Page 113 of My Irresistible Enemy

Aiden cracked a smile. “Yes. In fact, you’ve told me multiple times, hard as that is to believe.”

“Well, let me tell you once more. Because I am really, seriously, so completely—”

“Don’t.” He pulled a hand free and laid a finger across my lips. “Really. Don’t.I’mthe one who’s sorry. I should have known Tanner was up to something. He’s hit on me a few times before, but I just dismissed it. I should have known he couldn’t be trusted, should have realized—I mean, I talked to him, the night of the festival. He cornered me after I’d gotten our drinks, and it still didn’t occur to me that it could have been him. And I should have realized he was the one sending those messages. If I had, and if I’d reported him, maybe this whole thing could have been avoided. It’s my fault.”

“It’snot.” I looked at him seriously. “Don’t you remember what you told me? The lesson you take from someone being an asshole isn’t thatyoushould have been more careful. The lesson is that the other person is an asshole. Tanner is the one at fault here. Not you.”

“But you said it yourself. Iwasn’tbeing careful enough. I didn’t even report it. I was basically asking for him to—”

“Hey, hey.” I tugged the hand I was still holding. “I was wrong when I said that. I was angry, and hurt, and—fuck. Aiden, I was scared. The things I said to you were unforgivable. He was abusing your trust. That wasn’t your fault.”

“Well, it wasn’tyourfault that you were freaked out,” Aiden said. “I was pushing you, and not respecting your boundaries. To be honest, I was kind of trying to make you mad, at the end there. When I said you were jealous, I just meant—I don’t even know. I think Iwantedyou to be jealous. Because then, at least, that would have meant that you felt something for me.”

“I did feel something,” I told him. “I felt—I feel—alotof things for you. But jealousy actually wasn’t one of them. And if your CamFans account makes you happy, that’s what matters. You should keep it. Don’t stop it because of me.”

“It doesn’t bother you?” he asked.

“It shouldn’t matter if it does or not. But no, it really doesn’t.” I bit my lip. “Actually, I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but I think it’s kinda hot.”

“Really?”

I could feel my face flushing. “My boyfriend is so sexy that people pay for the privilege of seeing him naked? But I’m the one who gets to wake up next to him? Uh, yeah. That’s kind of the ultimate fantasy.”

Aiden’s eyes went wide. “Boyfriend?”

“Oh.” My cheeks had to be bright red by now. “I just meant, like, you know, as a figure of speech. I didn’t mean that you—like, I wasn’t assuming that you would—”

“Nolan?”

“Yeah?”

“You can say boyfriend.” He grinned. “I like it.”

“Really?”

Aiden nodded. “Really. Though I feel like I should give you the option to retract it in a few days. I don’t have much of a functional dating history. I might be a terrible boyfriend.”

“You and me both. I have no idea how relationships work, really. I’ve never felt compelled to try one. But with you—” I broke off and looked up at him. “I can’t imagine my life without you in it. It just doesn’t make sense anymore.”

“Good,” he said. “Because you’re going to have a hard time getting rid of me.”

I laughed and wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him close. I lay my face against his torso, and his T-shirt wrinkled under my cheek. It was the same lavender one that he’d been wearing the day we met on the ferry.

I wished I could go back in time and tell myself not to be such an idiot. Tell myself that I was about to meet someone who would change my life, who would make it feel like alifeagain, and not just something I was slogging through. I should have stepped into that bathroom, closed the door, and sunk to my knees.

I turned and pressed my nose into his stomach, inhaling deeply. It had only been a few days, but I’d missed the way he smelled, like citrus and sunshine, and underneath it, something all him.

“Keep that up and you’re going to make something else hard,” Aiden said. A laugh rumbled through my chest.

“Oh yeah?” I slid his shirt up with one hand and pressed a kiss to the strip of skin I’d just exposed.

Aiden sucked in a sharp breath. “Fuck.”

“I’ll take that as a challenge,” I said, kissing him again. I flicked my tongue into his belly button, and he convulsed with laughter. His arm jerked reflexively and his elbow glanced off my forehead.

“Oof.” I gave him an injured look. “You weren’t kidding about that being hard.”

He giggled. “Believe it or not, that’s actually not the appendage I was talking about.”

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