Eleven

ELEVEN

Aria

"I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you. This was fantastic."

Paxton sent a proud smile my way. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. I promise there's no need to try to thank me, because I had a wonderful time with you this morning. It was fun."

He certainly wasn't wrong about that.

This morning had been fun. It was the most fun I could remember having in years. In fact, I'd been so caught up in enjoying my time with Paxton that I'd forgotten entirely about what had happened earlier in the morning with the unexpected phone call from my dad.

Paxton and I had just walked out of the roller-skating rink, where we'd spent the morning revisiting a forgotten childhood pastime. Until he'd brought it up during breakfast, roller skating hadn't even been on my radar. I used to enjoy it so much as a kid—that was the reason I'd had a party at the rink when I turned ten—but I couldn't recall ever doing it again much beyond that party.

And although it had been one of things I really enjoyed, it hadn't ever felt this good. I'd had the best time with Paxton. Truth be told, he impressed me. Though I didn't have a good reason for why I believed it would be the case, I hadn't expected him to be as good of a skater as he was.

"Do you do this often?" I asked about ten minutes after we'd gotten our skates on and made our way out onto the rink.

He laughed. "No. Not at all. Like you, I think the last time I did something like this was when I was a kid. Maybe eleven or twelve years old."

"You're so good at it."

"I haven't even done any of the fancy skating," he noted.

My brows drew together. "Don't tell me you can do that, too!"

His lips twitched, and the next thing I knew, Paxton was no longer skating beside me. He was in front of me, facing me and skating backwards. I was so stunned; my jaw dropped open, and I'd stopped actively attempting to propel myself forward.

Paxton reached for my hands, seemingly amused by my reaction, and urged me in his direction. "Come on. I'm sure you can do this, too."

I shook my head, my eyes widening with fear. "No way."

The man refused to be denied. And before I knew it, he'd gotten us to change positions, where I wound up being the one skating backward while he chased after me.

I didn't doubt his ability to catch up. Not only was it much easier to skate forward, but there was a glint in Paxton's eyes as he came after me, like he was thoroughly enjoying letting me believe I stood a chance at keeping my distance.

Was he just trying to cheer me up? Or was something else happening here for him?

I'd seen the way he looked at me. His eyes had lingered on my body a couple of times now, and he'd been amused by and flirtatious with me, too.

It seemed he was giving me more of that now.

And that look alone was enough to cause a flutter in my belly. But when mixed with it being clear he could have easily caught me if he wanted to, it was enough to unbalance me, both figuratively and literally.

One of my feet twisted at an awkward angle, and my hands flew out in an unsuccessful attempt to steady myself. My effort wasn't completely wasted, because Paxton was on guard, easily surged forward, and reached for me just before I could go down.

"Oh, God. That would have been so bad."

Paxton was still propelling himself forward, easily guiding both of us around the rink. His eyes were shining. "I wouldn't have let you fall."

My eyes narrowed slightly. Evidently, I hadn't been wrong about his skills. He knew how capable he was; he'd merely wanted to play. Warmth spread through me that had nothing to do with the physical effort I was putting in.

I was so caught up in how nice it was to have someone treat me the way Paxton was; I wasn't prepared for it when he suddenly tugged on my arm, forcing our bodies even closer together, and spun us around.

I let out a yelp of surprise. Laughing, Paxton suggested, "Maybe we should give you a chance to get acclimated to going forward for a bit."

He remained close, evidently intending to do that until I provided him with a response. I couldn't deny how nice it felt to have his strong body pressed close, so I was tempted to remain silent.

As enticing as that might have been, no matter how much I enjoyed him holding me, I wasn't sure I was prepared for this level of intimacy with a man I barely knew. I wanted more time to get to know him better.

So, I agreed, "That's probably a wise idea."

Paxton loosened the hold he had on me, a look of pride washing over him, before putting some distance between our bodies and spinning himself around, so we were both facing forward for a while.

And now that we'd left the rink, I couldn't deny just how great of a time I'd had with him. At no point over the last five years, maybe longer, had I laughed even half as much as I had with Paxton today. Everything that had been weighing me down, particularly for the last year, ceased to exist in my mind. His playfulness and the way he touched me or held my hand made it impossible to focus on anything but how great of a guy he was.

When we came to a stop beside his car, I turned fully to face him. My gaze lingered on his handsome face, my mouth curving into a smile. "Thank you for doing this for me today. I think you deserve to know how much I appreciate you taking my mind off everything. For the last couple of hours, I've managed to forget about the stuff that's been weighing me down lately."

Paxton sent a sweet smile my way as he reached for one of my hands and stepped closer, the scent of him consuming me. He gave my hand a squeeze and said, "You're welcome, Aria." I held his stare, my belly trembling with excitement, and a beat later, he asked, "So, have you worked up an appetite like I have? Would you like to go grab some lunch?"

As soon as he said it, I realized just how hungry I was. It had been hours since we had those doughnuts, and with all the physical activity while at the roller-skating rink, it was safe to say I was famished. "Lunch sounds great."

With that, Paxton reached around my body with one hand, the other coming to rest lightly on the small of my back and sending shivers along my spine, then opened the car door for me.

Not quite twenty minutes later, we'd sat down to have lunch together. And while we waited for our food to come out, Paxton didn't hesitate to fill the silence. "I know I sort of made a last-minute decision earlier this morning to go roller skating with you instead of showing you around Steel Ridge, but I hope that doesn't ruin the chance I have to convince you this town is a great place to live."

Did he honestly believe that was possible? It wasn't as though he'd made a plan with me and blew me off. "Quite the opposite," I assured him.

He seemed surprised by my response. "Yeah?"

There was a part of me that wanted to tell him the full truth, that people didn't normally move away from their crushes.

I was too afraid to share that little nugget of information with him, though. Perhaps it was because it seemed too sudden.

But I knew it was how I felt.

I had a crush on Paxton. Not only was he very nice to look at, but he was simply a great guy, too. His thoughtfulness was probably the one thing I liked most about him. It had been there in every interaction I'd had with him. He consistently went out of his way for me.

And that was nice to have.

It'd been so long since anyone had paid me the kind of attention that Paxton did. He cared just because he cared. And he seemed interested in me. Genuinely interested. I didn't want to get ahead of myself and make assumptions about Paxton's intentions, but it was difficult not to think he felt something for me that went beyond us being friendly acquaintances or neighbors.

Paxton had shown enough interest in me to make me believe, at the very least, that he was looking to get to know me better. Where that would lead us, I had not a single clue.

And I didn't want to allow myself to think about it too much. I didn't want to believe it was a possibility for there to be more than just surface-level friendship.

The disappointment of losing it would just be too crushing.

Plus, the reality was that I hadn't had a boyfriend since college. Although I'd gone on a handful of dates since graduating, nothing had ever amounted to something serious.

Then there was my family. They didn't pay particular interest to me beyond what I could do for them. I'd always thought it was me loving them that made me do what I did for them, and to a degree, I guess it was. But the more time passed without them ever reciprocating, I had no choice but to face the cold, hard truth. They were capable of abusing my love and loyalty to them, not caring about what it cost me in the end.

But my past had taught me a lot. And if there was one thing that was abundantly clear, it was that if I found even a single person who would be good to me, I'd be a fool not to try to form a deeper connection with them, regardless of how scary it was.

So, hoping the attraction I felt wasn't misplaced and Paxton was every bit the man he'd led me to believe he was, I smiled at him and teased, "I'm willing to stick around just to see what other unexpected things you can do."

The muscle in his jaw twitched with amusement, his eyes dancing. "There's a lot I can do that has nothing to do with where we're living."

More flirting.

Maybe I wasn't nearly as bad at this as I thought. Britney had insisted I knew what to do. Evidently, my thoughts were unfounded, because Paxton was feeding off the playfulness I felt.

Then again, I had a sneaking suspicion he was the one who brought out this side of me to begin with.

"Is that so? What other kinds of things can you do that might impress me?"

He lifted a brow, his expression filled with delight. "Are you looking to be impressed?"

I shrugged, not wanting to appear too eager. "Well, I mean, who wants to be left disappointed?"

Paxton chuckled. "Fair enough." He took a moment to consider his response to my original question, his eyes narrowing a touch as answers flashed in his mind. I wondered if he'd give me the full truth. "I'm not sure how much I want to share with you, Aria. I mean, if I tell you everything, you might decide it's not worth sticking around for. Or, even if it might be the kind of thing that impresses you, the real thrill will be lost if you don't learn about it in the moment."

"Are you sure that's the real reason?"

"Why would I lie?"

"Maybe you don't have anything that you believe will really do the job, so you think it's better to create a bit of mysteriousness about yourself instead," I reasoned.

A sly grin formed on his face, and he rested his forearms on the table as he leaned forward. "Maybe building some excitement is one of the things I do well."

His voice had dipped dangerously low, and I found myself even more intrigued by this man. Something told me he wasn't lying about having multiple things he did well. Thinking I could have convinced him to share specifics with me by calling his bluff was a weak attempt to get what I wanted from him. I had a feeling a man like Paxton wouldn't be so easily worn down.

But if he wasn't going to give me this, I still wanted something. "Alright, well, is there something I can convince you to share with me?"

"Like what?"

"That's up to you. I was just thinking that since I shared so much with you this morning, it's only fair that I get something from you in return. I'd love to hear more about your family or your job. Do you have siblings? What's the scariest case you've ever worked on? It doesn't necessarily matter. I just want to get to know you better."

I should have stopped speaking after I'd asked him about the scariest case he'd ever worked on. Why did I feel the need to share my feelings about wanting to know him better? This man was affecting me in a way I hadn't anticipated.

"I don't have any siblings," he revealed.

"You're an only child?"

"I am."

"Did you… How was that?" I pressed, genuinely curious. I might have only had Jasmine while growing up, and I was the older one, but I couldn't remember my life before she was in it. I couldn't imagine how much different life might have been as an only child. Then again, considering where my relationship with my sister was now, I had the chance to see what it was like.

Paxton shot me a look of indifference. "It wasn't necessarily a bad thing. There were times I wished I had a brother, but for the most part, I don't feel like I missed out on anything. I had extended family around, so I had my cousins. Plus, I was the kid in school who was friends with everyone. I was always going to birthday parties or having kids over in the summer."

Without him even saying it, I believed I could have guessed that to be the truth about Paxton. He seemed like the kind of guy who would have been popular in school, but his popularity wouldn't have anything to do with him being the captain of the football team.

"I can totally see why that would be the case. And I'm glad you being an only child didn't have a negative impact on you. I really would have believed you'd find it to be lonely."

He shook his head, a smile on his face. "Nope. Not for me."

"What about your job? Do you have a case that was particularly scary for you?" I questioned him.

Paxton considered his answer briefly. "This is probably going to sound strange, but I don't consider any of it to be scary."

My brows shot up, silently questioning him. I didn't understand how that was possible.

He chuckled. "See? I knew you were going to think it was weird. I'm not going to lie and say it doesn't get intense at times, especially if there are ever children involved. But I just don't get panicked in these situations."

"That probably makes you the perfect kind of guy for the job you do," I reasoned.

Nodding, he agreed, "Yeah, I guess so. I think that's the case with most of us, though. All the guys who work at Harper Security Ops served in the military. Some of us were in combat. I was one of them, and I think that training and experience have led to me being able to just focus on what I need to do in high-pressure situations where someone has been kidnapped and needs to be rescued."

While there wasn't any reason for me to doubt what Paxton was telling me, there was no question I found it to be extremely surprising. Even though I already knew about the job he did, something about hearing this information came as a shock.

I imagined that a person who did the kind of work he did would be tall, towering, dark, and menacing. Sure, Paxton wasn't terribly short, and he was certainly fit, but I would have expected a guy who was big and burly with a gruff demeanor to do the job Paxton did.

So, I guess I assumed that even though he might have been good at the work he did, he would be particularly troubled in all of those situations. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't begin to picture him in that state.

"Okay, I'll take your word for it. Can you tell me about a case that stuck with you, then?" I asked.

Just then, our food arrived. After we thanked our server and she took off, Paxton countered, "Are you sure you want to know?"

Despite knowing it was likely going to impact me in some way, I still wanted to hear it. Because even if I found the specifics challenging to hear, there was a part of me that wanted to know as much I could about Paxton. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Maybe there was a part of me that would hear something in what he said that gave me hope he might not judge me entirely if he learned the truth about how I'd been living my life for the past year.

"I do," I confirmed. "I really want to know."

Paxton smiled and offered a slight nod. And for the remainder of our time together at lunch, he filled me in on some of the cases he'd worked on that had impacted him the most, one not long after I'd moved here. Obviously, he didn't give me specific details, but he gave me enough to allow me a glimpse into what his work life was like, and I didn't stop myself from asking questions all throughout. Suffice it to say, I was impressed by him.

Before I knew it, we'd finished eating, and we had no choice but to leave. It felt like it had only been a matter of minutes since he'd shown up on my doorstep, ready to take me to breakfast this morning, and our day together was now over.

As Paxton drove us back home, my feelings about my day with him consumed me. While I loved my new jobs, there was no question I was bummed about having to bring an early end to our day together.

And it seemed like time was continuing to fly by. Well before I was ready for it, Paxton had pulled into his driveway. He parked, got out, and met me on my side. Despite me living right next door to him, he still walked with me across the lawn between our two properties and over to my house.

I don't know what propelled me to do it—maybe the hours I'd spent with Paxton all day had made me crazy—but the second we were at my front door, the words spilled out of me before I had a chance to consider just how big of a deal it would be to share them. "As grateful as I am to have a job that I'm really enjoying so far, I kind of wish I didn't need to work tonight."

The moment I got the words out, I balled my hands into fists to prevent myself from slapping my hand over my mouth. What was happening to me? It seemed I was content to finish this date the same way I started it—humiliating myself.

Why was I suddenly unable to keep my feelings inside? I'd never, never been that forward with anyone in my whole life.

Was I losing it? Was I actually making more changes in my life than I had originally anticipated before I moved to Steel Ridge? Perhaps it was getting away from the situation I'd been in back home that had led me to feeling confident about opening up with someone like Paxton. Or, maybe it was just him. Maybe Paxton was the reason I was suddenly so comfortable with sharing so openly.

"I'm sorry," I murmured. "I didn't mean for that to come out like that."

"Why not? I'm happy to hear it."

"You are?"

He dipped his chin and smiled brightly at me, his eyes dancing as they looked into mine. "Of course. If you said it because you were enjoying your time with me and don't want it to end, then I think you'll be happy to know the feeling is mutual."

God, that was such a relief.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I had a great time. We'll plan another time to get together," he reasoned, tossing out the suggestion so effortlessly.

I wanted that.

More than anything else, I wanted to have another time to get together with Paxton. "That sounds wonderful. I can't wait. And I will say that I want to find the time to meet the rest of your animals."

Paxton reached out for my hand, curled his fingers around my fingertips, and squeezed. "I'll make that happen soon, too."

Was I supposed to be able to respond to him? Standing at my door, our eyes locked, I was left speechless.

So, I took a deep swallow and simply inclined my head with understanding.

Paxton must have realized the effect he was having on me, because a chuckle had escaped as he gave me one final squeeze and released my hand .

"Have a good night at work tonight, Aria."

"Thanks, Paxton. And thank you for such a wonderful day today."

"You're welcome. I'll see you later."

Once I opened my door and got myself inside, Paxton turned and walked off toward his house.

And I decided there wasn't a chance I was ever going to leave Steel Ridge.