“Oh, it’s you,” she whispered, feeling completely relieved.
She’d forgotten he wasn’t in Clair’s room when they got home. He must’ve been napping on the back porch and made his way in through the doggy door. Snickers was another heavy sleeper. At almost eight, his hearing wasn’t the greatest anymore. She hurried to Clair’s room so his barking when he saw AJ wouldn’t wake Clair. The sight of her daughter sleeping so soundly made her smile.
“Go night nights,” she whispered to Snickers, who ran straight to his little bed next to Clair’s and circled around until he dropped his body down into it.
Addison closed the door, rushing back to her room and to her private bathroom. A nervous-looking AJ pushed himself away from the sink where he’d been leaning and stared at her anxiously. “It was the dog,” she said, and the relief washed over his face instantly. “I put him in her room so he won’t bark when he sees you and wake her. But I have to get this in my mom’s dry cleaner machine.”
He gaped at her as she walked over to the sink to retrieve the towel. So she explained about her mom’s state-of-the-art in-home dry-cleaner system. She hadn’t thought of it until after she washed it gently and wondered how best to dry it without wringing it out.
AJ had slipped his hand in hers before they even walked out of the bathroom. The whole way to the laundry room they’d stopped every few steps to kiss. Addison giggled, feeling like a schoolgirl. She’d never experienced anything like this her entire school years, not even in college. She still couldn’t believe she was going to let this happen.
The electrifying excitement of this all was just too surreal. Her heart had been working overtime from the moment Clair told her AJ would be taking them to Galaxy Pizza. Not even when she’d gotten out to escort Harrison to the door of his house and spoken with his mother briefly had her heart taken a break. She knew Clair would very likely not make it home awake, and after AJ’s comments back at the pizza place, she wasn’t sure what the night would bring. Never in her wildest dreams had she expected this would happen.
When they reached the laundry, room her already overworked heart practically jumped out of her chest when he turned and closed the door behind him. “Does this thing lock?”
Feeling her face flush, she shook her head. “It doesn’t,” she said, her lady parts already alive. “But I just checked on Clair and she’s sound asleep. I can tell she’s gonna be out until morning.”
She opened the door to the dry cleaning machine just as his hands came around from behind and over her breasts as he squeezed gently. He groaned softly against her neck as he kissed it, still squeezing breasts she was surprised fit in his hands. But then everything about the man was much bigger in person than she’d imagined.
The moment she was done with the towel she turned around to face him. The way he lifted her and carried her over to the laundry room’s sorting and folding table was like he’d already had it planned. Like he’d staked out her mother’s ridiculously huge laundry room the moment he entered for the best place to do whatever it was he had in mind.
Addison didn’t think her heart could beat any wilder until he sat her at the edge of the table and spread her legs so he could stand between them. “We need to talk,” he said, surprising her. “I know it’s soon, but I’m only in town for another day, and I’ll be working most of it.”
“I’ll be at your game tomorrow,” she said this time, surprising herself.
Before tonight, she had absolutely no intention of making tomorrow’s game. Today’s appearance had been out of sheer necessity. She’d done it for Clair’s sake. Clair had looked forward to today all week, and while her parents never minded looking after her at the games, pawning Clair and her little friend on them today seemed a bit much. But tomorrow like Friday would’ve been just Clair and her parents again. Addison had already given them a reason why she couldn’t make it. Tonight changed everything. Nothing would keep her away from tomorrow’s game now.
“Good,” he said, pecking her softly. “But I wanted to talk to you about something. I know you said you want to wait to say anything about us to your dad and Clair.”
“Yeah,” she said, reaching out for his hand. “There’s more I want to explain.”
“You already have, sweetheart, and I get it.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I really want to explain this to you.”
AJ nodded, the genuine tenderness in his eyes nearly melting her. It was clear he meant it when he said he got it and that was just another reason why she’d given into her body tonight and gone there with him. His candor was one of the things about him she already knew was going to have her falling hard. It was a part of him that was as endearing as it was nerve-wracking. As with everything else when it came to AJ, his emotions were blunt and in your face. Good or bad. He couldn’t hold anything back if he tried. Addison had never known someone for such a short time that she could feel she could trust completely, even around Clair, and that was huge.
As soon as she’d let things happen between them, she was ready to do so again, but he was right. They should talk. It was important that he understand exactly why she wanted—needed—to hold off on telling her parents and Clair about this. And she wanted to make sure she got one thing absolutely clear.
“For all the intellect I was supposedly born with, I’ve made some pretty stupid mistakes in my life. Clair has been the silver lining of one of the biggest I ever made. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. She’s who’s given me strength at some of the lowest moments of my life, and I’ll stop at nothing to protect her.”
“And no one would ever blame you,” he said, his eyes as serious as her words.
Addison smiled back, wondering if it were possible to fall in love with someone this fast. “I trust you, AJ. I really do,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I know I haven’t known you long, and this might sound like BS to you, but what happened tonight would not have happened so soon if I didn’t. I haven’t taken a risk like this in years. But trusting my instincts that you are a man of your word and deciding to take the risk is something I can only do with my own heart. It’s not fair to Clair to risk her little heart this soon. If, for whatever reason, things don’t work out”—she slowed but shook her head when she saw the distaste that remark gave him as it had earlier—“or if it turns out I made a mistake opening up my heart to you so soon, that’s on me. No one else has to be affected by this. My dad adores you”—she smirked—“in a manly way, of course.”
That softened the distasteful expression. “I adore him in a manly way too.”
“Seriously,” she said, smiling even bigger because everything out of his mouth now warmed her insides. “He really has the utmost respect for you, and I wouldn’t want to ruin his perception of you or your relationship with him.”
“I get it,” he said, pecking her sweetly. “I also get that your instinct to protect Clair and my relationship with your father is the only reason why your expectations of what this could become aren’t more optimistic. At least, I’d like to think that’s why, because, personally, I think we’re gonna make a pretty good team: you, Clair, and I.” Addison grinned, feeling delighted that he’d be thinking this way already until his next question. “Tell me about her dad.” That wiped the grin right off her face.
“There’s not much to tell,” she said, glancing away for a moment but then brought her eyes back to his. “He was a mistake I made when I was too young to know better. He said all the things a girl wants to hear until he found out I was pregnant. He was young and scared and insisted I terminate the pregnancy. The relationship I thought had been really beautiful up until then got nasty real fast, until I finally told him I was having my baby and he didn’t have to be a part of our lives.” She stopped and shrugged, reflecting for a moment how young and very naïve she’d been. “It was never my intention to trap him or anything. I just knew abortion wasn’t an option for me. But I can admit now that a part of my young broken heart thought maybe once the baby was born he’d come around. He never did.”