Page 6 of Liberating Love

Slowly, I roll down my window, and as soon as it’s low enough, Delaney says with a grin, “Small world, eh?”

I blink at him. I shouldn’t even be seen talking to him alone. Panicked, I scan the front yard, but I don’t see anyone else outside.

“Are you okay, Aiden?” Delaney’s voice is softer than it’d been while we were eating inside, reminding me of what he’d sounded like last night when he muttered on about licking every one of my freckles.

I swallow the frog in my throat. “N-no, I’m not.” I turn to him to make eye contact. “No one can know about last night.”

He stares for a long moment. “If that’s what you want.”

“What?” I shake away his confusing response. “You’re—you’re my friend’sdad. Do you have any idea how… weird that is?”Wrongwas on the tip of my tongue, but it doesn’t feel right to say that, it doesn’t fit. I rub my hand across my forehead, trying in vain to rub away the stress headache that’s forming there.

“There’s nothing wrong with what we did, Aiden,” he says in that softer voice, sending a shiver down my spine despite myself.

“I think… I think your sons would disagree with you,” I say quietly.

Delaney sighs. “I won’t tell anyone, Aiden. Not if you don’t want me to.” Every time he says my name, it goes straight to my dick. Pretty sure he knows it, too, if the smile on his face is any indication. Freaking great.

“I don’t want anyone to know.” After a moment, I add, “Look, I… last night was great, but it canneverhappen again. It was a one-off anyway. And I don’t want it to mess with my job. It’s bad enough that everyone at work treats—” I cut myself off so I don’t reveal too much about how my work life is. Especially since his oldest son has been a contributing factor in my misery until lately.

“Everyone at work what?”

I wave it away. “Not important. I’m working with Jovany on a special project right now, and I don’t want to jeopardize it. And Jameson is my friend, I can’t… I can’t—”

“I get it, Aiden.” There’s my name again—him saying it at all should be illegal.

Since I have no clue what to say to that, I only say, “Thanks.”

He nods. “I’ll see you around. Happy Thanksgiving, Aiden.”

The shiver runs through me, and I stammer out, “H-happy Thanks-giving… Delaney.”

He grins, waves, and gets into Jameson’s car, and even though my heart is pounding and my throat feels clogged up, I put the car in drive. I’m not even sure how I make it home in one piece.

As I let myself into the apartment, my anxiety eases some but doesn’t go away entirely. I call out, “Hey, Ma!” After I lock the door, I see her on the couch in the living room, so I set my leftovers on the kitchen table and head over.

My mom smiles at me and asks, “Did you have a nice time, sweetie?”

I nod and force a smile on my face. “Yeah, it was good seeing the guys.” I walk over to kiss the top of her head, then head back toward the kitchen. “They sent us home a ton of food. We’re all set for the whole weekend.”

“That was nice of them,” she replies.

“It was.” This time when I smile to myself, it’s more genuine. Even with the whole Old Man-Delaney thing, it was a pretty great day today. Not only did I get to see my friends, but my mom has had a good day today as well. The beginning of the month was really rough, but this whole week, Mom has seemed more like herself.

After I get everything put away, I carry out two slices of pumpkin pie—Mom’s favorite—and pass her a plate as I settle in the armchair. “Whatcha watching?”

“I was watching Christmas movies, but we can change it,” she says, holding up the remote.

“Christmas movies are fine.”

“You sure?”

I nod and eat a bite of my pie—even though I already had dessert, I decide that I can do extra time at the gym tomorrow. As she turns the movie back on, I almost groan when I realize the love interest in this movie has green eyes. And suddenly, my thoughts are invaded by the very muscular, older man that stole my breath away last night. And no matter how much I try to shake him off, he doesn’t go anywhere.

I know it’s wrong. I know I shouldn’t be thinking about him, not now that I know who he is, but my brain. Just. Won’t. Stop.

When I glance over to the couch and see my mother sitting there, a blush crawls up my chest to my neck, all the way to my cheeks. I feel like I’m on fire, and I know if my mom looks over here and sees me blushing this badly, she’s going to demand I tell her what’s got me all hot and bothered.

I hold back another groan of frustration.

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