Hard to Handle

Angel licked her lips as if debating whether or not to say what she was thinking. “Dad told me Aiden is a different person since you came back into his life. Better. Happier. I imagine it must have taken a lot to forgive him for the way he treated you last year.”

Sadie felt the gratitude swell in her chest. Angel…understood. She didn’t seem to be giving Aiden the benefit of the doubt. “I’m still working on it,” she said thickly.

Angel’s attention went to Aiden, who approached, fresh drink in hand. Before he got close enough to hear, Angel winked at her. “Keep working on it.” She beamed over at Aiden. “Hey, baby brother.”

“Evan’s the youngest,” Aiden argued, clearly not liking the nickname.

“You’re all babies to me.” She patted his arm. “Nice to meet you, Sadie.” Then to Aiden, “I like her. Don’t screw it up this time.”

Aiden bit his lip and looked the slightest bit chagrined.

Sadie grinned. “I like your sister.”

“Yeah.” He put his drink down. “I bet you do.” Aiden’s attention went to the back of the room. “PDA alert.”

Sadie turned to see Shane butt into the gaggle of suits surrounding his wife and put a protective arm around her waist. He tugged her against him and, heedless of professional company, Crickitt allowed him to tow her away. Shane leaned in to whisper into Crickitt’s ear and Crickitt tossed her head back to laugh. Something warm and gooey pooled in Sadie’s belly. I want that.

They were happy together, perfect for one another. Who wouldn’t want that? In a world where marriage ended more often than it endured, Sadie hoped against hope that her best friend and Shane beat the odds.

“Dance with me.”

Aiden’s warm breath against her temple sent gooseflesh popping up on her arms. She turned to find him smiling down at her. “I know it’s not ‘The Electric Slide’”—he nodded to the jazz band in the corner—“but I think we can handle it.”

Aiden led her to the floor and pulled her against the hard wall of his chest. She put a hand on the shoulder of his jacket and swayed to the music. The last time they’d danced together was at Crickitt’s wedding. Sadie hadn’t been very nice to him that night. Aiden had been apologetic and exposed and so…Aiden. Again she felt a wave of regret for not treating him better.

Keep working on it.

“Relax,” Aiden murmured against her cheek. His palm splayed across her back, pulling her closer. “You smell so good.” His voice rumbled against her chest, sending her hormones into fan-girl hissy fits.

That she and Aiden hadn’t tumbled into bed the night they met had to be some sort of miracle of biblical proportion. Though technically, they tumbled into bed the next, next night, but they hadn’t gotten physical. Another miracle. The attraction between them had always been—and continued to be— dangerous. Combustible.

She thought back to the evil-slash-brilliant idea she’d had on her way in. The idea of seducing Aiden once and for all. Of finding out what sex was like when she gave herself over to the connection between them. Sadie was all out of hidden aces. She didn’t want to wait, didn’t want to date, didn’t want to pussyfoot or beat around the bush any longer. She wanted Aiden. Period. And she’d bet with the right approach…Aiden would fold like a cheap suit and have her out of this dress faster than she could say Do me.

Only one way to find out.

Sadie moved the hand not clasped in his from his shoulder and rested it over his heart. “I do wish you’d reconsider your stance on premarital physical relations.” She tilted her chin down and peered up at him through her lashes.

Aiden’s muscles went taut and his hand squeezed hers hard before he realized it and eased up on the pressure crushing her fingers. Sadie lips arched into a dirty-girl grin. She had his attention. And while she’d never taken teasing this far before, she felt herself ease into familiar territory. She was a good flirt. And she hadn’t even dialed it up halfway.

Sadie walked her fingers up Aiden’s suit and let them trickle down his open collar, brushing the flesh at the bottom of his neck with her nails. “Imagine,” she said, leaning close to his chest and smelling his skin, “what we could spend the evening doing if you changed your mind.”

Aiden came to a halt and Sadie lifted her eyes, flitting her lashes again. His jaw was set, eyes dark, nostrils flared. He looked like he might devour her, and Sadie got a little thrill low in her belly at the thought. As if he just realized they were standing stock-still in the center of the dance floor, Aiden began moving with her against him again.

Sadie bit her lip to hold in the triumphant giggle. Instead of a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, she had a pair of pitchfork-holding twins on her back. And they were both chanting the same tawdry suggestion.

Sadie lowered her voice and pressed her body against Aiden’s, going in for the kill.

“What do you say?” she asked in her sultriest voice. “Would you like to take me to bed tonight?”

Chapter 13

Aiden needed a drink. A big one. One the size of the bucket of Gatorade football players dumped over the coach’s head after a game. Though he doubted iced-down sports drink would cool the heat slowly consuming him, even if he poured it in his pants.

Sadie made him an offer he wasn’t sure he could refuse.

And why would I?

Great question.

Ever since Harmony cheated on him with Daniel, Aiden hadn’t exactly been looking. Then he met Sadie. And after last year—losing his mom, ruining what he and Sadie had together, and learning he was completely unsuccessful at getting over the blonde in his arms now—Aiden decided not to get involved with a woman until he was serious.

Serious, serious.

It wasn’t a pact he’d taken lightly. Lord knows he’d had the opportunity over the last year to go to bed with a woman—even casually—but he had zero desire to satisfy his body’s impulses.

Since his mother’s diagnosis, Aiden’s life had stopped being his own and had become one of service to others. It was why he’d moved to Oregon. And why he’d moved in with his dad. And why he’d taken the job at the factory temporarily. But now Aiden was slowly reclaiming himself. He’d found the part of him that wanted things just to want them. The idea of saving himself until marriage was probably unfashionable and archaic, but dammit, that’s what he wanted. Or maybe that’s what he told himself so he wouldn’t get involved with a woman at all.

Aiden probably never would have considered marriage again—would’ve probably been more against it than Sadie claimed to be. He’d been burned as badly as she had. He knew how she felt. He also knew how he felt.

He loved her.

Sadie was the only woman he trusted to walk down the aisle at his side and not betray him. He could trust her. He’d always trusted her. He still trusted her. It wasn’t just love; Aiden had sunk like he was wearing a pair of cinder block shoes. He was a fool if he believed the whole marriage thing would work with anyone but this woman.

All he had to do was get her on board.

Aiden looked into Sadie’s cinnamon-colored eyes, long lashes sweeping over them as she attempted to seduce him. A slow smile curved his mouth. Sadie was trying to get her way. A common theme. He wanted what she was offering, but he had terms.

Terms including a ceremony and the key phrase I do.

But this wasn’t a game. Not any longer. If he was being honest with himself, hadn’t he been making plans since Sadie reentered his life to include her in his future? When he pictured himself moving out of Dad’s house, hadn’t he imagined buying a place big enough for a family? In two years, hadn’t he pictured celebrating with Sadie on the day he closed the deal and owned all five Axle’s stores?