Hard to Handle

wearing more than I drank, trust me.”

“I didn’t have much more than you,” she said, yawning. The beer may not have her stumbling for the car, but it had made her tired. Or maybe she was tired because it was after midnight. Truly sad. She relinquished the keys and buckled up. After a few lingering seconds, she noticed the car hadn’t moved.

“Aiden?”

He was staring out the windshield. “I shouldn’t have told everyone we were engaged.” He turned his head but kept his grip on the steering wheel. I’m sorry. It was immature. It was…” He shook his head instead of continuing. Sadie started to interrupt and tell him it didn’t matter. She saw these people once a year. Next year when she arrived without Aiden in tow, she could easily pass it off like they’d broken up.

And why did that thought cause an echoing ache in the center of her chest?

“I was jealous,” Aiden admitted.

Sadie blinked at him. “Why?”

“Why?” Aiden reversed over the bumpy ground and navigated onto the drive. He spared her a wry glance before turning onto the road. “Because you went out with that guy. And you don’t hate him.”

Sadie heard what he wasn’t saying. “I don’t hate you.”

He remained quiet.

“I only went out with Rick for a few months…” She paused, understanding. She’d only gone out with Aiden for a few days and had fallen ass-over-teakettle in love with him. Suddenly she understood his concern. “Rick and me weren’t anything like you and me,” she murmured.

Never would she have shucked her bra and shirt in a steamy make-out session on the couch with Rick. And she never would have let Rick tuck her into his bed and hold her through the night. She wouldn’t have let anyone do the things Aiden had done with her. Only Aiden.

There went that ache again. She rubbed her breastbone.

Streetlamps above cast his face in light then shadow as he drove. “I guess we were different,” he said.

They didn’t say anything more on the way home, and despite Sadie trying to distract herself by flipping through the radio stations, she still felt the tension snapping between them.

Tension echoing a memory of the night they met, the night she’d invited him home with her. The night they’d spilled their guts, told their unflattering tales of woe. Sometime in the wee hours, she’d walked him to the door. She’d wanted to kiss him, to touch him, all evening. Instead they’d sat, their backs against opposite pieces of furniture, and talked.

He’d stepped outside, and leaned on the door frame, watching her. “I know you only do first dates,” he said. “But I don’t think this counts, do you?”

Her heart had kicked into overdrive. She’d decided earlier to toss out the rule and make an exception where Aiden was concerned. To hear he wanted the same thing was…thrilling. Almost as thrilling as the idea of getting to kiss him.

She’d played it cool, crossing her arms over her breasts and lifting an eyebrow. “I think we might be able to throw it out. You know, over a technicality.”

”Good,” he said. Without warning he brushed her lips with his, and she’d heard the low groan of approval in his throat. When he pulled away, he tweaked her chin and smiled. “I’m not nearly through with you, Sadie Howard.”

The car came to a stop and Sadie blinked back to present to find they had arrived at Axle’s. She gave herself a mental shake and reminded her brain not to dwell. Thinking about the past was dangerous. Going there risked her safety, her ability to wall off her emotions. Besides, memories of the past hurt. The memory of Aiden declaring he wasn’t through with her would only remind her of the day he called to tell her he was.

She’d spent a lot of time tonight thinking of Aiden, of all the good things they shared. If she wasn’t careful, she could get nostalgic enough to wind up braless and in his bed again. Heat pooled between her legs at the memory of his hot hands around her waist, his erection pressing into her backside as they slept. Intimacy but no sex. Who knew what a turn-on that could be?

And we don’t want to end up there again, she sternly reminded her inner Pussycat Doll.

Aiden turned off the engine and sent her a sideways glance. Sadie wondered what he’d been thinking about the entire time she’d sat here and thought about him.

The glint in his eye, the sexy curve of his lips, matched the expression on his face a year ago when he’d lingered in her doorway. Heart thudding heavily, she waited…waited and hoped and prayed he’d erase her mind with his tongue and the heat of his lips.

Aiden unbuckled his seat belt and leaned an elbow on the steering wheel, his bicep flexing in the pale moonlight. He locked her into place with his steady gaze. “I had a good time tonight.”

She gauged the distance over the console, the position of their bodies, and undid her own seat belt before turning her body slightly toward his. “So did I.”

Here it was. The dating dance. How many times had she been in this very position? Waiting for her date to dredge up the courage to lean in and kiss her, or trying to make her getaway before he did.

Though she didn’t remember Aiden having to steel himself to approach her. And she certainly hadn’t been planning on running. He had a way of busting through all her defenses before she realized she’d had a breach in security.

He glanced at her mouth. “Thanks for inviting me.”

Sadie nodded, licked her lips, and balled her fists together so tightly her fingernails bit into her palms. She wanted the kiss his eyes promised.

But instead of coming closer, Aiden leaned back, opened his door, and got out.

Got.

Out.

The driver’s side door shut with a whump! wobbling the car and leaving Sadie alone and thoroughly unkissed. Fury simmered on her brow. Why she was angry, she had no idea, and before she wondered at her own indignation, she’d already climbed out and slammed her own door.

Aiden had crossed behind the car and approached, his hand out. His brows raised in surprise when he saw her standing there, seething. She forced her shoulders to relax.

“I was going to get your door for you.” He studied her a little too intently, the quirk of his lips a little too bemused. “Something wrong?”

Other than a gross overreaction I can’t explain? No, nothing at all.

What had she planned on doing anyway? Bursting out of the car and demanding he kiss her before he left to go home? “I need to get something else.” She gestured to Axle’s. “Inside.” Worst lie ever. She’d be amazed if he bought it. “If you don’t mind.”

“Sure.” He paced to the door as he dug in his pocket for the keys. Giving her a final wary (disbelieving?) glance before unlocking the store, he shut off the alarm code and let her in.

So. Here they were. Sadie made a show of looking for the imaginary “something” she needed badly enough to insist on coming in. She vanished behind a shelf to collect herself. Boxes were lined up in neat rows, the front window display orderly. There wasn’t so much as a discarded pen or scrap of paper lying around.

She crossed to the counter, where Aiden leaned against the cash register, waiting for her. There, peeking out of a drawer was a form. A Midwest price sheet. Good enough. She came behind the counter, latched on to a corner, and pulled it free.

“Here it is,” she announced brightly. Now she could leave with her dignity intact.

“You needed your own price guide?” Doubt clouded Aiden’s eyes. Evidently, his BS-o-meter was in working order.

“I…” Sadie flagged. “I don’t have one at home. I don’t want to go back to the office.”

Aiden’s expression said he wasn’t buying it. Was it too late to pretend she was drunk? She could stumble to the front door. Of course, then he would offer to drive her home and she’d get to replay that Will he kiss me or not? nightmare all over again.

“Well, if you have everything you need…” he drawled. The low timbre of his voice galloped down her rib