I don’t know what to say to that ’cause I’m not sure when or if I would have ever told her, so instead, I lean down and place my lips on hers.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
HADLEY
WE LIE IN MY BED, MY HEAD RESTING on his chest. My arm wrapped around him. He’s passed out. The sun has to be rising soon, but I couldn’t go to sleep. The alcohol and the adrenaline from tonight kept me awake.
I never saw that coming. His fake marriage and daughter. How hard it must have been for both of them to live such a big lie. Especially Eve, not being able to love who she wants. I couldn’t imagine having to pretend to be with one guy while loving another. And her child. How does someone keep that big of a secret and not explode?
I let out a long breath when I hear a phone beep. I slowly sit up to look around my room for my purse when I remember I turned my cell off when I left the benefit. I didn’t want Aiden calling me. Never thought he would show up here.
Looking over at my nightstand, I see his phone light up as it beeps again. Looking down at him, I see his head to the side, eyes closed and lips slightly parted. He looks adorable like this. Younger.
I make my way to the other side of the bed and pick up his phone to see he has two messages from Eve. Without thought, I open them up.
The first is a picture of her left hand and there’s a different ring on her finger than what she held up to show me earlier today.
The second is a text.
Eve: Trent proposed to me tonight after I got home from the benefit. I finally get to spend the rest of my life with the man I love. And I have you to thank for that. So thank you. I owe you so much, Aiden. That’s why I tried to speak to Hadley for you tonight. Because you deserve what I have. I know you always say that love isn’t for you, but it’s for everyone. So do what you do best and go get what you want.
I smile as I exit out of the message and lie back down. But my heart starts to pound when I look into a set of blue eyes.
He caught me!
“Eve messaged you,” I say softly.
“And?”
I let out a shaky breath. “She sent you a picture of her new engagement ring. And thanked you for giving her what she has always wanted.”
He wraps his right arm around me and pulls me to his chest. He lifts his right hand and pushes back a few strands from my face.
“Are you mad at me?” I whisper. I shouldn’t have gone through his phone. I wouldn’t mind him going through mine, but I don’t screw random men. There’s nothing in my phone that could possibly make him mad.
“No.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
“How am I looking at you?”
“Like you’re mad at me.”
His hands slide up my back, and he lets out a long sigh. “I couldn’t be mad at you, Hadley.”
I snort. “You’ve been mad at me every day at work for three months now.”
He gives me a soft smile. “That’s because I was being a dick. And I wanted you so bad.”
“And now that we’re fucking, you’re cured of that?”
“Yes,” he says simply, and I laugh.
“So next time I’m late, and you snap at me for it, I’m gonna get undressed and drop to my knees. That will make you be nice to me.”
He growls so deep in his chest that it rumbles against mine. His hand slides up to my hair, and he grips it tightly while he pushes me to my back and straddles me. “Not hardly. I’d fuck that pretty mouth of yours for punishment. Then afterward, I’d be nice to you.”
My hands grip his biceps. “Sounds fair,” I whisper, my hips arching, wanting him again.