“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said, not making a move to stand up. His expression was rigid and for some reason it felt like he was angry with me.

“Geez, you scared the crap out of me,” I told him trying to stop my heart from beating so quickly.

I sank down on my bed to sit and put my hand to my heart. “Why would you sneak into my bedroom?”

As the words came out I remembered how I had done the same to him the previous morning.

“For the same reason you would snuck into my bedroom. I wanted to talk to you.” His jaw was tense.

“You could have called,” I mumbled, still trying to tame my erratic heart.

“It’s important.” His features were hard to read but I was well aware we were alone in my room. It made me think about our heated encounter in the janitor’s closet and I swallowed trying to calm my racing heart for an entirely different reason.

“I didn’t think we had anymore to say to each other but you’ve gone to this much trouble so say what you came to say,” I prompted, curious as to why he would go to this degree to talk to me.

“You look beautiful,” he said. His gaze took in my tight top and short skirt.

I studied him, quietly, unsure of how to take his compliment. It didn’t quite feel like it was meant in the way I would usually would have taken it.

“Where were you tonight?” he asked, tersely. He almost sounded jealous.

“I was with Lacey. We went to party on campus.” I frowned. “What’s with all the questions Aiden. The last time we spoke we wanted different things so I’m not sure why you’re here, asking twenty questions.”

He worked his jaw. “The last time we spoke, you told me how you felt and then left. You didn’t really give me a chance to respond.”

I folded my arms, feeling vulnerable and I didn’t like it at all. He had this way of being able to pull me from one height to the bottomless pit of heartbreak. I wasn’t sure if I could take anymore.

Did I even want to hear what he had to say? A part of me wanted it more than anything but there was the part that didn’t want to take the chance that he would break my heart all over again.

I studied him cautiously as he rose up from the chair.

“Why was Max over at your house this afternoon?” he asked. His eyes fixed on me to watch me closely.

“How do you know that?” I found myself asking.

“Just answer the question Reece.” His tone cold and short. I bristled.

“I’m not sure that’s any of your business.” I shrugged.

Two could play this game. When I had needed to know the importance of the blonde, he had played that card.

“Don’t be like that Reece.”

“Like what? Like you were with me?” I shot back.

“It’s different.”

“How’s it different? Explain it to me?” I couldn’t wait to hear this.

“You know how it’s different.”

I frowned. “No I don’t. Why don’t you tell me?”

There was no way I was going to let him get out of this without explaining.

“You had feelings for him.”

His eyes held mine.

“Meaning you don’t have feelings for the blonde?” I hated how hopeful I was. Why did I always allow him to feel me in so easily?

“No.”

Now I hated how my heart lifted with hope even though my mind was warning me to not get my hopes up for fear he would squash them again. Like he had before.

“Why was Max here?” he asked.

It was clear now that he was jealous, and if I was honest I liked.

“He wanted to talk.” I drew my answer out. “He took some responsibility for the way our relationship fell apart.”

He gave me a brooding look. “Was that all he wanted?”

I shook my head. “No. He told me he wants to get back together.”

He frowned. “You don’t love him anymore.” He was quick to come up with a reason why I shouldn’t.

“If you’re just here to interrogate me over Max, you can leave,” I told him, not interested in continuing the conversation about Max.

He rolled his shoulders slightly. “You called me mediocre.”

I nodded. “That’s what you’re were offering.”

“You don’t belong with Max,” he stated, his tone hard.

“Really? How do you know that?” Maybe I was just being difficult but I couldn’t seem to help myself. His treatment of me still fresh in my mind.

“You cheated on him with me. You would never have done that if you truly loved him.”

I hated that he was right. I crossed my arms.

“Maybe. But I never expected you to flake out the moment I was ready to face how I felt about you.”

He frowned as he rubbed the back of his neck. It pulled his shirt up slightly giving me a glimpse of his taunt midriff. I swallowed, unable to look away.

“No, that’s not how it happened Reece. You were jealous. That’s why you came to see me, not because you suddenly figured out that you wanted to be with me.”

“And you’re only here because you saw me with max,”

He shook his head. “I know how I felt. I didn’t need another guy to figure it out.”

It felt like we were going around in circles, getting no where.

“You were right,” he said. But I had no idea what I was right about. “I wouldn’t be able to share you with someone else.”

He was finally being honest with himself.

“The thing is I know that all of this happened without much warning in the middle of a very chaotic time. But every day you didn’t show up at my house was chipped away at me.”

I bit my lip, feeling a little guilty for being so selfish.

“What if there hadn’t been a blonde Reece? Would you ever have wanted me if you hadn’t seen me with someone else?”

I knew the answer to that. I nodded. “Just because I haven’t spoken to you doesn’t mean you haven’t set up home in my mind. I think about you all the time,” I admitted softly. Maybe it was time to be truthful and lay it all out in front of him so there was no misunderstanding or confusion.

“Really?” His eyebrows lifted.

“Yeah.”

Suddenly, I was feeling a lot warmer and his eyes held mine in a way that drew me in. It was hard to resist. All I could think about was what had happened in the janitor’s closet.

I remember his mouth against mine and urgency of needing to be with him in a way I had never experienced before.

If this was ever going to work out between us we needed to keep our hands off each other. We need to figure out our emotions before we allowed ourselves to give into the ease of the physical attraction we shared. Sex was easy, emotions were hard.

“I don’t want to see you with other girls,” I admitted.

He moved closer. “There won’t be anyone else.”

I dropped my arms to my sides as he reached me and took my hand into his. I sighed, allowing myself to revel in the warm touch of his hand on mine.

“And you’ll be honest with Max and tell him that you don’t love him anymore.”

I was transfixed. “And then?”

“And then we figure out how we are going to be together. What we both need from each other to make this work.” His one hand lifted to touch my cheek.

I let out a heavy breath. “No one else.”

He nodded. “No one else.”

We were already laying the ground work for our way forward.

“And we let the past stay in the past were it belongs. We don’t allow the circumstances of how we started to overshadow what we have, otherwise this will never work.”

I nodded. We needed to make peace with the fact that we were human. We had made a mistake and taken responsibility for it.

He lowered his lips to mine.

I held his shirt. “Don’t break my heart Aiden.“

“Same Reece,” he murmured.

There was nothing mediocre about the boy in front of me when his lips finally sealed over mine and he kissed me.

Aiden’s mouth brushed against mine softly as I threaded my hands through his hair. His mouth sealed over mine and I groaned as his tongue parted my lips to caress my tongue. It felt so good, I didn’t want the deep kiss to end.

He lifted his mouth from mine. “You’re addictive.…”

I nodded, feeling the same physical intensity he was. I wanted him, so bad. It would be easy to close off the doubts and lift his shirt in-between stolen kisses and let it lead where his body moved against mine but I hesitated.

I didn’t ’t wanted to do anything that would jeopardize what we had just managed to figure out. Would getting physical too soon impact our fragile union? It was difficult to figure out. My mind told me to hold off but my body was giving off entirely different signals. I wanted him, more than anything in that moment. Logic be damned.

His gaze flickered from my eyes to my lips.

Kiss me, I whispered in my mind. I wanted him to kiss me again and never stop. It felt like a lifetime since the last time we had been together. The last time had been a hurried hookup in a janitor’s closet in amongst the pressure and strain of worrying about Lacey’s life hanging in the balance.

I was torn between doing what I felt was right for us but wanting him so bad I just wanted to give into the physical want of him and let everything else fall where it may.

“I know we should probably take things slow but right now I want you,” I said, holding onto his shirt and pulling him in for a kiss.

I wanted him right now, in my bedroom. My decision was made.

“What if your parents wake up?” he asked against my lips eyeing out my bedroom door.

I released my hold on him and went to lock my door. My parent’s weren’t super strict but finding a guy naked in my bed would probably not go down well.

He raked a hand through his hair. I like how he looked undone, just like I felt. I released a breath, trying to take in the moment of the what was about to happen between us. This was different to every other stolen moment between and this. This time we weren’t doing anything wrong. He was single and so I was I. There was lying or hiding.

I had always feared that the excitement of it being forbidden had contributed to the intensity of it but I was only now realizing that it hadn’t been the case at all. What I felt for him and I how I wanted him was the same as it had been before.

I leaned against the door.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked softly, studying me.

I nodded slowly. I hadn’t felt this side about something in a long while, I pushed off the door to move to stand in front of him.

I wanted to savor what was about to happen. The times before we had always rushed things to ensure we never got caught but this time there was none of that.

Our gazes held as his hand reached for mine and pulled me up against him. His mouth covered mine.

After feeling like I had lost him I just wanted to hold him close and not him go.

His tongue slid against mine and I threaded my hands through his hair. His hands went to my waist and I felt fingers brush against my skin of my stomach.

“I can’t think of another guy touching you,” he breathed.

He was admitting something I had already known despite what he had said before. I brushed a thumb against his bottom lip as I met his eyes. “Then don’t let me go.”

It was still there. The hurt of how he had rejected me the first time. It would take time with him to work my way through it and make me feel more confident in what we felt for each other.

I wanted to feel that same connection with him that had held me together when everything around me had unravelled.

He sighed. “I won’t.”

His hand went to the nape of my neck and he pulled me closer to seal his lips over mine.

His hands lifted my top and we broke our kiss so he could remove my shirt. I lifted the hem of his quickly discarding his.

I soothed my hands over his taunt stomach and muscles, exploring his body. He pulled me against his hard body to kiss me deeply, as I lifted myself up onto my tiptoes.

Snaking my arms around his neck to press the heat of my skin against his. If felt so good I closed my eyes to savor the moment.

This time there was no rush to discard our clothes, we took our time getting undressed between steamy kisses that heightened my feelings for him. I had never been so attracted to a guy before or wanted them like I wanted Aiden.

When we both undressed he lay me down on the bed and I reached for a condom in my bed side table.

Once he sheathed the protection he pulled me in for a deep kiss and covered my body with his. I held his shoulders as he settled between my legs and I pressed them against his hips, holding him in place.

“You still sure Reece,” he asked softly, his lips against mine.

I moved to hold his face and kiss him deeply. “Yes.”

I had never been so sure about something in my life before. I wanted him and he wanted me. There was no guilt, no lying, no hiding. This was just us. There were no repercussions hanging over our heads or guilting our hearts.

He slowly joined our bodies together and I closed my eyes feeling the fullness of him as he sealed his mouth over mine, thrusting his tongue between my lips as he mimicked his movements. Sliding our bodies against each other. I held his shoulders, my nails digging into his skin as the intensity of union deepened.

I panted, feeling my whole body tingle and needing him to take me to new heights. I was open to him physically and emotionally. Allowing him in, in a way I hadn’t before.

The physical response to him was mirrored how my heart stuttered when ours eyes briefly as we were as close as two people could be. I felt like I was falling into him.

It was then I realized what was happening. I was falling in love with him and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

I opened my mouth slightly as the friction intensified and then all I could concentrate was the wave I was riding, right up to the top. Then I shuddered as I came. Gasping.

His mouth covered mine and he continued to thrust into me until he came.

I held him as he slumped on top of me. I was still trying to catch my breath as I realized that I loved him and what that would mean if things didn’t work out. It wasn’t easy to embrace what I felt when I was still so scared he would break my heart.

I was still stuck in my thoughts when he moved to discard the protection and when he returned he pulled on his boxers before he leaned to kiss me.

“A penny for your thoughts?” he asked, sitting down on the side of the bed.

I swallowed. “Nothing. Just waiting for the earth to stop moving.”

He smiled and it lifted my heart. “I aim to please.”

I pulled him down to kiss me and as the kiss ended I said, “Don’t break my heart Aiden.”

“I won’t Reece,” he said, touching his thumb to my bottom lip. “I have just as much as stake as you do.”

I stared in his eyes. Could he see I had fallen in love with him? Did that mean he was in love with me?

The need to be honest with him was not as the strong as the need to protect myself until I could be sure that this was going to work between us. I couldn’t open up and reveal my true feelings if I still feared that no matter what we tried it wasn’t going to work.

Time would give me the courage to be able to open up and tell him. But right now I kissed him instead of telling him that he had my heart.