Heat Exchange (15 page)

Unlike the rest of the apartment, her bedroom showed a little bit of Lydia’s personality. There were no floral fabrics or doilies in this room, but there were some family photos framed on the bureau and a Red Sox throw blanket tossed over a plain wooden chair in the corner. The bedding was a light blue, with darker blue throw pillows. Instead of art, there were sports posters hung on her walls, and when he peeked into the bathroom, he saw a lot of hair stuff and almost no makeup. Definitely Lydia’s bathroom.

“This is it,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Welcome to my very humble abode.”

“I like it,” he said, sitting next to her. He bounced a little on the mattress and then nudged her with his elbow. “Doesn’t squeak. I like that in a bed.”

“I like
you
in a bed,” she said, nudging him back, and that was all the invitation he needed to make himself at home.

* * *

L
YDIA
STRETCHED
,
THEN
froze when her leg kicked something hard. Aidan’s shin, she realized when she opened her eyes. They were in Concord, far away from prying eyes and gossip, and she had the entire day—and Aidan—all to herself.

“Ow.”

“Good morning,” she said, rolling to face him. “What do you want to do today?”

He blinked because she’d forgotten to close the blinds last night and the sun burned through the thin, decorative curtains. “I’d say spend the day in bed with you, but these sheets are really abrasive.”

She laughed and tried to hit him in the shoulder, but he caught her hand and kissed her knuckles instead. “You’re a sheet snob.”

“Blame my mother. And this is your weekend. What do
you
want to do? Does it have to be something the cat can do with us?”

“No, Oscar won’t be joining us.”

“Are you sure? I feel kind of bad we locked the poor guy out of the bedroom last night.”

“You would have felt worse if we’d let him in and he’d buried his claws in some soft, vulnerable part of your body.” He winced. “And yes, I once had to hide in here and try not to laugh at a guest of Shelly’s swearing while she put first aid cream on the gouges Oscar left on his right ass cheek.”

“Ouch. That’s worse than scratchy sheets.”

“Keep it up and you can sleep with Oscar tonight.” She sighed and snuggled closer to his chest. He threw his arm over her and kissed her hair. “I want to go out today. I don’t even care where. I want to walk around holding your hand and you can kiss me in public and then we can go to a restaurant and have a nice dinner together.”

“Sounds like a perfect day.”

After they’d showered and made sure Oscar had enough food, water and affection to last him a few hours, they went to Lydia’s favorite breakfast restaurant. It was too far to walk, so she gave him a mini tour of the city after they’d eaten.

“And that’s the restaurant I worked at until Ashley called me and asked me to help her out,” she said, pointing to the building that was probably meant to look elegant, but looked stuffy and overblown to her.

“Do you miss it?”

She laughed. “Not even for a second. I hated that job.”

“Why didn’t you get a different one?”

“The money was good.” She shrugged. “I hated it and I found out I’m not very good at serving fancy dinners or being formal with those kinds of diners, but when the check is high, the tip is, too.”

“Were you saving for something?”

“What do you mean?”

“To be worth being unhappy at work, it seems like you must have had a goal. Something you wanted to do or buy.”

“Not really. I guess I would have liked to get my own apartment at some point but, like I said, Shelly and I get along really well. And my car runs fine. I thought about doing some college courses, but there’s nothing I really want to do that’s worth the money, time and work. I like what I do, just not where I was doing it.”

“How does it feel being back at Kincaid’s?”

She sighed, looking out the window. “That’s a tough question. I’ve always loved working there. I just haven’t always loved working for my dad and being surrounded by...everybody we know.”

“Like firefighters,” he said, but he turned his head to give her a quick grin as he said it.

“Yeah. I don’t know anybody here. I’m nobody’s daughter or sister or ex-wife.”

“Speaking of which,” he said, yanking the truck into an open parking space. “There are all kinds of neat shops on this street and I’m tired of driving around. Let’s walk for a little while.”

They spent several hours walking down one side of the street and up the other, ducking into any of the shops that interested them. She bought a couple of books, and a few storefronts later, she had to talk him out of spending way too much money on a cool guitar he didn’t know how to play. They walked hand in hand, enjoying the sunshine and the lazy nature of not having anywhere to be.

“I can see why you like it here,” he said after a while. “Plenty to see and do, but there’s a little more room to breathe.”

“It’s nice. It’s different, but not
too
different.”

“So you’re going to come back here, then? When Ashley’s ready to take over the bar again.”

Lydia didn’t stop walking, but something froze inside of her. “That’s the plan. This is where I live now, which you know since you slept in my bed with the crappy sheets last night.”

He chuckled at her joke, but it sounded forced to her. “I didn’t know if things had changed. You quit your job, so the only thing actually tying you here is a bedroom. And you told me you like working at the bar.”

She’d also told him there were things she
didn’t
like about working at Kincaid’s, and he knew how she felt about the community as a whole. They might be family, but she wanted out of the goldfish bowl. “There are bars in Concord. There’s actually a sports bar in walking distance I might check out when Ashley’s ready to go back to work.”

He nodded, but fell silent for a few minutes. It was an awkward silence, but Lydia wasn’t sure how to fill it. As dismaying as the thought was, maybe this weekend getaway had been a bad idea because she couldn’t have it both ways. She’d wanted to spend some time alone with Aidan, but the more they did things like a real couple, the harder it was to remember they actually weren’t.

“Hey.” Aidan squeezed her hand and she looked up to see him smiling at her. “Stop overthinking things and enjoy the day. Is there some place on this street we can get some ice cream before we go check on Oscar?”

A dish of black raspberry drowning in whipped cream and jimmies went a long way toward saving the weekend. And when Aidan let her have a lick of his soft-serve twist and then kissed her with a sweet, sticky mouth, Lydia decided to stop worrying about tomorrow and just enjoy the hell out of today.

Chapter Fourteen

A
IDAN
WAS
STRETCHED
out on the floral couch, having a stare-down with the cat perched on his chest like a Sphinx. Oscar was purring so hard they were both vibrating. “I can’t decide if this cat really likes me or if he’s trying to keep me pinned down so I can’t do anything nefarious.”

“It’s probably some kind of subliminal mind control,” Lydia told him. “Cats are like that.”

“You gave him food and water, and now you’re scooping his shit out of his box so it’s all fresh and clean. What else could he possibly need?”

“To rule the world. Obviously you haven’t spent a lot of time around cats.”

“My sister’s allergic to them and I’ve always been a little afraid of them. I dated a girl in high school—do you remember Nicole, uh...do you remember Nicole’s last name?”

She laughed. “No, I don’t remember your high school girlfriend
or
her last name. I was probably too busy doing adult things since I was already an adult and didn’t have time for you and Scotty’s little-boy doings.”

“Funny. Four years, Lydia. It’s not like you were my babysitter or anything. Although that could have been hot.”

“You’re digressing,” she said, and he heard the kitchen faucet run as she washed her hands.

“Anyway, this girl Nicole had a cat and I remember they were always complaining because it would try to trip them on the stairs. Who keeps pets that want you dead?”

Before she could answer, his phone chimed and he stretched his arm out to pick it up off the coffee table. Oscar refused to move and just continued to stare intently at him and vibrate.

How’s it going?

It was Scotty, and Aidan sat up, using his hand to gently nudge Oscar down so he didn’t try to hold on by way of sheer cat will and very sharp claws.

Ok.
What’s up?

Bored.
Need a hand?

He sighed and thought back to the lie he’d told the guys to get this time off with Lydia. He was helping his mom replace and fix a few things around the house because the other Hunt men weren’t as handy as they were cheap.

Probably not.
It’s one-guy stuff and I think she just wants to visit with me while Dad’s on biz trip.

It was one more believable lie, made possible by the fact Scotty knew how screwed up the Hunt family dynamics were.

Don’t you have family dinner tomorrow night?

Oops. There was that small detail.

He’ll be back for that.

That’s too bad.
Probably more fun without him.
I’ll see you Monday morning
,
then.

Aidan set the phone back on the table with a sigh. He was getting better at lying, which was a skill he’d never wanted to improve on.

“I’m guessing that was my brother,” Lydia said, and he looked up to see her leaning against the kitchen counter, her arms crossed.

“How did you know?”

“Because you look like you’re beating yourself up about something and it seems to me the most likely reason is that you had to lie to Scott.”

He
really
didn’t want to put a damper on this weekend. “Yeah, it was him. He’s bored and wanted to know if I needed a hand at my mom’s house.”

“I guess it’s a good thing he didn’t just show up there.”

Aidan shook his head. “He’s only met my parents a few times, at ceremonies and stuff, and they’ve never been particularly warm to him. We always hung out at Tommy’s and never at my parents’.”

But it did go to show there were so many ways they could get tripped up when it came to lying and hiding their relationship from the people who knew them better than anybody else.

“I’d rather talk about Nicole-from-high-school more than my brother right now,” she said.

He stood up, brushing cat hair off the front of his shirt. The stuff was everywhere and the more he tried to brush it off, the more it seemed to multiply. “I’d rather take you out for a nice dinner somewhere than talk about either of them.”

When Lydia grinned and shoved away from the counter, Aidan felt his spirits rally. “Yeah, you’re the one who told me to stop overthinking things and just enjoy this day.”

“Yes, I did. So let’s go enjoy the hell out of it.”

They decided they didn’t want to go anywhere
too
nice, because they were both comfortable in their jeans, though they traded the T-shirts for nicer shirts with buttons. While she brushed her hair and put on a little makeup, he sat on the edge of the bed and used his phone to pull up possibilities.

“Pasta,” he said. “I could go for pasta.”

“Carbs. Yay.” He laughed and looked at her. Since she was facing away from him, he had a perfect view of her ass and legs, which he thought were perfect the way they were. And, since she was looking in a mirror, she saw him looking and rolled her eyes. “I could do pasta, but you have to help me work it off later.”

He met her gaze in the mirror and his blood rushed from his brain to his dick. “Maybe you should have seconds, too.”

“You keep looking at me like that and you’ll be lucky if I let you out of bed long enough to make a sandwich.”

As threats went, it wasn’t a very strong one. He thought about it for a minute because it was tempting as hell to drag her into bed right that very second and stay there. But having her in bed wasn’t something he lacked, although at times he wished he could have her there all night and every night. But taking her out for dinner in a public restaurant was a pleasure he hadn’t experienced yet.

“I’ve been waiting for days to take you out on a date,” he said. “You’re not talking me out of it now.”

“A date, huh?” She flipped the bathroom light off as she walked toward him.

“Yeah, I figure it’s probably about time we have a first date.”

She laughed and offered her hand to help him up. Once he was on his feet, he kissed her, but didn’t allow himself to get lost in the moment. Date first, then they could revisit this moment.

The restaurant they went to was a chain place, but they didn’t care. At least they knew the pasta would be good. There was a wait, so they sat on the tailgate of his truck in the parking lot, holding hands. She swung her legs and they made small talk, watching people walk by, until their table was ready.

An hour later, he knew he’d made the right choice in not sacrificing this date for sex and sandwiches. Lydia was relaxed, especially after a couple of glasses of wine, and free with her laughter. It was warm and deep, occasionally attracting the attention of nearby diners.

She told him stories about the restaurant she’d worked at before returning to Boston, and he had to laugh, too, at some of her misfortunes in fine dining. He’d like to get in his truck, drive over there and hand the sous-chef a beating, but at least she wouldn’t be going back there.

But she’d be coming back here
,
to Concord.

He shoved the thought down as firmly as he could. When the subject had come up earlier, she’d seemed almost surprised that he would question whether or not she’d leave Boston again. Maybe, on some level, he’d started believing they were building something together and it would be enough for her.

“Hey.” Lydia covered his hand with hers, frowning. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” He forced a quick laugh. “I was thinking about what a douche bag that sous-chef was.”

“Yeah, he had his moments. Some of the regular customers might be a pain in the ass, but at least I don’t have to put up with that crap at Kincaid’s.”

He just smiled at her in the dim lighting and kept his mouth shut. He knew her well enough to know if he pushed, she’d push back twice as hard. But if he kept quiet and just enjoyed one day at a time, she might just realize all on her own that Boston was where her heart was.

* * *

“I
SHOULD
NOT
have had that dessert,” Lydia said, pushing her empty plate away with a groan.

“I think it might take more stamina than I have to work this meal off,” Aidan agreed, rubbing his stomach.

“You won’t have to expend a lot of energy getting me to take my jeans off.”

“This is my kind of first date,” he said, and she laughed.

When the server brought the bill, Lydia didn’t bother making a show of reaching for her wallet. She knew Aidan and, while she could out-stubborn most people without breaking a sweat, she knew there was no way he’d let her pay for her half of the meal. Not this time, anyway.

He stood when she did and held her hand while they walked to his truck. It was sweet, and she loved that he opened her door for her. And she knew this wasn’t a show for their so-called first date, either. Aidan was always polite and over the years, she’d seen him hold the door or pull out chairs for women all the time at the bar, whether they were with him or not. She liked that about him.

Hell, she liked a lot of things about him.

They rode back to her apartment in easy silence, listening to the radio. Once he’d pulled out onto the road, he’d reached over for her hand again and laced his fingers through hers. He seemed to enjoy touching her like that—holding her hand or rubbing her shoulder—and she never got the impression he was trying to put any moves on her. He simply liked touching her.

When they got back to her place, Oscar came walking out of Shelly’s room to meow at her. He was presumably voicing his displeasure at being abandoned yet again, but she crouched down and rubbed the top of his head. After a few strokes, he decided he’d had enough and stalked over to Aidan.

While the male human sat in one of the chairs at the kitchen table so the cat could jump on his lap and be the center of his attention, Lydia stopped into the bathroom and then plugged in their phones to charge. “I’m putting mine on Silent. Shelly’s probably missing Oscar badly by now and I wouldn’t put it past her to want me to video chat with him or something.”

“You can put mine on Silent, too.”

She looked over at him. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” Still, she hesitated. “I promise I’m sure. Nobody
needs
to talk to me right now. And Cobb knows I’m not at my mother’s.”

That surprised her. “He does? What did you tell him?”

“I did
not
tell him I was running away with Tommy Kincaid’s daughter.” He winked at her. “I told him I needed some personal time and that I was telling the guys I’d be at my mom’s, but that I would actually be out of town so I can’t be called in, no matter how many alarms they strike.”

“Oh. Okay, then.” She flipped the switch on the side of his phone and plugged it in next to hers.

Oscar got bored and jumped down to twitch his tail at them before sauntering back into Shelly’s bedroom. Lydia watched him go, feeling the familiar mash-up of affection for this particular cat while wondering why people wanted to live with cats in general.

“He was keeping my lap warm,” Aidan said. “He’s good at that, I guess. Like a furry, purring hot water bottle.”

“Are your legs getting cold?”

He leaned back and sighed, giving her a sad look. “So cold.”

Lydia laughed and straddled his lap, bunching the front of his shirt in one hand. With the other hand, she ran her fingertip over his bottom lip. He tried to catch it between his teeth, but she snatched it away. Then she ran her hand up his neck and curled her fingers into his hair to pull his head back.

Lydia kissed him, enjoying the sensation of having the upper hand, in a way. He was the one tipping his head back and she was in control. She dipped her tongue between his lips, running her nails over his scalp because it made him squirm.

“One more kiss,” Aidan said, his voice low. His hands were on her hips and his fingertips pressed into her jeans to keep her from moving.

“It’s the sheets, isn’t it?” she teased. “You’re dreading being naked on them.”

He laughed. “I’d happily be naked on burlap or on a sandy beach if you’re naked with me.”

Warmth flooded her, and she told herself it was simply physical desire. It wasn’t the way that, despite the laugh, she could see in his eyes that he meant that. And, even if she wouldn’t admit it, she felt the same.

“One more kiss,” Lydia said. “And then we should go to bed.”

He tugged her hips forward, seating her more snugly against his obvious erection. “I kind of like this chair. And the couch is closer.”

“I wouldn’t mind the couch, but I’m not the one with dangling body parts that could be easily mistaken for cat toys.”

“Oscar,” he hissed, looking around. “Damn cat. Where did he go?”

“He’s hiding, waiting for you to drop your pants so he can pounce.”

He grinned at her, shaking his head. “Burlap sheets or sand in the crack of my ass, I’m willing to risk for you. Castration by cat claw? A guy’s gotta draw a line somewhere.”

“One more kiss,” she said just before she touched her lips to his.

She kissed him until the ache between her legs was so intense, she caught herself grinding against him. Aidan caught her lower lip between his teeth, biting down until she sucked in a breath. His hands rocked her hips, sliding her back and forth along the length of his cock.

“Let’s go get out of these jeans,” Lydia whispered against his mouth.

“Don’t forget to close the door.”

A few minutes later, her bedroom door was closed and she was naked on her scratchy sheets. Aidan, who’d stripped and put on a condom in record time, stretched his body over hers. Propping himself on an elbow, he smoothed her hair away from her face, tucking a few strands behind her ear.

Lydia ran her hands across the smooth, hard planes of his chest. No matter how often she got to touch him, she never tired of exploring the muscles of his chest, shoulders and arms. She knew they had exercise equipment at the station, but his physique was the kind that came from a lifetime of doing physical work and she loved running her hands over his body.

“You get this look on your face when you do that,” he said. “It’s hard to describe, but it makes me feel like the hottest guy on the planet.”

“I like touching you.”

When he grasped her behind her knees and opened her legs, she sighed with sweet anticipation. But then he slid into her with exasperating slowness, obviously trying to torture her. Every time she tried to lift her hips, he pulled back the same amount. But she could see by the way he was clenching his jaw that he was tormenting himself just as much as he was her.