Page 21 of Our Forever Starts Tonight

Aria was standing on the other side of the door, with an orange bag in hand—my favorite color that she must have managed to remember fromyearsago. She also looked incredible in a navy blue, silk shirt dress with a multi-colored collar, and a matching tie around the waist. The ensemble showed a tantalizing amount of her legs and cleavage without being too revealing, and her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail so that her beautiful eyes could be the highlight of her face.

“Aria!” Taylor screeched before I could get any words out. “Hey!”

“Hi!” she said with a smile. “How are you?”

Taylor opened his arms and Aria walked into his embrace. He gave her a tight squeeze. “I’m much better now. When Tristan told me that you two had reconnected, I was elated.”

“You and me both,” Aria said as she pulled back from Taylor, then she looked at me. “Hi. Happy Birthday, well, a day early.”

I shook my head and smiled. There were two,maybethree people who I’d invited to the party who knew that my actual birthday wasn’t until tomorrow. Aria’s memory was incredible, and it made me happy to have someone around me who actually knew me. “Thank you.”

I slowly turned my head to look at Taylor and he laughed and held up his hands. “Right. Sorry. I’ll leave you guys to it.” He waved at Aria. “I’m glad you’re here. If you need anything, just let me know.”

“Thanks,” Aria said.

Then Taylor took one last look at her, complete with a dorky smile, then looked at me and walked off. I stood aside so that Aria could walk in, and once she was inside, I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a huge hug. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Aria’s arms gripped around me. “I’m glad I’m here too.” She pulled back and held out the gift to me. “For you.”

“Oh, thank you!” I smiled. “Uh, wanna find a comfortable spot? Taylor’s entertainment room downstairs is awesome.”

She nodded at me with a warm smile. “Yeah. Let’s do it.” I led the way downstairs with Aria chuckling behind me. “I feel like such a loser showing up so early. I tried to be late, but I’m still first.”

“You think ten after seven is late?” I asked.

“I mean… by definition it is,” she replied. “Yeah, you’re right, it’s not. I’m lame.”

We got to the bottom of the stairs and I turned to face her. “It’s not lame. I was chomping at the bit for you to arrive.”

A light blush came to her cheeks. “Maybe we’re both lame.”

“Maybe,” I replied.

Aria wandered around the basement room, glancing at all the cool gadgets. “Wow. This really is an awesome space.”

“Yeah. I spend a majority of my time here, down here.” I looked down at the gift in my hands and my stomach turned over a little bit. I’d get maybe one more gift from anyone I invited if I was lucky. A small handful of peoplemightsend me $20 in a cash app, but that was it. Most of them didn’t even know me well enough to get me a gift at all; they were just in it for the party. “Can I open my present?”

It brought Aria’s attention flying back to me. “Of course! It’s yours.” She walked over and leaned against the pool table and I came to stand in front of her with the gift in hand. “It’s not much, but…”

“Are you kidding? I wasn’t even expecting a gift. This is really nice.” I lifted the light orange tissue paper out of the bag and set it on the pool table and then reached into the bag. There were a couple of things inside, so I pulled the larger out. It was a really nice flip-top spiral sketchbook. “Oh wow!” I reached back into the bag and there was a box of drawing pencils in different gradients. Aria said it wasn’t much, but I’d bought the same set before, and knew they weren’t cheap. “Aria, this is incredible.”

“Like I said, it’s not much, but after I saw that you were still drawing, I knew I had to get it. I know you’re really into the football thing, but you’resotalented. I just wanted to supportthathobby, since I’m sure you get no shortage of people telling you you’re good at sports.”

It was such a considerate gift, but the fact that she honestly believed it wasn’t much made it even better. “Thanks, Aria.”

I stepped forward to give her a hug, and she wrapped her arms around my back. “Of course.”

Everything changed at that moment. Maybe it was the thoughtful gift, maybe it was the dress she was wearing that was revealing and hung onto her shape so nicely, but wrapping my arms around Aria set my heart to racing wildly. My entire body heated up and I suddenly wanted more. I pulled back from Aria, but kept my arms wrapped around her. I was testing the waters, seeing what she felt about the sudden closeness, but as soon as she realized I wasn’t going to pull my arms back, she leaned against me a little more.

“So I guess you like the gift then?” she joked.

I stared down into her intoxicating eyes and smiled. “Yeah. I like the gift.”

Before I could stop myself, I was leaning in, and to my satisfaction, Aria’s eyes drifted closed and she leaned in as well. My lips pressed to hers and sent a jolt of electricity flying down my spine. I’d kissed other girls before, but it was nothing like the way it felt with Aria. Her full lips felt like silk against mine, and with her hands clasped behind my back, I took a step forward and pinned her against the pool table.

Whatever had come over me must have come over her as well, because she repositioned herself so that she could pull her arms up around my neck. Her fingers flicked across my neck, leaving chills in their wake. With her warm reception I decided to push the envelope a little more and slipped my tongue out. Aria’s lips parted, allowing me to push forward. She let out a breathy moan that threatened to have me showing my rapidly developing arousal. I suddenly regretted that I was at my brother’s house with a hundred people on the way.

All I wanted to do was be alone with Aria and see how far we could go.

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