming not from his former lover but from the cute waitress standing beside their table.

“No,”  he and Jenna replied simultaneously, their eyes locked on each other. He would swear that he could almost hear her pulse throbbing at her throat.

“Alrighty then,” the waitress grinned and slid a check toward Aiden before sauntering off.

Jenna was the first to break eye contact, flustering around patting her pockets and muttering under her breath. Presumably searching for her keys. Or maybe her sanity, he mused. He knew she regretted even seeing him, much less sharing a meal with him. And if he had his own sanity he would leave her there right then. Escape her and the hell he knew he’d be in if he stayed.

Instead, he found himself tossing a wad of bills on the table before sliding from the booth and tugging her along with him. “Come on,” he urged and gave her a good tug when she refused to move her feet.

“Let go you brute,” she snapped and tugged at her arm.

“I will. When we’re outside.”

But even when the cool evening air brushed his skin he couldn’t let her go. The moon washed over her giving her an ethereal glow, momentarily erasing all that stood between them. Before he could stop himself, he found his head dipping towards hers as though her gravitational pull was too much for him.

A sudden sharp pain to his midsection had him staggering backwards slightly and he gasped.

“Dammit, Aiden!” she hissed and jerked free from him. Before he could gather the breath to say anything much less stop her, she was halfway across the parking lot climbing into her sexy red Jeep.

He couldn’t see her face once she was inside, the windows up and the engine cranked. But as she backed out of her spot, he saw clearly which finger she was flashing him and it wasn’t her index.

A short chuckle escaped his lips as he watched her drive away. The regret, though, would last forever.