And so it begins

They left the bar in a swirl of cool night air and neon glow on the sidewalk. Natalie looped her purse over her shoulder, cheeks still flushed from laughter and beer. Aiden walked beside her, hands jammed in his pockets, trying to hide the grin that wouldn’t leave his face.

The parking lot was full of cars, but empty of people. Natalie wobbled just a bit in her heels, bumping into Aiden as they stepped off the curb.

He steadied her with a hand at her elbow. “You alright?”

“I’m good,” she said, laughing quietly. “I only had two beers and how much of that did you drink? So, I’m gonna blame it on my terrible taste in shoes.”

He shook his head, the humor in his voice coming through as he wrapped an arm around her. “You’re fine. I’ve got you.”

“You had fun, right?” she asked, holding onto him.

He nodded, looking over to search her face. “Best night I’ve had in a while.”

She smiled, finding her ponytail, and pulling the tie free. “Me too.”

They walked in step without talking, the din of the bar fading to a low thrum behind them leaving only their steps and the beat of her heart in her ears. At her car, Natalie thumbed the key fob; the lights blinked and the locks popped. Her fingers wrapped around the handle, the metal warming beneath her grip. When she turned, Aiden was right there, standing several inches taller, but close enough to feel his body heat, his eyes fixed on her with a kind of hungry patience. She could tell he wanted her to close the gap, but he wouldn’t make the move.

She’d never intentionally stood this close to him before. For a beat, she searched his face, so familiar, and suddenly not at all. Her pulse nudged upward, feeling the press of her dress against her own skin. Just days ago, she’d kissed Lisa with a desperate hunger, and now here she was, electricity buzzing through her veins at the thought of wrongness, and the certainty that she was crossing a line she may not be able to go back from.

He hadn’t moved. His eyes stayed on hers. Aiden’s hand began to lift, then settled back at her hip, his thumb finding the seam once more.

“Okay,” she breathed, mostly to herself.

Natalie rose onto her toes and kissed him. It was tentative at first, her lips brushing his, half-afraid, but half-thrilled with crossing the line she knew she shouldn’t. Barely a day had gone by since they’d agreed this very thing couldn’t happen. Then something broke open and she pressed closer, the first brush of lips became a second, deeper one; her fingers slid up. His hands stayed at her hips, fingers tight against her hipbone, holding her in place but not taking over. She curled her arms around his neck, drawing him down until the difference in height all but disappeared.

He let out a deep, shaky breath, and suddenly he was the one pushing her, gently but firmly, back against the car. The metal and glass cooled the back of her, his mouth warmed everything else, as they met again, harder this time. Her hips arched off the door as she pulled him tighter. The world shrank to the scrape of stubble on her cheek, feeling the heat of his palms through thin fabric. She could feel her pulse racing in her neck. Every second felt stolen and dangerous, all of it impossibly new.

She let out a sound she didn’t mean to make. He swallowed it, still not moving his hands, only his mouth, patient and hungry and young in a way that made her feel reckless. She tugged him in tighter and his own grip answered, firm at her waist. The kiss turned greedy in a mash of teeth, and the slide of his lower lip as she chased it.

They might have stayed tangled up like that, but a couple stumbled out, quickly followed by laughter. The guy gave a low whistle; the woman giggled, swatted at his arm, and told him to knock it off.

Natalie and Aiden’s mouths parted slowly. They looked over, then back to each other, foreheads almost touching, breathing hard.

“We should go,” she whispered.

Aiden nodded, his own voice barely more than a whisper, licking his lips. “Yeah. We should.”

She smiled, a little out of breath, and went to open the door, finding it had relocked itself. Fumbling for her keys, she unlocked it once more. As she slid into the driver’s seat, Aiden closed the door behind her and stood for a second, trying to get his heart rate under control.

Natalie looked up at him through the window, still grinning. “You riding with me, or are you planning to walk home?”

He laughed, circling around to the passenger side. “Sorry. With you, obviously.”

The night suddenly felt different as they pulled out of the parking lot, the streetlights blurring past, as a whole new tension began simmering in the car. Neither spoke, not quite knowing what to say.

Inside the apartment, the silence between them felt more like a loaded pause, everything holding its breath with them. Natalie slipped her shoes off by the door and brushed her hands over her dress, feeling the memory of Aiden’s mouth pressed against her still stamped across her skin.

She walked toward the kitchen hitting the lights, and glancing back. “I need a water,” she said, trying to make it sound casual, though the words came out a little unsteady.

Aiden trailed after her, letting the door fall shut with a soft click. “Same,” he replied, his own voice rougher than normal.

The cold air brushed her calves, when the fridge opened. She reached for a bottle, the familiar ridges grounding her for a moment. When she turned, Aiden was right there beside her, his shoulder just barely brushing hers. He reached in for his own, and the space between them shrank to nothing.

“About tonight,” he said, then shook his head, a crooked smile surfacing. “I had a good time.”

“Me too.” She leaned her hip into the island and rested the bottle against it. “You played better than I expected.”

“That sounds like a dig.”

“It is,” she said, and the smile that followed softened the jab, “-’cause you still lost.”

Aiden laughed under his breath. “I’m aware.” His eyes flicked to hers and held. “You really would’ve made me wear a thong?”

“I still might,” she said, heat curling in her voice before she could stop it. “Depends how the rest of the week goes.”

He swallowed. “And if I’d won?”

Natalie slid her bottle an inch on the counter, the plastic skidding. She couldn’t help thinking about what they’d promised they wouldn’t do, and yet, here they were. “Let’s not pretend you wouldn’t’ve insisted on collecting.”

He didn’t argue. “Hey,” he said after a second, the teasing in his tone working as a release valve. “The thing you told that guy, about… your hands.”

Her cheeks lifted; the flush there wasn’t only from the beer. “He was being an ass. I improvised.”

“Improvised, huh?”

She studied him, the crease of concentration at his brow, the way his thumb kept finding the seam of the label on his bottle. “Are you really fishing for compliments right now?”

“I’m not-” He stopped, finally grinning. “Maybe a little.”

She took another drink to buy a second. “You don’t need me to say it out loud,” she replied, setting down her bottle. “You already know you’re not average in that department.”

“Maybe I’m just trying to make you think about it,” he chuckled.

Something eased in him, something pride-adjacent but not arrogant. He stepped closer without quite realizing he was doing it. The island pressed against the small of her back. He set his bottle down beside hers, carefully, like he was setting down a glass thing that might shatter.

“Nat,” he said, and the way he said her name made her feel it course through her.

She reached for him before she could talk herself out of it, one hand at the front of his shirt, fingers curling in the cotton. The kiss she gave him was firmer than the one against the car, and no less hungry. He kissed her back, his hands finding the same spot they had earlier. An apparent safe space, where she’d left them at her waist without protest, and his thumb rubbing the fabric of her dress at her hip once more.

“This is a bad idea,” she murmured into his mouth, not moving away.

“I know,” he said, not moving either.

Sliding both palms up his chest, she felt the warm rise under the fabric, the thud of his heart matching hers. The kitchen felt almost too bright, the white of the cabinets, the stainless sheen of the fridge, every surface reflecting any light they could. Aiden’s fingers tightened at her hips and then eased, as if reminding himself not to take more than she offered, after his last bad choices revolving around her.

“We said we couldn’t,” she reminded, breath catching when his lower lip grazed hers again.

“We did,” he agreed, and the agreement didn’t do a thing to stop him from kissing her once more, deeper, like he wanted to explore the shape of her mouth.

She exhaled into him, a sound that surprised her. He didn’t chase it; he let it be, his forehead resting against hers for a long second before he tipped it down, closing his eyes. His hand didn’t wander, they stayed at her hip, warm and steady through the thin fabric, that thumb still on the seam like it was the only place he trusted himself to touch.

“Look at me,” she said, because she needed to see his face to know exactly where they were with each other.

He did as he was told. What she found there made her braver than she meant to be.

The smallest smile pulled at her mouth. “Maybe one more kiss.”

He bent and gave her one more. Her fingers slid to the back of his neck and held him there, and something in him answered. He pressed his palms into her waist, checked her eyes for half a beat, then lifted. She rose with a soft gasp, dress whispering against the counter as he set her on the edge of the island. The cool stone met the backs of her thighs; she shivered and then leaned into him, ankles sliding around to hook behind his knees. The pressure drew him closer, lining them up until there was nowhere else to go but into the next breath and the next kiss.

He braced one hand on the counter beside her hip and kept the other at her waist, his thumb finding her hipbone once more. She kissed him deeper, tilting his head with the curve of her hand, the line of his jaw rough with stubble under her fingertips. He made a small sound and pressed forward just enough that she felt the steadiness leave his knees.

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