1. Aiden

Chapter 1

Aiden

" A re you going to go talk to her?"

I blinked over to Jimmy, my sister's fiancé. "Hm?"

"The girl you keeping staring at."

I turned away from the woman who I had indeed been staring at and brought my beer to my lips. "I'm not staring."

"You might as well take your eyeballs out of your head and throw them at her."

I sighed and sunk further into the booth. It was the first nice day out in months, the beginning of spring, and Claire had texted me to meet them for drinks. When I'd tried to tell her no, that I was busy, she had actually responded with No, you're not. Put your game down and come out with us.

And, man, that stung.

Out of all my siblings, I got along with Claire the best. In the line of seven, she was four, and I was five. We were both on the quieter side, and I never would've expected her to call me out. Prior to getting together with Jimmy, you couldn't drag Claire out of her apartment, her nose always buried in a book. Now, she played softball, hosted games night, and apparently spilled my secrets.

"Claire told me what happened with Malia," Jimmy said, and I rolled my eyes.

"Talia," I corrected, "and I really don't like how you're rubbing off on her."

"Me?" He acted all offended. But that's what it was, an act. Jimmy was impossible to offend. Forever happy and energetic. "What did I do?"

"My sister was always a steel trap. But now she's with you and suddenly telling everyone my business."

"First of all," he said, pointing his beer at me, "I am not everyone, and she told me because she was concerned about your tender heart."

"I do not have a tender heart," I muttered.

"Heart, ego, same same."

I started to defend myself, that I didn't have a tender ego either, when Claire reappeared at the table with another woman in tow.

"Look who finally showed up." My sister waved behind her, and as soon as I raised my attention to the other woman, I immediately and inwardly groaned.

"Hey, Jimbo, whatcha' drinking?" she asked, and I tried not to notice how long her legs looked from under the hem of her skirt, how tight her shirt stretched across her chest. Meredith Frank looked like every mean cheerleader in a John Hughes film: tall, blonde, golden tanned, with a tiny waist, big rack, and long nails. Minus the cruelty, but double the sassy attitude.

"Dogfish Head IPA." Jimmy offered her his glass, but she wrinkled her nose as she slid into the booth next to him, leaving Claire to sit next to me. My sister gestured between us. "You guys remember each other, right?"

I nodded, meeting Meredith's gaze for a split second. Enough time to feel the back of my neck turn bright red. I hoped my face wasn't too.

"Yeah, of course." Meredith peered at me from under long lashes, her gray eyes sharp and assessing. "Hey, Aiden."

"Hi. Nice to see you again." I dropped my focus to the table, where she absently scratched at a divot in the wood with those long pink nails while she surveyed the drink menu. Meredith and Claire met in college and were now colleagues, the two of them teaching at the same elementary school, along with Jimmy. I was the odd accountant out, as per usual.

While I'd met Meredith a handful of times, it wasn't until last year that I'd had my face buried between what I knew to be perfect pillowy breasts. There had been an issue at their school, involving some parents who wanted to ban books and have Claire suspended from her position as the librarian, so Meredith put together this huge protest. It was really impressive.

But it was there, in front of the school, in the midst of shouting and signs, that I literally fell headfirst into Meredith's chest.

She'd said, "At least buy me dinner first."

It had been both incredibly embarrassing and unsuspectingly hot—not my face accidentally hitting her boobs part, but after—when she'd wrapped her hand around my biceps and smiled at me, one eyebrow raised.

"Didn't think you had it in you," she had rasped.

I didn't know what had come over me, but I'd replied, "You'd be surprised what I have in me, Meredith."

Then the gorgeous siren licked her lips and pivoted away from me, her fingers absently brushing down my arm and across my torso.

I hadn't seen her again since that night.

But here she was, smiling and laughing with Jimmy, not a care in the world. Like she hadn't knocked me on my ass all those months ago.

"Hey." Claire nudged me with her elbow. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Sure. Fine. Why?"

Her mouth flattened in an attempt to hold back a smile. "You look…."

I ignored how she pointedly trailed off to gulp my beer. Claire wasn't bossy like Rosie or nosey like Julie, but she was curious. In a big loud family, Claire was the quiet calm. So it beat the hell out of me how she ended up falling for Jimmy.

"He's just trying to decide what to do about the girl at the bar," he said, like the asshole he was. Though I could never really be mad at him. It was impossible. Not when he stood by Claire through everything at the school and basically ingratiated himself into our family.

Meredith perked up. "Who? Which one?"

Jimmy tipped his chin in the girl's direction. "Short brown hair, white shirt."

I sighed, and Claire laughed next to me. "Like two peas in a pod."

Meredith, much like Jimmy, had a lot of energy, but hers was more simmering volcano where his was like a rocket ship. Between her smile and looks, you were lulled into a sense of welcomed security, and then she'd say something or laugh, her volume a fifteen out of ten, and you realized exactly how much she had inside of her.

It was terrifying.

And hypnotic.

"Oh, she's cute," Meredith said. "Why don't you go talk to her?"

Before I could answer, Jimmy piped up. "He's in recovery. Had his heart trampled on."

I whipped my head around to him. "Will you shut up?"

But it was too late. Meredith already caught the scent and leaned toward me, interested. "What happened? Bad break-up?"

"No, we weren't even…" I shook my head, rubbing my palms down my khaki-clad thighs. "It wasn't like… It was only a couple of dates."

Meredith tucked a long lock of honey-colored hair behind her ear. "You were in love with her after only a couple dates?"

"No." I shot a death glare at my future brother-in-law. "I am not heartbroken, and I wasn't in love."

"So…" Meredith rolled her hands in a circle for more. "What's the problem?"

The problem was I wanted to hang out with my sister, not be harassed by two loud-mouthed infiltrators on our quiet evening. Although I guessed it was safe to assume with Jimmy around, there would never be another quiet evening.

Make it double for Meredith.

When I didn't answer, she stared at me, relentless. It would have taken a much stronger man than me to withstand her gray eyes burning a hole in my soul. "It wasn't that big of a deal," I said. "Didn't work out is all."

"He keeps getting friend-zoned," Jimmy added, and I felt Claire's leg kick out a second before he grunted as if she nailed him in the shin. "Ow. What? It's true. Right, Rube?"

I rubbed at my forehead.

Meredith angled her head back. "Rube?"

"Short for Rubik's Cube," Jimmy explained. "This kid can solve them in, like, thirty seconds. It's crazy."

It's not that I was embarrassed by my nerdy habits, and it's not that I thought Meredith was a stereotypical big-breasted blonde, but I was, in fact, a nerd, and she definitely was a big-breasted blonde, and, historically, those two things never went well together. So, I didn't want to add more fuel to the fire on that front.

But Meredith only smiled at me, her glossy pink lips spreading wide. "Yeah? I have a kid who obsessed with Rubik's Cubes, but he can never get them."

"Aaron Sarna?" Claire guessed, and when Meredith nodded, my sister pressed her hands to her heart. "He's the sweetest."

"So sweet," Meredith agreed. "Can't stand his parents, though. Mom's a real bitch, and Dad won't stop staring at my tits during IEP meetings."

That was the thing about Meredith; she looked like Barbie but had the mouth of a sailor.

"Some of these fucking parents…" She shook her head. "Like, your kid's got a stutter, so what? Doesn't change the fact that he's smart and funny and caring, but you'll always be a crusty-ass bitch with a husband who can't keep his dick in his pants."

Jimmy raised his glass to her in salute while Claire snickered into her drink. I stared at Meredith. Like the eighth wonder of the world.

"Anyway," she went on, flapping her hand at me. "What's up with the friend-zone thing?"

I shrugged.

"What do you mean…?" She imitated me with a big shrug of her own. "Why are they friend-zoning you?"

"If I knew, I'd stop doing it."

"What you need is a relationship coach," Jimmy said, and when I raised my brow at him, he held his hands up. "Not me. I'm out of the dating game. I have no idea what women want."

"Out of the game?" Claire huffed. "Have you got amnesia for all the girls you were with before me?"

"Yes." He ducked his head, reaching across the table to tug on a few strands of her red hair. "I've forgotten all of them."

Meredith gagged. "I'm so happy for you two. Now let me go find some cement shoes and a river."

While the two lovebirds were busy lovebirding, I frowned at her. "I don't get it."

She drummed her nails on the table. "Meaning they're so cute I'm going to kill myself."

"Depression and suicide are no joke."

Her arched eyebrows lifted infinitesimally like she wasn't used to somebody pointing out that her usual shtick wasn't always cute. Then she dragged her tongue over her bottom lip and gave into a smile. "You're right. And also a buzzkill."

"That's us," Claire said, disentangling herself from Jimmy. "Two buzzkills."

Meredith looked me up and down. Even though the table hid my lower half, it felt like she could see everything . "It's your vibe," she proclaimed after a moment of studying me, her head tilted to the side. "That's your first problem."

"Excuse me?"

She flicked her hand in my direction. "Exactly. You're too nice."

I touched the edge of my glasses. "Is that a thing?"

"Being too nice? Absolutely." She tossed her hair over her shoulder. "There's a difference between nice and kind. There's also a difference between let me be your shoulder to cry on and let me rub your ankles after I've tied you to the bed and fucked you hoarse . You know what I'm saying?"

I practically choked on my sip of beer, and Claire patted my back while giggling.

Meredith went on, casually. "You seem like the type who's too much of the former and not enough of the latter. You want to stop being friend-zoned? Stop being their friend."

Jimmy pointed at her. "There's your coach, Rube." When I fixed him with a confused gaze, he jutted his chin in her direction. "Who better to teach you the ways of women than her?"

"My body count is pretty high," she said without hesitation, and Claire tilted her head to the side in thought.

"Yeah, but in this instance, is that a good or bad thing? Aiden wants a girlfriend, not a one-night-stand."

"It's not like I'm incapable of being in a relationship." Meredith put on a faux appearance of outrage. "I just don't want to be in one. Besides—" she rested her chin on her fist "—a relationship is basically a one-night-stand who never leaves, right?" Then she met my gaze. "You're doing the same things as I would to take somebody home, except you'll actually be—" she quirked her fingers in a sarcastic air quote "—open and honest."

"Am I to assume you aren't open and honest with your conquests?" I asked.

"No, I totally am. Up to a point. I can tell them I want their face between my legs, but then you gotta leave before the sun comes up." She held up two fingers, her nails aimed at me as she made her points. "Set the standard and be honest about your expectations. So, for you, we're going to work on setting higher standards for you and the girls—is it only girls?" When I nodded, she went on, "Wanted to check, just in case. So, we set higher standards for yourself because clearly you're settling, and we'll work on being honest and meeting expectations."

Jimmy crossed his arms, grinning. "See? She'll will get you sorted."

I glanced at my sister, and she shrugged. "Mere is a really good educator. She might be able to break it down for you."

Then I looked back to the woman in question, who extended her hand out to me. "We have a deal?"

"I guess." I reluctantly wrapped my hand around hers, and she grinned brightly.

"Don't sound so sad about it, Aiden. I'll get you your happily ever after."