Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 59320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
I widened my eyes. “Better looking than you?”
Aiden snorted. “Right? I’m not even sure that’s possible. I don’t have time for a girlfriend anyway.”
“Too busy rescuing helpless citizens on dangerous roadsides?”
“Something like that. Although you’re the only rescue I’ve had today. It’s been a mellow day at the shop,” he commented as he exited the freeway.
“I wish I could say the same. My day sucks donkey balls.”
Aiden threw his head back and guffawed. “Donkey balls, eh? What happened?”
“Everything work related was fine until my supervisor accused me of producing questionable data on the atmosphere of an exoplanet that doesn’t even exist!”
“Now why would he do that?”
“He’s mistakenly cast me as a rake in a lover’s triangle.”
Aiden slowed to a stop at a red light, then twisted in his seat and quirked a brow. “Translation, please.”
“He thinks I have romantic inclinations toward a girl he likes.”
“Ah, and do you?”
“Not at all! It was one measly drunken kiss,” I huffed, launching into a brief rundown of my happy-hour faux pas. “An innocent version of your treachery four years ago.”
“My treachery? Oh, come on, G. Are you still mad about that?”
“Not at all. However, my transition to ambivalence hasn’t been seamless, and I’m irritated as fuck that I’m going to owe you for your gallantry today.”
He snickered. “You don’t owe me anything. This is my job. As for my treachery…you’re full of shit.”
“No, I’m not. You actually stole my date.”
“Did not.”
“Did too.”
I put my hand up, then crossed my arms. “You asked for her number. You went out with her.”
“That’s only partially true,” he conceded as he turned into the garage driveway. “I got her number, but we never dated. Honestly, I didn’t think you had—how’d you put it—romantic inclinations toward her. I apologize…again. Christ, I don’t even remember her name. Do you?”
“Um…Kaley or Kelly, I think.”
“I rest my case. It was a mistake.”
“Mistake? I don’t think so. Guilty!” I smacked the console hard enough to redden my palm. This court finds you guilty of assholery in the first degree. You are sentenced to a lifetime of my wrath.”
“Please, anything but that,” he drawled sarcastically.
“Hmph.” I reopened the fast-food bag and chomped noisily on his fries. “Fine, the past is past. I’ve maturely moved on. But for a while, I thought you had it in for me.”
Okay, maybe I was being dramatic. I sounded like Newton, and that was not a good look. In my defense, it had been a shit day, and I felt entitled to a pity party for one. But the fact that I’d casually brought up the day Aiden asked for Kaley or Kelly’s number after he’d bumped into us at a mall food court indicated I was either a head case or really fucking good at holding a grudge.
Which was ridiculous because Kaley or Kelly and I didn’t connect at all. I would have set them up myself if I’d thought Aiden was interested in the bubbly blonde. But he’d never said a word about it. Then again, neither did I.
Not that I saw him much. His days of hanging out at the Murphy house post-practice were a distant memory. Everyone had grown up, gone to college, graduated, and started careers. I rarely bumped into him and when I did, it was usually at a social gathering with a dozen or more people. In fact, this was the first time I’d been alone with Aiden in…years. Huh.
“You thought I had it in for you?” he repeated incredulously. “That’s ridiculous. You’re like a kid brother to me. I feel protective of you, ya little weirdo.”
I fussed with the button at my collar, eying him clandestinely as he pulled the truck along the side of the garage. “Well, thanks. I’m over it now. At the time, I sensed sabotage.”
Aiden killed the engine and turned to face me. “You give me too much credit, G. If it makes you feel any better, I wasn’t really after your girl. I just didn’t want her to have you.”
That stopped me. I froze with my hand on the door handle. “What do you mean?”
He furrowed his brow. “I don’t know. Come on. Time to check out your Willy.”
“Pervert,” I quipped, hiding my smile when he laughed like a loon.
I eyed his broad shoulders as he strode purposefully toward the garage, ignoring the usual twinge of awareness with practiced ease.
If he ever wondered why I was occasionally prickly toward him, the truth might have come as a surprise.
Fact: I’d had a low-grade crush on Aiden since I was twelve. I had no idea why. I just…liked him. Always had and probably always would.
My preteen attraction to strapping, athletic jocks with cocky attitudes and casual good looks had morphed into a wicked attraction for burly men with rough hands, a little extra weight, and hidden scars. But I’d never tell a soul. No way. It was better if he thought of me as a pesky little brother-from-another-mother than a lovesick puppy.