Page 10 of Made Over by Meredith

“Lemme see,” I said, helping myself to open the dressing room door since that was where Aiden and I were at now. He didn’t shy away from me either. In fact, he spun around, holding his arms out to the sides, and I nearly swallowed my tongue.

Aiden fucking Hart wasshredded.

“What?” he asked when I remained silent, eyes bugging.

“I, uh…”

He dipped his chin, checking himself out, tugging on the waistband of his jeans. “Are they not good?” He pivoted, studying his ass in the mirror. “I thought they were okay.”

“No, they’re fine.” I cleared my throat. “They’re good.”

When he faced me again, his brows arched up over the dark rim of his glasses. “Why do you look like that?”

I closed my mouth, snapping out of the six-pack delirium, and shot my arm out. “Why doyoulook likethat?”

He checked himself out in the mirror. “Like what?”

I rolled my eyes and swept my hand down the length of him. He’d been hiding all that—the lean muscle of chest and back, the dark hair on his pecs that narrowed to a line down his taut, stacked abs, the trim waist—under baggy and misshapen clothes. “Aiden, you’re… You know you have this?” I slashed my hands up and down by my hips, mimicking where his muscles popped on either side of his hips. “That thing. The Adonis muscle thing.” I swiped my palm over my forehead. “Do you not know how hot you are?”

It was torture, honestly. To know what he was packing underneath all his geek chic.

He raked his fingers through his hair so the soft waves stuck up in different directions. Without a shirt and with the messy hair, he looked thoroughly well fucked, and it screwed with my mind.

“I didn’t…” He trailed off with a shrug. “I mean…” He dragged his hands down his flat stomach. “It doesn’t occur to me, I guess.”

“What do you mean, it doesn’t occur to you?”

He snagged the shirt from my hand, the reason I’d opened the door to begin with, and slipped it on over his shoulders before buttoning it up. “I was a fat kid, not super athletic and not really interested in sports like my brothers. It wasn’t until I was older and hit a growth spurt that I started losing weight, but I still didn’t…” He rolled his shoulders a few times, plucking at the denim before turning to me. “I was into video games and good at math, and it never occurred to me that girls might actually like me or the way I looked.”

I tugged on the shirt, picked at invisible lint by his collarbone. “You have no confidence in yourself?”

“I’m still working on it,” he admitted with a reluctant half-smile. “You help.”

I pretended his honesty didn’t hit me like a slap in the face.I helped?

Didn’t he know how much he had to offer? Besides his heart and intellect,thiswas the icing on the cake.

“I’m not doing anything besides picking out some clothes that actually fit you,” I said, and he shrugged.

“Yeah, but… It’s nice.”

I brushed my hands along his shoulders, then stepped back to admire him in the dark jeans and wonderfully worn shirt. “I don’t usually like denim on denim, but I had a hunch you could pull it off. You could also wear this open,” I said, undoing the top few buttons. “Wear a white shirt underneath and…ugh.”

I let out an obnoxious sex noise, and he laughed, low and rough. “You’re ridiculous. Over the top and dramatic.” Before I had a chance to be offended, he wrapped his fingers around my wrist. “I like it. I’m curious to know how you are when you’re not trying to hide whatever it is you’re trying to hide.”

I heaved a sigh as if he was nuts and tossed my hair over my shoulder.

Because no way would he be finding out, it was all a defense mechanism. The volume of my voice, my big personality, theextra; it was an effort to compensate for what I looked like, which was simply genetics. I didn’t want to be known for my double Ds and long legs, rather what was underneath all that. And after a while—after learning it was difficult for not only men but women to get past it all—I stopped trying to prove I had brains and started leaning into the life of the partything.

It was easier that way.

“All right, Rube,” I said, because I wanted to remind him who was in charge here. “Get changed and then you’re taking me out to dinner to express your gratitude for making you a stud. I’m in the mood for a burger.”

He agreed and released his hold on me, thank god.

I waited outside while Aiden changed back into his clothes, hoping to quell the completely unexpected heat that simmered in my belly at the way he looked at me, as if he really saw me, or at least tried to. And I’m not sure which of those options made me more anxious.

Because I was the one in control at all times. I was the one who decided when and where and to whom I was attracted to. Sure, I played the game, but they were my rules.

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