Page 8 of Naughty Wishes

Aiden shrugs. “I still miss him, but it’s made me more relaxed about life. I take each day as it comes. Try to enjoy myself. I don’t spend time with people who bring me down, and I don’t hold onto things that make me unhappy.”

I assume he is talking about his ex, not that I would ever ask. But maybe that’s the mistake Dan and I have made. Once we drifted apart, we should have cut it off and sought our happiness elsewhere, instead of trying to patch up our marriage by inviting a stranger into our bed.

“So, does this make you happy?” I gesture vaguely around the living room, taking in everything from the family pictures, to the afghan my mother made for our wedding, and from Rusty dozing on the couch, to the veggies neatly arranged on our wedding china. “I mean, you could be at the local bar picking up any of the single girls who I hear have been panting after you since you arrived.”

Aiden laughs. “I like to try to new things, have new experiences. I’m pretty much up for anything. And I’ve been with lots of couples before. I like the dynamic.” He leans forward, his elbows on his knees, his beautiful blue eyes fixed on me. “I’m just here to have fun. You want to have some fun, Kylie?”

All the air leaves my lungs in a rush, but just as I am about to blurt out something stupid, the door opens and Dan calls out, “Hello.”

Aiden gives a little shrug, like he’s disappointed Dan’s here, and for the briefest of moments, so am I.

“Sorry I’m late.” Dan crosses the room and presses a kiss to my cheek before shaking hands with Aiden. He’s still in his suit and tie, his dark hair perfectly in place, a marked contrast to casual, laidback Aiden.

“Who wants another drink?”

“Me.” I cringe inwardly at my over exuberant voice, but there is no way I’m going to get through this sober.

Dan looks over his shoulder and grins. “Gin and tonic? You want a double, sweetheart?”

“Two doubles. Maybe just give me the bottle. Or better yet a drip feed.”

Dan pours the drinks and joins us in the living room. We chat about the town, Aiden’s decision to make a clean break after his divorce, the state of the nation’s teeth, and home renovations. Dan removes his jacket and tie. I have several drinks. We eat all the snacks. On the surface, it all seems very normal, and yet at the back of my mind I keep wondering: When is it going to happen? How is it going to happen? Why am I the only person in the room who isn’t relaxed?

“Well,” Dan says after about thirty minutes of friendly talk. “Should we go upstairs?”

“I’ll grab my bag.” Aiden takes his glass and the now-empty plate of veggies to the kitchen and picks up his duffle bag.

Dan holds out his hand. “Come on, sweetheart.”

“I can’t move,” I say. “I think I’m frozen to the seat. You go on without me. I might just catch up on Game of Thrones.”

“She’s very tense,” Aiden says, coming up behind me. He drops his bag and puts his hands on my shoulders. “Relax, Kylie. We’re just going to have a good time.” He kneads my muscles with warm, firm hands. And, oh God, it feels so good. I look up at Dan to make sure he’s okay with this and he nods.

“Good idea,” he says. “Kylie has trouble relaxing.”

I do have trouble relaxing, and Aiden has magical hands, so I roll with it.

Aiden massages my shoulders and my neck. Then his hands move down my arms. I try not to think about the fact my arms are fleshy, not toned. Or that my body is soft and not hard and fit like Mimi’s. Or why he would rather spend his evening with us than with one of the hordes of singles desperate to get into his pants.

My tension eases and I sink into the loveseat.

“Good girl,” Aiden murmurs. And although he’s about the same age as Dan, and I’m not really a girl, his words make my blood hot and my insides quiver. Not because Aiden said them, but because it’s how Dan used to talk to me, and nothing ever aroused me more than his dirty talking.

Dan perches on the arm of the couch and drums his thumb on his thigh. If this was any other time and any other place, I would say he was agitated, but he’s the one who arranged this evening, so maybe he’s just impatient to get started.

Aiden sweeps my hair to the side and softly kisses my neck. “I was with a couple one time and the woman got so stressed she passed out in the kitchen,” he says. “We had to find something to relax her before we could begin.”

“What was it?” I look back over my shoulder, and he gives me a warm smile.

“Cat videos.”

Laughter bubbles in my chest. “You won’t have to go to those extremes with me. I’m not the fainting type.”

“No, you’re not.” He rounds the loveseat and offers a hand to help me stand. “You’re very grounded, Kylie. Very self-assured. Very beautiful. Very real. To be honest, you make me nervous.”

“I make you nervous?”

My gaze flicks to Dan to check if there’s some joke that I’m missing. How could I possibly make a sex god nervous? But Dan isn’t laughing. In fact, he’s looking curiously unsettled.

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