Page 29 of Made Over by Meredith

“Not hungry anymore.”

“Come on, you need to eat. You ordered the pizza. Stay.”

“No, I can’t.” I curled my hand behind my back, feeling for the door as he continued to advance on me as I retreated. “What happened…” I deliberately slanted my focus to the couch. “It’ll be our secret, okay? A second date doesn’t necessarily mean commitment, but if that’s what you want, you have to tell Celeste tonight.”

I used her name because he had to know she was real. What he wanted from her was his goal.

And me? I was just the girl letting him know he had it in him all along.

I whirled away from Aiden and opened the door. “I’m gonna go.”

He followed me out to the hall. “Meredith. Come on. We need to talk.”

“Nope.” I refused to turn over my shoulder or meet his gaze. “No, we do not. You need to go out with your girl, and I needto…” Douse myself in holy water, I didn’t know. Something to take away the guilt of coming on his mouth and fingers mere hours before he went on a date with another girl, while also feeling really fucking good that he made me come on his mouth and fingers so hard my body literally lost control of itself.

It was the hottest thing I’d ever experienced.

I should’ve felt bad about it, yet I didn’t. I wanted more.

I wanted Aiden.

And that was the problem. Because while I wanted him, he wanted something else. Someone else.

I didn’t know whyexactlyAiden’s voice sounded like it had been scraped off rusted metal or why he even wanted my advice, but I wasn’t going to be played the fool. Besides the fact that he was going out with another woman in a few hours, he was also my best friend’s sister. If he wanted to play the field or sow some wild oats with his new lease on life or whatever, he wasn’t going to do it with me.

“See you later, Aiden,” I said, and slipped down the hell to the steps of the apartment building and rushed out into the early evening air.

I needed a new vibrator. And to get drunk.

That’s what I’d do.

Maybe then I could forget about the thoughtful guy who’d somehow wormed his way beneath my ribcage and made me believe someone might see pastthe showto my heart.

Chapter 9

Aiden

It only took one text message to Jimmy to find out what Meredith liked for breakfast. I would’ve asked Claire, but I didn’t want to risk her telling her best friend that I was coming over, giving Meredith time to make up an excuse, come up with an argument. I needed to surprise her. That’s when she was most honest.

And while Jimmy normally couldn’t keep a secret to save his life, he promised to give me a few hours. Or, “Until your sister gets me naked. Then all bets are off.”

Honestly, if I didn’t like him, I wouldn’t be able to stand him with my sister.

But he was on my side here, so I could learn Meredith was a fan of Boston Cream donuts, so I pulled up to her condo with half a dozen and a couple of coffees. I knocked on her door with the toe of my shoe and waited a minute until she answered with a crease between her brows and a soft pink cardigan hanging off her shoulder, revealing the barely there white tank top underneath. With matching pink sleep shorts, no make-up, and her hair up in a messy knot on her head, I didn’t think she’d ever let anyone see her so clearly and plainly before.

My chest radiated warmth.

And my cock stirred.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, her morning gray-blue eyes darting behind me as if I’d brought along a camera crew for a prank.

I held up the food and drinks. “Breakfast.”

“I didn’t… What?”

I nudged her aside and walked into her place, taking a quick account of the rather utilitarian décor of the open floor plan. Instead of the pinks and purples I expected, like my sister’s place, Meredith had bronze and silver everywhere. A big brown couch with a pile of books on the glass coffee table in front of it. She had a little bar cart in the corner with two big black and white art prints hanging above it. One of what appeared to be a Prohibition era protest and another of two women in 1920s style clothing drinking.

I don’t know why, but I really liked it. Liked her place.

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