Definitely a bad idea, Melanie told herself as Aidan opened the driver’s side door and-
“It’s your smile,” Aidan said as he climbed into the car.
“What?” she asked, unable to help but frown.
“It drives me out of my fucking mind.”
Chapter 26
“Why don’t I remember this place?”
“Because we never made it this far,” Aidan said as he opened the door to the small diner that he’d somehow managed to keep a secret from his family.
He still wasn’t sure how he’d managed to pull it off, but he was just glad that he did. This place helped him keep his sanity during the last year of his residency. It’s where he came when he needed to clear his head, had a bad day, or needed to figure out how he was going to tell one of his patients something that they didn’t want to hear. It was also where he came after that morning when he’d fucked everything up with Melanie.
“Ah, the bar,” Melanie murmured with a nod of understanding, making him wince.
“We should have skipped the bar,” he said as they stepped inside the small diner.
“Probably,” Melanie mumbled absently as she looked down at her belly with a sad smile and-
Made him realize that he was already screwing this up.
Taking her hand in his, Aidan leaned down and whispered, “I don’t regret Drew.”
“You don’t?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.
“Not even a little bit,” Aidan promised her as he led her towards his favorite booth in the back of the empty diner.
After giving her hand a reassuring squeeze, he waited for her to sit down before he sat down across from her and-
Realized that he had absolutely no fucking idea what he was supposed to say to her and judging by the way that she stared helplessly at him from across the table, he wasn’t the only one. For several long, painful minutes, they sat there, staring at each other until she cleared her throat and said, “This is a nice place.”
“Yes, it is,” he said automatically and then…
Nothing.
Several awkward moments later, Aidan regretted not taking them back to that bar because he could really use a fucking drink right about now. God, he was fucking nervous, he thought, rubbing his hands roughly down his face. It didn’t seem to matter that they’d been sleeping in the same bed for the last few weeks and that they were having a baby, he couldn’t think of anything to say, making him wonder if this was a bad idea. Maybe they should-
“I watched American Pie when I was eight,” Melanie said, drawing his attention to find her reading a menu.
“What?” Aidan asked, dropping his hands away.
“Well, part of it anyway,” she said, squishing her face up adorably. “My parents thought it was a family movie.”
“I see,” Aidan said, feeling his lips twitch.
“The name was misleading,” Melanie said as she looked over the burger options.
“And how long did it take your parents to figure out what it was really about?”
With a sad shake of her head, she flipped the menu over and said, “Thirty seconds. That was followed by ice cream and a lot of awkward mumbling as they tried to explain the birds and the bees to us.”
Chuckling, Aidan sat back against the booth and felt himself relax. “I’m sure that went over well.”
“It really didn’t,” Melanie admitted with a sigh. “I had a lot of questions.”
“You were a devious little thing, weren’t you?” he asked, unable to help but smile as he pictured her as a little girl with pigtails, terrorizing her family.
“I really was,” Melanie said, nodding.
“I can only imagine the type of hell that you and Rebecca put your parents through,” he said with a sympathetic wince.
“I’m not allowed to talk about that.”
“Why’s that?”
“The contract.”
“What contract?” Aidan found himself asking as he watched her, noting the way that her pale baby blue eyes lit up when she teased him.
“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that I’ve already said too much,” Melanie said with a sad shake of her head.
“That bad?” he asked, chuckling.
“It really depends on who you ask,” Melanie said as she looked over the dessert menu.
“So, I probably shouldn’t ask your parents?” Aidan said, watching as her lips twitched before she managed to pull it back so that she could say, “Oh no, you should definitely ask them,” with a straight face.
His eyes narrowed on her as he asked, “Trying to get me killed?”
“That depends,” she said, looking thoughtful.
“On what?”
“On whether or not you lied about that pie.”
*-*-*-*
“What’s this?” Aidan asked, shifting the bags in his arms so that he could pick up the white envelope off the hallway floor in front of his door.
“A very angry woman wearing a Black Jack’s tee-shirt, who was visibly struggling against the urge to kill your brother, taped it to the door earlier,” Melanie explained as she lovingly ran her fingertips over the bakery box in her arms.
“What did the asshole do now?” he asked, sighing heavily as he opened the envelope and-
His lips twitched right around the time that Melanie decided that she’d waited long enough. With a flick of her hand, she opened the cover and found herself staring down at four of the most beautiful cupcakes that she’d ever seen in her life. As she debated which delicious morsel to start with, she opened her apartment door and headed to the kitchen. By the time she placed the box on the counter, she’d narrowed her choices down to the yellow cupcake with buttercream frosting and the one with chocolate fudge frosting.
That was followed by her deciding that it just wasn’t fair to either cupcake to choose. By the time she grabbed a plate, Aidan was there, grabbing the chocolate milk out of the fridge for her.
“Rylie has offered to pay two hundred dollars more a month if I’m willing to help her bury the asshole in a shallow grave,” Aidan said, chuckling as he grabbed a glass for her.
“That’s a good offer,” Melanie said, taking a bite of her cupcake and nearly groaned.
“It really is,” he murmured in agreement as he opened the box of pastries that he’d picked out.
“What happened with Rebecca?” Melanie asked, unable to help but notice that the lemon and apple pastries that he’d picked out looked especially yummy tonight.
With a sad shake of his head, Aidan said, “She professed her undying love for me.”
“Is that why she’s been texting me since she left, letting me know that she has no other choice but to make your life a living hell?” Melanie asked, nibbling on her cupcake even as she continued to stare at that delicious looking pastry.
“She’s taking it hard,” Aidan said with a sad shake of his head as he picked up a lemon pastry and placed it on her plate. Without a word, she abandoned the rest of her cupcake and focused on the lemon pastry that was going to be the perfect way to end the night.
Well, almost perfect.
For the past three hours, all she could think about was that kiss, that sweet, simple, incredibly sexy kiss that he’d given her earlier and just how badly she wanted him to kiss her again.