Page 16 of Perfect Storm
“Hey,” Aidan said, setting the bottle down. “Food should be here in about fifteen. Riley and Landry went up to shower.”
“Together?” Levi slipped around Aidan and pulled a bottle of beer from the fridge, popping the top off with a twist of his fist, a trick he’d perfected over the years.
“Uh, yeah. They might be awhile.” Aidan lifted his eyes heavenward, like he was praying for patience.
Levi took a long sip of his beer but it didn’t help. That thirst still lingered.
Probably because Aidan was still damp, an old Thunder T-shirt clinging to his pecs and biceps. Hair falling in soft blondish-brown waves from his face. Looking, honestly, just about good enough to eat.
“Hey,” Aidan said quietly, “I wanted to talk to you.”
“Yeah?” Levi felt a frisson of something work itself up his spine as he leaned back against the kitchen counter. Not worry, not exactly. But there was an awkwardness in Aidan’s stance, and he had a feeling last night’s conversation—and possibly last night’s promise—was about to come up again.
“I . . .” Aidan wet his lips and glanced away. “I was drunk last night.”
“Oh, I know,” Levi said. But if Aidan tried to claim he hadn’t known what he was doing, what he was agreeing to, Levi would strongly disagree with that. There’d been heat and want in Aidan’s gaze. In his touch, when he’d slipped his fingers under the hem of Levi’s shorts.
“And well. Sad, too, and a little desperate.” Aidan gave a self-deprecating laugh, still not meeting Levi’s eyes. “You caught me at a really down moment, dude.”
“I know that, too.”
Aidan flushed. “I was thinking about that, and not thinking through what we talked about. If I had, I just wouldn’t have agreed to . . .well, what I agreed to.”
Levi nearly asked him if he was going to say something that Levi didn’t already know. But if he did, this train wreck might end, and there was a perverse part of Levi, who had been suffering, at least a little, all day, at how fucking good Aidan suddenly looked to him. It only felt fair that Levi wasn’t alone here.
“Sure,” Levi said.
“So we can forget it?” Aidan asked hopefully. Like he really thought Levi would let him off the hook. Levi would, possibly, but he didn’t really think Aidan even wanted to be let off. Aidan wanted togetoff. Levi was ninety-nine point nine percent sure he was just freaking out.
Time to make sure.
“No,” Levi said, pushing off from the counter. He took a few steps closer, right into Aidan’s space. He held his ground, which didn’t surprise Levi at all. Aidan wasn’t a person who was easily intimidated.
“No?” Aidan squawked.
“Why do you want to forget it?”
Aidan’s gaze went shifty, looking right over Levi’s shoulder. Aidan might be a lot of things—a football god and a pain in the ass and suddenly painfully, ridiculously hot—but he was a shitty liar. Always had been. Landry had been making fun of him for it, forever.
And because Levi had been around forever, too, he knew exactly how Aidan always gave himself away.
He was definitely lying now. The only question was why.
“I just . . .it seems so stupid and impulsive,” Aidan claimed. “Who even knows what I’m going to be doing in a year. Whatyou’regoing to be doing in a year.”
“So you’re wanting to forget it for my sake, then?” Levi asked archly.
“Well. No. Yes. I . . .” Aidan trailed off. Looking flustered and annoyed. “I just think it’s a bad idea.”
“No, you think it’s a great idea, which means you want to believe it’s a bad one.” Levi took another step closer. He was near enough now that he could smell Aidan’s shampoo. Something strong and masculine, with a hint of citrus. Sweeter than lemon. Orange, maybe?
It smelled good. So good, Levi kind of wanted to wreck him.
Not now. Not yet.
“That’s not how it works.” Aidan frowned.
“With you, yeah. I know you, remember?”
