Whispering Wishes (24 page)

I shake my head no before answering, “What did she say?”

“She said, ‘you went to college and got a business degree so you can serve people beer for a living?’”

My heart twists for him.
I can’t imagine how it felt to be so excited to share something with the person he loves, to only have it be shot down like that. The thought makes me sad.

“I made excuses initially and blew it off as her not really understanding what having a place like that would mean to me.
Then I lost my parents and all of that was overshadowed by the pain of their loss. The house was left to me and it was just unspoken that when I moved in, she would come, too. Things with us were never quite the same. There was this… distance… this space between us that no matter how much we tried to get it back, it was just missing. We couldn’t get the feeling back. Sure, we tried to cover it up with meaningless words, our daily life routine, and sex, but it never worked.”

Ugh, barf bag for one please.
I do not want to think about him having sex with anyone else, ever. I flinch at the words, but he doesn’t even notice, too caught up in his story.

“One day, I went and looked at a couple locations for the bar, and talked to her about them when she got home that evening.
I thought one location looked really promising, and I was outbid for it. There’s a hair salon or something there now, but anyway, her response to my excitement was, ‘you haven’t given up on that crazy idea yet?’”

I
run my fingertips over his jaw in some form of comfort, because regardless of how I feel about Adrianna, their relationship, and the entire situation, the thought of it all obviously brings him pain.

“We had a huge blow up that night, and she packed up some stuff and left.
I haven’t seen her since.”

“I’m so sorry.
That had to be awful, losing your parents and then the woman you love.”

“I wasn’t in a good place, but that’s the reason that Matt and Ian are such good friends.
They were there for me through it all. They took me out and got me good and drunk and tried to set me up with other women to ‘get her out of my system’ as they said. I wasn’t interested. I told myself I was done with relationships. At least for a while. I’m not saying there hasn’t been flings in the few months since, but nothing serious.”

“And now?
How do you feel about relationships now?”

He looks me i
n the eye, rubs his thumb over my lips again and again, “I think that everything happens for a reason.” It’s not lost on me that those are the same words Mischa just encouraged me to consider as well. Maybe the universe is listening after all.

Wes and I
spent the whole rest of the night in bed together. We reveled in exploring and getting to know one another’s bodies, sometimes taking our time, other times, our love making urgent and passionate.

My feelings for him already make me nervous.
I don’t want to feel too much too fast, but I fear I already am. During my quiet times, I keep reminding myself to take it slow, just live in the moment and stop worrying about the rest. It’s a little tough because I’m a bit of a planner, but when I feel the worry and doubt start creeping in, I do my best to push it back down.

When I awoke this morning, I let myself enjoy lying in his arms, and did my best to
not move or wake him so I could bask in the feeling. I forgot how much I missed such connection and intimacy. Realizing I was awake, he immediately started being his sexy self, and tried to start sexy times with me once again. Like I could deny that. He had just rolled on top of me when my phone rang.

I’d been ignoring my phone since last evening, so when it rang again for the third time this morning, I knew I needed to pick up.
If it was some kind of emergency, or Mischa needed me and I didn’t answer, I would never forgive myself.

“Don’t answer that,” Wes murmurs from somewhere under the covers while he’s biting and nibbling his way down my body.

“I have to, in case it’s Mischa.”

He moves up and pops his head out of the covers, making me grin. He reaches over and grabs my phone off the table, and hands it to me without looking at it. Then, he throws the covers back over his head, returning to his task, making me giggle. He makes me do that a lot.

“Hello?”

“ASPEN! FINALLY! I’ve been trying to reach you since last night!” I hold the phone a couple inches away from my ear so Meg doesn’t blow out an eardrum.

“Hi Meg.
Why are you yelling? Is something wrong?”

“YES!
What the hell happened with Nick, Aspen?”

“Nick?”
I ask, automatically feeling Wes stiffen and stop his evil plan of distraction.

“Yes, Nick.
You remember him, right? Tall, dark, handsome, you went on a date with him, brought him back to your place, and somehow he ended up at the hospital. He won’t talk about what happened, and whenever I bring up your name, he rubs his chest automatically and shuts the conversation down.”

“Is he okay?”

“As far as I know. What the hell happened? “ Wes pops his head out of the covers and his body is lying completely flush with mine. I can feel his erection between my legs, and I stifle a groan. He gives me a mischievous grin and presses his hips to mine. He knows damn well what he’s doing.

“Well
, there was a little accident. If he doesn’t want to talk about it, then I’m not going to either.”

At this point Wes has his ear pressed up against mine listening to my conversation.
I could care less though.

Meg sighs in my ear
. “What the hell am I going to do with you, Aspen?” Wes grins at me and is trying not to laugh at Meg sounding exasperated. “But fine, since Nick isn’t going to work, Jay also has this great friend, Dan. Frankly, he was my second choice for you, but he’s still good looking and I think you will be happy.” That makes the smirk on Wes’s face quickly fade.

Before I even realize what has happened, Wes has plucked the ph
one from my hand, “Hi Meg? Wes here. Aspen won’t be needing set up on any more blind dates, ever…. Who am I? This is Wes Knight. Yes, Wes – we met the other night at D’Vine when I waited on your table. I’m Aspen’s boyfriend,” I open my eyes wide at the term but he just winks at me and acts as if it’s not a big deal. “Well, we will have to rectify that, I would like to meet again formally as well. I’m sure Aspen would be more than happy to tell you how she came on to me and finally convinced me to sleep with her. Anyway, Aspen doesn’t need to be set up with anyone again,
ever
. Oh, and just so you know, you may want to think twice before thinking about setting up Nick with anyone again, too, since Aspen burnt his dick off. Have a great day!”

Then he hangs up the phone.
“What the hell!?” I screech.

“What?
You are
not
going on any more blind dates.”

“You didn’t have to hang up on my friend or tell her about Nick’s dick.”

“Please never use those words in a sentence when talking to me ever again.” He lifts an eyebrow at me waiting for me to agree. I don’t. “Don’t make me spank you, Ms. Edwards.”

“Maybe I want you to, Mr. Knight.”

He laughs. “Challenge accepted.”

“You know, I can’t believe you just threw out the ‘b’ word.”

“We talked about this,” he narrows his eyes at me.

“We didn’t talk about this, you just told me what you want.”

“Well, what else is there to say?”

“How about the fact that I want you to take me out.
You want to be my boyfriend, fine, but you are going to date me and earn the title.”

“Date you?”

“Yes, that’s what I said.”

“I love it when you’re feisty,” he smirks
. “Besides, I would love nothing more. Consider yourself dating. Tomorrow, I’m off again, are you working?”

“No.”

“Good, don’t make plans. I have some plans for us. Now… where were we?”

I’m in my
room getting ready for my date with Wes and it feels different getting ready knowing I’m going out with him. I want to look nice. I finally decide on some jeans, a black top, and a scarf that’s zebra print with turquoise running through it. I pair it with some cute zebra print flats, and when I look in the mirror, I think I look casual, but chic and cute. My makeup is minimal and my hair is down, but curled.

When Wes sees me, he whistles low
. “You look amazing. As always.”

“So do you,” and he does.
I look at him from head to toe. He’ s just thrown together in jeans, a white t-shirt a leather jacket with boots. He’s grinning at me in a way that makes me want to take all his clothes off and forget the date and stay home.

“You keep looking at me that way, and we aren’t going anywhere.”

“Funny. I was just thinking the same thing,” I confess.

He looks at me for a moment, then pulls me to him and kisses my forehead.
“I hate sounding all feely and what not, but with you, I’m different. It’s ruining my bad ass rep, so don’t tell anyone.” I smile and make the gesture of crossing my heart. “But, I want to take you out, I want to spend time with you, woo you, and do romantic shit.”

I laugh at his description
. “Well how can I say no to that? And just for the record, no wooing required. Consider myself already wooed.”

“Noted,” he kisses me softly on the lips
. “Let’s head out.”

We walk out the door and head to his car
. “We aren’t taking your bike?” I raise my eyebrows in surprise.

“We will another time, I need the room in the car for something.”

“Okay.” I walk to his car and reach for the door, but he’s there first and opens it for me. “Thank you,” I kiss him on the cheek and then duck into the car.

“My pleasure.”
He waits for me to get in and closes the door.

Once he’s seated, I don’t waste any time
. “So where are we going, handsome?”

“Nah, I don’t like that nickname, think of another.
Not that I mind being handsome, pet.”

“Who says I’m thinking of a nickname?”

He ignores my comment
. “I’m not telling you where we’re going. It’s a surprise.”

“Oooh, intriguing.”

“You’re cute when you’re trying to act casual like you don’t care when you really do.
Admit it, you are dying to know where we’re going.”

“Whatever,” is my lame come back
, which makes him laugh.

We aren’t driving long before he pulls in and parks in the lot at a local park.
It’s the most gorgeous one in our town. Green grass, trees, flowers for every growing season, trails for walking or hiking, and even an area for dogs. There’s also a little lake with ducks and a playground for little ones.

I look at him and wait for him to explain
. “I thought we could have a little picnic.” He doesn’t say more before he’s out of the car and coming to help me out my side. He opens up the back of the car and takes out a picnic basket and a couple blankets.

“Oh my goodness, you are all prepared.”

“Of course I am. Would you expect anything less?”

We walk hand and hand through the park for a while before coming to a tree.
I help him spread the blankets and we sit down together, and then look around taking in the view.

“Are you hungry?”
He brushes his hand on my cheek, making me turn to him.

“Starving.”

He smirks. “I mean for food.”

“Okay, yeah, that too,” I smile.

He starts unpacking the picnic basket and admittedly, I’m impressed.
There’s cheese, fruit, veggies with dip, potato salad cups with spoons, crackers and lunch meat cut in squares. He even pulls out bottles of water making me raise my eyebrow, “Well, I figured it was still kind of early for wine.”

“It’s never too early for wine.
Besides, it’s lunch time,” I tease. “But water is perfect.”

He takes out little plates and I start piling food on mine and he on his.
I’m about to put a strawberry to my lips when he surprises me and takes it out of my hands. “Let me.” He holds the strawberry to my lips and I take a bite and chew slowly.

He puts the berry on my plate and then kisses me.
“Mmm, you taste good.”

From where we are sitting
, we have a perfect view of the park. The children aren’t too close, but close enough that the sound of their laughter reaches our ears. I smile looking at a particularly cute boy smiling a huge beaming smile at his mom after he slides down the slide. She claps her hands, making him grin widely, and I can’t make out what he says but I can imagine it must be “again” because he runs back to the ladder to climb back up once more.

Wes follows my line of sight
. “Cute, aren’t they?”

“They’re adorable.”

He clears his throat. “Do you want kids?”

I look at him and smile
, wondering how I should answer that. I don’t want to scare him away and answer with something making it sound like my biological clock is ticking, but I don’t want to lie either. “I would like to have kids very much. Some day.”

He surprises me by answering, “Me too,” making me realize my uncertainty at first was silly.

“Yeah?”

“Yes, definitely.
Besides, how cute would a little mini me be with a Mohawk and biker jacket?”

The image he’s painted makes me laugh
. “Adorable.”

“I can even picture a mini you, all dressed up for Halloween in a chicken suit.”

I laugh out loud and he joins me. “Oh God, I will never live that down.”