Page 49 of Silent Is The Heart

Snickering, I can’t wipe the grin off my face. I’m still too blown away to be embarrassed over daydreaming like a fool.

He’s just so…Aaron. Abouteverything.

When we were done, he looked like he was as tired as I was, but he lay there, fighting it. He just kept staring at me with this dreamy smile.

“You glad I got that out of my system?”I’d snarked, feeling self-conscious.

“Well, I hope once wasn’t enough to get it out of your system.”

Hearing that he wasn’t disappointed brought me way too much joy, but that wasn’t even the worst part. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to my chest, just over my heart, and then pulled me against him in his arms. We… cuddled.

I’m a fucking cuddler now.

Jesus.

For as much as that sounds like aliens abducted me and replaced my personality with some sappy person who gets attached, the thought of cozying up to him again tonight has my knee bouncing with anticipation for the freaking clock to move faster.

Something stabs me in the back of the shoulder. I turn around and get a face full of mail thrust at me by one agitated-looking Clark Wolverton.

What the fuck? He could have just dropped it on my side table.

Shit. There’s a lot here.

“Your mail was falling out of the box. When’s the last time you even checked it?”

Flipping through the letters, I spot one from the parole board. My throat closes and I see rage, as usual. They need a way for people to request not to get these damn things. Leonard can rot in there for all I care. Tossing it in the trash can, I hold up my utility bill, check the postmark date, and glance at Wolf.

“Not since last Tuesday, from the looks of it.”

“Dude…what is the deal? Are you guys like boyfriends now? You’re over there all the time.”

Boyfriends…IsAaron my boyfriend? It’s only been a week. And we only did thenice kind of fucking thingonce. That doesn’t make him my boyfriend, does it? The closest thing I’ve ever had to one was trading handies and blow jobs with Ben when I was a teenager. Mostly, we just hung out. Kind of like I’ve been hanging out with Aaron for just a little over two months now. Hanging out with Aaron is different, though. I didn’t get that strange giddy feeling with Ben the way I do with Aaron.

Wolf is still eyeballing me like he expects me to answer the boyfriend question. Shit. Why do I feel sick at the thought of Aaron being hurt if he heard me deny such a claim in front of him? Or ifIheard him deny the claim in front ofme? Oh my God. Do I actually want a boyfriend?

Do not smile. Do not fucking smile right now or he’ll give you shit forever.

“Does Melissa have you scrapbooking or something? I didn’t know you were including my life events in your memoirs,” I snark.

Rolling his eyes, he walks over to my stool and gives it a weak kick. “We’re breaking up.”

Yeah. I’ve heard that before. I swear those two do not know how to fight. They don’t even yell when they fight.

“Well, there’s always next week.”

Glowering at me, he stuffs his hands in his black jeans, looking ready to commit murder. “For real this time. I caught her texting with some guy she works with.”

Oh, brother. He’s always so over-possessive, like he thinks everything will take off on him like his mom did.

“Like boyfriends?” I parrot, smugly, trying to show him how ridiculous he’s being.

Nostrils flaring, his expression sours further. “No, like ‘Can’t wait to see you tomorrow, beautiful.’”

Oh… shit.

“Damn. I’m sorry.” I don’t know what else to say, but that must be enough because he nods, fucking with my stool again.

“Guess you’re bunking back at your house, then?” I venture.

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