The smell of culinary greatness wakes me from my peaceful slumber. I see that Carter and Taylor are still passed out on the adjacent couch to mine so I slip out of the room and walk down the stairs as quietly as possible. On my way to Aurora's kitchen, my stomach starts to growl, desperate for some good cooking.
"Good morning," Aurora greets me with a glass of orange juice.
"Good morning. Thanks," I take the glass of juice from her and take a seat at one of the kitchen barstools.
"Breakfast will be ready soon. I hope you like pancakes because I made too many of them. Making too much food is a bad habit that I have," she shrugs her shoulders and turns back to the stove.
"I love pancakes," I respond, distracted by her simple beauty.
She's still in her pajamas, a silky pink tank top that shows a little skin between the bottom of it and the top of the matching silk shorts she's wearing. The top is kind of low cut in the back and just a tiny bit of Arabic tattooing peeks out from the fabric.
"Why Arabic?" I ask.
"What do you mean?" She turns around to face me.
"Your tattoo. It's in Arabic," I point out.
"Oh right. You saw that," she smiles.
"Yeah. I'm fluent in that too. That's the anniversary of your mother's passing isn't it?"
"Yeah it is. I chose Arabic because she was trying to learn it before she died. She would always ask me to demonstrate the pronunciation of different words. It was the funniest thing to witness her try to pronounce them and completely fuck it up," she laughs at her memory and it makes me smile a little, glad that she's not gloomy about it.
"That's very cool. Did she teach you how to cook?"
She starts laughing and pulls out her phone, walking towards me. She shows me a video of a messy kitchen, filled with smoke, and a woman trying to control the situation.
"That's my mom," she points to the lady trying to gain control of the kitchen. "She couldn't cook worth a shit," she starts laughing again. "I took this video a few months before she died. She was trying to make a surprise dinner for my dad because it was their anniversary. I ended up cooking the meal and letting her take credit for it," her smile is so wide it makes me truly happy on the inside.
"You look like her," I point out.
"Thank you. She was the most beautiful and innocent person I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. It means a lot that you said that," she hugs me and turns back to the stove.
I decide not to say anything and continue to watch her in her element. When she's done she hands me a plate and tells me to dig in. I pile the plate with pancakes, cheesy hashbrowns, and some bacon, sitting down to eat it.
"Fuck me," I say aloud after taking a bite of the chocolate chip pancake.
"Who's fucking you?" Carter walks into the kitchen with Taylor.
"Nobody. I was just praying," I smirk.
"No offense dude, but I don't think Jesus is interested in fucking you," Carter remarks and Aurora laughs next to me.
We all eat and, when we're finished, let the girls go upstairs to get dressed for riding around.
"So what are your thoughts on your new lady friend?" I bump Carter's shoulder.
"She's fucking perfect, dude. I don't really know what else to say about her other than that. Perfect," his eyes noticeably get brighter, which is strange.
"You've known her for like twelve hours," I counter.
"You liked Aurora before you even met her," Carter shoots back and I know he's got a point.
"True. Good point."
"You haven't even made a move yet, dude. Other than yesterday in the car calling her beautiful and shit. What's up with that?"
"I'm nervous. She's different then the sluts at school. I just don't want to push her too far, too soon," I say and as soon as I start to continue, Carter clears his throat to hint to me to shut the fuck up.
I turn around to see the girls coming down the stairs. God damn, she impresses me every time she's in my presence. She's so fucking sexy. She's got on this tight orange tank top and these frayed shorts on. Her tan legs go on for fucking days and her feet are covered with a pair of cowboy boots that look like they've been in their fair share of mud puddles. The thing that gets me the most though is her turquoise bikini strap, tied around her neck. Fuck me.
"What?" Aurora looks up at me.
I shake my head at myself, not realizing I was fucking staring like an idiot. We all head out to my car and drive the short way to my house where the rest of the guys are meeting us. I catch Carter looking at Taylor's ass when she walks through the door, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't checking Aurora's out too. Carter and I change and we all walk out to the garage behind our house, revealing about twenty ATVs.
"Holy shit," Aurora runs to a lifted matte black ATV with red shocks and hops on. "Dibs!" She calls as she gets settled on it.
"I thought you didn't call dibs," I raise my eyebrows at her accusingly and hop on the ATV next to her.
"I don't call dibs on boys. Four wheelers are another story," she revs the engine.
As soon as we get out to the mudded area in the woods, Aurora does a donut in a huge puddle and splashes at least six of us with mud.
"We just got out here and you're already playing dirty," I accuse her, but playfully.
She laughs and shrugs her shoulders before taking off again. I laugh but then put my game face on, ready for revenge. I manage to get in front of her and completely cover her with mud, which she seemed to enjoy. We all ride around for a few hours, covering each other mud. Finally we decide to call it quits with the mud and pull up to the lake.
I look over at Aurora on her ATV and can't help but laugh. She's got mud in her hair, on her face, on her clothes, just everywhere.
"What are you laughing at?" She puts her hands on her hips and gives a playfully pouty look.
"You're covered, completely," I chuckle and instinctively wipe some mud off of her cheek.
"So are you. You look like you went for a swim in a mud pool," she laughs.
I hear splashing and look to find the whole team is jumping into the lake.
"Well, I'm getting in," she walks towards the lake but stops just before the water starts.
As soon as she starts stripping, my mind plays it in slow motion and I can't even help it. Fuck me. Her boots come off and then her shorts, revealing her incredible ass and I'm not sure I can look away at this point. She starts taking off her mud soaked tank top and I mentally lose my shit. This is like a fucking strip tease. I feel like an eleven-year-old looking at his first playboy. She reveals the turquoise bikini that was hiding under her shirt and I'm pretty sure I'm dying inside. Her body is driving mine fucking insane.
I shake my head and force my eyes off of her body, pulling my shirt off and follow her into the lake.
"Wow dude, we need to work on your staring," Carter whispers to me and I push him lightly.
"Yeah, yeah fuck off," I swim walk through the water towards her again.
She's kind of secluded herself from everyone else so I take advantage of the opportunity to get her alone.
"This has been fun," she smiles at me and floats on her back.
"Yeah it has. Can I ask you something?" I turn you her.
"Of course," she stands up in the water and squeezes the water out of her hair.
"So next month the soccer season begins. Want to come to a few of the games?"
"Of course I want to come! But are you sure you want me to come? I might get kicked out," she smirks.
"Like I said before, we could use a little crazy at the games," I smile at her.
"If you say so. I'd love to go. Now I just have to buy some Sacramento Spartans merchandise," she looks up at me.
"Actually don't worry about it. I'll hook you up with more merch than you probably want."
"No such thing as too much. What do you want for it?" She asks and slowly moves closer to me.
"You don't have to give me anything for it. Perks of being the captain," I assure.
"Oh come on. You must want something," her eyes are piercing as she looks at me.
"Um, I-"I stutter because I'm nervous.
She pulls my hand under the water and pulls me a little further away from everyone else.
"Alright, can I ask you a question?" She asks, letting go of my hand.
"Sure," I look down at her.
"Now, let me say this because I feel it necessary. I'm never bold about this kind of stuff so forgive me if I'm overstepping," she starts to say but I cut her off.
"You won't overstep. Ask me anything," I promise.
"Why haven't you made a move on me yet? I mean I know it's only been a week but it's pretty obvious that you're attracted to me, and I'm attracted to you. Even the guys make it obvious through their body language that you're into me. So why haven't you made a move? Be honest, please." She looks up at me, confusion in her expression.
I stand there for a second and think about how to organize my words.
"The night you came to my house for dinner and we were about to start playing Call of Duty, you said something and I realized I didn't want to push you. You said that the guys in your old school thought you were weak and vulnerable and tried to use that against you. I see past that. I can see that you're not weak, you're not vulnerable, and you're independent. I don't want to step up to the plate to soon and ruin my chances. I don't want to be like those other guys that you described. That's not me. Plus I never get you alone anyway" I lay out my speech and search her face for any hint of emotion.
She doesn't say anything for a minute but she hugs me.
"I think that's the sweetest thing I've heard. Ever. So it's not something wrong with me? My past didn't scare you off?" She looks up at me.
"No it has nothing to do with you. I promise," I hold out my pinky finger to her and let her loop hers around it.
We swim around for a while until the sun sets and it starts to cool down. At one point, we saw Taylor and Carter disappear into the woods. Aurora has her hand placed on my chest, telling me that the chest is the warmest part of the body because of the heart. I decide it's best for us all to head back to the house and warm up.
When we get back, all of the guys leave but Mom convinces Aurora and Taylor to stay the night because it's late.
"Girls we've got a bedroom upstairs with a shower and clothes you can wear. Aiden, show them where it is, please," Mom motions her hands to the staircase and I do as she says.
I walk the girls to the room next to mine and let them do their thing before walking into mine. I take a quick shower and decide to lay on my bed and check my phone. About fifteen minutes into Facebook, I hear a knock on my bedroom door. I open to see Aurora standing there, waiting for me to invite her in. She walks in and sits on my bed.
"Taylor is in the shower. Do you have a laptop? I need your help, desperately," she's holding something in her hand but I can't tell what it is.
"Yeah I'll grab it. Everything okay?" I sit next to her on the bed with the laptop, typing in the password for her.
"Yeah I'm just stuck on something. I also need your word that you won't tell anyone about this. Taylor knows of it but she doesn't know the details," she starts to ramble but stops when I hand her the laptop.
"Aurora, are you in trouble?" I ask as she inserts a USB into my laptop and an encrypted screen comes up.
"No. Not yet anyway," she decrypts the code on the screen and all kinds of different records show up.
"I need your word, Aiden. I could get into big trouble for this," she looks me in the eyes.
"I promise," I assure her.
"Okay. I've been searching for the man that murdered my mom. Before you say anything, yes I know it's dangerous and no I don't care."
"I won't say anything. I don't have the right. What do you need help with?"
"This guy Joseph Vander committed the same exact murder two weeks ago in North Carolina and home security cameras got him on tape. His victim was the wife of a very wealthy business owner. About two years ago, the same murder was committed by the same man. Same victimology, same signature, same everything. This is my first big lead in a while."
"So what are you thinking?" I ask.
"I think he's a hit man, and a sick one at that. He doesn't go after the wealthy men, he goes after their wives. One time he went murdered a daughter to a wealthy lawyer in Alabama."
"And what do you need from me?"
"I'm sure you've got connections, right? Can you look into this for me? My goal is to find the man hiring this guy," she looks at me with pleading eyes and I can't help but give in.
"Of course. Save that onto my laptop and I'll take it to an underground friend of mine. It'll take a while because he's a busy guy but he should be able to help," I smile when she looks at me like I saved her life.
"Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you," she closes my laptop and sets it down.
"Of course. You know, I've kind of been thinking about what I want for that merchandise I'm getting you," I smirk at her.
Her eyebrows shoot up and a smile appears on her face, her cheeks starting to form a shade of pink.
"Yeah? And what do you want?" Her voice is confident now.
"Hey I said I've been thinking. Not that I've decided," I tease.
She closes her eyes, smiling, but stands up on her knees. Her hands wrap around the back of my neck and she plays with my hair, scooting her body closer to mine.
"Hm, that's a shame. What about something like this?" She whispers in my ear and then places the lightest kiss on my jaw, driving me insane.
I can't help but grab her hips as her body gets closer and closer to mine. My hands on her waist find an inch of skin beneath her shirt and my thumbs skim over it. I can't seem to form words now, shocked by her sudden confidence. Shocked in a good way.
"Or like this," she rubs her hands on my bare chest and nips at my chin, making me grip her tighter.
"Oh I think I'm getting closer, aren't I?"
Though my eyes are closed, I know that she's smiling, probably proud of herself. I can't take it anymore, it's consuming me just to feel her lips. I open my eyes and lift her onto my lap, just going with it. I kiss her softly but with a sense of urgency that I can't seem to get rid of. A small moan comes from her and it turns me on like nothing else ever could.
The softness and fullness of her lips are pure ecstasy to me. She pulls away for a second but only to breathe. I search her eyes for something and I can see that she's enjoying this moment just as much as I am. She catches her breath and starts to kiss me again, desire filled with each one, but I won't let this go too far. No matter how fucking hard I am right now, I can't let it go that far. Not tonight.
I grip her waist as she starts to get more into it, moving her hips into me and starts down my jaw and neck, then back up. Holy fucking me, this is going to take so much self-control. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I squeeze her waist one more time before pulling back and looking at her. Her lips are red, her face flushed, and her eyes are the brightest I've seen them yet.
"What?" She asks, self-consciously fixing her hair.
"Stop that," I pull her hand down from her hair and hold it. "I was just looking at you," I smile and kiss her hand.
"Fuck, Aiden," she lays her head against my chest.
"What?" I chuckle.
"Oh nothing," she starts to laugh and I can't help but wrap my arms around her.
"Thanks for that," I look down at her.
"Anytime. Seriously," she laughs and kisses my lips gently before crawling off of me, leaving my lap cold.
I help her off the bed and walk her to the bedroom next to mine. We stay standing outside of the door for a minute before we say anything.
"I guess I should say goodnight and let you get back to your friend," I say but I'm cut off by her lips on mine again.
I press her gently to the wall and continue to enjoy her until someone clears their throat. Aurora doesn't seem too worried about it though. Her eyes are trained on mine and she bites my lip lightly, turning me on even more but I know we have to be done for the night. We look over to the other person in the hallway and see Taylor standing there, looking amused.
"I guess that's my cue," Aurora smirks, but looks like she doesn't want to go.
"Goodnight," I kiss her one last time and let her go with Taylor.
I watch them disappear into the room and the rest of the night becomes so unimportant compared to what just happened.