Christian’s face fell, and he immediately unhanded my hair. He nodded at Aiden, looking uncomfortable, and then took a nervous sip from his drink.
My face tingled as my eyes met Aiden’s slightly glassy gaze. I had nothing to be ashamed of—it wasn’t like I’d forced my hair in between Christian’s fingers—but I felt a little guilty. SOS tendency. Non-boyfriend physical contact was a definite no-no.
Aiden beamed at me, taking a drink from his own beer. He looked sideways at Christian. “Is Tessa being a good hostess?” he asked, pulling him into one of those almost headlock hugs and releasing him with a laugh.
I blinked rapidly, trying to read Aiden’s mood. He looked fine. A little drunk, but otherwise stellar.
“Yeah,” Christian said, straightening his shirt before looking back at my boyfriend. “Tessa’s being very polite.”
Normally I’d have thought it was sweet of him to notice, but right now, I wasn’t in the mood. I wanted to talk to Aiden.
My boyfriend looked proud. “Tessa is always nice, aren’t you, baby? Especially to strangers.” He set his beer on the hallway table and stepped forward, putting his hand in my hair and holding a few strands there, palm up, like he was checking to see if Christian had damaged it.
“A little ray of sunshine,” he continued, separating the strands with his fingers. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. “Did you miss me?” he asked, meeting my eyes and then narrowing his seductively.
I nodded, suddenly and completely hot for him, hotter than usual. Was it the way he was touching me? Was it Christian or his sister? I wasn’t sure. But I licked my lips, daring Aiden to be naughty. He noticed.
He slid his hand over my shoulder and behind my neck to draw me against him. But instead of ravaging me, he leaned over to kiss my cheek lightly, pausing there to whisper, “You’re my little angel, Tessa Crimson.” When he pulled away, we stood there watching each other, both of us breathing a little heavy.
Christian coughed.
My boyfriend exhaled and straightened up, taking a second to look down at me adoringly. “I love you,” he mouthed silently before bending back down to peck my lips.
“I love you too.” I didn’t bother whispering it. I wanted the world to know.
“You continue being cute,” he said to me, raising his eyebrow. “But not too cute.” He smiled, and I felt decidedly better.
“I’ll try,” I said.
“Now I’m going downstairs to the basement to watch the game on the big screen with the team. Unless, of course, you needed to talk to me alone, Tessa.” His eyes flashed wickedly.
He made my insides turn to oatmeal when he talked sexy like that. “I think we can chat later.” We’d have to. Hooking up at a party full of people would be a terrible example to set.
“Oh, we can,” Aiden agreed, nodding, slowly backing up. “And I have a lot to say, too. It’s going to be a very long conversation.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
I smiled as I watched Aiden walk toward the stairs. Then, as if in afterthought, he turned around. “Don’t keep her too long, Chris. Tessa has other guests to be polite to.”
“It’s Christian,” Christian said, mostly under his breath.
Aiden winked at me and then disappeared down the steps. Feeling much better, I watched as the rest of the team filed down after him. I was Aiden’s angel! Everything was going to be fine.
“Tessa?”
I looked at Christian dreamily and wondered why he was still standing there. “What?”
“I know about you and SOS.”
My. Heart. Stopped.
A breath escaped between my lips, but I couldn’t speak. It was like my air was gone. Christian and I stared at each other, and he looked almost apologetic. But he knew. Leaping lizards! He knew.
“Let’s go,” a low voice hissed. I looked to my left to see Chloe approaching, a scowl firmly planted on her overly painted mouth.
I was shaking so badly, I was afraid I might pass out. I steadied myself against the wall. Christian reached out and put his hand on my waist.
“Hey,” he whispered. “I’m sorry if I scared you. I promise I’m not going to tell anybody, but I think we should talk about it.”
Keep breathing, Tessa.
“I’ll see you later, okay?” And he did look sorry. That meant that he was either actually sorry or I was incredibly pale and he thought I might faint. Maybe both.
I glanced at Chloe. Her eyebrows were pulled together, but she didn’t look too concerned with me. She was ticked about something else entirely. I wondered if it had to do with Aiden.
Christian was still touching me, and there was a sick turn in my belly. What now? Was he going to expose us? Try and blackmail me? I backed away from him, letting his hand fall.
He nodded, almost like he understood my dread. Then he turned around, took his sister by the elbow, and walked through the party and out the front door.
When he was gone, I ran to the bathroom and threw up.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Aiden said, kissing my neck as we lay together on the leather sofa in his basement. Normally I’d have made a squeak or two by now (he found that adorable), but my body was too numb. I was still in shock.
“Tessa,” he mumbled, running his hand down to the bottom of my dress, tugging at my hem like he was dying to pull it off. “You’re a bit … unresponsive, baby.” He nibbled at my ear.
This could have been a good night. It felt like Aiden and I were getting back on track; and now, suddenly, the whole flipping train had derailed. And I didn’t know where I was stranded.
“Sorry,” I said, shifting my position under him, trying to refocus on the task at hand.
Aiden pulled my knee over his hip as he brought his mouth to mine again, kissing me deeply. But all I could think about were the Smitten Kittens. We’d lose everything. If everyone found out that we were SOS, we’d be shunned from high school society. Oh, my word. We’d be dead meat.
My boyfriend pulled away, breathing heavily, staring down into my face. I realized I wasn’t panting at all. That might have hurt his ego.
“Tessa? What’s up?”
He was still on top of me, but there was nothing frisky going on anymore. Aiden looked pretty annoyed as he tried to catch his breath.
I wanted to trust him with our secret. I wanted so much to be free of it, but what if he couldn’t forgive me for lying to him? What would I do then?