149 Three Nights...

149 Three Nights...
It stung, it burned, and it made me feel unbearably small. Yet, I had no right to be hurt. After all, we had only met two days ago. And honestly, how could he take seriously a woman who agreed to spend the night with him the very first evening? Adults don’t need words to understand what a fling like this means. We met, felt a spark, let passion take over, and that’s it. Goodbye.
I knew exactly what I was getting myself into…
What Aiden suggested to me didn’t make any sense at all. For him, it would just be very convenient—an entire month of sleeping with me, and then, in the end, he would simply say our characters didn’t match.
And besides, there was always the huge risk that he would eventually meet his true mate, and I’d be left with nothing but a broken heart. It was better not to start something that was doomed to fail from the beginning.
I knew our third night together was really a farewell, and I wanted to keep only the sweetest memories of it. That night, I let myself love him—and let go. When the handsome brunette demanded an answer to his proposal, I invented some nonsense about a nonexistent relationship, and that was where our paths parted.
“Lakisha,” Aiden’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “You’re not here right now. I said, would you join me for a cup of coffee, since we’ve been left here all alone?”
That smile of his… it could disarm any woman without a fight. And me—especially.
“All right,” I answered with a faint smile, telling myself that nothing dangerous could come from just one cup of coffee.
But as it turned out, we ended up spending the rest of the day together. And once again, he was under my skin—I couldn’t get enough of his company, his attention.
We dropped into a small café, and a light, easy conversation sparked between us. Again, I found myself captivated by his voice, his laughter, his lips, his eyes. We talked about all sorts of things, carefully avoiding the subject of relationships. But then his next question hit me like a fall from the sky, smashing me against the pavement.
“I heard you became a mother. What did you name your child?” the musician asked, looking straight into my soul. And in that instant, the air caught in my lungs. My son has the exact same gaze.
“Liam,” I managed to answer, quickly dropping my eyes.
“Interesting name.”
“We had an older brother, his name was Liam. He was the previous beta of the pack. He died,” I confessed, my voice heavy with sorrow. I loved my brothers deeply, and that loss would forever remain an unhealed wound in my heart.
“My condolences,” Aiden said sincerely, seeing the shadow in my expression. He placed his warm hand over mine on the table.
My breath quickened as I looked at our joined hands, shivers running down my spine at the memory of how those same hands knew how to caress, how to touch. Almost involuntarily, I pulled my hand away, and Aiden noticed. He sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.
“Shall we take a walk?” he suddenly asked. “I know some great places.”
Before I could answer, he grabbed my bag, took my hand, and we stepped outside.
Aiden really did show me countless beautiful, scenic spots that, judging by the looks of them, very few people even knew about. Night had already fallen, but we kept wandering through the charmingly lit streets, talking about everything under the moon. He’d been to so many places with the band, and listening to his stories was pure pleasure—he had this unique, humorous way of telling things that made every detail come alive. I hadn’t laughed this much in ages. It was simply… fun.
At one point, he told me how the guys once drank some strange brew and poor Conrad got so high he actually managed to find his Mia. But when I asked why they’d needed to drink that concoction in the first place, Aiden gave me the strangest look, hesitated, and then muttered some vague reply that left me none the wiser.
When he noticed me stifling a small yawn, he immediately offered to walk me back to the hotel.
By the time we reached my room’s door, my heart had grown heavy. The mood had shifted. Now came the goodbye—and who knew if we’d ever see each other again?
We just stood there, staring into each other’s eyes, silent and uncertain.
Damn it.
The night had been so good, so bright and easy, and now it was crashing down into this painful, suffocating silence. The lump in my throat was swelling; tears were threatening. I decided it was better to rip the bandage off quickly, face the truth before I broke apart completely.
“Aiden…”
“Lakisha, you’re driving me crazy! Let me stay tonight,” he cut me off, pulling me against him, his forehead pressed to mine. His breath was heavy, uneven, as he began to trail feather-light kisses over my face.
His closeness made me weak, stripped of all willpower. My body ached for his touch like the desert aches for rain. And the long absence of a man in my life hadn’t helped—after I found out about my pregnancy, intimacy had been the last thing on my mind, and then came childbirth, motherhood… no time even to breathe, let alone anything else.
Now, in his strong arms, I melted. I leaned in, reaching for his lips, my heart hammering.
I had missed him so much, more than words could capture.
I wanted him. Craved him. Even if only once more. Even if only to feel his warmth and tenderness one last time…