He shook his head. “Flowers made Beth sneeze like crazy, so I never got her any.”
It was the first he’d mentioned her since we left the reception, and I spread my hand out over his chest, laying a soft kiss onto his skin. “What was she like?”
Aiden closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Funny. She was always smiling. It was the first thing I noticed about her. Smart. Kind. She did everything easily, it seemed like.”
It wasn’t the time to talk, just to listen.
He wedged a hand under his head and stared down at me. “And she made the best gingersnaps in the world.”
I smiled. “Does Anya talk about her a lot?”
“Not as much since we’ve moved here. I think being in our own house has made a big difference. Being around family. In California, it was just the three of us,” he said. “I think … I think she felt the loss of her more there.”
Resting my cheek on his chest, I thought about her bright blue eyes, her gap-toothed smile, and found myself smiling too.
He felt it. “What?”
“Just thinking about Anya. She’s a great kid, Aiden.”
There was a brief pause before he spoke again. “You ready to take that on? When we tell her, I mean.”
We’d decided earlier in our conversation to hold off on announcing anything to her just yet. Gain our footing as a couple first. But this was a question I could answer easily.
I rolled up onto my side and scooted higher up on the bed so that I could kiss him. There was no time to deepen it because we both needed to leave soon—him to pick up Anya and me to have a family brunch at Logan and Paige’s while Molly and Noah opened some presents before they left on their mini-honeymoon.
“I already love Anya,” I told him. “I don’t fall out of trees for just anyone, you know.”
He laughed. “I hope not.”
“That’s the thing about my family,” I said. Setting my head in my hand, I snuggled up next to him again. “Blood ties don’t mean anything in the end, not when it comes down to it. Logan and Paige, my sisters, Emmett … they are my family because we fight for each other every single day. It was us against the world.” I smiled. “We’ve got a few more bodies now, Noah, Jude, Bauer, and little Gabriel. You and Anya,” I said quietly. “She may not know it yet, but she just gained a whole lot of people in her corner.”
Aiden tugged me closer for a kiss. “I like the sound of that,” he murmured.
I found myself tearing up as he folded me into his arms again. “I do too.” I sniffed quietly, but he heard me.
“What is it?”
I shook my head, swiping at my face. “Anytime something big happened to me, I never really understood why. Even if I knew it was coming, even if I hated how I felt, I didn’t realize each piece had to happen exactly the way it did”—I pulled my head back so I could see his face—“so I could be here with you. Even the hard things.”
Aiden slid his thumb across my cheek.
We didn’t have the time for it. I wasn’t even sure that physically I could handle more, but he moved over me, gently rocking between my legs, sharing my breath, stealing my heart, and making me fall even more in love with him than I already was.
In my ear, he whispered all sorts of things that pushed me higher and higher, even as he kept his movements slow and steady. It was the relaxed speed and the inexorable strength of his reserve that finally broke me open in a warm wave.
It wasn’t fireworks and explosions, but something even better.
It was forever.
We dressed quietly. He hooked up the back of my dress, and I buttoned his shirt, stretching on my toes to kiss the edge of his jaw when I was done. And because I could, I slid his jacket over my bridesmaid dress. We entered the elevator hand in hand, trading smiles in the shining reflection on the door as we rode down to the lobby.
At my car, Aiden gave me a deep kiss goodbye, and it took us a few minutes to separate.
“I’ll call you later,” he told me. “Maybe we can figure out something tomorrow if one of my brothers can help with Anya.”
I nodded. “I guess we’ll have to be careful at work too, huh?”
He hummed, sliding my hair off my shoulder to drop a kiss onto my neck. “Oh, no. The first day we work together, the second everyone is gone, I have a whole other first to take care of in my office.”
My smile was massive. “What’s that?”
Aiden lifted his head and pinned me with those green eyes. “You on my desk.”
“Okay,” I answered breathlessly. “Can we work together tomorrow maybe?”
“Maybe we can both accidentally show up an hour early.”
“I love showing up to work an hour early.”
His laughter was a happy booming sound, and if I was being honest, I felt a little drugged at the sound of it. We finally said goodbye, and I hurried to my apartment to whip on some clean clothes and slick my hair back into a ponytail. Snatching a Pop-Tarts from my pantry cabinet, I was back in the car and on my way to Logan and Paige’s less than fifteen minutes later.
And I knew I was in bad shape when the newlyweds beat me there.
When I walked into the kitchen, the entire family went dead silent.
My face must’ve been bright red. “Morning.”
Molly was grinning like a lunatic. Lia tried to hide her smile behind her coffee. Claire, on the couch with Gabriel, rolled her lips between her teeth.
Paige approached, wearing a deceptively sweet smile on her face, and handed me a massive mug. “Need some coffee, sweetcheeks? You must be tired.”
Logan mumbled something from the table, and Emmett held out his hand. My brother dug into his wallet and handed him a dollar.
I took the mug. “I slept just fine, thank you.”
Lia snorted.
“Are we opening presents or what?” I asked.
Molly set a box aside. “We already started.”
“Aiden didn’t want to come over with you?” Paige asked, completely undeterred.
I took a slow sip of the coffee and held her eyes.
“He wasn’t hungry?”
“Paige,” Logan said in a warning tone.
She blinked innocently. “Yes, husband?”
He gave her a look. “If she doesn’t want to talk about it, she doesn’t have to.”
“You can tell me later,” she whispered.
Emmett shook his head. “This family is crazy. I’m going outside.”
“Coming with you, dude.” Bauer stood from the couch with kisses to Gabriel’s cheek and Claire’s upturned mouth. “Jude, you wanted to show me that thing?”
The big Brit stood with a nod, snagging a soccer ball from the floor. “Be right out.” He kissed Lia.
“Geez,” I muttered. “I sure know how to clear a room.”
“It’s probably all the just-had-sex pheromones,” Lia added helpfully.
“That’s it!” Logan shouted. “I’m outta here.”
My brother stalked out of the house, my sisters’ laughter following him as he tugged open the slider.
Noah grimaced at the giant pile of unwrapped boxes, then gave Paige and Lia a look. “Can you please stop while I have to be in here?”