“What are we going to do kitten?”My toes curled at the deep octave of his voice. "I don’t know."“I have a few ideas.”I cracked a grin. “I'm sure you do.”“Wanna hear about them? Although, I'm much better at the show part rather than the tell.”“Somehow, I believe you.”“If you didn’t, I could always give you a teaser.” He paused, and I could hear the smile in his voice. “You bookish people love teasers, don’t you?”

“I could always give you a teaser. You bookish people love teasers, don't you?”

“We need to do something about this now. There are things we can do.” My hand curled into fists. “Like what?” “Well, the jumping jacks for … an hour or so should do it” His gaze dropped. Something flickered in his eyes. “You may want to change first.” The urge to cover myself was strong, but I resisted. I wasn’t going to cower from him. “I’m not doing jumping jacks for an hour.” “Then you could run around the house, up and down the stairs.” He paused, his smug grin turning wicked as his eyes met mine. “We could always have sex. I hear that uses up a lot of energy.” My mouth dropped open.”

“Jeez, how old are you?” I total y knew how old he was, but I wanted to pick. Aiden cracked his neck. “I turn twenty-one in October.” “Huh.” I shook the bottle. “So have you always been so…mature?” His brows furrowed. “Mature?” “Yeah, you sound like a dad.” I deepened my voice and tried to look stern. “‘Don’t look at me that way’ or else.” Aiden blinked slowly. “I don’t sound like that and I didn’t say ‘or else.’” “But if you had, what would the ‘or else’ be?” I hid my grin with the bottle.”

“His lips parted. "Couldn’t fool you for that long, I guess."I squeezed my eyes shut, but a tear wiggled its way free, gliding down my cheek."Don’t cry." He caught the tear with his finger as he pressed his forehead against mine. "Please. I hate when you cry because of me.""I'm sorry. I don’t want to be all weepy." I wiped at my cheeks, feeling foolish. "It’s just that...I never did know."Aiden clasped the sides of my face, pressing a gentle kiss to my forehead. "I wanted a piece of you with me always. No matter what."I shuddered. "But I don’t...I don’t have anything of you.""Yes, you do." Aiden brushed his lips over my damp cheek. A soft smile filled his voice. "You’ll have a piece of my heart — all of it, really. Forever. Even if your heart belongs to someone else.”

“I can be a dickhead and I do it on purpose. I tend to bully people into doing what I want. And I let everything that had happened with Dawson amplify those…uh, personality traits. But—” He removed his finger, and his grin spread into a smile. “But you…you make me want to be different. That’s why I didn’t kill Blake. It’s why I don’t want you making those decisions or for you to be around me if I am choosing those things.”

“He paused, his smug grin turning wicked as his eyes met mine. “We could always have sex. I hear that uses up a lot of energy.”